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Ex-Cavs big man says Michael Malone lost ‘ears’ of Nuggets locker room: ‘Watch their effort’

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Jesse Cinquini

As of Tuesday, Michael Malone is no longer coaching Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets. By multiple accounts, he was the most successful head coach in the history of the franchise.

He led the Nuggets to more regular-season victories than any other head coach in the lengthy history of the organization, and he also was patrolling the sidelines for Denver when the team won its first championship in 2023.

But former Cleveland Cavaliers big man Kendrick Perkins didn’t express much shock at the Nuggets’ choice to part ways with a coach who helped them win a title not long ago. He argued that Malone lost the locker room in Denver and that folks merely had to watch Denver’s effort to realize that.

Denver has announced that David Adelman will serve as the team’s head coach for the remainder of the 2024-25 season. Adelman has years of experience working as an NBA assistant coach and has been working for the Nuggets’ coaching staff since the 2017-18 campaign.

Before joining the Nuggets’ staff, Adelman worked for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic.

The Nuggets have floundered lately in a critical stretch of the regular season with many teams in the Western Conference still vying for playoff positioning.

Denver has dropped four games in a row and could realistically drop to as low as the No. 8 seed in the West if the team can’t finish off the campaign on a high note. The Nuggets are currently less than one game ahead of the No. 8 seed Memphis Grizzlies.

Unfortunately for the Nuggets, too, they will face off against competitive Western Conference teams in each of their last three games of the campaign. Denver has matchups against the Sacramento Kings, Grizzlies and Houston Rockets left on its schedule. Houston seems likely to end up as the No. 2 seed in the West at this juncture, and the Grizzlies and Kings are both riding short winning streaks.

It’s going to be an important stretch for the Nuggets. Despite all of the chaos, they do still have a chance to win 50 games this season.

Jesse Cinquini

Jesse is a sports journalist with extensive experience covering the NBA. He has worked as a staff writer at SB Nation’s CelticsBlog and The Knicks Wall.

Published by
Jesse Cinquini

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