Shopping news from a world of pro basketball today, the Denver Nuggets have fired Michael Malone after ten years on the sidelines and bringing Denver their first championship in nearly half a century. Our next guest might have some insight on this. Tony Jones, Happy Tuesday, sir?
How are you?
Uh wow? Right? Like Happy Tuesday? Thanks for having me on. That was a great walk up song. Just just a.
Lot going on, a lot going on, Tony.
And I'm old enough to remember when you were good at your job in the NBA, you got to keep it and when you were a twenty five generational.
Player, you wouldn't be traded.
Luka, Doncic is a Laker, Taylor Jenkins is looking for employment. And Michael Malone after a decade of high level coaching and a guy who I like and respect a lot. I mean, his dad, Brendan Malone, was an assistant for Jeff Van Gundy in New York and so we got to know the family, and of course Michael was back with the Knicks for a little bit as well. Help us understand this, Tony, like, why how did this go down? And what's your take on the way they went about their business?
So I'm going to probably go against the grain a little bit, but I'm not surprised that this happened at all. I am surprised about the timing. I think the timing is is definitely the most shocking part of it. But I talked to a source yesterday for about an hour, and when I got off the phone with that source, I called Sam Amic, you know, my good friend, and and Kylie got the Athletic and the first thing I said when you picked up the phone was, yeah, the
Nuggets they want to fire Michael Malone. And I'm surprised that they did it twenty four hours later, you know, but I'm not surprised that at at the firing at all. Things where things have been kind of come into a head for a while. This has kind of been brewing, and you know, and I think I'm surprised at the timing, and I'm surprised that everybody went. But this was the very definition of a power struggle. And Josh Kronki, the Nuggets' owners, just apparently said, both of you guys can
lead the building at this point. And that's what happened.
And for our listeners, when Tony says both of you guys. Calvin Booth is the general manager, and he was also informed that his contract will not be renewed. So they are getting rid of their head coach, Michael Malone and their general manager, Calvin Booth. Now I can understand getting rid of Calvin Booth. Like I have said, and I believe this to be true, that Denver has.
Failed Nikola Jokic.
They the Kronkys, are not an ownership group that wants to spend the way that Joe Lacup does or some of the other owners like a Steve Balmer. They do not want to be a luxury, tax paying team. They have, in my opinion, the best player in this generation and a player that when he's done, will be among the best players ever to play. But I didn't view this as a coaching issue. I know they've lost four straight, but to me, Jamal Murray's hamstring is a bigger issue
than Michael Malone's coaching. Jamal hasn't played in five games, and if you take okayc off the table, Denver's right there with everybody else and maybe a team that could challenge Oklahoma City because we've seen them do it before. So your point about the power struggle between Calvin Booth and Michael Malone. Well taken, but they're both gone. Why not just get rid of Calvin Booth and keep Michael Malone around?
Like?
Can you Is this a locker room issue? Is it a player issue? Like what exactly led them to doing this to their head?
Coach? I understand the GM. I don't get the coaching thing.
Well, because Michael Malone lost the locker room. And oh all right, And when I say he lost the locker room, that includes Nikolay Jokis. He lost Nikolay jokins and and and he lost the locker room as a whole. And uh so you know that's one of the reasons why you know, coach Malone also got fired as well. I have you know, some things brewing that you know, uh that will be written pretty soon in the athletic uh in terms of specifics about you know, how Malone lost
the locker room. But I can tell you from a broad sense to my sources, that Malone lost the locker room. And you know, there were several things in terms of in terms of Calvin, there are several things that went into his firing as well, you know, one of which was you know, the contract h to Jamal Murray because
of the their ability factor. And it wasn't that the contract to Murray, it was that the contract was was really expensive and it was really player friendly, a little bit too player friendly for the cronkys taste in that, you know, along with you know, a couple of the missteps, like given the technology a four year contract when we're not even sure he's an NBA player, you know, spending three second round picks to get off of to get off of Reggie Jackson, you know, player options to ruffle
westbrook In, Dario Sarach, you know, things like that that you know, have hamstring the Nuggets. I mean, if you look at what the Nuggets have going forward, you know, it's it's pretty bleak in terms of and in terms in terms of assets. Right, Like they have one tradable first round pick, which is twenty thirty one. They're twenty twenty seven and twenty twenty nine first round picks, and this is going to be a big shock to everybody here.
They belong to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Because the Oklahoma City Thunder, everything belongs to the Oklahoma So you know, there's no assets, there's no money. You know, it's gonna take whoever comes in and and gets the GM job. I mean, there's there's not really a cupboard to work with. And part of this, I think is on the Crockys. It is, and you know, they made it really certain, they made it really certain we do not want to go into the second option. I mean, we do not
want to go into the second aprint. So Calvin Booth was in a large part working with what he had, which is what led to where we see the roster right now. Because like let's take for example, the Boston Celtics. The Boston Celtics. But like we can go into the to we can go into the the tax, we can go into the resign, you know, Jason Tatum re sign, Jalen Brown extend, you know, offer an extension to Drew Holliday and the people around them, and we'll we'll pay
the tacks. We're fine. We just want to put we want to put the best product in the floor as possible. And I think that Calvin Booth has been hamstrung in that. But at the same time, Calvin Booth made mistakes like the Zeke Nology contract. That's a legitimate mistake, it's untradeable, you know, and it's four years and you know, the the the Reddy Jackson trade, you know, because he because he had a player option. You know, that's three second
round picks. Those are three. Those are three picks where you can either use it for a trade or you can, you know, try to go and get you can try to go and get rotation players. You can. So I think Calvin Booth hit on the margins in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three in order to win Denver on the championship, to win Denver a championship because he went and got Bruce Brown, he went and got Jeff Green. Those are hits on the margin. But he also lost
Contavious Carwell Pope the free agency. He also gave leek Nage that contract, so he also missed on the margins. Ever since they lost the championship. So it's been a really mixed back.
There three games left for Denver.
Last thing here, you know, because as I referenced what I tried to do with all my NBA guests and have all year. Once it became obvious that Oklahoma City was playing at a historic level, the conversation has to become okay, Like, who keeps Mark dagnalled up at night? Who are the teams that he worries about? I still put Denver in that category because they have that dude. They have a guy that we've seen do it before, and no one ever does it by themselves. Michael didn't,
Kobe didn't, Lebron didn't. But Jokic is as close to anybody that we've seen carrying a team to championships in playoff runs. So what do you think best case scenario is for Denver as the playoffs are only three games away?
Now?
Well, I mean, I still think they invest case scenario is a championship. Like you said, they have Nacola Jokic. When you have that guy, you're gonna have the best player in every series and you're gonna have a punch
of chance. But you know, one of the things that Josh Conky said publicly today was that he wants to see the joy back and there are reasons for this, but this team is not playing with joy and this team is not playing with energy, And you know, I think and that's part of the reason why Malone no longer has a job. And you know, I know I can't I can't really go in the specifics, but you know, there are some some things that have been at play internally.
You know that of course this you know, so you know, the hope is that you know, we start they start with you know, one thing, right, come out tomorrow night, play with energy. They lose the sacramental lamorrow night, there's a real chance that they're going to fall into the
playing the playing. You know, this is a team that was second and third in the Western Conference for much of the second half of the season, and you know, now we're talking about, you know, a one game scenario to Sacramento, and if that doesn't work out for them, you know, they're you know, there's a real real chance
that they're playing on Tuesday next week. So you know, I think I think the first thing, you know, in a macro sense, in a micro sense, is to come out on Wednesday and play with energy and play with force against Sacramento and then just kind of take it from there. You know. But the Nuggets that at their peak, I mean, this is still you know, if they get Jamal Murray back healthy, of course, this is still one of the best starting fives in the league, one of
the most efficient starting fives in the league. You have Yokis playing at an insane level. The guy's gonna average a thirty point triple double this season. This is truly one of the best, you know seasons anybody has had an NBA history offensively, you know. So there's still you know, a puncher's chance to win any series that they're in. I was in Oklahoma City, you know, three weeks or
a month ago or whatever it was. I mean, it all kind of goes together, you know where they caused the Thunder real issues and they beat the Thunder on their home floor because the Thunder could not figure out a way to deal with NICOLEA. Jokis. So you know he's going He's an ultimate miss match. He's the ultimate superstar in this league that we have in our league today. You know. So if you have that guy on the floor, you have a chance to win any series that you can play that you're playing.
All right, Moving off the nugget stuff, let's bounce around with some local stories. It was announced earlier today that Jegor Demon is going to leave BYU and he's going to start his pro basketball career. Uh So, when you look at a lot of the mocks. He's still a lottery pick. Some have him as a top ten, some of them have like mid lottery. He's very young, he's very raw, So anybody that will take a flyer on him is hoping that he learns how to shoot it consistently.
Some of the decision making stuff improves, and he responds to force and physicality better than he did at BYU. There's a lot to like from a scouting perspective, just simply how big and long he is and how creative he can be with some of the distribution. But now that we know it's official, Dollon Hall's in the transfer port transfer portal by you need to point card, what are you making the news today that Yegor Demin is leaving Provo.
I think he had to because he's going to be a first round pick. And you know, you you know, people talk about, well this Cooper flag going to go back to the Duke. Of course he's not going to go back to Duke. And people say, oh, well, you know in the agent nil, you can recruit that money. No, you can't. You don't go into the draft, you know for you know season one or season two. Uh, you don't go in the draft at eighteen for season one and a season two. You want to go into the draft
at eighteen. So by the time you're twenty three, you're on a second contract and you're making one hundred million dollars. And then by the time you're twenty eight, you're on a third contract and you make another one hundred million dollars. And then by the time you're thirty three, you do the same thing, and then guess what you're You know, you've made a half a billion dollars over the course
of your career. You know, so that you start your clock, the better for your career, the better off you'll be. And if you're going to be a first round pick, and like you said, Jego is going to be a first round pick because there just aren't many chumbo size
six foot nine playmakers that are available. And you know, as you look at Josh Getty, right, and you look at how raw he was coming out, look at him now and look at how he developed, and look at how well he's playing for the Chicago Bulls, and that's where you see what Yegor Demon can be. Like his his art type, his arc type is literally playing for
the Chicago bulls right now. So you know, Yegor comes into the league, he hits the weight room, he falls in love with the weight room, he falls in love with the process. Then you know, by the time he's twenty two to twenty three, twenty four years old, you really have something than there.
So with Dallan Hall entering the transfer portal, Kevin Young needs a point guard. Or maybe they run it back with the Dawson Baker kid because right now, uh, you know, a j A j.
Debon said technically is a wing.
Maybe they can run their offense through him because he is that skilled. Then the Xavion Stanton kid or they're getting from Vegas, I believe, is a center.
What do they do with that league guard spot? Any thoughts?
You can try to talk Dollan back into the fold, which you know, no no intel from me there, but I would think that it might be a little bit easier to talk him back into the fold now that you know he would no doubt be a starter. And you know, let's put it this way, Jegor is a lot more talented than Dollan, Like he's a better player, but Dallan is a better fit with a Javanca in my opinion than Jegor is because Jaegor, for him to
be effective, he needs the ball in his hands. I don't think Dollan needs the ball in his hands as much to be effective. And what you what I'm getting at here, is that what you want if your b YU is you want the ball in aj Devance's hands or you want the ball in richie' saunders hands as much as humanly possible next year, Like that is, you know, immediately Richie Thunders and aj Devancer are immediately one of the best duos in college basketball. And you know, aj
Devanca is a playmaking wing. He's a playmaking whatever if he's a shooting guard or a small forward, he's a playmaking wing. And I think Dallan can can can play off of both of those guys. Uh add side to the position. I mean he obviously have side for the
position at defense for the position. Uh and you know, just kind of be a connector because I think Dollan's more of a connecting type point guard, Like you don't really want him, you know, being your dominant ball handler, but as a connector, as a guy who's who's you know, making secondary players off the dribble. Like you really want him uh in that role as well, and I think that he can thrive in that role.
All right.
So on the Utah basketball side of things, you know, it still is a little bit quiet as far as you know, Alex continuing to fill out his staff. We don't really know what the rest of the staff is going to look like. Alex hopped on with Sean yesterday and had some interesting things to say about, you know, the type of staff he's looking for. It's not going to be as big as some of the other, you know,
the other staffs in college basketball. So we're still a waiting word on you know, an Andre Miller type.
Uh.
The transfer portal continues to bring news. Mike shrav Jamps now officially in the transfer portal, Kano Dawes is back to play for aj coming up next year. Jake Wallen is in the transfer portal. In addition to some other pieces, mir A little found a landing spot.
So we're still waiting to.
Kind of learn exactly what Utah basketball is going to look like next year. You know, you were good enough to kind of talk talk to us about Raphael Chilius, the guy that you know and you played with back in the day and apparently this fairly Dickinson transfer. Terrence Brown has a direct relationship with coach Chilius and he was one of the top ten scorers in college basketball last year twenty one points, six boards, three point two assists.
Shout out to the Great Northeast Conference that you're familiar with where Fairleigh Dickinson, you know, obviously is located. Any insight on this transfer that AJ was able to grab. According to on three, he's a four star transfer with a composite ranking of ninety three point two out of one hundred. So we have two pieces of the puzzle, now Kano Dawes and now Terrence Brown in sight. As far as what type of player Terrence is.
Well, because I'm a basketball sicko, I have watched Terrence Brown play. You know. My question for you know, my question is how is he going to adjust the big twelve physicality. But he's explosive off the dribble. He can shoot the ball. He can score the ball. He can score the ball and in multiple ways. Uh. He can score it at three levels. He's obviously proficient from three. Uh. He can get into the lane, uh and get off the floater. He can get all the way to the
basket off the dribble. You know, it's it's going to be interesting, uh from size from a side standpoint, you know how he adjusts to you know, the physicality and the athleticism of the big twelve, you know, but he's a good a good addition. And what you want is somebody dynamic off the dribble. And what you want is somebody who can create most importantly basketball advantages. And you know, at least in the Northeast Conference, there was no better
player in that conference than Terres Brown. I can creating our basketball advantage off the dribble.
So we kind of await word as far as what the staff and the rest of the roster will look like. But let's end with a little Utah jazz, Tony. We haven't talked to a lot of jazz with you lately because if we're honest, there's just not a lot to talk about. Everyone knows what time it is. They have three wins since the All Star break. They're one and nineteen in their last twenty. We know what they're doing,
we know what they're trying to do. But what I'll ask you today that Ivan Ashtian a while is with these grit with the grip of young players, and with the young players, I will remove Walker from the equation because I think we all can agree that Walker has played himself in the future plans of this organization. But I want, I just want to kick the tires with you on this group of young players. And we'll remove
Taylor Hendricks because of course that he's hurt. But Isaiah Callier, Kyle Philipowski, of course, you know, will include Keyante in the mix, Cody Williams in the mix, right censub on the mix of these first and second year players, who do you feel has played their way to at least consideration to be around here long term, to be a piece of the puzzle when the Jazz are actually interested, interesting and serious about winning again.
I would probably say Kyle Philipowski is the most likely because he's the most unique. Uh he's you know, six eleven seven foot Uh he you know, he obviously shoot the ball from three. It's funny because, uh, well, you know, some of the conversations with the Jazz two years ago, they were like, we're gonna bring Kyle. This was after Kyle Filoski's freshman or a dude we're gonna bring Cousselowski and we're going to bring him in for a workout.
We're definitely considering him with our you know, our initial first round pick and that year was number nine, and that's the pick that that became you know, Taylor Hendrix. And I was like, you guys are crazy, Like dude stinks, Like you know, I didn't like him at Duke, and now that I've seen him, you know a little bit more up close. I mean, they were absolutely right. Like he's he's kind of a mismatch offensively, U. He's you know, so much tougher than I thought he was when he
was at Duke. He's a lot more athletic than I thought he was when he was at Duke. You can see the development from you know, when he was drafted to now and you know, I think this guy has a chance to one day be an offensive I don't know about offensive engine because those guys are like twenty five points to night, but he's you know, I think he's got a chance to be a pretty significant offensive player, uh, in this in this league. Now, defenses is another story.
You know, he can't really defend and he's got to get a lot better at that. But you know, he's like really uh, kind of a walking mismatch. Like you know, he's he's too big and strong and quick for fours. Uh, he's too quick for five. You know, he can space you out, he can go off the drubble, he's got counter moves. He's really crafty and cerebral. He's very tough, and he's got a lot more athletic pops than then.
You know, you you give him credit for it looks like a choir boy, but he's definitely uh, he's definitely a really tough kid. He's what I would imagine and I hate to bring this up. I don't want to be blasphemous, but he's what I today league, and you know, and I think that he's he's been really really good for the Jazz in his rookie year, and I think he's got a chance to be here for for a long time.
All right, Tony, I know you're busy. We'll set you loose. Keep up the good work. I appreciate the time.
Okay, no problem, appreciate you.
My guy, Tony Jones covers well the NBA for the athletic He's on the Nuggets beat right now. And he and Sam Amic with a piece up today concerning the shocking firing of Michael Malone with only three games left in the season and Denver is the four seed.
So there you go.
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