It ain't always gonna be pretty - but Nuggets fans should stick by Michael Malone

“I’m an open book. I’m very open and honest.” said Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone at his introductory press conference.

He hasn’t disappointed from a media perspective as he fields every question and gives thoughtful and thorough answers. Malone hasn’t been afraid to be brutally honest either. He has called out his team for their poor play at times this season, but he refuses to throw individual players under the bus. GM Tim Connelly recognizes that Malone has a special quality that allows him to be upset in the heat of the moment and then let that roll off his back when the moment is over.

At a practice the day after a road game where Malone essentially benched rookie Nikola Jokic for poor play, I asked the coach about his young center. I expected to hear Malone offer up a critique of Jokic, but he spoke glowingly about him and the progress he was making this season. Whatever caused Malone to bench Jokic the night before, it didn’t deter him from seeing the big picture, the long view.

That’s what this season is all about: The long view. It’s impossible not to get excited about the Denver’s 112-110 win over the Golden State Warriors; and don’t look now, but Denver is just three losses (15-24) behind the eighth seeded Utah Jazz (17-21) in the Western Conference. Playoffs? Why am I talking playoffs? Because while I attempt to report on the Nuggets in the fairest way I can, I’m also a fan of the team. And Nuggets fans have been up in arms about some recent comments Malone has made.

Attendance issues at Pepsi Center

Before the Nuggets tipped off against the Charlotte Hornets on Jan. 10th, Malone had the following to say about Denver’s eight game home stand and if the team was happy to be home.

“The reality is we do not have a great home court advantage,” Malone said. “When we do have great fan support or great fan attendance, they are usually here for the other team and that’s the reality right now. We have to build this up to where our fans are excited enough to come and support us, and we’ve not done that yet. So, that is definitely on us as a team and a franchise.”

There is nothing in the above paragraph that isn’t completely accurate. Twice the Warriors have come to town with an abundance of support inside Pepsi Center. When Kobe Bryant‘s Farewell Tour rolled through town, he was serenaded by Kobe fans that dominated the friendly Denver confines. As Malone said, that’s the reality right now. Hardcore Nuggets fans, like Russ and Vicki the Sign Lady, find themselves outnumbered on those nights; but rain or shine — or a broken arm in Vicki’s case last season — they support their team. Diehard Nuggets fans exist, even if the Warriors tried to kill them off in the 2013 playoffs.

Malone’s comments after practice on Jan. 11th got social media in an uproar. That’s when phenomenal Colorado Springs Gazette writer Paul Klee asked Malone to reminisce about that 2013 playoff series between the 47-win Warriors and 57-win, Danilo Gallinari-less, Nuggets.

“A couple of things jump out. I remember we were all surprised at the lack of a home-court advantage that Denver had,” said Malone, an assistant coach for the Warriors when they turned the course of NBA history by upsetting the Nuggets 4-2 in that fateful series. “The games (in Denver), it was a very visitor-friendly environment. We didn’t feel like we were up against it at all.”

The disturbing part about the above paragraph from Klee is the use of the phrase: visitor-friendly environment. That felt like Malone saying that even in the good times, Denver fans are not good enough – when he may have just been applauding his, at the time, Warriors. That was such an odd series.

The Nuggets won Game 1 behind a brilliant Andre Miller bucket that saw him sneak past defensive-ace Draymond Green – who was a rookie at the time. The Nuggets got waxed at Pepsi Center in Game 2 by a 131-117 count. After dropping two games in Oakland, the series shifted back to Denver for Game 5 with the Warriors up 3-1.

Ahead of Game 5 there was a traffic jam on I-25 that caused a late arriving crowd at The Can. The atmosphere was dead inside the building and part of that can be blamed on the traffic. But the other thing that I cannot avoid thinking is that the fans felt a here-we-go-again vibe from a George Karl led team, that made it out of the first-round just one time in his Nuggets tenure. Fair or not, the writing seemed to be on the wall and I was even told a certain Warriors player commented to a Nuggets player before tipoff: This is all you got? In reference to the crowd. But wouldn’t you know it, the Nuggets won Game 5 anyway, 107-100. With the series shifting back to Golden State, they were able to put the Nuggets away in Game 6, series over… franchises changed, as Klee alluded to in his excellent article referenced above.

I was lucky enough to attend a regular season game at Oracle Arena during the following, 2013-14, season. It didn’t take long for me to realize why they call it Roaracle – the place is deafening and the fans not only anticipate when to cheer to boost their team, but they tailgate in the parking lot before the game like it’s an NFL game.

As a member of the media we get to games hours ahead of when the arena opens for fans; I was stuck in traffic waiting to get into Oracle a good three hours before tipoff. I’m not saying that Denver is a bad basketball town, but rather pointing out how spoiled the Warriors have been with their fanbase. Practically every NBA arena would feel like a visitor-friendly environment compared to that madhouse.

Malone responds to Nuggets Nation

After Malone’s quote above was posted to social media by Jeff Morton of DenverStiffs.com, I re-tweeted them and my mentions caught absolute fire. I had over 100 mentions in under 30 minutes that ranged from anger to applause of Malone’s comments about that Warriors series, and attendance issues at Pepsi Center. It’s such a complex issue that it forced Morton to write an interesting piece looking at all the angles on Stiffs.

The outpouring from Nuggets fans got me curious to get an answer from the Coach. I asked Malone the following question at shoot-around ahead of the Warriors game on Jan. 13th:

Timmons: Coach, last week you mentioned with the fans, you mentioned honestly, when the building is full it’s the opposition’s fans. Yesterday you talked about during the 2013 playoff series it was kind of a “visitor-friendly environment” at Pepsi Center. The fans are outpouring on Twitter to us: Why is he attacking the fans?

Malone: Attacking? Wow. Well, I didn’t think I was attacking anybody, I thought I was answering a question first and foremost. The facts speak for themselves. We’re last in the league in attendance, the fans that do come to the game — we appreciate that.

One thing that gets lost in all of this, which you guys can challenge me if you don’t agree, from the day I got hired in my press conference, I’ve said repeatedly that it is on me and this team and this organization to give our fans a product that they can be proud of, and feel good enough about coming out and supporting. Not once have I ever said we’re 14-24 (15-24 now) because of our fans. I don’t make excuses. We’re 14-24 (15-24 now) because I’ve done a bad job and we as an organization haven’t done the job that we need to.

But there’s been no attacking of our fans. If somebody asks me a question, I’m always going to answer it honestly. The fact of the matter is, and I get it, we have not put a product on the floor that our fans can say, ‘You know what? I’m going to come out every night and feel good about that.’ We’re just not there yet.

That is our goal, and that is something that we work very hard to do every day: myself, Tim Connelly, the front office; trying to put together a roster, a team and a product that we can all be proud of. The facts speak for themselves, I mean I’m not making it up that we’re last in attendance – it is what it is. But by no means am I blaming anybody or the fans for our lack of success. That’s the last people that would ever get blamed, and they deserve no blame in this. So, I don’t see where the attack is by any means.

**

Digging back into the archives, Malone has stuck to the same message as the Nuggets head coach when it comes to needing to bring the fans out. The following quote is from his media day press conference.

“What really excites me about this team is we have a lot of guys that want to be here,” said Malone. “…They realize that this is a great city with great fans. We just have to continue to work and get better so our fans can be proud of the team on the floor every single night.”

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

I can empathize with Malone to a certain, tiny, degree. Back on Nov. 17th I wrote a feature on Will Barton titled: Nuggets Will Barton: “This is just the tip of the iceberg.” The piece took me days to complete and I poured everything I had into it, I wanted to connect Nuggets fans to Barton. I wanted billions to read it because I was proud of it and excited for Barton. Had no one read it, I would have been devastated.

My hope and my belief is that Malone wants people to come see this team play because he’s proud of the work that he is putting in, and that the team and organization is putting in. My question to Malone stuck with him, after his pregame interview with Nuggets TV he came back over and we discussed the team and fans a bit more. He is a passionate man, a competitive man and a proud man. He wants to get things on track in Denver, and the team is making progress.

I told Coach that I wanted to see fans come out to see Emmanuel Mudiay, Gary Harris, Barton, Jokic, Jusuf Nurkic, Danilo Gallinari’s resurgence and more. I went a bit into fan mode, but this team is exciting to a diehard like myself. I’ve been writing about the Nuggets since 2009, and lucky enough to earn credentials in 2012 to help bring fans closer to the team they love.

There was a certain point Malone made during his introductory press conference that has stuck with me. It’s about more than a game. Yes, it’s about winning and losing, but there’s so much more than that, too.

“When you have a passion for something, no matter what anybody else says, you have to follow that passion,” said Malone at that presser. “And I definitely have a passion to coach, more importantly to teach. I think the best coaches are teachers. That passion probably came through when I met with these guys (gesturing to Josh Kroenke and Tim Connelly), and they saw that: Here’s a guy that really is truly invested and is going to give everything he has to the journey we’re about to start.”

This journey with Malone is just starting and it ain’t always going to be pretty, but we should stick with Malone along the way.