For Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone, it doesn't matter if the team lures in a top free agent this summer. Rather, he wants the team to build on what they achieved last season.
Per Nick Kosmider of The Athletic, Malone chimed in on the big summer ahead which features some of the top players in the league. Apart from possible signings, big trade deals might be sealed. The biggest one to date was the New Orleans Pelicans-Los Angeles Lakers deal which sent Anthony Davis to Tinseltown.
Malone, however, doesn't think they need to get the next big fish that can turn the team around. Instead, he thinks the team should focus on developing the existing player they have and turn them into one of the elites.
“The easy answer is always to say, ‘Let’s go get Player X,’” Malone said. “The challenge sometimes is let’s build one of our players into one of those players. We’ve had countless examples of that, which is a testament to the culture we have here, a work culture.”
Malone guided the Nuggets to a second-place finish in the Western Conference. Come the postseason, they were defeated in seven games in the second round by the Portland Trail Blazers. For the 47-year-old, he wants the team to use that heartbreaking experience as motivation entering the 2019-20 season.
“We will use the pain of losing Game 7 on our home court as motivation all summer long,” Malone said of last month’s heartbreaking loss to the Blazers.
Indeed, there are bigger things ahead for the Nuggets. While other teams are craving for that one player who can turn their chances around, Malone and crew will continue developing their own.
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