THE J0KER wrote:The Rebel wrote:He did, he is signed for 3 more years, however there have long been rumors that some in the front office compare him to the Warriors Marc Jackson, and if the team takes a step back than that will give them some huge ammo. Add that to his issues with so many of the young guys that have come through here, and not wanting to play MPJ (reportedly partially due to not trusting MPJ whatever that means) and I think there are many that will be calling for his head. Whether the Kroenkes listen is open for discussion.
Fact of the matter is that Malone is not a terrible coach, but he is not a great coach either. Murray, Jokic, Barton, Plumlee, and so many guys have obviously improved under Malone. He seems to have great relationships with his guys, and has improved in game situations. He has struggled with big personality type guys, he has his obvious favorites, he is slow to adjust, refuses to play offensive type players while bitching about the lack of offense, and has been out coached many times, especially last year in the playoffs. Overall I have a hard time seeing any real argument that he is more than an average NBA coach.
I also think that partially due to Malone's roster management and having to make several deals like the Beasley/Juancho deal due to Malone refusing to play guys, we are very limited in ways to improve next summer. After bringing back almost the exact same team this year, and improvements from Murray and Jokic, the front office is going to be looking to make changes if we take a step back and we have very limited assets and no real cap room.
While I agree literally with everything you said in this post about Malone, I think you are very delusional about his status in Denver. More and more I'm convinced that the Kroenke family was very happy about what happens during the Carmelo Anthony era where for several years team reached playoff every time, Pepsi Center was well crowded, and only some fans are tired of numerous playoff 1st rounds lose, not this owners for sure. The same pattern you can see in London's soccer club Arsenal owned by Kroenke which is obviously more than happy of being around the TOP5 English team every season without really serious attempt to grab some trophy or make big international success in Euro cups or buy some true superstar. When Kroenke was a major owner of St Lois Rams they never reached the playoff but that makes him more easy to relocate the team to bigger LA market, so team which was just 5 years ago NFL bottom-5 by value, now is TOP5 by value and that makes him very happy ruling lately Rams on a little bit different way than other Kroenke family franchises.
While I agree with you in some regards to the Kroenkes, I think you are very wrong in what they want, especially out of the Nuggets.
The Arsenal are a very different situation, as they play in a system that forces teams to spend hundreds of millions of dollars, usually going deep into debt to get the players needed to be contenders. With the hope that when they sale the teams the value will be high enough to cover that debt and still make a profit. I call it the dot.com of the business world. As the internet companies spend billions of dollars buying market share with the hope that it eventually turns a profit, but a bad downturn and it will kill those businesses.
Kroenke is a real estate developer, that is a very different breed of guy. Debt is risk, long term profits are great but no cash flow will destroy that, and you have to take the long view.
As for the Melo years, if you think the Kroenkes were happy with those years than you are not paying attention. They replaced the front office 3 times in the 7 years Melo was here, that indicates that they were not thrilled with those teams. To put that in perspective the Knicks have changed front offices 3 times in the last 7 years, the 76ers have changed twice in the last 7 years, the Bucks 1 time in the last 7 years, the Celtics, rockets, Spurs, Mavs, WArriors, and Portland have all had their front office in place for at least 7 straight years. Owners who are satisfied are not changing out their front office.
As for his other teams, the Avalanche spent as much as any team in the NHL prior to the salary cap, and they have 2 championships. The Los Angeles Rams fell off last year, but were in the superbowl the prior year and spent plenty of money. The Nuggets have been in the luxury tax 4 times, and have only had marginal success. The Rapids and Mammoth I am unsure about, but know they spend a lot of money promoting 2 teams in leagues with only a very niche market.
That being said Kroenke is a successful real estate investor/developer. In all my years working in and around real estate the successful investors are always cheep as can be. They want max value for every dollar they spend and they have no interest in taking on unnecessary debt or wasting assets. Kroenke will only spend when he sees the value, and it is hard to see the value in this team as currently being ran.
THE J0KER wrote:And frankly speaking, If I'm not Nuggets fan which wants something more (due great potential of Nuggets young core) I would respect this "safe" business model of creating decent sports clubs in the TOP quarter (or close) of the league without risky moves and without some extra motivations and goals for the next "The Contender" step.
I have very little respect for owners that just want to compete, and while I think Kroenke being cheap has gotten in the way, I truly believes he wants to win.
THE J0KER wrote:Our owner is not Steve Ballmer and our GM is not Jerry West with their highest goals and expectations, so I'm pretty sure Malone will survive even losing in 1st round of playoff this (post)season as he survived already in the past back-to-back missing playoff for one single win in a two seasons where he directly cost team 5+ wins by very strange decisions. And Malone is maybe irrational and control-freak in relations with players and in during game decision-making situations, but to me, his relationship with FO and Kroenke(s) seems idyllic, he learns his lessons from previous Sacramento bad experience. And also don't forget that they all are collaborators in all strategic mistakes which is done in the past 4 years overshadowed by Jokic rise into NBA best center, Murray improvement, and great depth of young core playing under a rookie contract.
Steve Ballmer may have more money, but what has he done with the money? For all the hype Ballmer gets, they have only paid the luxury tax 4 times in his history despite having considerably higher revenue than the Nuggets.
As for Jerry West, he is a consultant, and while I am sure he would like to win, at this point the Clippers have had less success under Balmer than the Nuggets have had under stan Kroenke, and Ballmer bought a team that was thought to be a borderline contender.
At the end of the day nobody knows what Stan Kroenke is thinking, while Josh is the official owner, Stan is still holding the purse strings and ultimately in charge. Malone can have a great relationship with Connelly and Josh, but ultimately it will be Stan who decides. Stan wants to win, Josh wants to win, and I doubt they are going to settle because Malone is a nice guy.
THE J0KER wrote:Someone would say that he should be praised for Jokic's success and unique style, but that is just partly true. If you have forward/center passing genius in the roster and don't have elite PG-playmaker you must be the worst coach to not use it. Look this season where two young talented centers Adebayo and Sabonis also showed great passing skills how fast Miami and Indiana adopted their offense system to that! What can cost Malone much more than disappointed playoff result can be if he continues to do with Porter what he is doing so far if owners feel they losing the property because of that, and we talking here about all-star level talent.
I will give Malone credit for Murray and Jokic both developing other parts of their games. There is no question that he has had a positive effect on them, and several others for that matter. However I would agree that his part in that is overrated and he has really struggled with some guys.
While the Nuggets have drawn better attendance then they ever have this year, they know that the team lost attendance and TV ratings through the Melo years. You can say that enough people still went to the games, but it is a known fact that they were dropping after about 3 years of losing in the 1st round. The team finally has a buzz around them again, and with the TV deal still not getting done they cannot afford to have fans to lose interest.
As for MPJ, like I said in the other thread, I cannot remember a time when it was even rumored that Stan Kroenke had made a player untouchable as it was rumored at the trade deadline this year, take that as you will but it tells me that Stan is paying attention and Stan is likely not real happy with things the way they are. I honestly would not be too surprised to see Connelly and Malone fired if this team does not make it to the 2nd round with the trade debacles we have had and Malone refusing to use the guys on the bench to fill roles it is obvious this team needs filled.