It didn’t take long for Mike Malone to get a second chance as an NBA head coach. On Monday, the Nuggets came to an agreement to make Malone their new head coach.
Fired by the Sacramento Kings in December after an 11-13 start, Malone landed on his feet with the Nuggets just six months later. He was 39-67 overall with Sacramento.
“After a long and thorough search, we are excited to announce Michael Malone as the next head coach of the Denver Nuggets,” Nuggets President Josh Kroenke said in a statement released early Monday evening.
“I would like to thank the Kroenke family and the entire Nuggets organization for this opportunity,” Malone said in a statement.
The Nuggets will hold a press conference Tuesday to introduce Malone, whose star rose while he was with Golden State from 2011-13. As the lead assistant under then-head coach Mark Jackson, the Warriors flourished, particularly at the defensive end. During the 2012-13 season, the Warriors’ opponents field goal percentage went from 20th to third, and three-point percentage from 28th to seventh.
In the playoffs after that season, the Warriors upended the heavily favored Nuggets. Malone parlayed that success to landing the Kings job. The loss by the Nuggets led to the eventual firing of coach George Karl, who is now coaching Sacramento. The Nuggets fired Karl’s replacement, Brian Shaw, in March. Melvin Hunt served as interim Nuggets head coach to finish out the season and was a finalist for the job. He said Monday he does not expect to be retained by the new staff.
“Can’t hold a good man down for long” tweeted Kings center DeMarcus Cousins in support of Malone’s selection.
In Sacramento Malone tried to build a foundation of discipline and defense. He has been a defensive specialist coach in many of his coaching stops. He’ll get the chance to prove he can keep the offensive pace high as well, something Kroenke said would be a focal point for the franchise.
Malone, in two interviews with the Nuggets, was able to convince management that he’d effectively use playing at altitude to the team’s advantage while also establishing many of the same defensive principles that made teams at his previous stops successful.
In that respect, the Nuggets aren’t completely letting go of the philosophy that led them to hire Shaw. They wanted a coach to implement a system that could not just get them through a regular season, but would thrive in the playoffs. Under Shaw, however, the Nuggets never came close to making the playoffs.
Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari declined comment on the hire, citing a lack of knowledge of Malone “as a coach or as a person.”
“I hope to talk to him soon,” Gallinari said.
Malone was fired 24 games into the 2014-15 season amid reports that his defense-first style clashed with what Kings executives wanted, which was a more offensive-minded system.
Malone has also been as assistant in New Orleans, Cleveland and New York.
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
Mike Malone
Age: 44
College: Loyola (Md.) University
Family: Wife, Jocelyn, and daughters Caitlin, Bridget; son of Detroit Pistons assistant coach Brendan Malone, who has coached more than 27 years in the NBA
Coaching history:
1994-95: Oakland (NCAA Division II) assistant
1995-98: Providence (NCAA Division I) assistant
1999-2001: Manhattan (NCAA Division I) assistant
2001-05: New York Knicks assistant
2005-10: Cleveland Cavaliers assistant
2010-11: New Orleans Hornets assistant
2011-13: Golden State Warriors assistant
2013-14: Sacramento Kings head coach
