Denver’s Vice chairman Josh Kroenke admitted in a recent interview that this was not the first time he had thought about dismissing both the general director and the winning coach of the franchise. Their relationship reached a boiling point last week, because they were finally fired three games that were over in the season.
The Nuggets director decided in November that he would give the team some time to find each other, but almost decided to separate for the All-Star break in February, when the team had just won eight consecutive games.
Koenke finally decided to let go of coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth, because the club was still in the mix for Homecourt in the first round of the Play -offs. “So what would be crazier, I do what I did or did it last week on an eight-game winning streak?” asked the vice chairman.
Only one of those Acht-Straight victories came against a club that made the play-offs, the Orlando Magic, which ended like the 7th seed of the East. “I think those eight games masked a trend that was going on behind closed doors that eventually started to influence the end of our season,” said Kroenke.
The Denver director then revealed that he was also open to a change around Thanksgiving, because the team did not start well. He said “I really felt that things were not going in the right direction”, before they gave them more time to settle in the campaign.
Although Malone and Boothe led the franchise to their very first title in 47 years, they both had philosophical differences with their bosses. Kroenke also said that he was not open to the rest of Michael Porter Jr., who was used in commercial conversations before the deadline.
“First of all, I will say, I am incredibly proud of Michael,” assured the executive, in reference to him who would overcome injuries earlier in his career. “… But I think every report that says we are not open to exchange everyone to improve the team is completely incorrect.”
