Nuggets Head Coach Michael Malone Is Already Calling Out His Own Players For Being Soft And Out Of Shape

No two ways about it, this is a massive season for the Denver Nuggets. 

The honeymoon phase after their 2023 title is long gone, especially after choking away a 20 point lead at home in Game 7 in last year's playoffs, and given what the front office has done to the roster all because it gets expensive to be a contender, there is more pressure than ever for the Nuggets to fight off the allegations that their championship window has closed. When you have the best player in the world there will always be an expectation to not just win, but to contend. Given how stacked the rest of the top of the West has become that's certainly no longer a guarantee for this current version of the Nuggets, which is why this season is going to be so interesting to watch.

I'd say nobody understands what's at stake or what it's going to make more than their head coach Michael Malone. Did you know he's the 4th longest-tenured coach in the league entering this season? Only Pop, Spo, and Steve Kerr have been with their teams longer than Malone, who first arrived in Denver in 2015. He's a basketball lifer who has certainly seen his fair share of teams, contenders, and champions, which is why he most certainly did not hold back calling out his team for being out of shape heading into the year

As a Nuggets fan, this would have me in a bit of a pretzel. On one hand, it's a terrible look for any player on this roster to come into camp not ready to go and out of shape. With everything on the line and how important it is that the Nuggets get off to a good start, that would have me irate as a fan. You have all offseason and you can't come in ready to go? 

But on the other hand, I would LOVE hearing this from the coach. That does not sound like a guy who is going to tolerate it and will do everything in his power to correct this problem. I think most would agree he's probably talking about guys like Jamal Murray, who we were told was 100% healthy after the Olympics and just signed that $200M extension. As one of the leaders of their team, that guy being out of shape and not ready isn't exactly great.

I also love that he called out the league as a whole for being soft. The idea of load management certainly isn't new, and even with the new rules that were intended to prevent stars from sitting out, it really hasn't changed much

(I actually think this is smart for Embiid/PHI, but it helps illustrate my point)

As we see with some players who seemingly never miss time or load manage, it's partly because all of them are in tremendous shape. Taking care of your body and making sure it can withstand a grueling 82 game NBA schedule (plus playoffs) is honestly half of the battle. It's no surprise that we tend to see players take a leap as soon as they get serious about their body and their conditioning. On the flip side, when players come in out of shape, they almost always get hurt or aren't nearly as productive as they should be. 

Diet, training, and sleep, are all crucial to performing at your very best, and in basketball it's very easy to tell who takes it seriously and who fucks around. I'm not sure why any Nuggets player would think now is the time to fuck around and not be taking everything extremely seriously while they are currently in this window of contention, but with the season set to start in 8 days it's not as if they have a ton of time to turn things around. 

One quick look at the Nugget's opening schedule and you can sort of understand why Michael Malone is pretty pissed at the moment. There isn't a ton of room for error basically through Christmas

Losing a key rotation player to injury in part because they maybe didn't enter the season in the best shape would be a bit of a disaster given how unproven the Nuggets' depth is this season, and why Malone has every right to be pissed.