Fandom from Afar
Join me as I discuss my journey as a Colorado sports fan living in Florida and my interviews with sports fans that are forced to enjoy their favorite teams from a distance.
Fandom from Afar
The Beast Awakens: Nuggets Find New Life After Major Shake-up
The Nuggets shocked the basketball world by firing both championship-winning head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth with just three games left in the regular season, sparking a dramatic turnaround in team energy and performance. Stories revealed a toxic power struggle where Malone would purposely set up practice to humiliate players drafted by Booth while Booth would trade veterans to force Malone to play younger talent.
• Both men built the championship team but ultimately tore the organization apart through stubbornness
• Coach Malone transformed the Nuggets culture and should be remembered as the team's greatest coach despite the ugly ending
• Interim coach David Adelman has brought joy back to the team, winning three straight games
• Jokić's quote about the "beast being most dangerous when vulnerable" signals a potential playoff awakening
• The MVP race between Jokić and SGA shows Jokić has transcended the award – now recognized as the best player regardless
• Nuggets vs. Clippers first-round matchup will be a fascinating battle between the rejuvenated champions and one of the league's hottest teams
• Jamal Murray's performance against tough Clippers defenders could determine both the series and his future with the team
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All right, everyone, welcome back to Fandom From Afar. We have a packed episode today. So much to talk about. If you listened to my last episode, I was extremely sad and really down on the Nuggets situation, so pretty sure the Nuggets heard me. And so the very next day they fired Coach Malone and Calvin Booth. So we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about the MVP race and, of course, we'll talk about the playoffs, which, if you're listening to this, the day it comes out, the playoffs start today. The Nuggets will take on the Clippers and I think it's going to be a fantastic series. So so much to talk about. Let's dive right in.
Speaker 1:As I mentioned it, it was unheard of what the nuggets did with only three games left in the season. They fired coach malone, who had just won a championship for us. They fired the general manager calvin, who had just won a championship for us. They fired the general manager Calvin Booth, who had just won a championship for us. But that just shows how bad things were, and the stories that came out after this happened were shocking, and it really seems like those around the team, whether it's reporters or even players they they saw this happening and everyone kind of had their own little story about. Oh man, I saw this or I heard this, and it was really incredible how both guys were at fault. They both seem to be very stubborn, prideful guys that seem to be more concerned about themselves being right rather than the team success, and it kind of it sounds like it just kept going more and more downhill and both guys just kept digging their feet in deeper and deeper until the ownership was finally sick and tired of it, like they. It sounds like they were going to do it right around the all-star break, but the nuggets happened to be on an eight night game winning streak at the time and so they couldn't do it then. But it just got to a boiling point and the Cronkies just said hey, we appreciate both of you guys helping us win that championship, but you are tearing this organization apart, you're fired. So there's there's so many podcasts out there that I've gone over, so so many stories that have come out since this happened, and just just a couple to highlight kind of what I think the main issue was.
Speaker 1:I love Coach Malone, but when I heard a story that he was so against any player that Calvin Booth drafted that he would come into practice and switch teams around to purposely and switch teams around to purposely humiliate Jalen Pickett. Not only would he do that, he would kind of berate and yell at Pickett once his team that he had set up to lose lost, and then in the story apparently he was like openly mocking him and making fun of him and just kind of trying to tear him down. And man, I'll go over some reasons why I love Coach Malone. But when I heard that I was just like, oh man, it was definitely time for him to go and it's just sad he's messing with players whose dream was probably to make the NBA. He's messing with their careers just to prove that he's right against a guy that he doesn't get along with. So there were many stories, but that one really stuck out to me that he just refused to get along with Calvin Booth.
Speaker 1:And then Booth, same thing. He did not talk to the head coach of the team that he was in charge of. He would get rid of veterans, just so Malone would play the young guys. And I get his plan. Like I see what he was trying to do, but this drama obviously was never going to allow the plan to work. He was trying to surround our core four with young, cheap talent and let that talent develop around them and keep our championship window open. It really seems like he did not consult Malone or purposely went against Malone in a lot of the personnel decisions and then Malone fought back by not playing the guys that Booth wanted him to, and it's just so sad. We we did not have a great year last year, but I chalked it up to maybe a championship hangover, but it sounds like the drama behind the scenes was already kind of having a negative effect on the team, and then this year it was just so so bad that they couldn't get past it. And now both guys are out of a job. So I kind of wanted to speak just really quick on what each guy meant to the team Because, like I said, they did bring a championship and so in a way, we can't be too mad. I never thought the Nuggets would win a championship and both of them had a big part in bringing that to Denver and to fans like me.
Speaker 1:And so for Calvin Booth, he took over for Tim Conley. Um, the core was there, a really, really good team was already built, and he kind of added in you might call them the missing pieces. You might just say that he kind of did what almost any GM would do, but he did it. And so the KCP trade. I know the Nuggets and Wizards had talked about that for a few years but he finally got it done. He drafted Christian Brown and Peyton Watson. Brown had more of an impact on the championship than Watson, but still he brought in DeAndre Jordan and Bruce Brown. Both guys were, I think, incredibly impactful for that championship year DeAndre as a veteran leader and then Bruce Brown, obviously on the court and in the locker room, was the perfect fit. So I see what he did that year and will truly, truly be appreciative of it Again, both guys totally at fault with what happened and how it ended.
Speaker 1:Um, I just, I just can't believe this happened. So for coach Malone, I I have maybe more of a soft spot for coach Malone. Um, the reason being when he took over the nuggets they were in such a dark place. It just we were kind of a joke and no real direction. But he built. He built the entire culture of the team that eventually led to the championship. He, he had that New York toughness which I think the team was really lacking and I think he brought that not only to try and get the guys tougher on the court, but he stuck up for Denver and the nuggets obviously to the national media. Just the way the nuggets were covered back then was they were just a flyover state, they were just an also ran. People would get us confused with Utah or Indiana. Just we, we were nothing in the grand landscape of the NBA and coach Malone finally started pushing back a little bit. We've we've talked before about how much I love his take the L on the way out to Lakers fans. He would stick up for Jokic when Jokic was really rising and all the national media wanted to do was cover Porzingis or Carl Anthony Towns or eventually Joel Embiid, and he would stick up for Jokic and make sure that people were talking about him and really just his toughness set that tone and really, I think, catapulted the Nuggets to be a team that believed they could win it.
Speaker 1:I know Coach Malone. He thought that they could win it and he fought every day, I think to the point where it ended badly because he literally he'll chew through nails to get what he wants and it was. It was a great run. He has the most wins in team history. He should be considered the greatest coach in Nuggets history. He brought the championship. He believed in Jokic and he was the perfect fit for a team that needed him the most, and he brought us a championship.
Speaker 1:I will always love coach Malone. I hope, after some healing, that he'll come back and really be an ambassador for the nuggets and for the city of Denver. I mean he has a, a maxi the minor tattoo on his body. So I really hope that the nuggets embrace him and coach Malone will see that he did have a part in how it ended and that it was the right thing to do for both sides, and so I really hope that happens in the future and everybody can celebrate Coach Malone. I hope he gets a banner up in the rafters, just like Doug Moe did with all his victories, and truthfully I just think he should be an all-time nugget. So we will. We will always love you, coach Malone. Uh it it just to tie a bow on that. It really was a time for both guys to go. Uh, they, they both handled it absolutely terrible, and I'm kind of excited to see what the Nuggets do in the off season. Obviously, a lot of it has to do with how the playoffs go and we'll talk about that a lot more, hopefully, for a long time in these next couple weeks. But yeah, I just want to touch base on that because it just happened to occur right after I had posted my most recent episode, to occur right after I had posted my most recent episode.
Speaker 1:Now David Adelman has taken over and the team has three wins and they're looking kind of great. The team has joy again, the team looks energized, healthy, the coach is playing, the best players I know what a novel concept and they they look like a team again. We we were so out of sorts at towards the end, before malone got fired, everyone just looked like they had a giant weight on their shoulder and there there was zero joy. Nobody was playing because they loved it, they were doing it because they had to and it was showing on the court with just terrible losses and no motivation, no energy. But that seems to be back. I know it's just the end of the season and the games didn't really mean anything, but they did to the Nuggets and something in them changed the Nuggets and something in them changed. Like. I don't think any player is going to come out and say, hey, we're glad Coach Malone is gone, but something has happened to the team and they look completely different Now. Whether that means anything for the playoffs, it might be too little, too late, but it does show that again, this was the right decision. Something was terribly wrong with the organization and that has been removed. So whether they can build on that and do something in the playoffs this year or it's just kind of momentum going into next year, one thing I will say is that the Nuggets had to win those three games so they didn't fall into the play-in tournament and they did win them.
Speaker 1:And then the quote happened. If you haven't heard, the quote I'm talking about is Jokic was getting interviewed after the game and it was a national reporter, and one of them asked so how has the team reacted to these big changes with, with Malone and Booth getting fired? And Jokic's quote was people say that we're vulnerable, vulnerable, and. But the beast is always the most dangerous when it's vulnerable. Perhaps they have awoken the beast. I saw that and I was ready to run through a wall. If that's his mindset right now, I love it so much. Jokic doesn't do stuff like that, like that's something that you know he's been thinking about and if, if that's his mindset that he's bringing to the team and the other players are buying into it and rallying around him, then you never know we we could be getting ready to watch something special. So that quote really got me excited for the playoffs. And if the best player in the world is saying quotes like that, then you never know what can happen. So, speaking of the best player in the world, the MVP race is finally over Now.
Speaker 1:This year was not nearly as bad as previous years. The SGA fans were not terrible like the Embiid fans and not trying to tear Jokic down to build their guy up. Sga had an absolutely amazing season, not only individually, but obviously the team won a million games and it's just one of those things that while it's a privilege that Jokic is in the MVP race every single year, it really does get old. He's kind of in competition with. All they do is kind of compare the guys and they can't just enjoy two historical seasons. Personally, I ignored quite a bit of it this year. I had just gotten so burnt out on it after the Embiid years that it just I just for my own mental health. I did not involve myself in any of it. If I started seeing something going on on Twitter or anywhere online, I would just kind of ignore it, whereas I was. I was pretty into it the last couple of years. So personal growth, hooray. But SGA, like I said, had an amazing year. He probably will win it.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, most people on TV or podcasts or writers they're all saying very similar things if they have a vote and they all say everyone knows Jokic is the best player in the world, but Shea Gildas Alexander led his team to 67 victories and that's got to mean something. Shea Gildas Alexander led his team to 67 victories and that's got to mean something. But I really think the truth behind that is, if Jokic hadn't won any MVPs in the past and both of these guys were going for their first, it wouldn't even be close. Jokic would win, just going away. And it's okay, it is what it is. Jokic will probably not win it, but everyone admits that he's the best player in the world, and it happened to Jordan, it happened to LeBron and I think it's almost a bigger honor that it's now happening to Jokic, where everyone acknowledges that he is by far the best player in the world. But they're just ready for a new storyline and they want to give it to the new guy on the scene, and so SGA is totally deserving. He probably will win it. But Jokic is now in a new place in history. He is almost above the MVP conversation and it's now all about winning championships to kind of secure his place in history. So you never know, I've heard a lot of people say that they just were thinking about their vote and going back and forth, back and forth, and then they ended up voting for Jokic. So it might be a little closer than people think, but I'm pretty sure SGA will win. He's had a great year and, like I said, if Jokic is more focused on championships, then I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1:Speaking of winning championships, the playoffs are starting today. Speaking of winning championships, the playoffs are starting today. So I thought I'd do a quick little preview. I'm recording this on Friday evening. So the eighth seeds are going to be decided tonight, but truthfully I don't think it matters in either conference who wins the eighth seed. I think both of them will get beaten somewhat easily. So we'll just go ahead and preview those series, assuming either team will get destroyed. So I'd like to do it from least interesting series to most interesting series and coming in at number eight, for the least interesting series to me is the Cavs versus either the Hawks or the Heat. I don't think it matters. I think the Cavs will win 4-0, a good old sweep. The Cavs are just too good for either team. The seventh most interesting series is the Thunder versus Grizzlies. Like I said, I think both number one seeds are going to roll pretty easily. I said Thunder 4-1. I think whoever wins the eighth seed seed either grizzlies or mavs they'll steal one, just because I think the thunder will probably go up three, nothing and then give up game four just because they just don't really care right now. But thunder are amazing and it's going to be really interesting to see how far they can go.
Speaker 1:Uh, sixth, the series started to get good at this point. So the Celtics versus the Magic. Now, celtics are a great team. They're one of the favorites to win the championship, but the Magic always give them trouble. I actually got to go down to Orlando this year and watch a Celtics versus Magic game and the Magic actually won that game. If the Magic still had Jalen Suggs, I think they would be able to put up quite a fight with the Celtics versus Magic game and the Magic actually won that game. If the Magic still had Jalen Suggs, I think they would be able to put up quite a fight with the Celtics, especially because Jalen Brown his knee's kind of bothering him a little bit right now. But Suggs is out and I think the Celtics will probably take the series four to two.
Speaker 1:Now. Knicks versus Pistons is my next one, and I think this is going to be an absolute battle. Just a street brawl, a rock fight, whatever you want to say, this will be it and it's going to be fun to watch. Both sides have players that I really like and they will not be scared of each other. I think there will be at least one, if not more, close calls for fights in the game and someone has to survive, even if it's just barely, and I think that's going to be the Knicks. I think they'll. They'll win it in game. Seven, four to three.
Speaker 1:Now, as the series get better and better, the next one up is the pacers versus the bucks. I love the pacers. I think they're fun to watch. They're just up and down, kind of all over the place with a bunch of super athletes, and the bucks they're an older team, but yannis is just so amazing and I just heard today that dame will hopefully be back for this series from his blood clot but I really think it's an interesting matchup, just in styles, in terms of experience, and I think again, I think it's going to go seven. I know picking teams in seven is such a wishy-washy way to pick series, but I think these series are going to be pretty great. And so Pacers win game seven, move on to the next round over Giannis just barely.
Speaker 1:Now, the top three series. Uh, I think you can make a case for any of them to be number one most interesting series. For the casual basketball fan, basketball nerds, it doesn't matter, they're all going to be amazing. And so I put the Rockets versus Warriors at number three. This game has so many personalities, so many storylines. I have no idea which one will come out on top. But the Rockets have so many young, high, extremely talented, just incredible players, and the Warriors just have that championship grit, draymond and and Steph, surrounded by all the other guys they have, they could still pull it off. And so Draymond's going to be battling with Houston's big guys. Houston has Dylan Brooks, who never stops talking trash, imei Adoku, who's the Houston head coach and Steph Curry. They got in a shouting match the last week of the season. So there's almost like a rivalry that's already there and I think it's just going to get cranked up to 10 in this series. So again, I think it's going to go seven games and I really think the young rockets will pull it off. I think they're a deeper team. Their athleticism will just wear the Warriors down and I think they'll pull it off.
Speaker 1:The second most exciting series to me is the Lakers versus Timberwolves. These have been two of the Nuggets' biggest rivals over the last couple of years. Obviously, we've played the Lakers and Timberwolves each of the past couple of years. Obviously we've played the Lakers and Timberwolves each of the past couple of years. We have a little bit better success with the with the Lakers and T wolves obviously beat us last year. In one way I'm so happy that one of these teams will lose in the first round, but in another way I'm sad that one of them is guaranteed to make it to the second round. Both teams, I think, are excellent Luca and LeBron versus Anthony Edwards. I love it. It's going to be such good basketball. Now I'm not too proud to admit that I'm more scared of the Timberwolves. So I think this is going to be an incredibly close series, but in my heart I want the T-Wolves to lose because I'm scared. So Lakers in seven. So that leaves just one series and I'm sure this is a complete surprise to anyone that's listened to this podcast before.
Speaker 1:The Nuggets versus Clippers is going to be just fascinating. I think it's going to be a great matchup. The Nuggets obviously were left for dead and now have found new life. The Clippers they've won, I think, 19 out of their last 23 games or something like that. They've been playing the best basketball probably in the league for the last month or two and they're looking scary. I think I heard a stat that over the last 15 games they have the number one offense and the number one defense in the entire NBA. Kawhi Leonard is playing just like vintage Kawhi, one of the best players in the league. James Harden has kind of settled into the kind of second banana role and he's pretty much the best second banana that you could hope for.
Speaker 1:And then the biggest surprise, and I think the biggest factor for them, is Ivaca. Zubac is playing absolutely incredible. He's always been a solid player, but this year he has really leveled up to the point where people are talking about him being an all NBA player. And this is trouble for the Nuggets because he always plays Jokic well and if he's even better this year, it's just going to make it extra hard on the big guy. So they have an extremely talented team, an extremely deep team. Uh, every team has one of those guys that whenever they play against them, he always seems to go for a career high or just always is on fire every time that that, uh, they, they play. And when the nuggets play the Clippers, that guy is Norman Powell, and so I am scared to death of Norman Powell having just 30 point game after 30 point game against us, and it's scary.
Speaker 1:This is going to be such a tough matchup but, like I said, the Nuggets have new energy. They have a new attitude. Truthfully, they have nothing to lose. Their season was over. It was looking so bad before they fired Malone and Booth, and so I almost feel like it's like a second shot at this. And, yeah, we have to play the Clippers. It's going to be extremely tough, but they really have nothing to lose.
Speaker 1:I think most people are picking the Clippers to win and the Nuggets are healthy-ish. I'll say Everything depends on Jamal Murray, just like always, and we have home court advantage. So if it does go seven, that last game will be at Ball Arena, and I know last year it did not work out. But give me game seven at ball arena with the best player in the world. I will take that, so I could really see this going. Either way, like I said, zubach can guard Jokic, really really tough. Ag can guard Kawhi he's, he's, he's. The reason why we traded for AG is to guard guys like Kawhi or Luca, the big athletic small forwards that most guys have trouble with, but AG is actually excellent at guarding. Uh, christian Brown can guard James Harden, as long as he doesn't fall for any of those foul baiting tricks and stuff like that. And then the Clippers actually have multiple guys that are built to guard Jamal Murray.
Speaker 1:This is going to be an extremely tough series for Jamal, just like the Minnesota series was last year. I'm worried Jamal needs to be healthy, he needs to be able to move quick, otherwise the Clippers guards are just going to swallow him up, just like the Timberwolves guys did last year, and I think then I don't want to see Jamal getting frustrated like he did last year and kind of mentally checking out, and so it's going to be fascinating. We talked about it in our our pity party episode last last time. If Jamal Murray doesn't have a strong playoff showing, I would not be shocked if he gets traded, and so I think a lot is on the line for Jamal in particular, and he's by far the biggest X factor. If he has a great series, I think the Nuggets can win. Both teams have a tremendous amount of playoff experience.
Speaker 1:I think it's really going to come down to foul trouble. Obviously, if either big guy gets in foul trouble, that's going to really hurt their team Health, not only for the Nuggets in Jamal, mpj, aaron Gordon obviously we need those guys to stay healthy. But for the Clippers, kawhi Leonard has a habit of getting hurt late in the season or in the playoffs, and if one of the teams does not stay healthy, that could be the end of them. And then, obviously, turnovers. I think turnovers are going to be absolutely huge in a series like this, because I don't think it's going to be a fast-paced series. If you turn it over and let the other team get an easy layup, it's a huge swing, and so with that I'm looking at Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 1:This is technically a revenge game for Russell. He's played for the Clippers in the past and in the last three games he was used a little bit less, but he played really well, and so we need Russell not to get so pumped up that he's firing balls off the backboard or throwing them out of bounds Like he wants a championship more than anyone, and I want him to just play within himself and not turn the ball over and just use his athleticism to provide kind of that spark that he did at the beginning of the year. So my prediction for this series it's so close. I could see it going either way in so many different factors, but only one team has the best player in the world, only one team has the best player in the world that says the beast has awoken, and that's the Denver Nuggets. They're going to take it in game seven. Go, nuggets. I hope you enjoy the playoffs, everyone. You.
