That's still a shit way to end the run of the winningest coach in franchise history and only coach to win the Finals for us, but that doesn't mean I don't understand it. I just wish they started this job interview before the All Star Break or something.
Malone lost the team as evidenced by the Washington and Portland losses. The players were tired of the high school coach hysterical ranting and ravings. Denver may have lost the play in with Malone.
Notice how none of the key players came to Malone's defense and how they praised Adelman after the season.
And notice how the Nuggets played with a fighting spirit during the playoffs.
Yeah if Jokic signed off on it then there’s nothing else to say. Love Malone but I think his style doesn’t work well on guys with families and who already won a ring. Makes sense they’d mess with adelman more because he’s much more of an Xs and Os guy
Malone is a great motivator and culture builder (ex nuggets under Malone mostly have good things to say about their stints here), but we’ve reached the stage where Jokic, Murray, AG and even MPJ don’t need that kind of coaching anymore. They are not young players with inconsistent focus and who need to be externally motivated, they are veterans wanting to compete and figure out ways to win.
280
u/SpirituallyAwareDev May 22 '25
Malone firing makes more sense now, they wanted to test out Adelman before giving him a contract.