Malone: "Inconsistent because of youth"

[NuggetsWY]

Over and over, Malone keeps saying the Nuggets are inconsistent because of their youth.

Top minutes played, in order:
Gallinari
Chandler
Harris
Barton
Mudiay (not any more)
Jokic
Nelson
Plumlee
Faried

So it must all be Jokic's fault? He's a 2nd year player. 3rd year Harris & 4th year Plumlee don't really count as youth, do they?

So they question becomes, why are the Nuggets inconsistent?

[The Rebel]

The Nuggets are inconsistent due to injuries, constantly changing rotations, and inconsistent effort from the veterans. Jokic has been pretty consistent as a starter when a double double is a disappointing game. While their results are inconsistent, the young guys all give pretty consistent effort overall, but that is Malone for you.

Early last season Malone blamed the issues on Faried, then when Nurkic came back he was the one to blame and that continued through the day after he was traded, even now when FAried has a bad game he has no problem calling him out after the game. Now Malone has to have a new scapegoat and what is better to blame than youth?

He needs to be looking at guys like Nelson, Chandler, and Barton as last night is just more proof that those guys do not give as much effort as they should on many nights. You can also look at how little the starters outside of Jokic give on one night of the back to backs, when 1 of the games is a total blowout. Especially since it appears that Malone bends over backwards to keep them happy.

[kinggnik87]

Malone lacks the authority/domineering power (G Popovich has) to sit above his players. He just gave too much control to his old players (Jameer, Barton & Chandler).

[The Rebel]

One other thing I would like to add is that last year we had Jokic, Mudiay, and Harris all starting at 21 or younger with both Harris and Mudiay getting considerably more mpg, we had more games missed due to injuries, a new coach, and yet still managed to win 33 games. Chandler replaced the many of the minutes that Arthur and some of the minutes Joffrey got, Murray has basically replaced Mudiay in the rotation, and Plumlee and Faried replaced the minutes that Nurkic and HIckson got and a few of the minutes Joffrey and Arthur got. Based on who is actually getting minutes this team did not get younger, they got older and more experienced. Today we are on pace to win 37 games, or 4 more than last year, that is not due to age, it is due to inconsistent effort.

[skywalker33]

9-1-1.....9-1-1 call the ambulance for WY. Says Malone WANTS to play Murray more.....maybe WY has a hotline to the Nuggets FO we don't know ABOUT.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/2644/jamal-murray

[NuggetsWY]

9-1-1.....9-1-1 call the ambulance for WY. Says Malone WANTS to play Murray more.....maybe WY has a hotline to the Nuggets FO we don't know ABOUT.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/2644/jamal-murray

No Hotline! But I do have a big mouth and make a lot of noise.
This should have been expected this year, but long ago. Look at other teams, like I mentioned before, Murray's dropping in mpg compared to other rookies. I'm just glad to hear it. Now, let's see if it actually happens. Color me skeptical.

22.3 Last 10 Games
24.5 March

[NuggetsWY]

http://milehighsports.com/consistency-nuggets-achilles-heel/
Article says the Nuggets have been inconsistent.
Doesn't that reflect the team's leadership? Coach? Veterans?
How does a team that only has 7 players averaging over 24 mpg end up with 26 different lineups?
Just curious, but doesn't that seem like someone just can't figure out how to manage the team?

[NuggetsWY]

Another article that addresses inconsistency on defense:
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/03/09/denver-nuggets-inconsistent-defense/

It includes the following statement:
“I often ask myself that,” Malone said. “You go back to the start of the regular season, and we were playing good defense the first 10, close to 15 games."

To a degree, I agree with Malone. 3pt defense was excellent, for the most part, at the beginning of the year. Think about that and realize that was with Nurkic & Jokic both starting and neither is highly mobile nor great at covering the 3pt line. However, they are both good at protecting the paint. They are not rim protectors but they get in the way of players driving to the basket. That apparently left the other players free to play tighter on the 3pt shooters IMO.

Let's reconsider Malone's statement above and look at opponent's total points in the first ten games and maybe the Nuggets were not as consistent on defense as he may have thought.

102
115
105
99
103
107
108
125
106
112

Granted, different teams score at different rates based especially upon the pace of the game. However, the spikes at games 2, 8, and 10 are significant, especially game 8. Not particularly bad, but still showing some inconsistency. 7 of the first 10 games seemed to have some good defense but what ratio means consistency?

As I've said before, Malone gives good sound bites. He says the things that make everything look positive; but sometimes he either stretches the truth or he's an idiot - and I do NOT believe he is an idiot.