Michael Malone's stubborn coaching quirk that is costing the Nuggets games

Michael Malone has been a rock-solid coach for the Nuggets over the years. He does a lot of things very well and he’s a big part of the reason why the team got over the hump and won their first championship in 2023.

But Malone is not without his shortcomings; he is an old-school coach who can be very stubborn and stuck in his ways. He’s been much-maligned over his coaching career for his resistance to playing young players and dependency on veterans - sometimes to his own detriment.

Another tendency that Malone has stuck to over the years is an insistence on playing his entire bench unit together. There are slight staggers, and often at least one starter is still in the game. But generally speaking, when Malone goes to the bench, he lets the backups play together for extended periods.

Coach Malone needs to mix and match his bench lineups

On the one hand, this strategy has allowed the Nuggets to build one of the most successful and reliable starting units in the league. They’ve always played well together, had great cohesion, and been able to dominate their minutes.

But on the other hand, the lack of production from bench units has been a staple of recent Denver squads. While it helps build up the on/off numbers for Nikola Jokic and boosts his MVP case, is it actually good for the team?

It has been fair to question how much of these rotations really matter if the bench players just aren’t good, and to some extent that may have been the case in past years. But this season, the bench players either aren’t good enough or aren’t ready.

It has only been four games but it has been pretty clear that a lineup featuring all of Russell Westbrook, Julian Strawther, Peyton Watson, and Dario Saric all playing together is not going to be conducive to success in the NBA in 2024.

There’s still a chance that all of those players can be useful bench players, but they need to be on the court alongside better players more often. Why can’t Malone bring in two bench players early in the first quarter, then bring in two more later along with the first two starters who came out?

I’m not an NBA coach, but at some point, Malone needs to give up his old habits and adjust based on what his current team needs. It almost feels like there is such a disconnect between Malone and the front office that the coach is on a mission to prove his point about the roster.

Unfortunately, that is coming at the expense of the Nuggets and their ability to win games. I don’t have all of the answers, but Malone needs to get creative with his substitutions and rotations. This is the time to experiment and try things. But what they are doing now is not working.