As the days pass, and people start to process the new reality in Denver, more and more news is starting to trickle out about the toxic culture within the Nuggets’ organization thanks to the long standoff between head coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth.
The two were fired unceremoniously on Tuesday with less than a week remaining in the NBA regular season. It was a stunning end to an extremely successful era, especially for Malone who presided over the team for a decade, spanning the entirety of Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets career.
But with each passing day, comes another report on the fractures in relationships that had created an uncomfortable work environment and led to the team tuning out Malone as he lost the locker room. There were many factors that led to this shocking move, but it seems the biggest issue was Malone’s stubborn insistence on playing and trusting veteran role players over young players who still needed to prove themselves.
Malone’s resistance to play Hartenstein and Huff major blemishes on tenure
In a new piece by Jake Fischer on Marc Stein’s substack, Fischer detailed many of the specific issues that plagued the franchise over the years, ultimately leading to the mass overhaul that took place on Tuesday.
Many of those moves have been well documented in recent days, but two big misses with young big men came to light that many have forgotten about. The first one harkens back to before Calvin Booth was even the GM of the team.
Tim Connelly signed a young, relatively unknown Isaiah Hartenstein to back up Nikola Jokic back in 2020. According to Fischer, Connelly implored Malone to give Hartenstein a chance, but the big man never cracked Malone’s rotation and was traded after only 30 games along with two second-round picks for a more veteran, JaVale McGee.
Fischer referenced a similar situation that played out last season, as Calvin Booth was pleading with Malone to play two-way stretch five, Jay Huff. Malone resisted, continuing to trot out the washed-up DeAndre Jordan at backup center as Huff left as a free agent after the season.
Of course, the rest is history with those two missed connections. Hartenstein blossomed in New York, became one of the hottest free agents on the market, and is now a key player for the best team in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder on a three-year, $87 million contract.
Huff signed a two-way deal in Memphis, but the Grizzlies quickly saw his promise and promoted him to a full NBA deal. He has appeared in over 60 games for the Grizzlies this season and has proven to be a capable backup center who can offer some rim protection and has shot over 40% from three.
Maybe these players never would have blossomed in Denver, but maybe they would have. The point is that we’ll never know. Malone never wanted to develop young players and had no patience for growing pains. The Nuggets now find themselves in a tough financial position going forward, largely due to their lack of promising young players on affordable contracts.
These aren’t the only reasons for the team’s current predicament, but they are major contributing factors. If Malone had been more open-minded to young players and less stuck up on veterans, he may still have a job and the Nuggets may have a stronger roster.