Does new Nuggets head coach Michael Malone make sense in Denver?
Let's try to make sense of this Michael Malone hiring, shall we?
The Denver Nuggets have hired Michael Malone as their new head coach, they announced on Monday. Malone brings with him a reputation as a sharp defensive mind who relates well to players. His fit with the Nuggets, however, is puzzling on the surface.
This is a franchise that, two years ago, made Brian Shaw its new head coach. Shaw, at the time, had a reputation as a sharp defensive mind who related well to players. Denver struggled through all sorts of injuries in 2013-2014, and Shaw was fired this past March after the team lost its spirit and took another step back. Melvin Hunt took over on an interim basis after that, and the Nuggets looked rejuvenated as they pushed the pace toward the end of the regular season.
All signs pointed to the front office continuing in that direction, whether Hunt stuck around or someone like Mike D'Antoni came in. Instead, Denver has hired Malone, who did a great job with the Sacramento Kings in the beginning of this season but lost his job in December in part because owner Vivek Ranadive wanted the team to play faster and with an offensive focus.
The question, then, is how all of this worked. Did Malone tell Nuggets executives that he'd do things completely differently than he did in Sacramento? Did he convince them that teams need to be built defense-first? We won't know before he's officially introduced. Even then, Malone can get away with saying that he isn't sure because he doesn't know who he'll be coaching.
It's no secret that Denver would be open to shaking things up this offseason. The Malone hire means it's difficult to figure out what kind of changes might be made, especially compared to what a D'Antoni hire would have suggested. Playing at a league-average pace made a lot of sense for the Kings with DeMarcus Cousins in the middle, but perhaps Malone is ready to run without that sort of post-up threat.
Here's one idea: maybe the Nuggets went this way precisely because they're ready to remake the roster. Malone seemed to have Sacramento going in the right direction before he was fired there, as he had his players competing hard despite being overmatched most nights in the Western Conference. If Denver is about to have a fire sale, it will want to have a head coach who is patient with rebuilding and knows how to establish a winning, hard-working culture. This group is a long way from being a real threat, so the most important thing is defining an identity.
With fans and players attached to the way the Nuggets played under George Karl, plus high expectations, Shaw never quite put his stamp on the team. Malone should actually be able to do that, and he'll be under much less scrutiny. As for what exactly that will look like, there are more questions than answers for now.
