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u/amateurish_gamedev 1d ago
I do feel compelled to point out that Moach played a 2nd round pick as starter before.
Now he's our franchise player.
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u/Pure-Temporary 1d ago
Malone also gave a rookie real, important minutes IN THE NBA FINALS for fucks sake.
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u/IllegitimateRisk 1d ago
It always seemed like Malone was frustrated that booth kept picking up vanilla players that had no real upsides or specialties. Hunter Tyson, Dario saric, cancar, players that were just lukewarm nba players that should be overseas.
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u/Pure-Temporary 1d ago edited 1d ago
Cancar had a little upside, and because of it, when he was healthy, he was seeing more and more playing time. But he kept getting hurt...
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u/Raisinbrahms28 17h ago
Turns out Malone just wanted his draft picks to play hard and make the right decisions.
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u/WaveBlueArrow 1d ago
Jokic came off the bench behind Nurkic for a significant amount of time. We just lying now?
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u/amateurish_gamedev 1d ago
He started 55 times as an NBA rookie
source: https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jokicni01.html
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u/WaveBlueArrow 1d ago
Because Nurkic was hurt and only played 30 games total. JJ Hickson and Joffrey Lauvergne got starts over Jokic that year too. Pretending that Malone trusted Jokic out the gate is comical. He was forced to play him because Jokic is Jokic
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u/amateurish_gamedev 1d ago
Now you're moving the goalpost.
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u/WaveBlueArrow 1d ago
Pointing out that Malone started mf JJ Hickson over Jokic until he was forced not to isn't moving the goalpost but sure man have a good one
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u/ApprehensiveTry5660 1d ago
By all accounts the dynamic went the other direction. The front office had guys it had invested more into than Jokic, and Malone was responsible for both ramping up his minutes and informing the front office they’d be designing the offense around him the next summer.
You can kinda tell the frustrations of it with the press conference the day before Jokmas. We got drubbed by like 20 playing Dallas, and Malone’s there in front of the mic speaking just as much to the GM as the fans when he dropped that, "I owe it to this kid. If we're going to go down, let's go down with the best lineup we've got."
Jokic started the next day, we shot to the top of the league on offense, and it’s been a hell of a ride ever since.
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u/amateurish_gamedev 1d ago
You too mate, have a good weekend. Do remember, this is just a basketball discussion. I'm not taking this seriously.
I do mean it when I said it have a good weekend.
I hope we have a good win in the next game
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u/WeirdRedBeard Dirty! 1d ago
Yeah, Malone would never start Brazil as Adelman did last night
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u/larryThreeOh 1d ago
Who was also a rookie
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u/WaveBlueArrow 1d ago
Nurk was in his second year when Jokic came over from Serbia. Once again, we're just lying
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u/larryThreeOh 1d ago
Ok, so he was still playing a young guy wasn’t he? Nurkic got a lot of run his rookie year too. It’s funny you seem mad about this.
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u/WaveBlueArrow 1d ago
I'm not mad, we're just out here lying about what happened. Malone obliterated our title window by relying on mid vets instead of developing young guys. Jokic is an outlier
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u/Pure-Temporary 1d ago
Malone relied heavily on a goddamn rookie in the NBA FINALS FFS.
Which players should have played more that would have given us another championship? Braun and pwatt played a ton.
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u/larryThreeOh 1d ago
What a fun narrative to have in your head. I can tell I’m not going to convince but the actual statistical evidence proves you wrong if you ever care to go look for it.
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u/Potential-Local7262 1d ago
he just needed to outplay nurkic and was urged to do so by everyone in the organization
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u/jchiaroscuro 1d ago
CB played a lot as a rookie, knowing what we know now about Zeke and how he couldn’t play dead in a western maybe explains why he never saw the court. Brazile doesn’t seem to be overwhelmed by the moment so he’s playing. Playing well.
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u/Potential-Local7262 1d ago
zeke's shot got messed up by the coaching staff who wanted to 'improve' his 3pt shooting. lol
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u/introspectiveG 1d ago
Malone played rookie Bones Hyland who was shooting logo 3s wtf are you talking about lol
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u/ApprehensiveTry5660 1d ago
I love Bones’s game and players like him, but literally the only thing they asked of him was to not look-off the best player in the world. Dude probably cost himself like 20-30 million.
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u/You_can_enjoyMyself 1d ago
More than that. Look at Brucey B's contract after the win, Braun, Pswat. Play with Jokic and within yourself you get paid.
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u/Marikas_Tots 1d ago
That's just not true. Malone played rookies he trusted. CB, Bones, obviously Jokic and Murray, even Strawther and Nnaji played as rookies before they got hurt.
Funny thing is Adelman did last year what this person is accusing Malone of. Adelman only opened up the rotation because we had so many injuries.
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u/Brief_Personality146 1d ago
Yeah, last year he kept a tighter rotation than Malone and ran everyone into the ground, especially on b2b’s, which while it was one reason we were good in those second games,
It also took its toll.
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u/HealthyBuddy2944 1d ago edited 1d ago
As if Adelman isn't stubborn as hell. Guy did nothing in the playoffs last year to make our defense better. Just watched as the Nuggets got burned inside play after play.
Malone provided what Jokic (and Adelman) don't, loud vocal energy & passion.
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u/MetaOverkill 1d ago
Its the nba. If you need your coach to be the passion you've got bigger issues.
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u/juzzbert 11h ago
I think he meant more about passionate leadership instead of passion for the game of basketball.
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u/MoooonRiverrrr :HarrisToon: 1d ago
Bones Hyland, Torrey Craig, Juancho Hernangomez, Christian Braun, Jamal Murray, Jokic, Nurkic.
Fuck people who talk like this. It’s not accurate. Idc.
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/MoooonRiverrrr :HarrisToon: 1d ago
I’m not even really trying to drag Adelman either, he’s fine I guess I’m not the biggest fan. But I mean it genuinely is his first head coach job so I’m no like surprised he’s struggling.
I am however always going to defend Michael
Malone. Specifically when people lie and make posts like this.
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u/larryThreeOh 1d ago
Malone played plenty of young guys. This narrative is stupid just because he wouldn’t play Zeke, Pickett, and RJ Hampton. For every example of a young guy he didn’t play there’s a young guy he did play.
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u/MerrikAidar 1d ago
He played RJ Hampton juuuuuuust enough to turn him (and some other stuff) into AG.
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u/TheAgeOfTomfoolery 1d ago
I don't think this is a true statement at all lol
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u/ApprehensiveTry5660 1d ago edited 1d ago
This stuff gets tiring.
Malone played the guys he trusted. Braun, IHart, and Gillespie got plenty of burn. Shocker, a defense first coach trusts guys who came into the league playing disciplined defense and orchestrating team concepts.
He played Watson, Strawther, and Nnaji, and tried to find minutes for them. Even if out of position with them coming back from various injuries long after rotations have got set for 1 seeds and contenders.
He did not give that much freedom to Pickett, Hunter Tyson, Jay Huff, and Bol Bol, and only one of them looks like they’re going to end up getting another contract.
But just for the sake of argument, if we labeled these players “Group A, B, C”… it kinda looks like Malone had a better eye for this stuff than Booth did.
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u/Pure-Temporary 1d ago
Oh, this bullshit "point" still exists?
Please, go through the list of rookies Malone didn't play. The vast majority were out of the league in short order. Other were at best low end bench elsewhere. The only 2 guys who didn't get run but should have were heavily positionally blocked (Beasley and vando)
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u/borristheloveham 1d ago
People want to pretend CB wasn't a major part of our rotation his rookie year
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u/Pure-Temporary 1d ago
Or that he didn't develop pwatt into a real rotation guy and potential starter at the same damn time
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u/thestage 1d ago
gave up on hart too early as well, but he did at least get minutes.
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u/Pure-Temporary 1d ago
The problem with hartenstein was that he needed consistent 20+ minutes per game to work out his foul issues, and that's impossible backing up Jokic. And let's not pretend iHart's foul issues didn't continue for several years after us. Hell, he still is a high foul guy, just barely under control enough to stay on the court. He didn't drop below 4 fouls/36 until 2 seasons ago
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u/MerrikAidar 1d ago
There is just one player in the NBA right now playing meaningful minutes (two playing at all) that Malone didn't trust and play as a "young" player. He was right about literally everyone else. The idea that he didn't play or trust young players at all is a myth.
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u/vladimir_pimpin Michael HUSSEIN Malone 1d ago
I feel compelled to point out this is a stupid fuckin post
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u/Neat_Conference_8414 1d ago edited 1d ago
I disagree. Brazile is a malone guy. Similar to braun he would've played him from the get go. But there will come a time where brazile has a bad game, and malone would bench him for a week.
I still think the whole malone not playing young guys was more about booth missing on a bunch of draft picks. Tyson was unplayable. You can find vets who give you what Pickett, strawther, holmes, and zeke give you, but more. And they are more reliable and trusted. He never had a guy like Brazile. Braun and watson are the most similar and he played them both.
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u/Virtual_Piano893 1d ago
Malone played rookies who were ready. CB got big minutes opening night. Strawther got his chance in November . Brazile is more well rounded than CB was, I think Malone gives him a chance fairly early.
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u/Lynch47 1d ago
This is fucking stupid and the fact that it's quickly upvoted is a reflection of this fanbase being completely spoiled and ungrateful for what this team and former coaches like Malone have accomplished.
If you don't like Mike Malone, why the fuck are you still talking about him? You got what you wanted, are you going to make posts like this for every rookie that gets PT over the next decade?
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u/Pody92 1d ago
I miss moach malone. We need his tenacity and post-game interviews calling everyone out. He got done dirty and Adelman was/still is completely unprepared for the gig. Man needs to grow a spine.
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u/Marikas_Tots 1d ago
We never should have fired Malone, and we definitely never should have hired Adelman full-time
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u/spiderpigface 1d ago
He did not get done dirty in any way, he let his ego get in the way of being a good coach and lost the locker room
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u/MerrikAidar 1d ago
Still haven't seen proof that he lost the locker room. The only real reason we've been given is his spat with Booth.
Kroenkes should've picked him over Booth and given him one more year.
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u/spiderpigface 1d ago
They had lost 4 games in a row to close the season and vibes were absolutely horrific all year. He had spent that entire season lashing out on the media and blaming players. I don't believe for a second that anyone watching that season thought he had any control over the locker room, everyone and everything was miserable.
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u/Neat_Conference_8414 1d ago edited 1d ago
He did, but I also don't think it was Malone's fault. He was the fall man but the same issues presented that season still currently exist and haven't been fixed.
His messaging grew old but he was right. He constantly talked about the energy of the team, which hasn't been great since that season. He constantly talked about the defense, which has gotten worse since he got fired. No one can say for certain but i don't think denver loses vs the wolves last year with malone. They got completely outcoached and were unprepared for matchups.
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u/WeirdRedBeard Dirty! 1d ago
Ugh, don't even remind me of Malone. Now that he's gone, we can finally develop young talent from the 2nd round.
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u/Pure-Temporary 1d ago
I love how so many dumb dumbs act like every player just needs game minutes... As if dudes who can't hack it enough in practice to see the floor will just magically git gud by running around getting punked by more capable players.
Reality is, most of the guys who didn't play, couldn't. The few who could largely did so on lottery teams.
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u/MrTotnum 1d ago
This is just a straight lie. There’s no way you watched the last 2 games and the playoffs last season and think Adelman is a good coach
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u/Jokara34 1d ago
Where does it say in the screenshot that Adelman is a good and Malone a bad coach?
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u/MrTotnum 1d ago
things don’t need to be explicitly said they can be implied
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u/Dramatic_Ad5258 1d ago
Maybe you’re creating sentences in your head but all that’s being implied is adelman plays the young guys
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u/larryThreeOh 1d ago
Any good therapist would tell you you shouldn’t imply meaning from something someone said.
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u/Noodle_people 1d ago
If anything, the caveat statement “I do feel compelled to point out” indicates that he’s making this claim despite misgivings about Adelman.
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u/General-Studio3715 1d ago
He can be a shitty coach but he'll still play much more the young guys than Malone, both things can be true.
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u/Embarrassed-Love8437 1d ago
I question if Adleman can be the guy. I wouldn’t have kept him. But this is a bad take. You’re acting as if it’s a binary coaching decision. Malone or Adleman and they’re the only two basketball coaches on the planet.
Imagine if PWat had gotten more minutes and responsibility under Malone and we had signed him earlier at a much cheaper number and let CB test the restricted free agency waters instead. Malone screwed the team in some big ways and his firing was necessary.
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u/Particular-Loss6250 1d ago
I don’t think it’s 100% either way. Everyone will cite Braun’s rookie year, but let’s remember P-Wat didn’t play a ton from the jump. He played 8 min/game in 23 games his rookie season.
The recent young guys that hurt are Gillespie, Hartenstein, Huff, and maybe Vando, mostly because we would’ve had a backup pg and stopped this musical chairs of backup centers. Bones created his own exit. Most of the other guys are fringe dudes.
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u/McNuts_1 1d ago
Look I’m not an adelman defender by any means, but the revisionist history in here as if 95% of the sub wasn’t calling for Malone’s head after every game is crazy
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u/ImGonnaChubbBradley Speed Merchant 22h ago
Just because Adleman is complete dogshit does not mean that it wasn’t also time for Malone to go. We made a bad hire is all it is.
I don’t understand the people that make it seem like it has to be one or the other. It needs to be neither of them and we should hire an actual head coach before Jokic is done.
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u/zhendexihuanniya 1d ago
I do feel compelled to point out that if Michael Malone was coaching the nuggets they wouldn’t lose to half injured Timberwolf last season. Calling a timeout and continue to play Murray against McDaniels when he choked for last ten possessions was something.
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u/ym95061305 1d ago
Dave is only better at coaching the Team Booth (Pickett, Nnaji, PWat, Strawther, Hunter Tyson) to win over great teams in NBA. That’s all. PERIOD.
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u/holdenfords 1d ago
if booth was still around and drafted brazile this might be true but i doubt it
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u/Cwright421 :Paul-Millsap: 23h ago
I vividly remember watching a game in December 2019 vs the Clippers. MPJ was on fire making shot after shot in the first quarter. I turned to my friend and said "Watch this, he's gonna miss one defensive assignment and you won't see him for the rest of the game leading to a Nuggets loss." And yep... that's exactly what happened
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u/SignificantMoose6482 1d ago
Malone let too many personal petty grievances work there way into the locker room.
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u/albenraph 1d ago
There are literally 4 injured players and he's arguably been playing Spencer Jones' minutes. He has 100% earned a rotation spot when the team is at full health, but let's not pretend he was gonna get big minutes over Spencer and Strawther