Denver Nuggets: Takeaways from the Miami loss

I’ve been all over the place on Michael Malone.  What remains consistent is the baffling substitutions and defiant lack of explanation.

We’ll pretty much listen to anything.  The problem is, nothing is being said.  Michael Malone doesn’t say anything about the bench trolls.

Denver Nuggets

What I say is that Malik Beasley might have made a difference.  Richard Jefferson or Kenneth Faried might have been able to grab a rebound or contest a shot that would have made a difference.  Darrell Arthur, a pretty respectable mid-range shooter might have made a difference.  We’ll never know and the Coach won’t tell us why.

The Nuggets currently have $15.5 million in salary rotting on their bench.  They’ve also played themselves right out of playoff contention and we’ve gone almost an entire season letting Malone get away with no explanation for the exile of the players.

It’s gotten to the point where if Malone won’t help us understand the logic of 9-man rotations, Arturas Karnisovas or Tim Connelly are going to have to.

I’m neither a coach nor a player.  Perhaps there’s some grand scheme at play here that I am unaware of.  For example, until I saw, statistically, how bad Mudiay is/was, I thought he was a serviceable backup.  Turns out, his defense is by far worst in the league at his position.  I understand that and can live with his fall, given information.  I can’t find stats to justify the usage of the current bench dwellers.  Faried struggles on D but its folly to suggest the Nuggets are somehow better defensively with him snuggled in his hoodie at the end of the bench.

Season-long rotation questions loom large for Malone and the Nuggets.  Of particular concern was last night’s substitutions.  At one point in the second quarter, Malone replaced the starters (except Barton).  The subs let Miami run down a seven-point Nuggets lead and Malone responded by re-inserting Jokic and Murray. Murray was then almost immediately pulled again. Murray was put opposite Devin Harris, who tried to hard to get the ball to Murray.  It was dysfunctional and seemed random.

Barton was 8-for-21 from the floor for the game.  He had four steals and two blocks, his impact on the game was obvious, both good and bad.  This is the mystery of Barton and one that Malone bears responsibility for.  We don’t have the luxury of riding out Barton’s roller-coaster.  He’s pretty easy to read, when he’s on a 3-on-1 break and forces the issue himself, rather than finding open teammates, you can be pretty sure we’re in for a Bad Barton game.

Another questionable situation, why is Juancho back in street clothes? He’s not hurt, that anyone has mentioned.  I assume they are playing some sort of roster musical chairs to keep Torrey Craig around.  Another situation that’s never been explained.  We were told that as a two-way player, he could only be up with the big squad for a certain amount of time, which long-ago passed.  Yet here he is, off the bench ahead of much better players with no explanation.  I think they had half-heartedly promoted some sort of hamstring injury for Craig.

Michael Malone has done a lot right over the last three years.  His handling of the roster and his rotations are not among those things.  The Franchise shouldn’t allow him to give no explanation for his rotations.  It’s created a situation where the fan base has lost confidence, deserved or not.

It’s going to cost Malone his job, perhaps he might want to say something before that happens.