Coach Malone Practice Media Availability 🎙 | 12/27/23

Coach Malone Practice Media Availability 🎙 | 12/27/23

We just heard about Aaron un unfortunate situation to say the least just how’s he doing just what what have you guys heard from him yeah I just uh I text you with them a little bit um he’s hanging in there obviously a very traumatic experience and uh the most important

Thing I told him is that um you take as much time as you need you know we’re a family wins losses and when people go through tough times like Aaron’s going through right now so we have his back we love him and um you know we’re here for

Him so whenever he’s able to come back uh we’re going to open our arms up and embrace him and uh I told all the guys to make sure they’re reaching out to him to make sure he’s never feeling like he’s on an island I always want our guys

On very family in good and bad times just how important has his contributions been ever ever since he’s got here he’s been as steadfast as anybody yeah I mean he’s uh I think one one of the more underrated players I think in the league you know he does a

Lot of the dirty work and when people talk about Denver they talk about Nicole they talk about Jamal understandably so but you know we have guys in Aaron and kcp that don’t maybe get all the attention but are so impactful to our success and Aaron his defense his rebounding his playmaking his toughness

His physicality and I think this year when he came back you know he was dealing with the plan of fasion injury when since he’s come back from that injury he’s been like a different player I think he’s been so efficient playing downhill attacking putting pressure on the defense getting us possessions on

The offensive glass knocking down his threes knocking down his free throws and that’s been great to see because he puts so much into the game and you like to see him kind of get the payoff that he deserves so Steve Kerr’s message after your game was basically the emphasis of

Defense he says that defense is not being rewarded enough in this league do you kind of feel that way sometimes that if you’re a great defender you don’t get rewarded enough no I I don’t agree with anything that was said um do you have any idea how long AG

Might be out or no it’s it’s kind of uh right now it’s open-ended we’re not going to put any pressure on him you know we we need him to heal you know uh inside and out you know going through something like that is not something uh

That is just easily you you come back from easily that’s something where you have to heal um you know from the physical but you also have to heal from the the mental and what you just kind of went through so um as I told him you

Know there’s no we want him back we know we’re better off with him you know but I I want to support Aaron Gordon and make sure when he comes back he’s ready to come back and play at the level that we know he’s capable of so until he’s able

To come back and we have plenty of guys that can step up and uh and fill that void you’re getting pretty good at reworking that puzzle start was not being on the court at the same time yeah I mean that’s that’s been the kind of the story of our

Season so far but to our players credit you know whether it was Jamal being out whether is Aaron being out uh whoever it is uh our guys have stepped up and it speaks for the quality of our depth we have guys that are stepping up and taking advantage of any and all

Opportunities Reggie did that when Jamal went out last time Aaron was out Justin holiday stepped in and I think our offensive rating in those four games was almost 150 so um if you’re a team that’s serious about winning a championship you have to be able to deal with injuries

And have people step up and we’ve been doing that at a high level I think for the last 5 six years do you light and load for a guy like kcp I mean he chases step all around the court on Monday tomorrow J comes into town and the day

After that Shay like do you light in the load or how do how do you handle a stretch like that for a guy who who takes on those challenges lightting the load uh in what respect in practice or during games or physically in practice

No I mean we we went we went you know I think for all of our players I mean we just got out of four games in six days and we’re going into a backto back against a team that’s won four in a row and a team that’s uh you know third the

Western Conference playing at a high level so being smart about how much we’re on our feet how much we do um but you know Pope if if we’re going to practice Pope’s going to be out there that’s just in his nature and obviously uh when that jump ball goes up we know

We’re going to ask him to do what he does every night go out there and guard their best player to the best of his ability and you know what you get from kcp but he’s uh he’s fine he’s ready to go we’re only 31 games into the season I

Believe and uh we’ll continue to monitor that as we move forward coach the bench has obviously had a lot of discussion about it this last game like down to for zero rebounds as a unit um is that one thing where if if anything else it could just at least

Provide the rebounding into the four well yeah I mean I made the point on my radio show yesterday I mean zero rebounds there’s no excuse for that I’m not talking about making threes or making shots I’m talking about rebounding which is a desire a want to

Uh a toughness stat so um that was disappointed with that unit that unit overall I think has been very good for us this year and we have to get them back we have to get Reggie back we have to get that whole unit back to playing

At a high level because that was so impactful and has been so impactful for us then I couple that with the fact that when you look at who Golden State plays off their bench they have a Hall of Famer first ballot Hall of Famer in

Chris Paul they have a player who was an Allstar two years ago in Andrew Wiggins and they have a guy in Dario saru is a guy that’s been a starter for many teams in the NBA and is a and we’re playing a lot of young guys in

One unit so they have to be better they will and I have to continue to help those guys but to your point Ryan rebounding is rebounding I don’t care who you’re out there with find a way to get dirty get into the game and help your team by rebounding by defending by

Doing all the small things and those things will lead to bigger things is did Reggie participate in practice do you anticipate having look like he was receiving some treatment today yeah uh I fully expect him to be able to go tomorrow uh he was dealing with a slight injury but it’s nothing serious

Hear what coach had to say after practice yesterday.

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Coach Malone Practice Media Availability 🎙 | 12/27/23