Hidden behind the years of success of the Nuggets was a toxic and tense environment that started spitting in all levels of the organization.
He started near the organization’s summit between head coach Michael Malone and director general Calvin Booth, and when the victories began to transform into losses, their negative energy has spread in the locker room.
This led to the layoffs of Malone and Booth – only a shock for those who are not close to the situation.
“Everyone in the organization was miserable,” said a nugget source, according to Tim Macmahon from ESPN and Ramona Shelburne. “This is what felt (the president of the Nuggets team, Josh Kroenke). This is a bad atmosphere. You cannot operate like that. He thought that if he removed these two people, everyone could simply focus on their work. The change had to happen.”
The head of the head of Malone and Booth was mainly born from their different opinions concerning the most crucial players for the team – Booth wanted the youngest he reproduced to be developed and hierarchical, while Malone wanted the proven veterans to work alongside Nikola Jokic while he was directing the show.
“They just saw the world completely differently … The situation was simply not lasting,” the team told The Outled. “Coach Malone and Calvin could not resolve it because they did everything on themselves.”
This caused an unhealthy relationship that has manifested itself mainly everywhere.
“If you are one of Calvin’s guys, Malone doesn’t want to play you,” said a team source.
With this, the players were starting to listen to their coach less and less, because “the players were miserable” and “the effort went and came”.
Malone had long been the frank face of the team, while the stars Jokic and Jamal Murray were generally quieter leaders.
And although Malone’s messages have been welcomed for years, things were not clicking this season while the players watched their quarrel of organizational leaders.
Kroenke had to make a decision, but with the already divided team, the choice had to eliminate both sides of the equation.
“I’m going to put it on both,” said a team source. “You are the leaders. The two are responsible because they did not get along. They are the Egos. Then everything took place.”
David Adelman, who is expected to be a head coach on the field who offers this offseason, took over as an acting chief coach with only two games to play in the regular season while Denver hopes that he will be able to raise the team and provide a spark before the playoff series.
The team’s sources say that the players “respect” Adelman and “launch with him”.
It was seen in the victory of the Nuggets on the Kings on Wednesday, when Christian Braun said: “I think that for communication, it was probably our best match of the year … We had players who communicated to each other instead of counting on a trainer to tell us everything.”
Nuggets are currently the fourth seeded of the Western Conference in charge where everything could happen in the last two games.
They are a game behind the Lakers for the seeded n ° 3 entering the slate on Friday, but just a match in front of the Timberwolves who are seated in place n ° 8.
