Denver Nuggets hire of Mike Malone makes him the newest coach to be taking a job in the NBA and he finishes off the coaching carousel in the league. For now at least.
Malone’s style of play might still be up in the air based on his team, especially due to the fact that people say he’s a certain kind of coach that likes a certain kind of style. You can’t blame him for that, people get paid a lot of money to break it down that way. Whatever style he was using with the Sacramento Kings, didn’t work and he lost his job with the Kings towards the start of last season. The firing was questionable at the time and it still is, especially for Kings star DeMarcus Cousins.
With the Nuggets, Malone is coming into a similar situation like he had with Sacramento. A lost franchise that has some success in the past but they’ve only declined with the wrong people in the wrong spots. Especially with the roster, which Malone expects to turnover by the start of next season.
Following from Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post.
“I have coached 106 games as a head coach. Don’t paint me, and don’t put me in a hole by saying this is who you are. I played to the strength of our roster, and we were efficient.” …
Malone talked about wanting players that hated to lose and that would be committed to conditioning themselves to be able to defend and run the way he expects for 48 minutes. He also said he didn’t expect the roster now to be the one that opens the season.
He’s just about spot on. All reports are leaning towards the Nuggets getting ready to cause some sort of fire sale, probably around the NBA Draft, and sell high on some of their most promising talents.
Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried and Wilson Chandler are just 3 of the guys that were almost dealt during the season and it most likely means they will be traded this offseason. Their values differ depending on the team but they are still in their primes and they can play, especially when placed in the right situation.
The Nuggets are rebuilding, so there’s no better time to have a new coach come in that’s so versatile like Make Malone. Give him a guy he can relate to, like he did with DeMarcus Cousins, and just watch that player flourish.
