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It was a shock heard around the basketball world when the Denver Nuggets fired head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth a few games before the playoffs. While many rumors about the Nuggets' relationship with Malone and Booth continue to come out in the fallout of the news, there are more reports that the firings could have even happened earlier in the season.
According to the latest article from ESPN's Tim MacMahon and Ramona Shelburne, it detailed the inner workings of Denver's organization and the feelings towards Malone and Booth. One important part of the information described how Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke wanted to “clean house at the All-Star break” though it didn't happen since the team was on a eight-game winning streak at the time.
“Kroenke decided to fire Malone and Booth late Sunday night, sources told ESPN,” MacMahon and Shelburne wrote. “It wasn't the first time this season that Kroenke seriously pondered parting ways with the winningest coach in franchise history and the executive who had put together the final pieces of the Nuggets' championship puzzle. Kroenke wanted to clean house at the All-Star break, sources said, but an eight-game winning streak spared Malone and Booth.”
A “cold war” in the Nuggets organization
With the Nuggets continuing to play after cleaning house as the team looks to make a playoff run despite losing their championship-winning head coach, people still wonder why the firings took place. While people will point to the success the franchise has had, the behind-the-scenes retellings could tell another story as there was apparently a “cold war” between Malone and Booth where people in the organization “felt compelled to choose sides.”
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“Coaches, front office staffers, and support staff felt compelled to choose sides, multiple team sources said,” ESPN's MacMahon and Shelburne wrote. “Instead of focusing on how to get the most out of a team with a three-time MVP having arguably his best season as a professional, energy was being spent on determining which side people were on — and whether they could be trusted.”
Due to this and everything else that happened, Booth pulled the plug on this era of Denver basketball as they look to bring in a permanent head coach and general manager for next season. In an in-house interview released by the team on Tuesday, Kroenke revealed some trends were “worrisome” to the team.
“There were certain trends that were very worrisome to me at certain points in time, but they would get masked by a few wins here and there,” Kroenke said. “In the world of professional sports, where winning and losing is your currency, winning can mask a lot of things.”
At any rate, Denver has two games left in the regular season as the team faces the Memphis Grizzlies, another franchise that surprisingly fired their head coach, on Friday night. The Nuggets currently have a 48-32 record which puts them fourth in the Western Conference.
