Denver’s nuggets have fired chief coach Michael Malone and General Manager Calvin Booth, the team announced Tuesday. It is a couple of shocking layoffs in the last week of NBA regular season. Malone led Nuggets to a NBA Championship in 2023, less than two years ago. Denver lost in the second round of the playoffs in 2024, and the team (47-32) could end anywhere from third place at the Western Conference to as low as eighth in the classification this season.
Malone, who was about to complete his tenth season with the franchise, is the most winning coach in the history of the Nuggets, and had made the postseason six consecutive times. Malone, until this week, was the only chief coach, the three times MVP of the NBA, Nikola Jokić, has played in his 10 -year career.
The assistant coach David Adelman is assuming the position of Denver coach, the team announced.
The owner of the team, Josh Kroenke, issued a statement on Tuesday, calling at the time of the “unfortunate” decision. He said he wants to give his team the “best opportunity” to compete for a championship this year. This is how Kroenke explained the surprising movement to shoot Malone:
“This decision was not taken lightly and was evaluated very carefully, and we do it only with the intention of giving our group the best opportunity to compete for the NBA Championship of 2025 and deliver another title to Denver and our fans everywhere. While the time of this decision is unfortunate, since the coach Malone helped build the bases of our level program now of the championship, it is a necessary step to allow us to compensate for us to compensate for us. higher level at the highest level, “Kroenke,” Kroenke, “Kroenke,” at this time, “at this time,” Kroenke. “
“There is no amount of gratitude that we can adequately transmit to its contributions since it joined our franchise in 2015. It is with our greatest respect that we would like to thank coach Malone for the most successful decade in the history of Nuggets, establishing the record of all time and helping to deliver our first championship to Denver.”
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However, Kroenke explains it, the moment of Malone’s dismissal does not make much sense. But, again, Nuggets are not the only playoff team in recent weeks to separate from their chief coach. The Mephis Grizzlies Taylor Jenkins fired chief coach At the end of last month. Clearly, there is some recent precedent for this. But it does not make it less confusing.
It has been informed of tension behind the scene with the Nuggets regarding a power struggle between Malone and Booth, and before the announcement that Booth also went through the door, it could be explained that the property was put on the side of the main office. However, the Nuggets expelled both, deciding that starting again was the best way forward.
Given the high expectations surrounding the pepitas, there will always be pressure to succeed, but RAMONA SHELBURN DE ESPN He informs that this season has been especially “tense and pressurized”, with Malone and Booth that have different ideas about how to lead the team. It is known that Malone favors the interpreted veterans, while Booth and the main office have wanted Malone to support the younger boys on the list and develop the talent they wrote. Young types such as Christian Braun, Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson have seen their game time significantly increase, partly because Nuggets wanted to avoid the second very restrictive tax of taxes, which resulted in not signing again to the veteran guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
It could be argued that Nuggets have had a lower performance this season, since they have the best player on the planet that adapts to them every night in Jokić. Since the rest of the stars, Denver has gone 11-13, and although Jokić has done practically everything that can be for this team to win, on several occasions it has not been enough. Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon have dealt with injuries, which have certainly taken into account the hair removal and decrease of Denver, but that clearly did not weigh enough in Denver’s decision to fire Malone.
As for Booth, he had been with the Nuggets since 2020, and in Kroenke’s statement, he said that Nuggets will not extend their contract beyond this season.
“I want to thank Calvin Booth for leading our main office during the last three years and most importantly for helping to put the final pieces in his place for the list that gave Denver already our fans his first NBA championship,” Kroenke said. “Calvin’s knowledge about the game, his passion for exploration and his long history as a player and executive in the NBA helped to raise our organization to new heights, which we will continue advancing. We are grateful to Calvin for their eight years with the pepitas and will know their place in the history of Nuggets as our first general manager winning championship for years.”
Now the nuggets will go to the postseason under a new direction with Adelman, son of the chief coach of the Hall of Fame, Rick Adelman, in charge. It will certainly serve as a test for the main assistant to ensure work beyond this season, but Denver will also probably analyze other candidates when the season ends. The same goes for General Manager, which is an equally pressing problem than the NBA Draft And free agency rises rapidly after playoffs.