Michael Malone Articles - Page 17

Portland Trail Blazers big man Jusuf Nurkić did not have a great relationship with Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone during his time with the team. He didn’t appreciate Malone benching him at the tail-end of the 2015-16 season. But he especially didn’t like how Malone decided to “sweet talk” him instead of being more […]

The Los Angeles Lakers matched up against the Denver Nuggets Sunday night, and the game took a turn for the worse on the Nuggets’ part before halftime. Nikola Jokic stumbled to the floor after scrambling for a rebound directly in front of a referee. No call was made and Kyle Kuzma grabbed the miss, working the […]

There was plenty to dissect from the annihilation Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic wreaked on the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday. Jokic hung a career-high 41 points on the Nets to go with 12 rebounds, five assists, two steals, and two blocks, doing so in just 31 minutes. Jokic toyed with the Nets, who had no […]

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was simply unstoppable on Tuesday, as he almost single-handedly defeated the undermanned Brooklyn Nets by scoring a career-high 41 points in a 112-104 victory. Apart from that, Jokic also had 12 rebounds, five assists, two steals, two blocks, and went 4-of-9 from the three-point area. Jokic’s memorable night made plenty […]

Through 10 games so far this season, Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray has shown a lot of improvement in his game, and has been producing better numbers than from his rookie year. That said, it’s not surprising that Mike Malone is very impressed with what he’s seen from him, and wants him to play a […]

The NBA regular season is upon us. What this means is that we’re done trying to stomach watching practice-squad quality players litter the floor during preseason games. We’re also about to see the best of the best duke it out for NBA supremacy. But let’s not forget that the intrigue isn’t solely on the basketball […]

The Denver Nuggets have not only upgraded their roster with the addition of Paul Millsap, but have also added another year and another offseason under centerpiece Nikola Jokic, who is slated to go from an offensive dynamo to an all-around star in the coming years. Head coach Mike Malone noted his progress after four of […]

Following the signing of Paul Millsap during the summer, the Denver Nuggets were able to successfully add the legitimate All-Star they have long wanted to bring in to their fold. However, they created a logjam at the power forward spot, as they also have Kenneth Faried and Trey Lyles, who are both worthy to receive […]

When asked by Harrison Wind of BSNDenver.com about how the Denver Nuggets’ point guard rotation would look like in the coming season, head coach Mike Malone spoke as though he’s Stephen Hawking talking about the mysteries of the uncharted regions of the vast universe. “It’s a dilemma, wrapped in an enigma, inside a labyrinth, if […]

The battle for the point guard spot in the new-look Denver Nuggets will continue through the last two preseason games, coach Mike Malone told reporters after today’s practice, according to BSN’s Harrison Wind. Malone previously expected to alternate starts between Jamal Murray and Emmanuel Mudiay to determine a starter, but now with Jameer Nelson back […]

Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone will have a tough decision ahead of this season, determined to come out with a starting point guard prior to the start of the season. Malone will alternate Emmanuel Mudiay and Jamal Murray to start the preseason during the first three games in hopes to come out to a […]

Paul Millsap‘s exit from the Atlanta Hawks and entrance into the Denver Nuggets organization is more than meets the eye — it goes beyond three years and $90 million, beyond a pairing with one of the most-talented centers in the league, for him — it’s unfinished business. Millsap and his mother, Bettye, left a suburb […]

The Denver Nuggets took this offseason very seriously. The organization worked to bring veteran help to their young team and it worked. Former Atlanta Hawks forward Paul Millsap decided to join the Nuggets on a three-year, $90 million deal. Due to this signing, the Nuggets’ frontcourt boasts of two amazing players with a team-first attitude. Millsap […]

Having coached Nikola Jokic since last season with the Denver Nuggets, Mike Malone has seen first hand how much improvement the young center had in his game. From putting up decent numbers a year ago, the 22-year-old Serbian international has raised his level of play higher as he has now emerged as one of the best […]

As a head coach of a team that is starting to gain an identity, there are plenty of teachable moments — so when the Denver Nuggets lost their third straight game by allowing 120-plus points to their opponents, Mike Malone chose to step in and voice his thoughts. “It’s a joke. Right now, we have […]

The talk regarding strategically resting players now hits the Mile High City. Facing the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings on consecutive nights, rumblings about the Denver Nuggets potentially giving its key starters a night off surfaced. The more logical choice, if rest is to happen, would then be against the league-leading Warriors. But coach […]

The Denver Nuggets started the season with the mindset of starting two big bodies in the frontcourt, establishing the twin Indo-European towers of Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic. As nature has it, one of them has performed better than the other in the eyes of head coach Michael Malone, which has prompted Jokic to step […]

Denver Nuggets point guard Jameer Nelson recently had some fun with his power forward Nikola Jokic, telling the media the cold-hard truth about the big man while poking a little fun at himself. “Jokic an athlete? He’s a good player,” Nelson told BSN Denver’s T.J. McBride. “I’m old and fat and I can jump higher than […]

Coaching the Denver Nuggets might have been more challenging than Mike Malone expected. No one thought this team would definitely challenge for playoff spot, but the 10-16 start to the season has not been the only issue. Malone has been challenged with transitioning Kenneth Faried to a bench role while still keeping him happy. It […]

Maybe no one has described Russell Westbrook any better. Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone prior to his team’s game against the Thunder tonight had this to say when talking about the Oklahoma City Thunder point guard. More Malone on Westbrook: "He plays like someone pissed in his cheerios every morning." — Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) […]

Kenneth Faried had an impressive outing against the Phoenix Suns, with 20 points on 8-12 shooting. Faried pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds in just 26 minutes, recorded four steals and finished with a 90.2 Defensive Rating. He wants to prove all the haters in the league wrong. Via BSN Denver: “A lot of people […]

The Denver Nuggets are off to an awful start offensively this season, scoring only 97.7 points per 100 possessions and committing 18.1 turnovers per game on average. One of the main culprits for the offensive inefficiency is 20-year-old point guard Emmanuel Mudiay, who is averaging more turnovers than any other starting point guard in the […]

In the Denver Nuggets‘ game against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday, head coach Mike Malone surprised many when he fielded in his starters who were missing one of their mainstays, Nikola Jokic. The move was part of the plan  to make use of other combinations and allow their starting center, Jusuf Nurkic to be played alongside […]

On Saturday, the Denver Nuggets lost to the Portland Trail Blazers after Damian Lillard hit the game-winning shot with 0.3 seconds left on the clock. Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried was caught on a mismatch and found himself guarding the two-time All-Star. Lillard used his speed and was able to drive to the basket and hit a […]

Kenneth Faried has found himself the odd man out in the big man carrousel that is the Denver Nuggets. The 6-foot-8 power forward will come off the bench for the first time in five years, according to Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post. Kenneth Faried will be a reserve, and Malone has said Manimal's been […]

Sacramento Kings majority owner Vivek Ranadive has had a history of making comments that tends to easily catch media attention during his relatively young stint as an owner of the team. His last appeared as a back-handed statement when he “unintentionally” threw former general manager Geoff Petrie under the bus. “I needed somebody to go and actually work out the players,” Ranadive […]

In the early years of Vivek Ranadive‘s ownership of the Sacramento Kings, he addressed the issues surrounding the franchise and made controversial decisions. One of them is the firing of then-head coach Mike Malone, which became an unpopular move for fans and DeMarcus Cousins. The 59-year-old businessman defended his decision to fire the current Denver Nuggets bench boss […]

Following the Denver Nuggets 108-106 preseason win against the Toronto Raptors on Monday, head coach Michael Malone was full of praise for his European big man combination of Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic, as per Harrison Wind of BSN Denver. “There’s definitely some Balkan buddy ball going on with those two guys,” said Malone. “They do look for […]

He may not have played an NBA game yet, but this year’s 7th overall pick of the draft, Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets, certainly does not lack confidence and already claimed that he is one of the best scorers in the league. As reported by Donna Spencer of The Canadian Press, the former Kentucky Wildcat had […]

Finally, things are looking upward for the team from the Mile-High City. Steered by one of the better young coaches in the league in Mike Malone, the Denver Nuggets are slowly putting themselves in a position to fight for a playoff berth in a few years time. They got a decent amount of veterans to […]

Given the situations he has been put in, the Denver Nuggets‘ Michael Malone has done a stellar job as an NBA head coach. Before receiving his untimely termination from the Sacramento Kings, Malone was the one coach who broke through to DeMarcus Cousins at the professional level. Now, Malone has changed the culture in Denver. […]

The Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone joined ESPN’s ‘Lowe Post’ podcast with NBA expert Zach Lowe recently to discuss a variety of topics. One of the subjects that were addressed was that his mother does not like people calling him Mike; another one was the potential of his Nuggets team. “I feel really, really blessed. […]

Mike Malone isn’t over his firing from the Sacramento Kings just yet. Or, at least that’s the conclusion his wardrobe points to. Malone’s canning from Sac-Town drew the ire of their fans, and the whole process became controversial. After going 28-54 with a flawed team in his first season, he was fired after a fairly […]

The Sacramento Kings have not had very good results the past few seasons. They have continued to miss the playoffs and controversies surrounding their key players and coaches have been presentist. Case and point: the head coach has changed a total of four times in the last three and a half years. In a Q&A with […]

Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone did not imagine that Serbian big man Nikola Jokic would become quite as good as he is, especially so early in in his NBA career. Jokic had a great rookie season, surpassing the expectations that Denver had for him. From Mike Olson of Denver Stiffs, Malone recently expressed his […]

DeMarcus Cousins is known for clashing with his coaches, but that wasn’t the case with Mike Malone. The former Sacramento Kings head coach was let go after starting the 2014-15 season with a mediocre 11-13 record. Cousins was pissed at the time. That wasn’t the case when George Karl got the boot recently. From the […]