Last night’s 133-126 loss to the Golden State Warriors put a bow on the Denver Nuggets season and it wasn’t a pretty bow. It’s the type of bow you made for your mom on Mother’s Day when you were six years old that she conveniently “misplaced.” So just like your mom did, Denver fans should crumple up the 2014-15 season and throw it in the trash because that’s where it belongs.
Looking forward, Tim Connelly and Josh Kroenke (a.k.a. The Brain Trust) have a couple of pressing issues they need to address. First, they need to hire a head coach. Second, they need to figure out what they have to build around on this roster. And third, they need to nail this year’s lottery pick. There’s one huge problem with that order of operations, as the Nuggets have no idea what they have to work with moving forward.
Are Danilo Gallinari or Kenneth Faried superstars? Is Ty Lawson the point guard of the future? Can Jusuf Nurkic continue to develop? All the Denver Nuggets have is unanswered questions. With that being the case, why hire an expensive retread head coach (see Mike D’Antoni or Alvin Gentry) while working through roster growing pains?
That’s why Melvin Hunt needs to be the Nuggets stopgap head coach next season.
When Hunt took over for Brian Shaw, things couldn’t have been worse at Pepsi Center. The team had revolted on Shaw, while the coach was publicly accusing the players of quitting and desperately reading books on relating to millennials. Meanwhile, the product on the floor was unwatchable. During the last month on the job for Shaw (February), the Nuggets won only one game. It was a mess. Out of the phone booth came Hunt to save the day.
Okay, Hunt isn’t superman. But in his first eight games driving the ship, he led the Nuggets to a 6-2 record. Anyone watching could instantly tell that all of the players looked as though a weight had been lifted off of their shoulders. Professional basketball in Denver was at least palatable again.
That was until The Brain Trust realized that winning games was actually counterproductive and tied Hunt’s hands, forcing him to sit key players. This mess wasn’t of Hunt’s making, but he has done the best with what he was handed.
If the last month and a half was been a job interview for Hunt, don’t judge him on his compiled record. Rather, judge him on the improvement of one player, Gallinari.
Gallo has looked like an All-Star as of late. His two 40-plus point games were the best two games of his career and place him in rare company. There were only 10 other players that had multiple 40-plus games this year – Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Klay Thompson, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Blake Griffin and Damian Lillard; they’re all superstars. Saying Gallinari has flourished under Hunt is an understatement; he’s transformed. These are the facts Hunt should be judged on.
Even with that, no one can argue that Gallinari’s performances alone have earned Hunt a full-time job. Frankly, Hunt hasn’t done anything other than normalize the situation. On the pH scale, Hunt is rainwater; he’s neutral. But, that’s what this franchise needs.
Denver needs normalcy right now. They need a coach that’ll fly under the radar; they need their next Jeff Bzdelik. Contain the rage because that isn’t a dig at Hunt. Quite the opposite is true.
Bzdelik got his head coaching opportunity for the same reason John Fox got his. The previous coach was so venomous that a calming presence was a necessary change. As Bzdelik was needed to cleanse the Dan Issel era, Hunt is needed to cleanse the Shaw era.
In the NBA, Bzdelik was in over his head, no doubt, but he made the playoffs and translated that success into three good college head coaching gigs. At the very least, Hunt deserves the same opportunity.
Does anyone think Hunt is the next Scotty Brooks? No. He isn’t the Nuggets final answer at head coach. But still, he’s earned the opportunity to warm the seat.
The Brain Trust at Pepsi Center needs a head coach to bridge the gap between a roster littered with questions and one that can legitimately contend. Remember, George Karl was interested in taking the Nuggets job because of Carmelo Anthony not because of Denver’s up-and-coming craft beer scene.
Don’t let anyone fool you, there’s no solving the Nuggets problems in one offseason. Gallo? Lawson? Faried? A lottery pick? Nurkic? With so many questions there is no reason to overpay a retread head coach to barely keep their head above water.
It’s sink or swim time in Denver.
Melvin Hunt is either going to be Jeff Bzdelik (at best) and The Brain Trust will figure out he’s in over his head once they have the talent to compete or he’s going to be an utter disaster and the Nuggets will end up with a better lottery pick next year. Both scenarios are win-win.
Hunt is the stopgap Denver needs.