[Wind] Nuggets HC Michael Malone: “The league has gotten so soft. Everybody’s afraid to condition and run. Well, we have to.”
Some Nuggets players aren’t in great shape, and Malone made that clear last night. It’s a reason why he played most of his starters the entire 3rd quarter.
by Kimber80
37 Comments
Note: I added “Nuggets HC” to post, for clarity
This has been the most intense NBA preseason of all time lol
After the defeat they had, you’d think the players would be extra motivated to get in shape. I think there’s a big disconnect between players and the front office rn. Booth constantly throwing players under the bus in the press.
It’s crazy to me that professional athletes would show up to the season out of shape
Imagine making 50 million us dollars per year and being out of shape. I literally would cut limbs off for that money.
~~Mike~~ Michael would probably lose his mind completely before the season ends.
I wonder how much playing in the Olympics plays a part in players being out of shape.
Alright Mike
drafting soft players will do this
There seems to be a lot of tension in the basketball world and the world in general rn…
Malone with the straight facts. Love straight shooters like him and Finchy.
Starts with their star player !
He’s not wrong at all. And I don’t think it’s crazy. These dudes are getting paid soooo much. And good for them, I’m glad they are, but at a certain point the incentive to work as hard as you once did isn’t there.
Most overrated hc nepo in the league, cruises on generation talent.
It’s almost like when you give athletes too much money they lose motivation and don’t do the fundamentals.
I’m glad guys are getting generational wealth but no athlete should be getting like $350-400 million over a contract. They play a game, they’re not teaching or working in a hospital.
Priorities in the wrong place.
Guys do play themselves into shape. He’s not wrong about that. It’s not that they’re not in shape but there’s “in shape” and “NBA Basketball shape” as said by others. Examples being Luka, Murray and Jokic both, Andre Miller notably being one of those guys. He was an ironman, and he admitted he was very casual during summers.
The Olympics guys….their offseasons started later. They had less time to be able to sit down and rest. So they’re guys who may be using this time to ramp up. It is important to be able to rest. You can’t go hard 24/7. It’s really about preparing smarter more than preparing harder.
Fans get way too defensive of players. There’s no good excuse to showing up out of shape as a professional athlete. Especially when you make the kind of money nba players do.
And other teams don’t seem to have this issue. Celtics played until the end and had 3 guys on the Olympic team. They look like they haven’t skipped a beat in preseason.
Something is pretty clearly wrong in Denver.
I believe what the coach is saying after watching that latest clip of Jokic sprinting down the hallway for his pre game ritual
The coaching staff sets the tone for the team, Mike
Is there something else cause Malone said nothing about players showing up out of shape but him finding the idea of not playing preseason soft
I said this last season, Michael. Conditioning seems to be a rare thing instead of the norm, and that is stunning.
Who’s complaining about running in the league?
I never really understood how (what it seems like) a lot of players come into the regular season out of shape and play themselves into shape. It must feel like shit having to worry about cutting weight while also maintaining the season schedule.. like for Zion that experience must’ve been hell
If I were making millions I would be a work out fiend in the off-season knowing I got all that time and resources to get healthy
Old heads always complaining
Jokic about to get ripped
It’s not the league Mike, it’s the guys you have direct control over.
He’s clearly talking about Jamal Murray, and honestly I get it. If I, as a fan, am getting sick of this dude’s shit, I can’t imagine how his coach feels. Showing up to camp fat is pathetic when you’re making as much money as he is. And any word of criticism on the nuggets sub is met with vitriolic defense of Murray like he’s a family member and not a professional athlete they’ve never met.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but it might make sense to come in undertrained. Its a long ass season and the Nuggets should make the play offs. Better to be rested.
Yeah that’s just weak shit. There are a lot of athletes myself included that have to PAY for training and sport. If we show up out of shape it’s just disrespectful and that’s when it’s our money we’re burning not someone else’s and trust me the physical conditioning and rigor is every bit as brutal in the non major sports.
Idk if what he’s is right or wrong, I just know that it would be this guy saying shit like this.
I said this before prior to them winning, but a coach like Mike Malone def will wear on today’s NBA team.
People coming in out of shape is absolutely nothing new. Nothing to do with the league getting soft
now that we have an in-season tournament I propose a pre-season tournament
Eventually this mentality players have will catch up with the NBA when guys like LeBron retire
It Murray. He’s talking about Murray.
Every year since I’ve been watching basketball they say the league has gotten soft. And it’s been so long players have had full hall of fame careers and retired and those players are talking about “back in my day” when they were being called soft when they played. I don’t believe any of it
Everybody laughs at heat culture but we literally embody everything people miss about the nba