Denver’s vice chairman Josh Kroenke admitted in a recent interview that this wasn’t the first time he had thought about firing both the general manager and the franchise’s winningest coach. Their relationship reached a boiling point last week, as they were finally discharged three games left in the season.
The Nuggets executive decided back in November that he would give the team some time to find each other, but almost decided to part ways before the All-Star break in February, when the squad had just won eight-consecutive games.
Kroenke finally decided to let go of coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth, as the club was still in the mix for homecourt in the first round of the playoffs. “So, what would be crazier, me doing what I did last week or doing it on an eight-game winning streak?” asked the vice chairman.
However, only one of those eight-straight victories came against a club that made it to the playoffs, the Orlando Magic, who ended as the East’s 7th seed. “I think that those eight games masked a trend that was going on behind closed doors that ultimately started to really affect the end of our season,” Kroenke said.
The Denver executive then revealed that he was also open to a change around Thanksgiving, as the team wasn’t off to a great start. He said that “I was really feeling like things weren’t headed in the right direction,” before giving them more time to settle into the campaign.
Even though Malone and Booth led the franchise to their first-ever title in 47 years, they both had philosophical differences with their bosses. Kroenke also mentioned that he wasn’t open to trading out Michael Porter Jr., who had been used in trade talks before the deadline.
“First of all I’ll say, I’m incredibly proud of Michael,” the executive assured, in reference to him overcoming injuries earlier in his career. “… But I think that any kind of report saying that we’re not open to trading everybody possible to improve the team is completely false.”
