Hunt is shocked(USATSI)
Melvin Hunt just heard about Josh Kroenke's dog's surgery. (USATSI)

It was not surprising that the Denver Nuggets lost to the Memphis Grizzlies last night. The Grizzlies are second in the West while the Nuggets are near the bottom of the conference but the loss was not surprising because Denver rested their top three players, Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried, and Danilo Gallinari.

This move was met with a lot of raised eyebrows as it wasn't a decision made by the players and interim head coach Melvin Hunt, it was an edict seemingly coming from the team's mangement.

When talking to the media, Hunt admittedly was skeptical but understood that the Nuggets were in an interesting situation.

From Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post:

Asked if he had ever been part of a non-playoff team that suddenly employed a rest rotation as the Nuggets have done, Hunt said: "Yeah, but we're in a very unique situation here, having come off what we did last year with so many injuries. We had players with ACL injuries; our owner's dog had an ACL injury. We had a little bit of everything going on. We have to be very, very careful. We have to be really wise, given the situation that we are in."

Hunt is right, injuries did derail the Nuggets' season and having another player go down may affect their start next season. Perhaps even more interesting is his comment on the owner's dog ACL injury, which is a just a fun joke directed at management. Hunt has the Nuggets playing well and may be the right coach for the team but management's decision to rest players definitely put a damper on his plans. 

Nuggets' management may be angling for a better draft pick but maybe the dog's surgery actually did have an impact on team. The Nuggets are owned by Stan Kroenke but a quick internet search shows that his son Nuggets president Josh Kroenke is the actual dog owner. 

From a 2012 story about Kroenke on the team's website:

Josh Kroenke’s first dog was a black Lab named Morry.

Like most third-graders making their sales pitch for a pet, Josh promised his parents that he would handle all the responsibilities associated with taking care of the dog.

“I’m sure my mom will tell you that within three months, she was the one feeding it and all that other stuff,” Kroenke said with a laugh. “But I was the one playing with him and taking him for long walks.”

Two decades later, Kroenke rarely patrols Pepsi Center without his two English bulldogs, Fletch and Arnie in tow, and he is proving to be an excellent caretaker with the Denver Nuggets.

An ACL injury is actually quite common for bulldogs due to their short legs and strong frames but did Kroenke transfer his stress related to his dog's surgery on to the team? 

It is all very strange but it does make some sense, as nothing has gone normal with the Nuggets this season.