This past week, the Nuggets fired head coach Michael Malone. Malone was the head coach for the Nuggets for a decade before his firing last Tuesday. Malone coached the team to six playoff appearances (the one in 2019 being their first since 2013), one Western Conference Championship, and one NBA Championship. On top of this, many of the Nugget’s stars such as Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray have only ever had Malone as a coach in the NBA.
The firing of Malone was a shock to all of Denver, including sophomore Jack O’Conner.
“I was honestly kind of a bit surprised. It kinda caught be off guard.”
As the week went on, more insights into why Malone was fired were released. He had a divided locker room causing the team’s cohesiveness to dip, and he would also yell at the players after having a bad game, causing low morale. Other aspects such as poor communication and coaching to the players on court, his game being centered around Jokic, and his decisions of who should be a starter has sparked some controversy. This caused the Nuggets to end up being in danger of falling into the Play-in Tournament with a four-game losing streak against teams looking to surpass them.
As the NBA playoffs quickly approach, Denver wonders what the outcome will be with having a new head coach who might not be as experienced as Malone was.
Sophomore Maddie Meier predicted what she thinks how well they will do.
“I think that how well they do is pretty much 50-50.”
O’Conner is optimistic of what they will do this playoff run.
“I feel like they might do a bit better than they were expecting. It kinda could be like a team bonding moment.”
The interim head coach who will be coaching the Nuggets through the playoffs is David Adelman. He was assistant coach under Malone, and his dad, Rick Adelman, is a Hall of Fame head coach. While Adelman has never been a head coach in his life, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. There are no more reports of the locker room being divided, plays are being communicated to the players on court, and the Nuggets were able to end the regular season on a three-game winning streak, two of the wins being against the second-seed Houston Rockets and the Play-in bound Memphis Grizzlies!
I wouldn’t lose hope quite yet. Despite the disappointing end to Malone’s career in Denver, the Nuggets seem to be rebounding. Maybe all they needed was a “fresh start” in order to get better.
The Nuggets start the first round of the playoffs on Saturday at Ball Arena, facing off against the Los Angeles Clippers. Could this be the start of something amazing to come?