Denver Nuggets Governor Josh Kroenke, son of Owner Stanley Kroenke, spoke to the local media on Monday and addressed several things, most notably the firings of Michael Malone and Calvin Booth last week.
It was an interesting press conference, one that Kroenke did well, answering a litany of questions about the departures, what led up to such a move, and other key topics surrounding the Nuggets at this current juncture.
His perspective, and willingness to share his thought process, were also notable.
The most important question that Kroenke had to answer was “Why now?” This was the latest firing of a playoff head coach in NBA history. Why did it have to happen heading into the playoffs?
“I think that from a pressure standpoint, my whole goal is to rip the band aid off and take away all the pressure for everybody,” Kroenke shared in relation to the timing of these moves. “I think that with those two areas is kind of your pillars of trust and belief. You can make a decision like you did last week, and while you don’t feel good about it, you might feel a little more comfortable knowing that those are your two pillars that you’re going to turn and face to. So I think that from a pressure standpoint, there is no pressure [anymore].”
Kroenke noted that he had previous considered firing both Malone and Booth on two separate occasions, once around Thanksgiving and once around the All-Star break. For different reasons, Kroenke refrained, but that only allowed for the pressure within the building to continue to mount and for the culture to continue to erode.
“Coming out of the summer of 2013, we made a lot of organizational changes and we helped to re-establish a culture underneath Coach Malone that I’m very proud of and one that resulted in a championship grown organically over time. And to be frank, I’m very protective of that culture at this point. And that’s why I say that I failed both Cal and Mo as a leader because I let certain things slip to a place that they never should have been.”
It’s pretty clear, based on the reporting and stories around this event, that the culture in Denver had moved from something the Nuggets could pride themselves in to something that needed to be addressed. It’s not necessarily one person that caused it, nor is it just Malone and Booth going at it that made things difficult. There were (and still are) other factors. This simply gets that process started.
“I could feel how flat the room was,” Kroenke noted from his time in the Nuggets locker room on Sunday after Denver’s loss to Indiana extended a four game losing streak. “Heading into the playoffs with a flat locker room, that was when I understood and I internalized how much I had let this room slip and that it was not up to the standards of what Denver Nuggets basketball really is.”
The Nuggets bounced back with David Adelman stepping in as interim head coach, winning three straight games to preserve a 50-win season and the fourth seed in the Western Conference. The energy was clearly better after the firings, and the urgency was something that truly stood out. It’s something that may not have ever shown up had the changes, as radical as they were, never took place.
Kroenke also named Ben Tenzer as the interim general manager to replace Calvin Booth for the rest of the year as possibly beyond. It’s notable that assistant general manager Tommy Balcetis was passed over for the role, but Tenzer is extremely knowledgable and has been with the Nuggets for 15+ seasons, most commonly as a salary cap expert.
Time will tell whether Adelman and Tenzer hold onto their positions. Kroenke will conduct a full search this offseason at both head coach and general manager, both decisions likely meaning a fair amount to the future of the organization.
How involved will superstar Nikola Jokic be? It sounds like as much as he would like to be without having ultimate decision-making power.
“I’d be the dumbest guy in basketball if I wasn’t asking him for his opinion on certain things,” Kroenke joked about Jokic’s involvement in finding the new additions, “but it’s my responsibility to make those decisions for the best of the organization, and I think Jok, he understands that and respects that very much.”
The timing of everything about these moves for Denver is very weird. There’s a massive nexus of past, present, and future going on at this current moment.
The Past: Michael Malone and Calvin Booth both won a championship with this group. Denver spent the last two seasons trying to recreate that same outlook from 2023, but the point was missed across the board.
The Present: The Nuggets are in the midst of Jokic’s best season ever and can’t waste it. While it might seem futile to even consider a long playoff run, the Nuggets are about as healthy as they’ve been all season and still have some players in Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray that often rise to the level necessary to take home a title.
The Future: Whoever is brought in next cannot merely focus on the 2025-26 season, but balancing and cultivating a longer term thought process for all of Jokic’s prime. That will mean considering how the Nuggets have assembled this group and potentially alter it completely to match what the Nuggets need in the new NBA.
Kroenke spent a lot of time waiting for Malone and Booth to correct course, allowing them that time because of what they’ve done previously. Ultimately though, the team needed a change, especially if said change can save this particular season.
“When you have a roster like we do, you have the best player on the planet, it can mask a lot of things. And so, what would be crazier? Me doing what I did last week or doing it on an eight game win streak? And so, there’s no real right answer to questions that I have to ask at times. But my feeling and my belief was there was more in that locker room and that’s what I acted on.”
If there’s one major criticism of Malone that can be made, it’s that he lived in the moment in the day-to-day for Denver far more often than even a head coach should live. His reactions and responses, how hard he took every loss and misstep, and how unwilling he was to live with many developmental mistakes, all played a part in the pot boiling over in the last few months.
On the other side of the coin, Booth made several missteps in the assembly of the roster. Not getting anything back for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was a clear mistake in retrospect, as was not replacing his skill set in a tangible way. It took Jokic’s input to add a veteran backup point guard that actually made winning plays in Russell Westbrook, and the backup center position was never accurately addressed, especially given Booth’s many overtures that Zeke Nnaji is actually a power forward.
Of course, the infighting may have actually prevented Booth from making deals that he thought were necessary to the team. Kroenke pushed back especially hard on the idea that he was “unwilling” to trade Michael Porter Jr. because of their shared Missouri ties.
“I think that any kind of report saying that we’re not open to trading everybody possible to improve the team is completely false,” Kroenke emphasized. “I don’t know where that person got their sources from, but I’m surely not going to be green-lighting any trades around here when I don’t see complete organizational cohesion and we’re not maximizing the group we got.”
From my perspective, that sounds like a nostalgic version of Josh Kroenke who wants to see Denver’s current core get back to where they were just two seasons ago, and I get it. Perhaps these moves will be the catalyst that gets Denver back on schedule.
If they’re not? Tough questions will have to be asked, and Kroenke may have to cede some of those decisions to whoever he brings in as general manager.
Whatever happens, it’s important to note that Kroenke was in front of the reporters and cameras answering every question. So many owners and executives would hide from that responsibility in this situation, but Kroenke went out there and faced the music. It’s a tough place to be for anyone, especially Kroenke whose relationships run deep with both Malone and Booth.
It became time to move on in his eyes. We will see, in two weeks, two months, two years or 20, if this nexus point is what the Nuggets ultimately needed.
