Michael Malone to Nuggets: Latest Contract Details, Comments and Reaction
The Denver Nuggets found their new head coach Monday, agreeing to terms with Michael Malone, confirmed the team.
The pact is a four-year contract, according to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.
Wojnarowski indicates the fourth year of Malone's contract is a team option, and his report also provided further details on how Malone won over the Denver brass. Malone reportedly beat out interim coach Melvin Hunt thanks to an impressive line of meetings that swayed president Josh Kroenke and general manager Tim Connelly to hire him.
Kroenke discussed why the team chose Malone, via NBA.com:
"Michael’s experiences throughout his basketball career have helped shape him into a coach and person that we believe can help take our organization to a special place in the future. I want to personally thank Melvin Hunt and his family who have been the ultimate professionals throughout this entire process.
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The Washington Post's Michael Lee weighed in on the Nuggets' hire:
Denver's senior vice president of business and team operations Pete D'Alessandro was the general manager for the Sacramento Kings when Malone was coach there for a little more than a season. D'Alessandro surprisingly fired Malone despite a decent 11-13 start to the 2014-15 campaign after going 28-54 the previous year.
Kroenke announced when D'Alessandro was hired last week that the objective of bringing him in was "creating additional synergy between our business and team operations to help take our organization to another level on and off the playing floor," per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com).
At least there's a familiarity factor between Malone and the Nuggets' newest executive. The improvement Malone oversaw in what seemed like a dire situation in Sacramento bodes well for the rebuilding effort he'll be undertaking with his new team.
ESPN's Gary Gerould is pleased Malone is getting another crack at an NBA head coaching gig:
Even though this may seem like a good hire on the surface, Brian Shaw was thought to be a hot coaching commodity before flaming out in his brief tenure with the Nuggets. Shaw was fired after starting with a meager 20-39 record last season and failing to make the playoffs in 2013-14.
Malone has dealt with mercurial personalities such as DeMarcus Cousins in the past, so there's reason to believe he can get Denver's players to buy in better than Shaw ever managed.
With the seventh overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft, the Nuggets front office will hopefully add another key piece for Malone to work with. Denver must nail that pick and hope its other young players, led by point guard Ty Lawson, can step up for any hope at a considerable turnaround in Malone's first year at the helm.
