One of Michael Malone’s core coaching philosophies with the Nuggets is rooted in an old-school but obvious idea.
“What I do now obviously is trying to have Nikola (Jokic) or Jamal (Murray) on the floor at all times, and that’s something that my father would always talk about,” Malone said Monday before the Nuggets defeated Utah and improved to 4-0. “Whether it was a guy like Phil Jackson always having either Scottie (Pippen) or Michael (Jordan) on the floor, you want to have one of your horses available and on the court at all times.”
That makes it easy to credit Denver’s success at any given moment to whichever of those two players is on the floor.