It’s the 2014-15 season, and the Denver Nuggets just wrapped up their campaign. They went a measly 30-52, fired Brian Shaw, and struggled to find any identity – just like they have since George Karl left the franchise. Luckily, Tim Connelly and the rest of the front office found their guy. Michael Malone was hired by the Denver Nuggets on June 15, 2015, and has become the fourth longest tenured head coach in the entire NBA since that date.
This will mark the 10th season under Michael Malone, and there have been some people already questioning if he’s the right man for the job. After an article by Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, there have been some reignited conversations about the tensions between Calvin Booth and Michael Malone. As she puts it in her article, “They’ve lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Bruce Brown, Jeff Green and Reggie Jackson from the 2022-23 championship roster — a role-player talent drain that has strained the relationship between head coach Michael Malone and a front office financially limited in what it can do.”
The sourcing of the article was very clear in where it has come from. Calvin Booth has quotes all throughout the article, and not a single quote comes from Michael Malone. Now, I’m not saying the article isn’t well written, and who knows, maybe Malone declined to comment. However, that would be a very generous interpretation. Whenever a team starts to struggle, oftentimes it is the coach that takes the fall. Michael Malone though? He deserves far, far, better than being a fall guy.
An Elite Head Coach
Being a head coach in the NBA is not an easy job, not by any means. Not only do you have to produce on the court – getting a team to perform well on offense and defense, running good plays, and just producing wins, but you also have to get guys to buy in. Michael Malone has managed to do that for a decade. Every season that the team has been healthy, the Nuggets have seen improvements to their win total from the year previous under Coach Malone. The only season that has seen a decrease was the 2021-22 season (in terms of win-percentage), and that was the season Jamal Murray missed with the torn ACL.
Players have largely had only good things to say about him over the years. Nikola Jokic has said he likes playing under Malone whenever he’s given a quote about him, and Jamal Murray has said how much Malone’s loyalty meant to him while rehabbing from that torn ACL. When you see the likes of Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. saying that they love playing for the organization, and the culture that is set in Denver starts with the head coach.
He’s proven that he can win a title, as we all know given that he won the 2023 Larry O’Brien with the team. To do that though, he needs to be given the proper tools. That’s an area where the front office has failed. Christian Braun has been very good this year, better than most had hoped for. He’s chipping in 14.5 points on 52.5% from the field and 42.5% from beyond the arc. It’s been a nice sigh of relief, especially after there was panic about how the starters might play given the departure of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The starters certainly play differently, but still have posted great net ratings.
The issue comes from the fact that the front office didn’t add anyone that could replace Christian Braun’s production off the bench. The young players that make up Denver’s second unit have been largely disappointing. Peyton Watson is still incredibly raw offensively in his third season, and while his defense is still great, at some point you have to be playable offensively. Something that he has struggled to do, shooting only 22.9% from the field this season. Zeke Nnaji still appears to not have the trust of the coaching staff, and is in the first year of his four year extension. Jalen Pickett was assigned to the G-League already, before being recalled after Jamal Murray’s injury. He’s struggled to even bring the ball up the court at times at the NBA level.
The one redeeming quality of the Nuggets’ bench this season has been Julian Strawther, and Malone has embraced him. He’s averaging 18.8 minutes per game so far, and that’s only behind the starters and Russell Westbrook for playing time. Malone will play young guys, despite narratives saying otherwise. They just have to be good enough to earn that. He plays to win. He’s not a developmental head coach, and he really shouldn’t be considering he’s coaching a team that has the best player in the NBA, probably halfway through his prime.
He played Christian Braun a lot in his rookie season. He had earned that playing time and trust from Malone, and he paid that back. It’s a large reason that the organization felt good about transitioning to him as the starter. They had seen him on the court a lot through his first two years. They had seen the proof of concept. The rest of the bench though? Not so much.
Not to mention that the two veterans supplied to Malone have disappointed so far. Dario Saric got a DNP – Coach’s Decision in the sixth game of the season after being given the tax payer mid-level exception. He’s been a sieve defensively, and has failed to make an impact on the offensive end of the court. Russell Westbrook has had high moments thus far, but is shooting the worst from the field of any player to attempt more than 50 shots this season at 21.1%. People will make a big deal about Malone’s lineups, but when this is the roster he’s given – that’s not exactly his fault. He’s proven to be a great head coach, you don’t stay in a job for ten years without being one, but the seat may be warming up.
Falling On Another’s Sword
With the way this season is going for the Nuggets so far, it seems likely that they are going to be an underwhelming team compared to preseason predictions. It happens all the time in the NBA – a contender that was once at the height of their powers starts to fall from grace and the organization makes a change to try and give it one last try. Michael Porter Jr. seems to acknowledge that there may be changes on the horizon in the Shelburne article saying, “If we don’t win this year, we all know they might have to break it up.”
Typically when these changes come, the head coach is one of them. However, Malone doesn’t deserve that. If the franchise chooses between the general manager and head coach, it should be obvious which has done a better job. One has failed at a lot of moves on the margins, while the other has been here for Jokic’s entire career and has had a lot of success despite some bad moves on the margins.
If there continues to be narratives pushed about him not playing young players enough, or more articles come out about the Nuggets two-timeline approach being unsuccessful due to a lack of developmental minutes, just know that Malone doesn’t deserve those narratives. He shouldn’t be set up, but it seems like the seeds are starting to be planted for him to be the fall guy for a bad pair of offseasons by the front office.
The return of the Nuggets season also means the return of the Stiffs Night Out at Number 38 in Rino! Come join us on November 8th to watch the Nuggets take on the Miami Heat. There will be live podcasts, prize giveaways, drink specials, great food, and the best Nuggets fans in town! Number 38 boasts a robust beer selection with plenty of other drink options as well. Tip off is at 7PM and there’s plenty of space for everyone but make sure to come early to get the best seats out on the patio (weather permitting). Can’t wait to see everyone there at 3560 Chestnut Pl.
