The Denver Nuggets were minutes away from reaching the postseason last year for the first time since 2013 but lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in overtime on the final day of the regular season.
It was Mike Malone's third season as head coach of the Nuggets, none of which have resulted in a playoff appearance. But after another season ended after 82 games, Malone didn't consider the possibility of losing his job.
"It never even crossed my mind," Malone said, according to The Athletic's Sam Amick. "Just because in any of the conversations that I had with (president of basketball operations) Tim (Connelly) and (team president) Josh (Kroenke) during the season, and in the last few weeks, and in the last game, there was never any (sign of trouble). You can get a sense of the room sometimes, like, 'Oh, s---, fellas. It's not looking good.' But honest to God, there was not one time that I thought my job was in jeopardy."
The Nuggets have seen an increase in wins each year under Malone, and Nikola Jokic, Gary Harris, and Jamal Murray have all developed into young stars. Malone hopes his patience with the youthful rotation will continue to pay dividends.
"Teams do it in different ways," Malone said. "And what I like about us is I never mortgaged our future for instant success. We didn't trade a core young piece for instant gratification, for a season where maybe it would've helped us. But big picture, long term, was not going to allow us to have sustained success. And by keeping Jamal, Nikola, Gary, Trey (Lyles), our young core, re-signing Will (Barton), we feel that we have a chance to be competitive and ultimately a championship contender at some point."
Malone took over a 30-win Nuggets team in 2015 and has helped it improve to 33, 40, and 46 wins, respectively.
