Malone talking end of year meetings and young guys

[The Rebel]

https://soundcloud.com/altitudesports950/michael-malone-joins-helmer-and-hastings#t=0:00

[U hova]

Another excellent soundbite from Malone!

[skywalker33]

Definitely hope Jokic takes Malone's advice, rest, work on his strength and endurance. It's his next step to claiming star status

[Mickey8]

There is lots of pressure on Jokic from the Serbian media to play for his NT this summer, there are war of the words between his agent and Serbian basketball federation. This was the message that Serbian basketball federation have received from the Denver organization regardless Jokic availability this summer, we will see how it goes.

Based on FIBA/NBA agreement we cannot and will not stop Nikola from playing for Serbian National Team. Let me know if you have any further questions. I already had a conversation with Sasha Djordjevic regarding this matter. Thank you



Arturas Karnisovas | Assistant GM and VP of Basketball Operations | Denver Nuggets
Pepsi Center, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver, CO 80204 USA“

[skywalker33]

Just as I believe we'll see a marked improvement next season with Murray recovering from that sports hernia, Jokic will show immense improvement resting and physically training for his PROFESSION.

[U hova]

Does Malone have any idea on how to fix the defense? I get the feeling he thinks it's a matter of effort and talent.

[Mickey8]

He's a very bad coach .

[The Rebel]

There is lots of pressure on Jokic from the Serbian media to play for his NT this summer, there is a war of the words between his agent and Serbian basketball federation. This was the message that Serbian basketball federation have received from the Denver organization regardless Jokic availability this summer, we will see how it goes.

Based on FIBA/NBA agreement we cannot and will not stop Nikola from playing for Serbian National Team. Let me know if you have any further questions. I already had a conversation with Sasha Djordjevic regarding this matter. Thank you



Arturas Karnisovas | Assistant GM and VP of Basketball Operations | Denver Nuggets
Pepsi Center, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver, CO 80204 USA“

Even if Jokic plays for the national team he will have considerably more time off this summer then he did last year, and I know it is important to many of these guys. So I am okay with him playing for the national team if he really wants to, but like I am sure the Nuggets fell I would prefer he works on getting in shape and working on his game.

[The Rebel]

Does Malone have any idea on how to fix the defense? I get the feeling he thinks it's a matter of effort and talent.

If he does he is not going to come out and say what they plan to do next year, but the fact is we have to get more willing defenders at forward and get rid of Nelson who is by far the worst defender on the team. Defense only requires skill from a shot blocker, but reality is defense is built on effort and scheme. The scheme last year sucked, as it depended on the guards being able to get around screens and the bigs always hedging, but did not allow for help defense from the forwards. Which left the Center to try to cover 2 guys if the guard drove down the lane and the opposing big also went toward the rim. It is just not effective guarding the rim, but it is more effective defending the 3. The problem is that the shot at the rim is easily the most effective shot in basketball, and unless someone like Mutombo is in the middle that shot is going to basically wide open for any team that has a half way effective ball handler on the PnR. Malone has to come up with a better plan, as Jokic is not going to turn into a shotblocking center anytime soon, but they have to find forwards willing to play defense all the time and get Nelson out of the lineup.

[NuggetsWY]

Does Malone have any idea on how to fix the defense? I get the feeling he thinks it's a matter of effort and talent.

If he does he is not going to come out and say what they plan to do next year, but the fact is we have to get more willing defenders at forward and get rid of Nelson who is by far the worst defender on the team. Defense only requires skill from a shot blocker, but reality is defense is built on effort and scheme. The scheme last year sucked, as it depended on the guards being able to get around screens and the bigs always hedging, but did not allow for help defense from the forwards. Which left the Center to try to cover 2 guys if the guard drove down the lane and the opposing big also went toward the rim. It is just not effective guarding the rim, but it is more effective defending the 3. The problem is that the shot at the rim is easily the most effective shot in basketball, and unless someone like Mutombo is in the middle that shot is going to basically wide open for any team that has a half way effective ball handler on the PnR. Malone has to come up with a better plan, as Jokic is not going to turn into a shotblocking center anytime soon, but they have to find forwards willing to play defense all the time and get Nelson out of the lineup.

In addition, most teams do NOT have all 3pt shooters and most teams do understand they can leave certain players open for a 3pt shot. The Nuggets seemed afraid to let anyone shoot from 3pt range. That's a big reason there was no help defense.

With the Nuggets running very few plays, just doing a lot of read-n-cut, they need to spend loads of time on defense. Rebel laid out a lot of it in the above but the good teams play defense differently depending on who's on the floor. It sure seemed to me like the Nuggets played the exact same defense every game, all game long. Modern teams are too good to not adjust more.

Defense is truly about effort and intelligence. ISO offense is about skill and effort. Motion offense is about effort and intelligence. These guys did not get to where they are without effort. If a coach can't get effort out of them, then trade them. They did it with Nurkic. They need to do it with more players.

IMO Nelson gives a barely acceptable defensive effort but he doesn't apply intelligence. His favorite approach to defense is to get physical. Maybe he's got a chip on his shoulder because of his size, but you can watch him try to push through even double screens. Even if you don't like him, you gotta give him a little credit for not being afraid to get physical. Just wish he knew something about defense.

[Acountant_Z]

Definitely hope Jokic takes Malone's advice, rest, work on his strength and endurance. It's his next step to claiming star status

Jokic refusing the call to play for National Team is almost unthinkable. You don't understand, it is his duty to people that idolize him way past anything you can imagine.

[skywalker33]

Definitely hope Jokic takes Malone's advice, rest, work on his strength and endurance. It's his next step to claiming star status

Jokic refusing the call to play for National Team is almost unthinkable. You don't understand, it is his duty to people that idolize him way past anything you can imagine.

While I do realize it's his choice, MANY American players opted to pass on some of the Olympic trials w/o repercussion. An right now Jokic isn't on any big contract to protect him, pretty sure the National Team isn't going to pay him anything should he go down with a career ending injury, he has to think of that as well. Financial security vs. fandom....know where my decision has to come from.

[Acountant_Z]

Definitely hope Jokic takes Malone's advice, rest, work on his strength and endurance. It's his next step to claiming star status

Jokic refusing the call to play for National Team is almost unthinkable. You don't understand, it is his duty to people that idolize him way past anything you can imagine.

While I do realize it's his choice, MANY American players opted to pass on some of the Olympic trials w/o repercussion. An right now Jokic isn't on any big contract to protect him, pretty sure the National Team isn't going to pay him anything should he go down with a career ending injurynt for , he has to think of that as well. Financial security vs. fandom....know where my decision has to come from.

Think of it his way, Pau plays for Spain, ALWAYS. Dirk did for German team that never had a chance. Divac and Peja never missed a call. Saric, Bogdanovic, KP, Gobert will all play. It is different for team USA, we can send D team and win.

[NuggetsWY]

Jokic refusing the call to play for National Team is almost unthinkable. You don't understand, it is his duty to people that idolize him way past anything you can imagine.

While I do realize it's his choice, MANY American players opted to pass on some of the Olympic trials w/o repercussion. An right now Jokic isn't on any big contract to protect him, pretty sure the National Team isn't going to pay him anything should he go down with a career ending injurynt for , he has to think of that as well. Financial security vs. fandom....know where my decision has to come from.

Think of it his way, Pau plays for Spain, ALWAYS. Dirk did for German team that never had a chance. Divac and Peja never missed a call. Saric, Bogdanovic, KP, Gobert will all play. It is different for team USA, we can send D team and win.

The landscape is changing - big contracts, and risk of injury, that's what a lot of players consider now - not all, but lots of them.

[Powder Blue]

Malone and TC all over Kroneke-owed radio lately.....I'm over hearing their rhetoric, make something happen already

[NuggetsWY]

https://soundcloud.com/altitudesports950/michael-malone-joins-helmer-and-hastings#t=0:00

Listen to the beginning of this interview. Malone talked about the importance of defense. Anyone believing he's done anything worth noting regarding Denver's defense.

[skywalker33]

https://soundcloud.com/altitudesports950/michael-malone-joins-helmer-and-hastings#t=0:00

Listen to the beginning of this interview. Malone talked about the importance of defense. Anyone believing he's done anything worth noting regarding Denver's defense.

Malone has been branded as "defensive" head coach, but I wonder by whom ??? Malone himself maybe....evident to me he doesn't know offense, doesn't know defense, has personel issues, poorly manages his team chemistry......why is he still here again ?

[NuggetsWY]

https://soundcloud.com/altitudesports950/michael-malone-joins-helmer-and-hastings#t=0:00

Listen to the beginning of this interview. Malone talked about the importance of defense. Anyone believing he's done anything worth noting regarding Denver's defense.

Malone has been branded as "defensive" head coach, but I wonder by whom ??? Malone himself maybe....evident to me he doesn't know offense, doesn't know defense, has personel issues, poorly manages his team chemistry......why is he still here again ?

Well, I guess he's here because of his great interviews with the media.

Remember this from his introduction?

"I have coached 106 games as an NBA head coach. Don't paint me and don't put me in a hole by saying, 'This is who you are.'' I played to the strength of our roster and we were efficient. That is one thing I stressed to both (Nuggets President) Josh (Kroenke) and (General Manager) Tim (Connelly) throughout the process," Malone said. "I believe in playing fast, but more important to me is efficiency."

Efficiency was also a word Kroenke used, as both team leaders harkened back to past years (like 2008-9) where the Nuggets were successful in part because they were efficient.

"We will be a team that defends, rebounds and runs with purpose," Malone promised.

Sacramento had a lot of turnovers when Malone was their head coach. There's a YouTube of him blasting them for that. Seems to me that "efficiency" would not include turnovers - the Nuggets seem to have plenty of turnovers - i.e., not efficient.

He said the Nuggets would be a team that "defends, rebounds and runs with purpose".
Defends? Not since Malone got here.
Rebounds? Not too shabby.
Runs? Not hardly, definitely in the bottom half of the league.

But he sounds good when he says these things.

[Apples123]

Listen to the beginning of this interview. Malone talked about the importance of defense. Anyone believing he's done anything worth noting regarding Denver's defense.

Malone has been branded as "defensive" head coach, but I wonder by whom ??? Malone himself maybe....evident to me he doesn't know offense, doesn't know defense, has personel issues, poorly manages his team chemistry......why is he still here again ?

Well, I guess he's here because of his great interviews with the media.

Remember this from his introduction?

"I have coached 106 games as an NBA head coach. Don't paint me and don't put me in a hole by saying, 'This is who you are.'' I played to the strength of our roster and we were efficient. That is one thing I stressed to both (Nuggets President) Josh (Kroenke) and (General Manager) Tim (Connelly) throughout the process," Malone said. "I believe in playing fast, but more important to me is efficiency."

Efficiency was also a word Kroenke used, as both team leaders harkened back to past years (like 2008-9) where the Nuggets were successful in part because they were efficient.

"We will be a team that defends, rebounds and runs with purpose," Malone promised.

Sacramento had a lot of turnovers when Malone was their head coach. There's a YouTube of him blasting them for that. Seems to me that "efficiency" would not include turnovers - the Nuggets seem to have plenty of turnovers - i.e., not efficient.

He said the Nuggets would be a team that "defends, rebounds and runs with purpose".
Defends? Not since Malone got here.
Rebounds? Not too shabby.
Runs? Not hardly, definitely in the bottom half of the league.

But he sounds good when he says these things.

Because he’s a “defense” coach who wants to play that style of basketball even when that’s not what’s best. When that person asked him that question he tried to hide behind the buzzword “efficiency” but that really exposes him for what he is.

I think at this point Jokic may have to go to the bench like last year because Malone’s system this year doesn’t seem to be like what we saw from the trends from last year. Millsap/Plumlee frontcourt with Jokic/Faried off of the bench? Thoughts?

[U hova]

Nuggets offense so efficient when Plumlee feels like posting up