Is Mike Malone a top 5 coach?

[Heej]

I'm of the opinion that Malone is certified top 5 right now. Afaik he's the 3rd longest tenured coach after Spo and Pop. Personally I think

Spo
Pop (arguable he's washed but he's still an all timer)
Kerr
Nurse?
Malone

Then you got guys like Tyronn Lue or I suppose CoTY Mike Brown in the mix. But there aren't 5 coaches I'm taking over Malone right now

[Twizlers]

This is worthy of my first post on this board.
No, he is not a top 5 coach. His refusal to continue to play Jeff Green in these playoffs is evidence of that. I wouldn't say he is a bad coach, but he certainly has questionable rotations and can't draw up plays.

[Pythagoras]

I'm of the opinion that Malone is certified top 5 right now. Afaik he's the 3rd longest tenured coach after Spo and Pop. Personally I think

Spo
Pop (arguable he's washed but he's still an all timer)
Kerr
Nurse?
Malone

Then you got guys like Tyronn Lue or I suppose CoTY Mike Brown in the mix. But there aren't 5 coaches I'm taking over Malone right now

.

It’s not crazy to have him in the top 5, although I probably wouldn’t. I’d probably have Lue ober him. If Bud gets a job I’d take him too. I also don’t think Monty is that far off from him if he gets rehired. I also wouldn’t have Pop in the top 5 either.

[Heej]

This is worthy of my first post on this board.
No, he is not a top 5 coach. His refusal to continue to play Jeff Green in these playoffs is evidence of that. I wouldn't say he is a bad coach, but he certainly has questionable rotations and can't draw up plays.

This is the most common textbook fan response about every coach so I don't believe this is a valid disqualifier

[Ni Da Ye]

Nope.

Apparently the only weak link Nuggets have is the coach.

[Ni Da Ye]

I'm of the opinion that Malone is certified top 5 right now. Afaik he's the 3rd longest tenured coach after Spo and Pop. Personally I think

Spo
Pop (arguable he's washed but he's still an all timer)
Kerr
Nurse?
Malone

Then you got guys like Tyronn Lue or I suppose CoTY Mike Brown in the mix. But there aren't 5 coaches I'm taking over Malone right now

A coach can be washed within one/two seasons?

[Sgt Major]

This is worthy of my first post on this board.
No, he is not a top 5 coach. His refusal to continue to play Jeff Green in these playoffs is evidence of that. I wouldn't say he is a bad coach, but he certainly has questionable rotations and can't draw up plays.

You mean "to discontinue", as he keeps playing him.

[Heej]

I'm of the opinion that Malone is certified top 5 right now. Afaik he's the 3rd longest tenured coach after Spo and Pop. Personally I think

Spo
Pop (arguable he's washed but he's still an all timer)
Kerr
Nurse?
Malone

Then you got guys like Tyronn Lue or I suppose CoTY Mike Brown in the mix. But there aren't 5 coaches I'm taking over Malone right now

A coach can be washed within one/two seasons?

It's been accused ever since the DeRozan era where they were playing dinosaur offense

[cam24thomas]

He's the grumpiest coach in the NBA, very depressing, but Jokic is also pretty grumpy so its a good fit.

[Jadoogar]

This is worthy of my first post on this board.
No, he is not a top 5 coach. His refusal to continue to play Jeff Green in these playoffs is evidence of that. I wouldn't say he is a bad coach, but he certainly has questionable rotations and can't draw up plays.

i don't think he's a top 5 coach but who do you think he should play instead of Jeff Green? Deandre Jordan? Thomas Bryant?
In the playoffs, coaches tend to go with guys they trust. Jeff Green for all his faults is a veteran who knows how to play and won't make simple mistakes. That's a lot more than all these young players that people tend to suggest.

[Harry Garris]

This is worthy of my first post on this board.
No, he is not a top 5 coach. His refusal to continue to play Jeff Green in these playoffs is evidence of that. I wouldn't say he is a bad coach, but he certainly has questionable rotations and can't draw up plays.

i don't think he's a top 5 coach but who do you think he should play instead of Jeff Green? Deandre Jordan? Thomas Bryant?
In the playoffs, coaches tend to go with guys they trust. Jeff Green for all his faults is a veteran who knows how to play and won't make simple mistakes. That's a lot more than all these young players that people tend to suggest.

He won’t make really obvious mistakes like a dumb turnover but he does just provide a very low level of play on both sides of the floor because his shot isn’t falling right now. Unfortunately the Nuggets are not a deep team so they don’t have many other options, young or otherwise.

[Jadoogar]

This is worthy of my first post on this board.
No, he is not a top 5 coach. His refusal to continue to play Jeff Green in these playoffs is evidence of that. I wouldn't say he is a bad coach, but he certainly has questionable rotations and can't draw up plays.

i don't think he's a top 5 coach but who do you think he should play instead of Jeff Green? Deandre Jordan? Thomas Bryant?
In the playoffs, coaches tend to go with guys they trust. Jeff Green for all his faults is a veteran who knows how to play and won't make simple mistakes. That's a lot more than all these young players that people tend to suggest.

He won’t make really obvious mistakes like a dumb turnover but he does just provide a very low level of play on both sides of the floor because his shot isn’t falling right now. Unfortunately the Nuggets are not a deep team so they don’t have many other options, young or otherwise.

Some nuggets' fans really want Zeke Nnaji or whatever, that's just not realistic at this point in the playoffs.
Maybe some more minutes for Reggie Jackson?

[Karate Diop]

He's not a Top 5 coach but I think he's good enough to get you a championship.

[nate33]

This is worthy of my first post on this board.
No, he is not a top 5 coach. His refusal to continue to play Jeff Green in these playoffs is evidence of that. I wouldn't say he is a bad coach, but he certainly has questionable rotations and can't draw up plays.

This is the most common textbook fan response about every coach so I don't believe this is a valid disqualifier

Yes, every time a coach lacks perfect 20/20 foresight to predict when a player will play good or bad, he is criticized for his "bad rotations".

[moss_is_1]

I'm of the opinion that Malone is certified top 5 right now. Afaik he's the 3rd longest tenured coach after Spo and Pop. Personally I think

Spo
Pop (arguable he's washed but he's still an all timer)
Kerr
Nurse?
Malone

Then you got guys like Tyronn Lue or I suppose CoTY Mike Brown in the mix. But there aren't 5 coaches I'm taking over Malone right now

I'd say Spo, Lue, Kerr, Pop, Carlisle. There's quite a few very good coaches. It's so subjective though because so much goes into it and not something you would consistently see what a coach does.

[Teen Girl Squad]

This is worthy of my first post on this board.
No, he is not a top 5 coach. His refusal to continue to play Jeff Green in these playoffs is evidence of that. I wouldn't say he is a bad coach, but he certainly has questionable rotations and can't draw up plays.

This is the most common textbook fan response about every coach so I don't believe this is a valid disqualifier

Yes, every time a coach lacks perfect 20/20 foresight to predict when a player will play good or bad, he is criticized for his "bad rotations".

Ryen Russilo had a great rant about this once. "Bad rotations" and "no adjustments" are code for "X didn't work, not X would have obviously worked 100% of the time." Basically it means you have no idea whats going on except you didn't like the outcome. Doesn't mean that there aren't times where its true, but you can actually single those out over a series (aka Bud refusing to change his defense on Butler).

As far as Malone goes, I put him in the 'Vogel' bucket of mid coaches who are good enough to win a championship but won't do anything special. He's good enough to play the obvious players/lineups and make the obvious adjustments so that the coaching advantage from someone like Spo won't be too big a factor nor will he put his team in obviously bad spots that set them up to struggle.

[nate33]

As far as Malone goes, I put him in the 'Vogel' bucket of mid coaches who are good enough to win a championship but won't do anything special. He's good enough to play the obvious players/lineups and make the obvious adjustments so that the coaching advantage from someone like Spo won't be too big a factor nor will he put his team in obviously bad spots that set them up to struggle.

Agreed. Malone is solid. He is not consistently elite like Spo, but few are.

Mostly, I just love how that Denver team is put together. The coach and the personnel are ideal matches for Jokic. Calvin Booth did a real nice job in the offseason trading for KCP, signing Bruce Brown, and drafting Christian Braun.

If you look at that roster, everyone fits well and is paid appropriately except for MPJ.

[LBJKB24MJ23]

solid guy. top 10 for sure. could make an argument for top 5 if he wins a championship.

[cupcakesnake]

This is worthy of my first post on this board.
No, he is not a top 5 coach. His refusal to continue to play Jeff Green in these playoffs is evidence of that. I wouldn't say he is a bad coach, but he certainly has questionable rotations and can't draw up plays.

i don't think he's a top 5 coach but who do you think he should play instead of Jeff Green? Deandre Jordan? Thomas Bryant?
In the playoffs, coaches tend to go with guys they trust. Jeff Green for all his faults is a veteran who knows how to play and won't make simple mistakes. That's a lot more than all these young players that people tend to suggest.

He won’t make really obvious mistakes like a dumb turnover but he does just provide a very low level of play on both sides of the floor because his shot isn’t falling right now. Unfortunately the Nuggets are not a deep team so they don’t have many other options, young or otherwise.

Yeah I agree and wanted to ad to this.
There's a type of NBA rotation player who gets minutes not because he's incredibly productive or good, but because he makes a lineup work. The Nuggets run fairly complicated defensive rotations and they need mobility and size. Green doesn't bring much to the table, but he doesn't take things off of it either (to borrow the old Bill Simmons turn of phrase). He's a good cutter and finisher. Pair that with his size and mobility on defense and he's a useful Denver frontcourt player.

I also bang the Zeke Nnaji/Vltako Cancar drums and don't get why they aren't playing. But Jeff Green checks some bare minimum boxes that makes things work so I'm glad he's getting minutes over Bryant or Deandre, at least.

[cupcakesnake]

Coaching rankings are always a bit silly because we don't see much of the coaching so we over index on the things we can see. We really value wins (and ignore roster talent often when accounting for those wins). We value highly visible adjustments. We value overachieving expectations.

Malone has never ranked in the top 5 of ElectricMayhem's Coaching Value Index.. He finished 8th this year and that feels fine by me. I'd argue for him as high as 6. There are 4 coaches I would rather have in a playoff run (Spo, Pop, Nurse, Carlisle) and I also have Jenkins ahead of him. He's clearly weathered some storms in Denver over the years and kept the ship afloat. Denver is always proactive and cohesive. He managed the regular season well and hasn't had any hiccups in the playoffs. Denver might just be so much better than the opponents they've faced, but Malone definitely doesn't seem to be hurting anything.