Yesterday, the Denver Nuggets decided to separate from Michael Malone, the first coach to have won an NBA title with the franchise. An astonishing timing separation, a week before the playoffs. After a day spent digesting information, back on the formidable adventure of Coach Mike in Colorado.
The gold rush of Pikes Peak, later renamed, rushed towards the gold of Colorado had their from 1858 to 1861 and is one of the largest in the history of North America. More than 100,000 people participated in the quest and, by the way, created several cities including the beautiful Denver.
In the city, many establishments pay tribute to this period, frescoes in the magnificent Rino district and also professional sports franchises: the Denver Gold has made a short passage in NFL and the Nuggets (nuggets) have been represented in the NBA since 1974. If we tell you all this, it is not because we prepare a documentary on the yellow metal industry, but because almost three centuries later, the target of the city It remains to adorn yourself with gold through the trophy harvest. And if a man has succeeded in recent years Michael Malone.
In 2023, the coach made the unthinkable (or almost): to win a first NBA title, the first in the history of the franchise! He was lucky, of course, to coach the best player in the world Nikola Jokic, but laurels must be awarded to him.
This version of Denver is a sublime game, an untouchable attack and a perfectly defined hierarchy. First there is a major, complementary, talented and oiled. Jamal Murray-Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr-Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic are without even looking at each other. At the Ball Arena boutique, there are still t-shirts with the five men and a sentence: Chestry 101. Understand, an alchemy lesson. Then there is a sixth braking man, Bruce Brown, who found his place in the workforce as nowhere else and finally young people like Christian Braun and Peyton Watson, capable of their talent to switch a few games.
-But this title is above all the award of an intelligent construction over eight years. When Michael Malone arrives in Denver in 2015, the franchise is at the bottom of the bucket. A talented Serbian was drafted a year before in the second round and has just landed in the United States, but in view of his pick, no one expects much. The coach quickly sees his talent and empowered him, quickly, he built his team around, there is more future than with Kenneth Fared. Because if Nikola Jokic, became Nikola Jokic, it is thanks to his brilliant talent, but he only knew one coach in the NBA, a man who trusted him, launched him in the big bath and helped to develop it. Michael Malone has a huge share of responsibility.
The machine starts and the team progresses year after year, Jamal Murray arrives, Gary Harris and Paul Millsap too, and the franchise finds the playoffs. Soon she will spend a turn, then two, then all. Some players were reinvented under his leadership like Aaron Gordon who, before meeting him was only seen as a headless chicken.
Beyond the tactical aspect, over the years, he has also been able to build a strong relationship with his players and proved it by going to Sombor, Serbia, to give his first MVP title to Nikola Jokic
If he has never won the title of coach of the year, he has often been in the conversation. Few NBA projects have experienced such stability over a decade and such a neat and clever construction. Michael Malone can leave his head high.
The coach has a balance sheet of 471 victories (franchise record) for 327 defeats on the Colorado bench. He made Denver one of the strongest places in the NBA, one of the most feared trips and not only because of the altitude. In Nuggets, he found and developed a nugget while covering the Golden Region in 2023. It is the largest winner of the Modern Colorado Rush!
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