Clean Slates: Denver Reshapes The Coaching Staff
The need to hire alchemists
When the Nuggets hired David Adelman without hiring a new GM/President of Basketball Operations first, I wrote on the disconnect in that decision and why everyone needs to feel like who they’re working with is “their guy.”
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So of course, they are affording David Adelman with that very same opportunity of trust and comfort.
The Nuggets parted ways with Popeye Jones, Charles Klask, and Ryan Saunders this week, paving the way for Adelman to remake the staff.
The decision is as much about that trust and comfort for Adelman getting to have guys under him that he hired and fit his vision, as it is about sparking changes where they can make them. If you’re going to avoid making wholesale changes to the roster out of both loyalty and second apron anxiety, then you need to come up with some scheme reinvention.
Clask was always one of the best people around the organization, bright-eyed and positive. Jones was a more recent hire and definitely part of Calvin Booth’s influence so I’m not surprised he’s gone.
Saunders, though, is the interesting one.
DEFENSIVE OVERHAUL
Saunders was part of the trifecta of coaches’ sons under Malone. It was Malone, whose father, Brendan, was an NBA lifer, Adelman, whose father, Rick, was the same, and Saunders, son of Flip.
Saunders was effectively Denver’s defensive coordinator.
Saunders’ tenure with KAT as Wolves head coach was notably bad. One of the first moves Finch made when he took over was moving KAT out of drop coverage and to at-the-level, and the defense immediately responded. 1
When Saunders took over for Wes Unseld Jr., there was a notable shift. You’d start seeing more drop coverage through the season. This was mostly a necessary move, and these elements are inextricable from the reality of Nikola Jokic crossing into his 30s with five years of heavy minutes behind him.2
But there were also elements that left Denver much more susceptible than under Unseld Jr., despite the defensive roster being better.
I’m not smart enough to diagram all those issues for you; I’ve discussed the team’s defensive failures before. But sources have said that the team was consistently frustrated with Saunders’ defensive scheming, particularly the constant changes in-game to coverage details. Timeouts were contentious at times because of these details.
That’s not uncommon; it happens all the time in the NBA.
One thing sources have suggested is that the players wanted a simplified system. Without knowing more details, a natural pushback on this would be that the personnel doesn’t allow for it. You have to build more complex systems because certain defenders can only defend certain matchups or make certain rotations.
So the challenge for the new staff will be to…
a. Simplify things so that communication and execution are easier and simpler.
b. Construct a system that better covers for their diminishing defensive personnel (Jokic-Murray-MPJ)
Piece of cake.
That said, reinvention is a positive step. New ideas can lead to better effort, which leads to better execution. The hires should be interesting.
No news on the GM front, though I would be surprised if there isn’t an announcement made regarding Tenzer being promoted to GM, a new President of Basketball Operations, both, or a new POBO and GM announced sometime this week. The draft is just weeks away.
Finally, there was a “report” this week. Bovada Online, an offshore online sportsbook released odds on where several players would be traded. The Nuggets are “the favorites” to land Pelicans forward Trey Murphy.
First off, when you say “Vegas knows,” it has no bearing here. Bovada is operated out of Costa Rica.3
These odds are marketing tools. As far as I can tell, there’s never any intel behind them.
And from everyone I’ve talked to, the Pelicans have consistently rebuffed every call — and there have been many— for Murphy.
If Denver landed Murphy, it would change everything. He’s capable of being a 2A scorer, a good defender, a good playmaker. But the odds are not good, despite what the “oddsmakers” say.
You can see what happens when you put KAT back in a drop in the latest Eastern Conference Finals.
We’ll talk more about this later this week.
Most sportsbooks are cribbing their odds from offshore bookmakers. There are a handful of stateside bookmakers but the major offshores — not all of them though I won’t name names — are are sharper and take larger action.