Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Nick Ferguson in studio Dave on his way down from
the Coloro Sports Hall of Fame, and that's gonna be
a fun night downtown for everybody there. But we're excited
to be with you for the next hour, and then
we're gonna hand things off to the Rockies as they
take on the Brewers. We're continuing our conversation about the Nuggets, though,
because they have made not only local news but national
news with the firing of their coach and GM and
(00:21):
to help us break it all down, we head out
to the Koi Common Spirit Health Hotline and we're thrilled
to bring on Vinnie Benedetto, who's with the Denver Gazette
at v Benedetto on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Vinnie, thank you so much for the time, man. How
are you doing well. Been a little busy, but I'm
doing well.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I can only imagine. I can only imagine. So yeah,
let's start there. I definitely want to get some thoughts
on what you expect to see tonight, but let's just
start with the moment that happened yesterday. I mean, honestly,
my first reaction when I saw it, I wanted to
confirm that that was actually Sham's account that was tweeting
it out, like, I went through all the protocol of
like I'm not I'm not even gonna react to this
(00:56):
until I know it's real. What was your immediate you
thought when you all, first Michael Malone and then Calvin
Booth were dismissed.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, I was pretty shocked. I don't to your point.
It felt like the night Lupa got treated. Where you're
double checking, you know, all the verifications, making sure you
know the follower count on the on the tweet is correct.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
And it took me a bit of process. You know,
it certainly wasn't.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
A shot that this happened. I think the timing for
me was the most surprising aspect of it all. H
you know, if it happened two or three weeks from now,
and you know, after a first or second round playoff exit,
you know, that wouldn't have shocked me at all. But
but the timing and the way it went down was
pretty surprising to me.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Vinny, and these types of situation, everyone wants there a
pound of flesh.
Speaker 6 (01:46):
So I'll get your take on this. When we look
at the lack of.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
Effort and defensive performance that we've seen not just this
year and not just the past couple of games, but
just over the past three years.
Speaker 6 (01:59):
Who cares is a burden for that?
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Are we looking at the coaches fro An office GM,
or we just going O school and looking at the players?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yeah, I think it's I think you can break it
down into a couple of things. You know, one of
the uggests biggest issues this year have been transition defense,
and for me, that's.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
A that's a player, that's an effort thing, that's not
a skiing thing. That's not coaching.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
But then when you get into the kind of the
half courts struggles and how teams have been able to
I'm thinking back to the Pacers game on Sunday where
Tyrese Haliburton was able to you know, attract or force
the second defender and pick the role sets and they
would just kind of repeatedly make the extra pass for
(02:45):
corner three.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
That to me is is a coaching thing.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
And you know, Michael Malone obviously or the brunch of it,
but you know, Ryan Saunders, one of the assistant coaches,
is the guy who's kind of been tasked with, you know,
orchestrating the deep So I think, you know, coaching staff
bears the largest responsibility for the half court struggles, and
you know, the general manager, front office part of it.
(03:11):
I feel like they've they've tried, you know, to address
some of the defensive needs with you know, drafting the
Christian Browns and the Peyton Watsons. Both those guys were,
you know, kind of came in as defensive upgrades over
or you guys that had high defensive upside. So I
think mostly it comes down to, you know, I'm putting
(03:34):
the transition defense on the players and Lackos kind of
want to, and I'm putting the half court defensive struggles
largely on the coaching staff.
Speaker 7 (03:41):
Vinnie Benedetto joining us.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
There's been I think more a more strong reaction, a
stronger reaction to Michael Malone being fired than Calvin Booth,
and especially knowing that he was in the final year
of his contract, they couldn't get anything done before the
season or early in the season. I don't think that
surprised as many people as Michael Malone, who still had
two years left on his contract. In your opinion, as
(04:03):
somebody that's around the team, was there potentially a scenario
where you actually hold on to Michael Malone and you
move on from the GM or do you do you
agree with the sentiment from Josh Cronkey from ownership that no,
we really needed a clean break from all of it.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, I think you could have hit one or the other.
It certainly, you know, would have made things a little
awkward for the remainder.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Of this season.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
But I think there's an outcome where, you know, yesterday
announced you know, Calvin Booth will not be getting a
contract extension, and then you give Michael Malone one last
shot over these three regular season games and whatever the
postseason looks like to.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
U his job. You know, if they you.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Know, surprise people and make the Western Conference.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Finals, you know, is that enough to keep Malone around?
I would probably say yes. But you know, I.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Certainly didn't have you know, conversations with that that the
Crounkies have had with.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
With people that are part of the team, and you
know they must have just since that things.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Were so bad that it they kind of had make
the move now, which I am still pretty surprised by it.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Now, Vinnie, this is gonna be hard for you to do,
But uh, I think about this whole decision from a
player's standpoint, If you personally are a player on the
Nuggets roster and you find out the way that you
find out that they're moving on from Michael Malone, how
does that impact the mental ability of the team, knowing
(05:41):
as though you still have three games remaining.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah, I think it's it's gonna kind of come down
to the to the player. You know, Nicole Jokic is
it is certainly not the.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Type to pack it in.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
I you know, I don't think he was terribly involved
in this decision, but I think he's just kind of
one of those guys who shows up to work and
put this best foot forward. If you're one of the
younger guys who maybe felt like you didn't get a
fair shake, you know, maybe it's motivating for them, but
you look at the you know, nicolea Yokich, Jamal Murray,
(06:18):
Michael Porter junior.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Michael Maloon's the only coach.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
They've played for, So I think it might be challenging
more for you know, Michael Malone always went.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
To bat for Jamal Murray and kind of had his
back over the court.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
You know, this frustrating season with the injuries he's dealt
with in the in the slow start, So I think
for a guy like Jamal Murray it might be harder
than it would be for a guy like say a
a Julian Strauther or Jalen or a Payton Watson.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
So I think it kind of comes down to.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Different players on the team are going to feel different
ways about it.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
But I think it.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Should be reassuring that NIKOLEA. Jokic is kind of steering
the ship and he's not the type two. I don't
think what let a coaching change impact his levels by
in all right.
Speaker 7 (07:04):
Last one for you.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Vine always appreciates the time man, and I guess it
kind of leads us perfectly into what are you expecting
to see tonight?
Speaker 7 (07:11):
I mean this, this is so wild. The eyes of the.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
NBA on an eight PM game between the Sacramento Kings
and the Denver Nuggets are all going to be there.
I mean, of course we're watching earlier the LUCA game
in Dallas, but man, I can't wait to see this.
Do you think we're gonna see all of a sudden
a revitalized Denver Nuggets?
Speaker 7 (07:30):
I mean, what are your expectations?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Not really, you know, I'm not really expecting much change.
It just doesn't feel like there's enough time for there
to be real change in terms.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Of scheme.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
On you know, thirty six hours notice for David Adelman
and the.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Rest of the coaching staff. Yeah, I would be shocked
if this was a if the Nuggets came out and
played visibly different. You know, maybe there's a rotation tweet
here or there. But I think it's really a tough
situation for a guy like David Adelman who has such a.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Short time frame to make changes, and to any any
change being made at this part of the season is
a comes a considerable risk. Given that the Nuggets are
going to start the night a tie could drop as
low as you know, seven or eight. So I really
just feel like they're they're kind of setting who they
(08:30):
are for this season at least.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I agree Benny, appreciate the time man, Thank you absolutely.
Heppy toy one guys, Benny Benedetto does a wonderful job
covering the Denver Nuggets for Denver Gazettes at v Benedetto
on Twitter.
Speaker 7 (08:45):
I agree with him.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I think that's the thing that we can potentially see
and Nick, you've referenced to several times as effort that's
the one difference. You're right, maybe rotations and maybe there's
some small tweaks there. I mean we found seeing if
like Russell Westbrook on plays like fifteen minutes. I mean again,
Jamal Murray's doubtful, so I don't think you can afford
to do that.
Speaker 7 (09:07):
That would be the one noticeable difference.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
If all of a sudden, Jalen Pickett plays thirty five
minutes tonight and Russell Westbrook is more of a reserve player.
Speaker 7 (09:16):
That would be interesting.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
But yeah, I mean we're talking about a couple of days, right,
I mean this we found out about this yesterday, and
I mean they've had a couple of days off. But
David Adelman was not the guy until yesterday afternoon. New
yesterday morning that that is probably true. But the upper part,
the effer part, is all in the players. That part
is their control and has nothing to do with any
(09:39):
changes with coaching.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
You know, that's an interesting bet that you bring up
to look at the game to see how many minutes
Russell Westbrook actually plays versus Pickett.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
I'm interested in seeing that. But usually what we see in.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Situations like this is, and no matter what the sport,
a coach getting fired all of a sudden.
Speaker 6 (09:59):
There's this new energy. Now some will.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Look at it and say, well, as they often say, well,
the coach lost the locker room. So now you're seeing
a more invigorated type of locker room playing together because
the dark cloud has been lifted. If those guys go
out and they play well, well, let me back up
for a second. There's two narratives, one if they play
(10:22):
well and another if they don't play well. The one
that is sure to be said is that, yes, the
dark cloud has been lifted, and the culture that Michael
Mulong was trying to establish wasn't getting through to the players.
You can tell by the number of games that they
lost in close games and then if they were to
(10:43):
say lose the game, oh, it's business as usual. I
mean the Kronkeys overlooked an ongoing issue that they should correct.
Speaker 6 (10:51):
It a long time ago.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
So for me, at the end of the day, you know,
players play coaches, coach, cheerleader.
Speaker 7 (10:59):
Year.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
You have to go out there as a player no
matter what, and you have to make sure that the
name on the back of your jersey you live up
to it every single time, no matter what the situation is.
Speaker 6 (11:11):
And these players themselves.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
They are accountable too, Ryan, because their coach got fired
because something wasn't happening on the court and it involved
them as well.
Speaker 7 (11:22):
Yeah, what kind of leadership did they take of that?
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Right?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I mean, that's that's exactly what you're going to see,
Like how are they feeling as far as their responsibility
for the position that they put themselves in.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
I really, hey, boys, you got to go out there
and win tonight because winning tonight makes me look good.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
I mean, could you see a situation where that is
a speech?
Speaker 7 (11:43):
But you have champions. I don't even know if what
David Allman can say.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I mean, he'll say whatever he's going to say, right,
but you have champions. You mentioned it from the very
first segment of the show. Leadership, the leadership in the
locker room, leadership on that roster. This is their moment.
Nicole Jokic, whatever Jamal Or he's gonna be there, won't
be playing, he's doubtful of the game, but he'll be there.
What kind of leadership sort of steps into this and
(12:07):
and they're not gonna say, hey, let's let's play well
for You're gonna play the way for yourself. Really, but
to Venny's point, you are what you are. You get
three games left in the regular season. You're trying to
scratch together however many wins you can get to keep
yourself out of the plan that that is goal number one.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
Yeah, you'd like to to show up and play.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
And I'm kind of joked with you guys at the beginning,
like what if what if they show up and all
of a sudden have their best defensive performance, Like that
would be wild to watch. And if you're Michael Will,
you're chucking things at your TV because you know, you
know they're capable of this at any time, and you're
you'll be furious. But at the same time, yeah, I mean,
that's that's sort of what happens, right interim bump.
Speaker 7 (12:49):
You see it all the time, not predicting they're gonna win.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
To night.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
They are favored by four and half. For what it's worth,
even with all this happening, they're favored by four and half.
Keep yourself out of the plan. That is goal number one.
And it's not to say that that sounds such a
bad place to be. And I know that if that
ends up being the case, we'll talk about the scenarios
that end up working in their favor, because if you
get to seven, right, you don't want to be the eight.
Speaker 7 (13:12):
Oh my god, you don't want to be the eight.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
But if he gets seven, you're taking on Houston, a
young Houston team that people think are a little bit overrated.
Speaker 7 (13:20):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
The Nuggest actually might be favorite in that series. I
think they'd be favor in the Lakers series too, even
though they'll be traveling. In fact, i'd say, as I'm
looking at the standings here, I don't know if there's
a series besides the Thunder that people wouldn't take a
look at it and say, I like the Nuggets chances
to make this thing six or seven.
Speaker 6 (13:41):
Well, here is what Adelman is gonna say tonight. It's
the team.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
If he hadn't said it last night in a team meeting,
none of us expected to be here.
Speaker 6 (13:52):
Well, this is where we are, man.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
We've got three games remaining in the season. They have
its choice. Either we can kind of sorry for ourselves
based on what happened and lose these next three games,
or we can mand the hell up and go out
there and play the way that we should have played
all season long. And oh, by the way, we all
share a part and what happened. There's two people who
(14:16):
have been fired, Booth and Michael Malone.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
No matter how you feel about it, we have all
let them down.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
So we need to go out here collectively starting tonight
and play Nuggets basketball.
Speaker 6 (14:33):
That's the only thing that we can do tonight. And
I think with a speech like.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
That, it's gonna fire guys up to go out because
we know some of the guys on this roster now
they're not gonna be here next year. So you have
an opportunity to go out and end the season, whether
it's in the playing game or no matter whatever, it
is in the positive way.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
And that's the way that they should approach it.
Speaker 7 (14:57):
Can't wait.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I'm I don't know if I've I'm trying to think.
Besides maybe this last Timberwolves game or I was very
excited to see what they were gonna be able to do. Right,
I thought the Semberwolves would win, but even going to
double overtime and the way that game played out, I did.
Speaker 7 (15:14):
Not see that coming.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
But as far as anticipation for a regular season game,
this is pretty high up there. I want to see
what they're made of. I want to see what they're about,
you know, like you just don't you just don't know
what they're about. And it's looked so bad. This the
final quarter, the fourth quarter of the Pacers game was
a miserable there's a miserable fan experience if you're a
(15:37):
Nuggets fan. It looked like it looked like they checked out.
It looked like, despite the fact that it was a
close game and as a game they really needed, they
just didn't have it.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
Could part of that be that they're superhero that they
have in Nicola Jokich. They're starting to realize that even
with Nicola carrying the team the way that he's been
carrying them and they're still losing games, that that was
in itself an issue that they were starting to lose faith.
(16:11):
Not the fact that they were losing faith and coach Malone,
but they were losing faith in their ability to win
and overcome adversity with Nicole.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
I mean, that Minnesota game was crazy. He's scoring sixty
one points and the.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
Loss.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
So it's almost like being a kid and seeing your
father get beat up in the fight and not looking
at him the same.
Speaker 7 (16:34):
Way again, did you ever see something like that?
Speaker 6 (16:37):
Yeah, So a lot of kids fathers take als.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Okay, yes, I I haven't experienced that.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
That's a that's a world that I've lived. I've never
seen my dad fight.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
Oh good for you.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Yeah, I've seen a lot of dads in my old
neighborhood take als. And and that kid coming to school
elementary school the next day.
Speaker 7 (16:57):
It was rough, tough. Yeah, because it's not just the
dad take it in the al You're right, did you.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Say it l too?
Speaker 7 (17:02):
You're taking it l too?
Speaker 6 (17:03):
Oh that's your dad. Oh yes, let me tell you
what happened.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
So it's kind of similar to watching Nicola Yolkis go
out there and give his best every single night and
not having a supporting cast and feeling as though if
our superman came, carry us across the finish line, and
how are we gonna get there?
Speaker 1 (17:22):
On the Ka Commas Spear Health text line five six
six nine zero, guys, I think there are two major
reasons that the Nuggets fell apart. KCP and Bruce Brown
are smiling big right now. Also, when you're starving as
long as the Nuggets were, you finally win a ship
and get the big bag, Jamal Murray, you're not hungry anymore,
fat and happy, doesn't win championships, it is time to
(17:44):
get hungry again. You know, there's a point there actually,
And I remember when Emmanuel Sanders talked after the Broncos
won their championship in twenty fifteen, he said, we were
kind of lost in the sauce afterwards, kind of feeling
yourself a little bit like Man Dynasty, remember Michael Malone
in the Parade Dynasty, Dynasty Dynasty, And at that point
(18:08):
you felt like the Nuggets might be able to build
on something because Nikola Jokic in the middle of in fact,
maybe even on the early side of his prime. Jamal
Murray was sensational through large parts of the postseason. Christian
Brown had just gotten there. He looked really good. Obviously,
Aaron Gordon looked phenomenal. I mean, they had production from everybody.
(18:29):
Even Michael Porter Junior had a couple of nice moments.
And then yeah, Bruce Brown and KCP. I don't know
about the KCP and Bruce Brown smiling big right now.
The Nuggets couldn't pay everybody, right, Bruce Brown where to
get like forty seven million or something like that. They
couldn't afford him. They could offer him like eight I
(18:50):
was like Yeah, that's all they could offer him. They
had no option for that KCP. Maybe there was a scenario,
maybe I can't remember that was last year, if there
was a scenario for them to be able to afford KCP.
But Burst Brown, I know for a fact that there
was just really nothing that they could do. I don't
know if they are celebrating the demise of Michael Malone
(19:10):
and the Nuggets as we sit here right now. But
the other part of that where you start to believe
your own press, you start to believe, well, we have
the best.
Speaker 7 (19:19):
Player in the world right now, and boy.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Nikole Jyokich just gonna bail us out of a lot
of things, and you start to live in that world.
Speaker 7 (19:27):
I could see that.
Speaker 6 (19:28):
To cos malone point that he made.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
Two weeks ago when he was talking about his guys
not watching film, this is to me what he was
talking about.
Speaker 6 (19:38):
He never called guys out by name on any of.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
The rants he's ever made. But for me, I just
had an idea of maybe who he's talking about, because
once you win a championship, that hunger sometimes go away,
and you can see it with how some guys play,
and maybe because that they just thought that they can
hit the light switch, and maybe that's one of the
reasons why they didn't study, and now is one of
the reasons he's not fire.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
All right, we'll come back. I want to get into
a little bit of a conversation. We were talking a
little about the Broncos earlier and about the draft coming up.
The advantageous spot there. They haven't picked twenty, but there's
another opportunity that could present themselves for the Broncos the
second round.
Speaker 7 (20:19):
We'll get to that coming up next.
Nick Ferguson in studio Dave on his way down from
the Coloro Sports Hall of Fame, and that's gonna be
a fun night downtown for everybody there. But we're excited
to be with you for the next hour, and then
we're gonna hand things off to the Rockies as they
take on the Brewers. We're continuing our conversation about the Nuggets, though,
because they have made not only local news but national
news with the firing of their coach and GM and
(00:21):
to help us break it all down, we head out
to the Koi Common Spirit Health Hotline and we're thrilled
to bring on Vinnie Benedetto, who's with the Denver Gazette
at v Benedetto on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Vinnie, thank you so much for the time, man. How
are you doing well. Been a little busy, but I'm
doing well.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I can only imagine. I can only imagine. So yeah,
let's start there. I definitely want to get some thoughts
on what you expect to see tonight, but let's just
start with the moment that happened yesterday. I mean, honestly,
my first reaction when I saw it, I wanted to
confirm that that was actually Sham's account that was tweeting
it out, like, I went through all the protocol of
like I'm not I'm not even gonna react to this
(00:56):
until I know it's real. What was your immediate you
thought when you all, first Michael Malone and then Calvin
Booth were dismissed.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, I was pretty shocked. I don't to your point.
It felt like the night Lupa got treated. Where you're
double checking, you know, all the verifications, making sure you
know the follower count on the on the tweet is correct.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
And it took me a bit of process. You know,
it certainly wasn't.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
A shot that this happened. I think the timing for
me was the most surprising aspect of it all. H
you know, if it happened two or three weeks from now,
and you know, after a first or second round playoff exit,
you know, that wouldn't have shocked me at all. But
but the timing and the way it went down was
pretty surprising to me.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Vinny, and these types of situation, everyone wants there a
pound of flesh.
Speaker 6 (01:46):
So I'll get your take on this. When we look
at the lack of.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
Effort and defensive performance that we've seen not just this
year and not just the past couple of games, but
just over the past three years.
Speaker 6 (01:59):
Who cares is a burden for that?
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Are we looking at the coaches fro An office GM,
or we just going O school and looking at the players?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yeah, I think it's I think you can break it
down into a couple of things. You know, one of
the uggests biggest issues this year have been transition defense,
and for me, that's.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
A that's a player, that's an effort thing, that's not
a skiing thing. That's not coaching.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
But then when you get into the kind of the
half courts struggles and how teams have been able to
I'm thinking back to the Pacers game on Sunday where
Tyrese Haliburton was able to you know, attract or force
the second defender and pick the role sets and they
would just kind of repeatedly make the extra pass for
(02:45):
corner three.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
That to me is is a coaching thing.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
And you know, Michael Malone obviously or the brunch of it,
but you know, Ryan Saunders, one of the assistant coaches,
is the guy who's kind of been tasked with, you know,
orchestrating the deep So I think, you know, coaching staff
bears the largest responsibility for the half court struggles, and
you know, the general manager, front office part of it.
(03:11):
I feel like they've they've tried, you know, to address
some of the defensive needs with you know, drafting the
Christian Browns and the Peyton Watsons. Both those guys were,
you know, kind of came in as defensive upgrades over
or you guys that had high defensive upside. So I
think mostly it comes down to, you know, I'm putting
(03:34):
the transition defense on the players and Lackos kind of
want to, and I'm putting the half court defensive struggles
largely on the coaching staff.
Speaker 7 (03:41):
Vinnie Benedetto joining us.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
There's been I think more a more strong reaction, a
stronger reaction to Michael Malone being fired than Calvin Booth,
and especially knowing that he was in the final year
of his contract, they couldn't get anything done before the
season or early in the season. I don't think that
surprised as many people as Michael Malone, who still had
two years left on his contract. In your opinion, as
(04:03):
somebody that's around the team, was there potentially a scenario
where you actually hold on to Michael Malone and you
move on from the GM or do you do you
agree with the sentiment from Josh Cronkey from ownership that no,
we really needed a clean break from all of it.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, I think you could have hit one or the other.
It certainly, you know, would have made things a little
awkward for the remainder.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Of this season.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
But I think there's an outcome where, you know, yesterday
announced you know, Calvin Booth will not be getting a
contract extension, and then you give Michael Malone one last
shot over these three regular season games and whatever the
postseason looks like to.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
U his job. You know, if they you.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Know, surprise people and make the Western Conference.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Finals, you know, is that enough to keep Malone around?
I would probably say yes. But you know, I.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Certainly didn't have you know, conversations with that that the
Crounkies have had with.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
With people that are part of the team, and you
know they must have just since that things.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Were so bad that it they kind of had make
the move now, which I am still pretty surprised by it.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Now, Vinnie, this is gonna be hard for you to do,
But uh, I think about this whole decision from a
player's standpoint, If you personally are a player on the
Nuggets roster and you find out the way that you
find out that they're moving on from Michael Malone, how
does that impact the mental ability of the team, knowing
(05:41):
as though you still have three games remaining.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah, I think it's it's gonna kind of come down
to the to the player. You know, Nicole Jokic is
it is certainly not the.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Type to pack it in.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
I you know, I don't think he was terribly involved
in this decision, but I think he's just kind of
one of those guys who shows up to work and
put this best foot forward. If you're one of the
younger guys who maybe felt like you didn't get a
fair shake, you know, maybe it's motivating for them, but
you look at the you know, nicolea Yokich, Jamal Murray,
(06:18):
Michael Porter junior.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Michael Maloon's the only coach.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
They've played for, So I think it might be challenging
more for you know, Michael Malone always went.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
To bat for Jamal Murray and kind of had his
back over the court.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
You know, this frustrating season with the injuries he's dealt
with in the in the slow start, So I think
for a guy like Jamal Murray it might be harder
than it would be for a guy like say a
a Julian Strauther or Jalen or a Payton Watson.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
So I think it kind of comes down to.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Different players on the team are going to feel different
ways about it.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
But I think it.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Should be reassuring that NIKOLEA. Jokic is kind of steering
the ship and he's not the type two. I don't
think what let a coaching change impact his levels by
in all right.
Speaker 7 (07:04):
Last one for you.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Vine always appreciates the time man, and I guess it
kind of leads us perfectly into what are you expecting
to see tonight?
Speaker 7 (07:11):
I mean this, this is so wild. The eyes of the.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
NBA on an eight PM game between the Sacramento Kings
and the Denver Nuggets are all going to be there.
I mean, of course we're watching earlier the LUCA game
in Dallas, but man, I can't wait to see this.
Do you think we're gonna see all of a sudden
a revitalized Denver Nuggets?
Speaker 7 (07:30):
I mean, what are your expectations?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Not really, you know, I'm not really expecting much change.
It just doesn't feel like there's enough time for there
to be real change in terms.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Of scheme.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
On you know, thirty six hours notice for David Adelman
and the.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Rest of the coaching staff. Yeah, I would be shocked
if this was a if the Nuggets came out and
played visibly different. You know, maybe there's a rotation tweet
here or there. But I think it's really a tough
situation for a guy like David Adelman who has such a.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Short time frame to make changes, and to any any
change being made at this part of the season is
a comes a considerable risk. Given that the Nuggets are
going to start the night a tie could drop as
low as you know, seven or eight. So I really
just feel like they're they're kind of setting who they
(08:30):
are for this season at least.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I agree Benny, appreciate the time man, Thank you absolutely.
Heppy toy one guys, Benny Benedetto does a wonderful job
covering the Denver Nuggets for Denver Gazettes at v Benedetto
on Twitter.
Speaker 7 (08:45):
I agree with him.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I think that's the thing that we can potentially see
and Nick, you've referenced to several times as effort that's
the one difference. You're right, maybe rotations and maybe there's
some small tweaks there. I mean we found seeing if
like Russell Westbrook on plays like fifteen minutes. I mean again,
Jamal Murray's doubtful, so I don't think you can afford
to do that.
Speaker 7 (09:07):
That would be the one noticeable difference.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
If all of a sudden, Jalen Pickett plays thirty five
minutes tonight and Russell Westbrook is more of a reserve player.
Speaker 7 (09:16):
That would be interesting.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
But yeah, I mean we're talking about a couple of days, right,
I mean this we found out about this yesterday, and
I mean they've had a couple of days off. But
David Adelman was not the guy until yesterday afternoon. New
yesterday morning that that is probably true. But the upper part,
the effer part, is all in the players. That part
is their control and has nothing to do with any
(09:39):
changes with coaching.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
You know, that's an interesting bet that you bring up
to look at the game to see how many minutes
Russell Westbrook actually plays versus Pickett.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
I'm interested in seeing that. But usually what we see in.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Situations like this is, and no matter what the sport,
a coach getting fired all of a sudden.
Speaker 6 (09:59):
There's this new energy. Now some will.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Look at it and say, well, as they often say, well,
the coach lost the locker room. So now you're seeing
a more invigorated type of locker room playing together because
the dark cloud has been lifted. If those guys go
out and they play well, well, let me back up
for a second. There's two narratives, one if they play
(10:22):
well and another if they don't play well. The one
that is sure to be said is that, yes, the
dark cloud has been lifted, and the culture that Michael
Mulong was trying to establish wasn't getting through to the players.
You can tell by the number of games that they
lost in close games and then if they were to
(10:43):
say lose the game, oh, it's business as usual. I
mean the Kronkeys overlooked an ongoing issue that they should correct.
Speaker 6 (10:51):
It a long time ago.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
So for me, at the end of the day, you know,
players play coaches, coach, cheerleader.
Speaker 7 (10:59):
Year.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
You have to go out there as a player no
matter what, and you have to make sure that the
name on the back of your jersey you live up
to it every single time, no matter what the situation is.
Speaker 6 (11:11):
And these players themselves.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
They are accountable too, Ryan, because their coach got fired
because something wasn't happening on the court and it involved
them as well.
Speaker 7 (11:22):
Yeah, what kind of leadership did they take of that?
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Right?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I mean, that's that's exactly what you're going to see,
Like how are they feeling as far as their responsibility
for the position that they put themselves in.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
I really, hey, boys, you got to go out there
and win tonight because winning tonight makes me look good.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
I mean, could you see a situation where that is
a speech?
Speaker 7 (11:43):
But you have champions. I don't even know if what
David Allman can say.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I mean, he'll say whatever he's going to say, right,
but you have champions. You mentioned it from the very
first segment of the show. Leadership, the leadership in the
locker room, leadership on that roster. This is their moment.
Nicole Jokic, whatever Jamal Or he's gonna be there, won't
be playing, he's doubtful of the game, but he'll be there.
What kind of leadership sort of steps into this and
(12:07):
and they're not gonna say, hey, let's let's play well
for You're gonna play the way for yourself. Really, but
to Venny's point, you are what you are. You get
three games left in the regular season. You're trying to
scratch together however many wins you can get to keep
yourself out of the plan that that is goal number one.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
Yeah, you'd like to to show up and play.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
And I'm kind of joked with you guys at the beginning,
like what if what if they show up and all
of a sudden have their best defensive performance, Like that
would be wild to watch. And if you're Michael Will,
you're chucking things at your TV because you know, you
know they're capable of this at any time, and you're
you'll be furious. But at the same time, yeah, I mean,
that's that's sort of what happens, right interim bump.
Speaker 7 (12:49):
You see it all the time, not predicting they're gonna win.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
To night.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
They are favored by four and half. For what it's worth,
even with all this happening, they're favored by four and half.
Keep yourself out of the plan. That is goal number one.
And it's not to say that that sounds such a
bad place to be. And I know that if that
ends up being the case, we'll talk about the scenarios
that end up working in their favor, because if you
get to seven, right, you don't want to be the eight.
Speaker 7 (13:12):
Oh my god, you don't want to be the eight.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
But if he gets seven, you're taking on Houston, a
young Houston team that people think are a little bit overrated.
Speaker 7 (13:20):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
The Nuggest actually might be favorite in that series. I
think they'd be favor in the Lakers series too, even
though they'll be traveling. In fact, i'd say, as I'm
looking at the standings here, I don't know if there's
a series besides the Thunder that people wouldn't take a
look at it and say, I like the Nuggets chances
to make this thing six or seven.
Speaker 6 (13:41):
Well, here is what Adelman is gonna say tonight. It's
the team.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
If he hadn't said it last night in a team meeting,
none of us expected to be here.
Speaker 6 (13:52):
Well, this is where we are, man.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
We've got three games remaining in the season. They have
its choice. Either we can kind of sorry for ourselves
based on what happened and lose these next three games,
or we can mand the hell up and go out
there and play the way that we should have played
all season long. And oh, by the way, we all
share a part and what happened. There's two people who
(14:16):
have been fired, Booth and Michael Malone.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
No matter how you feel about it, we have all
let them down.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
So we need to go out here collectively starting tonight
and play Nuggets basketball.
Speaker 6 (14:33):
That's the only thing that we can do tonight. And
I think with a speech like.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
That, it's gonna fire guys up to go out because
we know some of the guys on this roster now
they're not gonna be here next year. So you have
an opportunity to go out and end the season, whether
it's in the playing game or no matter whatever, it
is in the positive way.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
And that's the way that they should approach it.
Speaker 7 (14:57):
Can't wait.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I'm I don't know if I've I'm trying to think.
Besides maybe this last Timberwolves game or I was very
excited to see what they were gonna be able to do. Right,
I thought the Semberwolves would win, but even going to
double overtime and the way that game played out, I did.
Speaker 7 (15:14):
Not see that coming.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
But as far as anticipation for a regular season game,
this is pretty high up there. I want to see
what they're made of. I want to see what they're about,
you know, like you just don't you just don't know
what they're about. And it's looked so bad. This the
final quarter, the fourth quarter of the Pacers game was
a miserable there's a miserable fan experience if you're a
(15:37):
Nuggets fan. It looked like it looked like they checked out.
It looked like, despite the fact that it was a
close game and as a game they really needed, they
just didn't have it.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
Could part of that be that they're superhero that they
have in Nicola Jokich. They're starting to realize that even
with Nicola carrying the team the way that he's been
carrying them and they're still losing games, that that was
in itself an issue that they were starting to lose faith.
(16:11):
Not the fact that they were losing faith and coach Malone,
but they were losing faith in their ability to win
and overcome adversity with Nicole.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
I mean, that Minnesota game was crazy. He's scoring sixty
one points and the.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
Loss.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
So it's almost like being a kid and seeing your
father get beat up in the fight and not looking
at him the same.
Speaker 7 (16:34):
Way again, did you ever see something like that?
Speaker 6 (16:37):
Yeah, So a lot of kids fathers take als.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Okay, yes, I I haven't experienced that.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
That's a that's a world that I've lived. I've never
seen my dad fight.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
Oh good for you.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Yeah, I've seen a lot of dads in my old
neighborhood take als. And and that kid coming to school
elementary school the next day.
Speaker 7 (16:57):
It was rough, tough. Yeah, because it's not just the
dad take it in the al You're right, did you.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Say it l too?
Speaker 7 (17:02):
You're taking it l too?
Speaker 6 (17:03):
Oh that's your dad. Oh yes, let me tell you
what happened.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
So it's kind of similar to watching Nicola Yolkis go
out there and give his best every single night and
not having a supporting cast and feeling as though if
our superman came, carry us across the finish line, and
how are we gonna get there?
Speaker 1 (17:22):
On the Ka Commas Spear Health text line five six
six nine zero, guys, I think there are two major
reasons that the Nuggets fell apart. KCP and Bruce Brown
are smiling big right now. Also, when you're starving as
long as the Nuggets were, you finally win a ship
and get the big bag, Jamal Murray, you're not hungry anymore,
fat and happy, doesn't win championships, it is time to
(17:44):
get hungry again. You know, there's a point there actually,
And I remember when Emmanuel Sanders talked after the Broncos
won their championship in twenty fifteen, he said, we were
kind of lost in the sauce afterwards, kind of feeling
yourself a little bit like Man Dynasty, remember Michael Malone
in the Parade Dynasty, Dynasty Dynasty, And at that point
(18:08):
you felt like the Nuggets might be able to build
on something because Nikola Jokic in the middle of in fact,
maybe even on the early side of his prime. Jamal
Murray was sensational through large parts of the postseason. Christian
Brown had just gotten there. He looked really good. Obviously,
Aaron Gordon looked phenomenal. I mean, they had production from everybody.
(18:29):
Even Michael Porter Junior had a couple of nice moments.
And then yeah, Bruce Brown and KCP. I don't know
about the KCP and Bruce Brown smiling big right now.
The Nuggets couldn't pay everybody, right, Bruce Brown where to
get like forty seven million or something like that. They
couldn't afford him. They could offer him like eight I
(18:50):
was like Yeah, that's all they could offer him. They
had no option for that KCP. Maybe there was a scenario,
maybe I can't remember that was last year, if there
was a scenario for them to be able to afford KCP.
But Burst Brown, I know for a fact that there
was just really nothing that they could do. I don't
know if they are celebrating the demise of Michael Malone
(19:10):
and the Nuggets as we sit here right now. But
the other part of that where you start to believe
your own press, you start to believe, well, we have
the best.
Speaker 7 (19:19):
Player in the world right now, and boy.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Nikole Jyokich just gonna bail us out of a lot
of things, and you start to live in that world.
Speaker 7 (19:27):
I could see that.
Speaker 6 (19:28):
To cos malone point that he made.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
Two weeks ago when he was talking about his guys
not watching film, this is to me what he was
talking about.
Speaker 6 (19:38):
He never called guys out by name on any of.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
The rants he's ever made. But for me, I just
had an idea of maybe who he's talking about, because
once you win a championship, that hunger sometimes go away,
and you can see it with how some guys play,
and maybe because that they just thought that they can
hit the light switch, and maybe that's one of the
reasons why they didn't study, and now is one of
the reasons he's not fire.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
All right, we'll come back. I want to get into
a little bit of a conversation. We were talking a
little about the Broncos earlier and about the draft coming up.
The advantageous spot there. They haven't picked twenty, but there's
another opportunity that could present themselves for the Broncos the
second round.
Speaker 7 (20:19):
We'll get to that coming up next.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.