Since the massive and shocking changes made in Denver last week, the vibes around the Nuggets have been surprisingly good. It’s almost like a dark cloud has been lifted from above the organization, and everyone can finally move on, now on the same page.
It’s not that Michael Malone wasn’t a great coach, but his voice had grown stale after 10 years, and his stubborn reliance on veterans and petty battle with GM Calvin Booth wore on the team and everyone involved with the franchise.
David Adelman has brought a new sense of unity to the team; a 43-year-old long-time assistant, he has the team buying in on both ends, and they rallied to a 3-0 finish to the regular season. The team is feeling good riding into the playoffs as the fourth seed in the West, with homecourt advantage in round one against the Clippers.
By all accounts, the players are big fans of Adelman and would love to see him get the job. If they can go on a run and win a round or two, that would certainly help his case and perhaps convince the Kroenkes to shed the interim tag and cement Adelman as the permanent head coach of the Nuggets going forward.
On the other hand, the Nuggets can’t fall in love with the interim coach during the honeymoon phase. They have precious few years left with Nikola Jokic playing at this level, and they need to maximize the window with a championship-or-bust mentality every season. If the team flames out in the playoffs, it might be time to go big-game hunting for a new head coach.
Mike Budenholzer an option with championship pedigree
One potential candidate for the job is the recently fired Mike Budenholzer. Bud was brought in to coach the Suns this season, and things didn’t work out, to put it mildly. But it’s hard to blame the organizational dysfunction in Phoenix on Coach Bud; that was already a sinking ship.
Budenholzer’s record before this season is what should have the attention of Nuggets fans. He was an assistant in San Antonio to Gregg Popovich for almost 20 years, helping the team win four titles before finally getting a head coaching gig with the Hawks.
He quickly turned that franchise around, leading Atlanta to great regular season success for several years, ultimately falling short against LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the playoffs time and again.
The Bucks hired Budenholzer in 2018, and he turned them into a juggernaut, helping elevate Giannis Antetokounmpo to one of the greatest players of all time and leading the Bucks to a championship in 2021. The team decided to move on after last season, and after one forgettable season in Phoenix, he’s a free agent yet again.
I’m more willing to trust the longterm, sustained success that Budenholzer has had over the course of his career than this one disastrous season. He has his shortcomings (not much for adjustments), but he has a proven pedigree, and he’s done it with a similarly iconic franchise superstar in Giannis.
Bud consistently produces results, getting teams to overperform in the regular season and carry that into the playoffs. There will be a lot of solid options for Denver to choose from this summer if they want to move on from David Adelman, but none may be more qualified than Budenholzer.