Coach Malone

[THE J0KER]

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Right from nowhere!

You all know my opinion about Malone and also about Nuggets FO passivity all these years, but I will not celebrate too much because they also deserve some credit, we played twice WC finals since 2020 and won the maiden ring.

Maybe this season is lost even before the playoffs started (maybe not!), but I'm already much more optimistic about the 2025 offseason and 2025-26 season!

[skywalker33]

Can't say I'm surprised, he lost the locker room, never thought about developing young talent (he had the BEST starting five, why bother ??), overplayed key players, that pig-headed coaching style may have worked for his Dad, but this is a different era. That said, now who gets to replace him ?

[kevin44]

Unless Joker demanded his firing this makes no sense. This team has a chance to make it to the finals. The Thunder look unstoppable but one injury could change that.

[skywalker33]

Unless Joker demanded his firing this makes no sense. This team has a chance to make it to the finals. The Thunder look unstoppable but one injury could change that.

The timing does seem strange but the team has been floundering for the last month or so. Malone lost this team, his feud with Booth cost us chemistry and cohesion, players were responding to the lack of direction and it showed.

[Maf]

WOW. Speak about twisted feelings. First I was happy. Than I read Booth too, that made me REALLY excited. Than I was surprised by the timing. Three games before PO (maybe before Play-in. I think if anyone says we are contender he lies to himself. We are like 90% closer to miss PO than being able to really fight for tittle) is strange time to do something so drastic.

So Malone is gone. He had a lot of flaws, he got on our nerves too many times, but he is also champion coach and all-time leader in wins. So, thanks for everything coach.

Now let´s hope history won´t repeat again. I mean remember that time when everyone called for Karl´s head and he was replaced by that **** Shaw. Those were really dark times...

And for Booth, I am really glad he is gone. To me he did terrible job. The thing is, whoever comes next will be in almost impossible situation. Booth screwed up such a big time I don´t think there is much that can be done. Off the books only DAJ and Vlatko´s pennies, Dario I think picks his PO, nobody will offer him anything. There is no way we can get rid off MPJ or Murray or Zeke and they are nowhere near to be worth of their contracts. We are really stucked in mud with this roster.

[psimanic1]

WOW. Speak about twisted feelings. First I was happy. Than I read Booth too, that made me REALLY excited. Than I was surprised by the timing. Three games before PO (maybe before Play-in. I think if anyone says we are contender he lies to himself. We are like 90% closer to miss PO than being able to really fight for tittle) is strange time to do something so drastic.

So Malone is gone. He had a lot of flaws, he got on our nerves too many times, but he is also champion coach and all-time leader in wins. So, thanks for everything coach.

Now let´s hope history won´t repeat again. I mean remember that time when everyone called for Karl´s head and he was replaced by that **** Shaw. Those were really dark times...

And for Booth, I am really glad he is gone. To me he did terrible job. The thing is, whoever comes next will be in almost impossible situation. Booth screwed up such a big time I don´t think there is much that can be done. Off the books only DAJ and Vlatko´s pennies, Dario I think picks his PO, nobody will offer him anything. There is no way we can get rid off MPJ or Murray or Zeke and they are nowhere near to be worth of their contracts. We are really stucked in mud with this roster.

it won't change anything, what Denver did last PO they can do the same or better this year without coach...everyone can mak same subs at same time as he did, and just let Jokic carry them, that was whole plan from Malone, that's why we lose non-Jokic minutes by 50 every time...

[skywalker33]

One thing that will be interesting to me is we'll really get to see if/when Malone gets a new gig, if he IS a good coach or if Jokic's talents was making him look like he was a good coach.

[davoarid]

I actually never had a problem with Booth. Yeah, MPJ and Murray were big overpays, but if you want good players, you have to overpay for them! The alternative—letting them walk and signing, what, Bruce Brown and KCP and some other efficient role players on mid-contracts—would OBVIOUSLY make us worse. You think we have a bad supporting cast now, oh God, imagine the world where our go-to play in the clutch is the Jokic-Tim Hardaway Jr two-man game.

The one awful move Booth made is still giving up all those picks just to dump Reggie Jackson’s contract, but I think the record is clear that Malone deserves a ton of blame for that: Booth kept saying “please stop playing Reggie so much, we need to develop Jalen Pickett” and Malone kept refusing until Booth realized the only thing that would ever get him to stop would be to get rid of Reggie, and—with no leverage—he had to accept that terrible offer. Can we really say Booth was wrong? Jackson’s out of the NBA and Pickett has indeed demonstrated he’s a capable backup PG.

The Nnaji extension is the same thing. He looked good in that one stretch Malone was forced to play him last month—even if it was a slight overpay, it was a decent gamble that he would develop into a rotation player, and you NEED to hit on $8MM rotation players when you have multiple stars.

The biggest problem has always been Malone. Hes had the exact same problems every season—rotations (always destroyed in the non-Jokic minutes), defense, and lack of 3-pointers. Every year, the same problems, and he never changed anything, because Jokic alone had been enough to overcome them. He had to go—we were just gonna keep getting worse, keep watching other teams lap us in strategy, falling further and further behind.

I have very little faith that this coaching change—a week before the playoffs (!!!)—will work out. But I had even less faith this team was going anywhere these playoffs with Malone. Just replacing him with an empty suit can only make us better.