Michael Malone, Calvin Booth, & Josh Kroenke on BIG TIME Nuggets Offseason & More

Michael Malone, Calvin Booth, & Josh Kroenke on BIG TIME Nuggets Offseason & More

bright light very bright right fire away hey guys uh thanks for doing this um for starters I guess for for C and for Michael um when on a team with sort of Championship aditions loses earlier than they expect to lose I think they’re usually kind of externally a lot of pressure to to basically make major changes afterward how do you two kind of audit this season and the way it ended from a perspective of reacting to it versus uh kind of exhibiting patience I guess and the balance between those two things well I think I think you always want to take time to let everything sink in and go back and take a a quality look at everything that happened during the season and then uh make decisions from that point so I don’t think at this point less than a week removed from losing I don’t think any any decision have been made to this point excuse me yeah I couldn’t agree more the U the emotional reaction to losing um cannot force you to make emotional decisions and um we lost the other night and I asked my staff a question I said was this season a failure and if you look at it solely from the lens of winning the championship yeah we failed in that regard but the season wasn’t a fa failure in my eyes we did a lot of great things this year and lost a tough game seven at home to a quality opponent um but when you do lose it forces you to look within and find out ways to be better and that’s something that we always do win or lose after each season how can we be a better team next year uh from within from a coaching standpoint from a Player Development standpoint from a draft standpoint whatever it may be so um wasn’t the outcome that we all wanted realize that but um I still have a tremendous amount of confidence and faith in that group across the board and to sit up here with Josh and Cal uh and and for us to be United and on the same page with that is really all that matters for all three of you what did you learn about defending a title that you wouldn’t have known until you were in it this season is really hard you know my father did it in Detroit many years ago Josh has been around and his dad have been around a lot of teams that have won and U going from being a team that is hunting to being the hunted um and and teams around you building and getting better with the sole purpose be to Dethrone you uh winning back to back uh proved to be very very very hard there we go um you know for me personally uh you know we were actually the three of us were just upstairs talking about it kind of reflecting on the last uh you know 8 n months or so um but you know we I have I have a whole level of respect reserved for groups of people and teams that are able to go win a championship I have a whole another level of respect for teams and groups of people that are able to repeat um you know it’s a it’s an area of our growth that uh we entered for the first time this year I’ve experienced it some with our other sports um but when you go from as coach said from being the the hunter to being the hunted it’s a big adjustment mentally um and I think as a group uh maybe we thought we were ready for it but you’re not really fully ready for it until you really experience it I think you heard our players kind of over the course of the season and even reflect upon uh you know even reflect after the season was over on Sunday night um the adjustments that that they needed to make mentally from going from the hunter to the hunted and uh that’s something that we’re going to go back to being the hunter um we Haven now have another solid chip on our shoulder which uh wasn’t there you know 12 months ago this time or 11 months ago I guess we hadn’t won it yet um but I’m excited to see what the group can do to come back with that sort of motivation uh and this type of experience underneath them kvin I guess is when you look back at this roster from this everything you’ve heard from is you know about mentality and the challenges of repeat but is there anything from a skill perspective you felt like uh the roster could have used more of whether shooting size defensive ability ball anything like that I mean uh we’ve talked about this a lot upstairs you know the the general manager for an office job often time is to like make sure the the longterm view is is is something that we’re have satisfied with and you know Coachman L is down there in the trenches trying to win every night and a lot of those time A lot of times those things are aligned but sometimes they have flow out away from each other um and in my view from where we started a couple years ago when we changed over M roster we had to get bigger we had to get more skilled the first draft was a lot of defense last year’s draft was a lot of shooting obviously those guys are rookies and often times not ready to play um you know Julian strawford got to play some this year didn’t shoot the ball particularly well for a period of time but I think he’s going to be a great shooter um so I think more than anything they need more seasoning we need to get in the gym they need to play Summer League they need to get stronger um you know obviously maybe in our top seven we can use a little bit more Talent maybe there’s a a way to upgrade one or two positions and and and get a little bit more uh you know get a guy that’s a more accomplished NBA player for whatever slot they’re taking but uh I don’t I don’t see anything that’s like crazy out of sours for our El to to answer your question just as Calvin says that I I saw Michael quarter’s comments the other day and that would be remiss if I didn’t say that I couldn’t disagree with Michael Moore I don’t want Michael Porter putting this series loss on him uh we win together we lose together Michael is a huge part of our team we do not beat the LA Lakers we got Michael Porter Stellar play efficient play and um we as a team had a tough series we as a team did not shoot the ball well and um I love the fact that Michael’s kind of um taking ownership of that but it’s never placed on any individual and um I just want to make sure everybody was aware of how I felt I respect Michael saying them but um we all lost it wasn’t just on one person um questions for Coach Malone uh benefit of hindsight obviously you get the entire season as as a frame of perspective is there anything potentially over the course of the last 6 months that you would have approached differently uh just knowing sort of where we ended up at this point um tough to answer right now obviously with with you know Sunday nights still being fresh in the memory um but I’m sure Ryan as I do continue to reflect on the the past season and um you know there were so many positives you know like you the entire franchise record 57 wins uh to have the second best home record in the NBA the second best um road record in franchise history um to be one of three teams to finish in top eight of offensive and defensive efficiencies so you know number two in clutch win but none of that matters when you lose in the playoffs right I mean it’s like that’s all fine and Dy those are regular season stats and right now this team is uh when you don’t win a championship know you understand that the season is considered a failure for many people but I reflect on that um I know I gave it all that I had and Tred to help our guys and the greatest challenge I could say for me this year was as you try to repeat you have your starting lineup and you have have a bunch of young players and and how do you marry that and meld that together and uh obviously Christian Brown played the entire season into the playoffs Payton Watson played the entire regular season played some of the Lakers series did not play much in the Minnesota series and Julian played the first 36 games of the year before having an NCL spring which kind of uh limited his playing after he came back from the injury so obviously you know you wish you would have got May a little bit more experience this year going into year two um but overall my my initial reaction Ryan would be just a lot of positive thoughts on the season but I’ll continue to reflect and and challenge myself to be better next year like I always do Michael and this is for Kevin as well but there is a six seat a five seat and a three seat in the Conference Finals right now is there something about the the leak and how it’s evolving that’s that being being the top SE maybe is less valuable than previous eras and then secondly coming out of the All-Star break that was you know something we heard repeatedly about it’s not it’s about health that’s about playing the right way go into the playoffs not necessarily seaing how do you feel the team now on hindsight how do you feel the team manage that uh the rest versus seeding you know conflict um well let me see the first question um I think it speaks to the parody in the NBA I think it speaks to the quality of depth in the Western Conference especially um and we’re the only team to make the playoffs six years in a row not no one’s even close to that and and for you know um the number one seed the number two seat to be out watching the Western Conference Finals I’m not watching but um it speaks to the parody and the Excellence across the board you know Dallas at the trade deadline they went all in I mean they traded picks they traded players the you get PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford and then um you have a team in Minnesota that we knew who they were last year we beat them 4 to one in the first round and a lot of us felt that that might have been the toughest series that we played and we knew not naasri and Jaden McDaniels did not play in that Series so um all I can say Adam on that front is I think the western conference is a deep deep deep conference and parody is alive and well um how do we handle the conflict of um the postseason push after the allstar break well on one hand we got the two seed and on the other hand I’m watching our players play in game seven the second half and our guys look dead tired they did and I think you guys probably saw the same thing um so did I run our players into the ground um I’m sure I’m sure that’s definitely part of it much was asked of Jamal kcp Michael Aaron and Nicole especially and U we were not afforded the opportunity like we were last year to rest players down the stretch this was a different season and um that was a decision we made I’m to live with it question for coach and Calvin uh speaking of bigs and bench how how do you guys see the future of Z Ai and blacko chanar in terms of contributing next year and what how can they help you well we’ll get a great chance to evaluate blo this summer he’ll be ready to play the Olympics uh the qualifiers if they’re able to get out of those qualifiers in Athens uh he’ll be available to play in the Olympics I believe he’ll be playing those qualifi so bl’s a smart player um he can play multiple positions uh you know coach knows him and trust him a bit you know Zeke is a young player is you know he he brings energy to the game he uh you know gives an effort every night and uh he’s trying to grow into both sides of the ball you know um I think I think like originally Dr him be a four he’s end up playing a lot of five um I don’t think it matters as much Off the Bench but there’s certain matchups where it becomes a little bit more problematic um you know he has to get better he has to be ready for his opportunities when they come I think he’s going to have a a good NBA career one thing about Zeke Naji and his fames they high Achievers like so whatever success looks like for him in NBA he’ll have it you know just you have to be determined right um so that’s kind of my take on those two guys I think you know obviously Joker is one of the best players in the league and if I’m coaching I want to leave them out there for 48 minutes right so you know it becomes a little bit harder for S to get in there coach coach same question yeah I mean I I’ll leave it what C said okay thank you all right this is a little broader than just basketball and so Josh um being upid with the ABS and the Nuggets last couple years so I’m going to get a little travel for you it’s a lot more fun when there’s a parade if that’s the question yeah uh last week um where were you for ab’s Arsenal nuggets and how is it the last for uh I’ll answer the second part of that question by saying the last week has been pretty brutal uh that’s the only way I can describe it um I was with the teams every night uh and then I left to go to London last Saturday so unfortunately I was unable to be here for game seven um these guys all knew that well in advance I was there for game six I was down in the locker room afterward making sure everybody knew that needed to get their heads up we had a big one coming on Sunday um but yeah I mean Sports as much fun as it is at times um and as as as as well as as you can make you feel emotionally it can pull you back the other way uh but at the end of the day it’s um it’s why we do it uh do to be side by side with guys like this trying to figure out how the group can go out and Achieve something special and when you do achieve something special it makes all these little moments worthwhile because you can see what it can do for for a city like Denver and to feel the love of those two parades that we had you know in the summer of 22 with the ABS and then the summer of 23 with the nugs um that’s the motivation to keep it going for sure but yeah it can be pretty brutal game seven were you in the air watching on TV uh yeah I was I was finishing up a few things with with the Arsenal Group after we had just missed out on the Premier League title um and I was uh was watching on an iPad and uh it was as I joked with these guys I don’t know if I’d rather have been there by them by by their sides and that that’s where I know I would have wished I would have been but being there by yourself in a hotel room several thousand miles away was pretty brutal as well so yeah it was it was tough question for Josh Cal a lot of fans who look at rosters and the way they’re constructed say just go get that guy or this guy can you explain to just the common fan why it’s so difficult to navigate roster construction given the salary cab you’re at right now and where you are on the luxury tex I’ll start and then I’ll let Cal add a few tidbits but um I think one important footnote about this this this group of of men that we have down in the Nuggets locker room is the core of this team was assembled under a different CBA um and we drafted we developed and we built this team um under a different set of rules those rules have kind of changed on the Fly uh last summer it wasn’t quite as as pertinent as it is going to be this summer coming off of a championship and some of our contractual situations last summer um but we’re going to put our heads together and figure out how we can keep keep improving we have the best player in the world um we think we still have the best starting five in basketball even though we fell just short this year could have gone could have gone either way up until the last few minutes um so we don’t think we’re far off uh but there is going to be some some constraints coming in with the new the new collective bargaining agreement and the new rules that we’re going to have to be very aware of and we’re have to plan accordingly uh they do make it difficult to retool a championship roster on the fly but that’s why we got Calvin well yeah just so pretty much going off of what he said I think uh you know the teams have been proven to have long-term success evolve or start out as process oriented teams and uh you can uh go the one or two Avenues you can go get minimum guys and try to get what you can out of them and if you have tax issues those guys they have good seasons are not going to be on your team next year or you can try to draft and develop guys that you can have in your system for a number of years and you know be personally I believe a lot in continuity and I do believe that the guys are worth H having often times you have to draft like it’s Witness by Jamal and Nicole is still being on our team Michael Porter Jr is still being on our team I don’t think you know I wasn’t here but I think they fed in many calls the moment Nicole is started to play pretty well and many tradeoff is I think they they rebuffed every single one of them so you know I don’t think these guys are that easy to get unless you draft them so uh that’s the why I you things and um you know obviously we’re going to have a lot of conversation on how to approach roster building but I’ll continue to be the guy that thinks you know growth and development is the way to go and the league is kind of changing you’re seeing all these teams playing a variety of young guys last year coach Malone did it with Christian he won a Finals game for us he was a rookie you know it’s often thought that rookies couldn’t contribute to finals right so um I think we’re we’re heading to New Territory based on the CBA and based on the skill level and basketball I these 23 year olds 22 year olds are coming to the leag this is for Michael also curious com your thoughts but how do you evaluate Jamal’s season I think he’s had um in my opinion inconsistent Last 5 Years obviously with the injury but his missing on average about 20 games a season what is it that’s contributed that there bad luck and how do you feel he can approach that next year to maybe mitigate that well I I have no idea why you know he’s missed the games he’s missed obviously the injuries have been the injuries um are they all a byproduct of the original ACL injury I’m not really sure that that’s a question better suited for somebody that actually knows what the hell they’re talking about so I’m not going to be that guy that says I understand why but what can Jamal do to help himself out uh the hope is not just for Jamal but you know when you lose in the playoffs like we did this year that has to motivate you that’s got that’s got to resonate deep within you to come back a better player to come back a better coach for us to come back a better team and for Jamal Jamal obviously you know um we don’t beat the Lakers without Jamal right two game winners but you look at Jamal’s numbers last year in the playoffs compared to this year the efficiency uh the productivity was just on a completely different level and that’s why we won it last year you have Nia but you had Jamal playing out of this world and uh just trying to find ways to get Jamal healthy and back to playing at that consistent level and the only way you can do that for any player is to being in in the gym and working and having a routine and having routine discipline with your body with your game with your craft and again I I I know you asked about Jamal but that’s for all of us um you know the sting of losing a game seven we lost three home games um so that that’s got to motivate you to to find ways to improve and knowing Jamal the way I do and how prideful he is and the competitor that he is um I fully expect him to come back um and and be ready to go from from from day one and and get off to a great start to the season and uh I think that will lead to him having a terrific bounceback season uh and us having a season that we can all be proud of yeah I seem to look at you mentioned 5 years I would look at it more in a 2-year window and uh had a remarkable season in 2223 to first year back from ACL managed to give himself back to full health and play that extremely high level in the playoffs high enough where we’re were able to finish off and win it right this year was a little bit more uh up and down missed a lot of games with some soft tissue injuries and and injuries of the other sorts um I think to clach this point we all have to study and look at what we could do better maybe look at past history but maybe for Jamal as an individual I haven’t been a player like jam he’s a high level one of the better players in the NBA like do you look at what other great players have done other great guards and done after won a championship you know um and try to prepare in that manner right like I think you have to do some investigating on what that looks like to be able to make it through a season after playing all the way into June um you know Jamal’s in shape and in condition he’s a totally different Beast you know obviously wore down a little bit than the playoffs Anthony Edwards is a maybe the best home ball defender in the NBA he was going to have to be in condition to get off the move around a lot more run them around I don’t know if plan since last June coming off to ACL some of the soft tissue injuries he had if you in condition to do that in in the series so something to investigate going forward Casey he could opt out of his contract become a free agent would you guys be cool going into the second apron to bring him back or is that something you want to avoid at all costs well me personally we spent a lot of time looking at second apron and all this other stuff I think for me personally is win a championship one two we have to look at the overall Financial picture and three second a and I know the second a is St team and there’s all kind of restrictions but I don’t think that’s first in our priority list kcp has been a great addition the last couple years we obviously would love to have them back we’re going to take a hard look at what that looks like Calvin you mentioned some of the young players being really key in you guys getting back to where you want to be how do you approach the summer with summer league with some of those young guys and you have a first round pick there this year what what do you think you guys will maybe thinking about for the draft uh you know by the month out here yeah we’re still fairly early in the draft process as far as like the college season has ended the international seasons are coming to a close the combine ended uh over a week ago around a week ago we I just got back from California prod day so we’ll get with our staff and continue to have conversations about what to do with our pick trade up trade down what to trade out we you know we’re going to be flexible about what we think about doing and the young guys we have an ability they just have to continue to work and get better and I take advantage of opportunities present to themselves all right the U phenomenal success last couple years in drafting and development you can see it in chrisan BR great draft choice good development with your staff um where do you see his future is he a future starter in his leag and is he ready to do that now he obviously has intangibles and the and the physical strength and athleticism in defense and you know he’s going to have to make some improvements as he has shooting the ball but you know I don’t know how you can see a player in a second year that’s done what he’s done and not not think he has a chance to start it he’s he’s off he’s ahead of schedule in that regard now how the next few years play out for him we’ll see right yeah I mean I love see the you know a toughness tenacity uh aggression and uh when he just kind of plays his game he can impact the game and um to Calvin’s point I think Christian Brown it’s always going to come down to one thing to be a shooting guard in the NBA you got to be able to make shots it’s the bottom line so if you want to simplify CB’s future as a starting two guard in the NBA it will be determined upon his ability to be a 38 or above three-point shooter and uh if you look at the the playoffs this year really interesting I think in the first round against the Lakers I don’t think he made a three second round against Minnesota he shot 40 no he’s not a high volume shooter but if he’s taken three or four game he shot around 42% I believe so he has the ability he puts the time in he’s a gym rat he’s tough he’s a winning player um and I know when the game is on the line that guy is Will to do whatever it takes to win so sometimes you can get so caught up in percentages in the analytics you know but I think Tom Brady said it years ago the greatest analytical status not a number it’s a letter Christian’s a winner and he knows how to get does so I love him I’m I’m so thankful that he’s a part of our team and he will continue to get better and better and uh depending upon his work you know that that will determine the answer to your question kids for Michael and for Calvin you you the coach you mentioned uh no one should have to go through as a human being probably what what Michael had to deal with family wise but I’m curious to give both you guys’ take because his name is in the news again now uh as we look ahead in the offseason what what’s the ceiling there what what more is there to get to for Michael Porter Jr what do each of you think he has to do to to get there to get to that next level for him well I think the first thing that had to happen was he had to get his body to the point where he had the durability to make it through majority of NBA season backto back years he played a crazy amount of games so you know I think that’s been a revelation for a lot of people in the league and including us quite frankly because uh considering some of the takes of his medical coming out of Missouri a lot of people thought he wouldn’t be playing right now right um so I think he’s done a fantastic job in building this foundation and being able to play a lot games now he he’s continued to mature as a player become more sophisticated um you know this games this year where he had several assists where that wouldn’t happen years ago I think he’s trying to get better at Team defense you know he’s one of the best shooters in the NBA um and people know that now so how do you free yourself do you run harder do you set more scens you know um do we look for you uh in more different kind of ways to get you in different areas I there’s a lot to do with that but trying develop into a two-way player um because you know as you get deeper into the playoffs teams start to get more and more desperate about how to get a basket you know you don’t want to be that guy that they’re trying to find and I think he’s really worked hard at that and come a long way well I mean the first things that pop in my mind 81 games played this year um dealing with all the family issues that were in the public eye and for him to be able to compart aliz all of that and go out there and do his job at a high level is just astonishing you know so I I I have to start off by saying that about Michael just proud of and um inspired by his ability to handle all of that and do his job um you know when people think about the Lakers series they’re going to talk about Jamal’s two gamewinners Michael Porter was incredible in the Laker series just look at the stats the efficiency the productivity uh was outstanding and we talked earlier about obviously the Minnesota series was a tough series for him I told him maybe after game one jayen McDaniels had always guarded Jamal when we played them game one they had McDaniels on Michael so Michael is a sign of respect they know for them to beat us they have to shut you down and uh and he he got that great smile that he has yeah yeah um for Michael Porter to to max out his Talent on top of the health as Calvin talked about um and he’s shown tremendous growth from year one to this year understanding he hates coming out at the end of games hates it and he doesn’t want to be the guy that teams Target he wants to be a guy that I can trust out there defensively so can he defensively continue to grow and mature team defense as well as individual defense he is an elite shooter he’s a very very good rebounder one of the best rebounders on our team uh the playmaking ability um he’s drawing such a crowd can you make a play for somebody else um you know but you know Michael’s been a huge part of winning a championship and everything we accomplished this year and I love the arc that he’s on cuz he continue he’s not flattening out there are no plateaus he’s getting better offensive discipline defensive awareness and uh as a coach that’s all I can ever ask for you’re willing to I think all his teammates also see that and that’s why when Michael has a great defensive possession the team is so excited for him because that’s all the that’s all you want try man try and Michael’s done that so um proud of Michael and we got to challenge him to continue to find ways to be better if you guys are unable to keep kcp around how if it at all that impacts how you view keeping the other four starters together I don’t think they I don’t think it one has anything to do with the other um you know we’re going to try to put ourselves in the best position possible to win it next year I think we all talked all along about like you know that that dword man you know after losing the second round of playoffs you don’t want to say it but like uh you know winning winning it or giving ourselves a chance to win it next year is pretty important if we we think we can be up there with some of those teams that one ball championships right so um going to try to put the best team we can out there next year to try to finish it uh Josh just to follow up about the CDM not even from a kcp sort of specific standpoint CU for your sort of philosophy on the second apron some of the consequences of being in it both shortterm and longterm are pretty punitive so I’m curious if if you’ve kind of established like that whatever if there’s a championship window we can kind of work around that if if it’s kind of if you lead that up to Calvin as much as you can or how you approach um what those consequences could end up being over the years yeah I mean I think that when you’re talking about some of the penalties that the that the league has put in on the Fly um involving the the second apron things of that nature um I mean it’s very honorous we start talking about possibly you know foregoing future draft picks if you you get caught in a in a certain place um you know some organizations they’ll be happy paying paying whatever they could to have the potential to win a championship when you start talking about draft picks that’s when you get people’s attention pretty quick um so yeah I mean you know last summer it wasn’t uh it wasn’t something that was as prevalent um heading into this summer but you know I said it two years ago uh at a press conference when I was doing it by myself I don’t know if how many people took me seriously at the time because we hadn’t actually won it but when Nicole yic is on your roster you’re going for it you have the best player in the world and you have a responsibility to him in the group to try to go for it so for Nia for Jamal for Michael for everybody that we we’ve kind of grown and developed um over the course of time I think it’s that’s our responsibility uh there’s obviously different conversations to come along with going for it when you start talking about some of the penalties that we’re talking about but we’re going to be aggressive we still think we have still have one of the best teams in the league uh with a you know a really good chance of winning it next year Haron Michael with how much basketball Nicole yoke just played over you know the last several seasons and he could be playing in the Olympics this summer too how big of a point of emphasis do you think will be next season to just lighten the load that he has to carry you know during the regular season at all you know if that’s playing him less or you know just making sure he’s as fresh as possible for the playoffs later in the year well yeah obviously with the the Paris Olympics coming up and I’m not even sure what Nicole’s final decision is in regards to playing um you know but if he does play that’s more miles on that body um somebody sent me a stat the last five or six years I think Nicole has played the second most minutes in the NBA by Jason Tav a lot of minals for a big guy um so yes um probably have to be a little bit more um smarter about some of the decisions we make and making sure that um when we get to the playoffs he’s uh mentally physically ready to go and give us his best effort but it’s not just nicoa I’ll be honest when I looked out there in game seven U Nia wasn’t the guy that I looked at and said wow he’s exhausted I think there were other guys so much was asked of Aaron Gordon this year much was asked of kcp and Jamal and Michael so I think just a collective um kind of all right as a coach you know we were talking upstairs and Josh said as a coach I’m thinking how do we win the next game that’s that’s my job and Calvin as a GM is thinking about how do we win the next couple of years that’s his job and Josh is overseeing all that you know and understanding how to how to piece all that together and and that’s what I love about being a part of this team is that we’re all working together um so I have to some on take my head up um from the bunker and say okay it’s not about just winning the next game it’s about how do we win this season and uh if that means resting guys a little bit more lessening their load the minutes the games played uh we’ll have to look at everything across the board um so that when we do get to the playoffs that you’re you give yourself your best chance all right thank you guys thanks everybody thanks everybody thank you thank you

Josh Kroenke, Calvin Booth, & Michael Malone Press Conference Reviewing the Denver Nuggets end of season. Michael Malone talked about managing the starters’ minutes together and Michael Porter Jr’s development. Josh Kroenke on Denver’s NBA Championship window with Nikola Jokic. Calvin Booth on helping Jamal Murray play more games in the NBA Regular season. This press conference is for NBA Fans, Denver Nuggets Fans, Basketball Fans, & More.

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