Nuggets to name Mike Malone coach

Mike Malone to be named the next head coach of the Denver Nuggets.

The Denver Nuggets and Mike Malone have reached a deal to make Malone the team’s next head coach. The deal is reportedly four years with the fourth year as a team option.

The Denver Nuggets have reached an agreement to hire Michael Malone as coach, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 15, 2015

Reportedly, Malone made a great impression on the Nuggets front office, including president Josh Kroenke and general manager Tim Connelly. He beat out Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt for the job.

Last year, the Nuggets went 30-52 and fired former head coach Brian Shaw back in March. Hunt took over thereafter and coached the team through the rest of the season.

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The hiring of Malone is a solid one for the Nuggets. If anything, Malone is underrated as far as head coaches are concerned. Though he was recently fired as the coach of the Sacramento Kings, most believe that he was unjustly let go.

Sacramento fired Malone earlier this year, in just his second year on the job, after an 11-13 start to the 2014-15 season. Given the tough task of essentially rebuilding a franchise, Malone went 39-67 in his short time with the Kings. Record aside, Malone gained respect in NBA circles after molding center DeMarcus Cousins into a more polished, more focused player.

Prior to his time with Sacramento, Malone was an assistant coach with Golden State for two years, New Orleans for one year, Cleveland for five years and New York for four years.

Let’s hope Malone will live up to the hype. He certainly has a tough task ahead of him with this Nuggets team.

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