Michael Malone walked up to the interview podium prior to Game 5 of the Nuggets’ second-round series against the Trail Blazers prepared to talk about anything but basketball.
Earlier that day there had been another school shooting. This one took place at STEM School, a charter school located in the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch where Malone, his wife, and their two daughters live. Malone’s daughters didn’t attend STEM but his family knew other families that were affected by the shooting which left one child dead and eight injured.
Malone was open, candid, emotional, and clearly shaken. Most of the questions during that pregame press conference which came a couple hours before a pivotal playoff matchup centered around the shooting. Malone answered them all.
That moment last April felt significant. During the eight-minute press conference Malone grieved along with a city and community, one that he and his family had been a part of for last several years.
The Nuggets hope he’ll be in Denver for many more. Tuesday afternoon the team announced that it had agreed to a contract extension with Malone. The deal is reportedly a two-year extension which runs through the 2022-23 season.
Not a bad early Christmas present.
“I would like to thank Josh, Stan and the entire Kroenke family, along with Tim Connelly and the front office, for continuing to believe and trust in me as their head coach,” Malone said in a press release. “None of this would be possible without the hard work, dedication and trust from our players as well as the entire coaching staff. I’d also like to thank the amazing fans in Denver who have helped make Pepsi Center one of the toughest places to play in the NBA once again. I look forward to continuing our ultimate goal of winning NBA Championships.”
Malone belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of Nuggets coaches. The Nuggets’ win total has increased in each of his seasons, from 33 to 40, 46 and 54 last year, and he currently has the fourth-most wins of any Denver head coach ever. This season, Malone became just the fourth coach in franchise history to coach the Nuggets for five consecutive seasons, joining George Karl, Doug Moe and Larry Brown.
A championship remains the goal but Malone has accomplished what he outlined in his introductory press conference in 2015. Flanked that day by Tim Connelly and Josh Kroenke, Malone opened his remarks by emphasizing defense, which prior to his arrival hadn’t always been a part of the Nuggets’ DNA through the George Karl years. It was as a chief reason why the Nuggets hadn’t advanced past the first round in the playoffs since 2009 even though Denver had made the postseason each of the last few years.
Last season, Malone’s vision for what he wanted the Nuggets to be turned into a reality. Denver fielded a top-10 defense for the first time under his watch which coincided with a 54-win season and the Nuggets’ first playoff appearance since 2013.
The Nuggets also advanced to the second-round of the playoffs for the first time since 2009.
Denver’s defensive renaissance has continued this season. The Nuggets are even better than they were on defense a year ago and currently rank second in the league in Defensive Efficiency.
Malone is a player’s coach, one who’s taken a young team and grown them into winners who can rack up 128 points against the Lakers one night and 24 hours later grind out a come-from-behind-victory over the Suns on the road. He’s a grinder, and a detail-oriented, no-nonsense commander in chief who prides himself on he and his staff’s preparation. It seems as if those qualities have rubbed off on his players over the years.
Malone’s grown as a leader too. He’s become better at managing his emotions on the sideline in the heat of the moment and knows that his team takes after him in that respect. If he runs hot they’ll run hot.
“Settling down, calming down, and not being so emotional,” Malone told DNVR earlier this season about where he’s improved the most as a coach. “I think when you’re a young coach and you’re trying to prove yourself, you wind up almost coaching every dribble.”
“It used to be, every win or loss is like life and death. That’s a hard way to live. That’s a hard way to coach.”
For the first time in recent memory, a championship is a tangible thought in Denver. And with a young core in Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray under contract for the next several years along with Malone and a stable front office with Tim Connelly and Arturas Karnisovas, who both hired Denver’s coach back in 2015 charting the organization’s path, the Nuggets are in good hands.
If Malone can help bring a championship to Denver one day he’ll do it for the two executives that hired him, team president Josh Kroenke who’s shown a tremendous amount of patience during his run at the Nuggets’ helm, and his players. He’ll also do it for those same fans he spoke to before Game 5 last April.
That night he delivered a win. Someday he may help delivery a trophy.
