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Easier said, done. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] What is up everybody, thank you all for joining me on the latest broadcast part of the CSG Network. I'm of course your host Jeff Morton. Today I've got an interesting podcast because I'll shout out to Alec Gwen who reminded me, go check him out on Reddit and all his crazy and really good designs that he does on Twitter. So be sure and check him out. He reminded me of a story that I've been wanting to tell for a while. It's not really as people are expecting inquirer or level of explosiveness here, there's not. But it's kind of an edification about how sometimes things don't work and how we get to the point where we are with two coaches who are both destined to be head coaches. And it's very similar to the trajectory of the 2016 season and I'll be talking about that in a bit. But first I got a new partner here on CSG and I want to talk to you about Bet Online. 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Bet Online where the game starts. So this is kind of a story that I've been wanting to tell for a while. And I actually, to be honest with you, I keep forgetting about it. You know, the Nuggets won the title last year. They are, we're seven years past Chris Finch leaving the Denver Nuggets in a surprise that to everyone. Well, it wasn't necessarily a surprise to me, but it was a surprise to most of the casual people who are watching the team considering what had transpired that year and the relative success that the Nuggets had as they were beginning to adapt to Nicole Yokech. And it was one of those things that were, you could see this being a one-year thing probably from a mile away. The Denver Nuggets hired Chris Finch in a move that was basically done to replace Chris Fleming, who was the offensive coordinator, so, you know, quote unquote, in Fleming's first year. Or excuse me, in Michael Malone's first year. And Chris Fleming didn't work for various reasons. And so the Nuggets were left finding another assistant coach that they can have run the offense. And our Terrace Coronasobas, for those of you who don't know, was in the Rockets organization prior to the Denver Nuggets hiring him as essentially the assistant general manager in 2013. And he was hired in 2008 as a scout, and then he was promoted, I think, by the time you get to 2011, he had been promoted as the head scout. Well, who also was there and coincidentally got there in 2011 was Chris Finch. And he was the assistant under Kevin McHale. And this was part of, you know, and the NBA is about relationships, and sometimes it's just people you know. And our Terrace Coronasobas had a lot to do with bringing in Chris Finch to replace Chris Fleming in the off season of 2016, which was the set Michael Malone's, beginning of Michael Malone's second season. Michael Malone's first season was kind of a feeling-out period that was still the remnants of the Brian Shaw team. And there was a lot of culture building that needed to be done on the Denver Nuggets who were basically trying to reset everything. That's nine years ago now, it's hard to believe. And the Nuggets were replacing and getting to a different headspace. I mean, the biggest, I've said this before a lot with Tim Conley. He adapted extremely quickly after the mistakes of the first Shaw year. He understood there needed to be a lot more work done to move from the Carl era into what really became the Tim Conley, Michael Malone, Nicole Yokich era. And obviously the first extension of that was drafting Nicole Yokich in the second round in 2014, along with Gary Harris and Yusuf Nerkich. Yusuf Nerkich plays a huge part in this whole thing. In fact, it's one of those scenarios that play out where you need to adjust the people you have on your roster, something Bryan Shaw had failed to do. And Michael Malone, he only won 33 games the previous year and was also struggling to get to a point where he had adapted the roster. And the really the full reset began during the 2016-2017 series season. And the first part of that was obviously starting to move off of some players. By this time Aaron Aflalo was gone, who was brought in in 2014 to come back after he was traded in 2012, and they moved off of Aflalo and began a different thing. 2015 was the soft reset and 2016-17 was really the hardening of that reset. The Nuggets didn't were having trouble adapting to their problem, which I wrote about seven years ago. I talked about the good problem to have, which was two starting caliber centers, which didn't isn't necessarily true. I wrote about it in Dondinver Stiffs in 2014, midway through '14, maybe 15, where I'm talking about the Twin Towers thing. When they brought Yokech over in 2015, they were trying to do a lot of different things and Chris Fleming was really struggling with it. And so was Michael Malone. And really at that point in time, Yosef Nurekich was still the ideal. And one of the reasons Nicole Yokech had been brought over from Europe is because Yosef Nurekich at the end of his rookie year partially tore his patellar tendon. And this precipitated, along with some other factors, bringing over Nicole Yokech, who the Nuggets had seen take a leap when he was at Megalax during his actual rookie season, which was '14, '15. So all that being said, all this background being said, bringing in Chris Finch was the idea of trying to figure out how to incorporate Yosef Nurekich and Nicole Yokech. And from the first part of the season, up until December, I think it was '15th, which is Yokech, I think when people first celebrate it that way, online, the Nuggets had gone into that year specifically trying to figure this out because they had a weird problem on their hands. And that was two starting caliber centers. And it was up to Chris French largely and somewhat Michael Malone to figure out how to do it. Because one of the things that Michael Malone struggled with, actually a lot of his time as coach, was making his offense and defense work in tandem, which is something that he never really had to do when he was previously at Sacramento. They had a Demarcus cousins there and cousins was able to work within what Michael Malone wanted to do. They had multi-pronged aspects of this. And when he was fired at Midway through his second year, things had changed in Sacramento. So Malone and Finch really were tasked with trying to figure this out. And they didn't do it. Now, you're a spoiler, for those of you who don't know history, they couldn't figure it out. And they didn't figure it out because it couldn't work, being largely because Yosef Nurekich and Yosef Nurekich, it is hard to make two starting caliber centers work at any time in the NBA, let alone 2020, 2016, when this is really the beginning of the apex of the pace and space, shoot a bunch of threes, get as much spacing as you possibly can thing. It wasn't going to be sustainable. Yosef Nurekich is not a floor spacer. And at that time neither was Nurekich and they tried to do with a high-low thing. They tried to have use of Nurekich in the Dunkerspot. They tried to incorporate Kenneth Farid with some of these things. They were noticing that when Yosef Nurekich would come in off the bench, the offense would work better. And it all eventually led to when the decision was made to start Nurekich. But that is not where the problems ended. The problem really was trying to build an offense around someone who was wholly unique to the NBA. No one in the league for years going, you have to go back to 2000, 1999, 2000, or Vida Sabonis, who was by that time way over the hill, and to find out how you can build an offense around the center and even then that offense in Portland with Sabonis was built around Stottamire. It really wasn't, there's no analogous thing to this. But the Nuggets were beginning to realize that Yosef Nurekich could really fundamentally stir and be the nexus of an offense, which really you have not seen. And somewhat Bill Walton, somewhat in the late 70s, but Walton was a score for a center who passed second. It was hard to get your head around a pass first center who could score. And that was left, as I said, to Chris Finch and Michael Malone. Well, there has been, there was already some existing natural tension there because before being hired by the Denver Nuggets, Chris Finch had interviewed for the head coaching position for the Houston Rockets. And Finch had come from a long experience of being a head coach in Europe. And he had been with the Rockets in 2011, but he was, he would also coach various European teams and had some success with that. So he envisioned himself as a head coach. He and Michael Malone were the same age, same age. And sometimes it's hard to get into a, you know, a good footing with someone who's your peer. Sometimes it is, you need, because sometimes you need a natural line of demarcation, so to speak, where there is a, both an age and a head coach delineation to where maybe, you know, the things are easy. And you saw it this last year when Adrian Griffin yelled at Terry Stott's because Stott's was supposed to be there as an assistant coach under, under Griffin and Stott's, as you know, coached Damian Lillard for a long time. And that never made it out of training camp. I mean, Stott's was there like a matter of months and he, he left, he quit. I would say that this scenario, while I don't necessarily think was as rancorous as that sort of thing, there was a tension there that I don't think that could have been overcome. Chris Finch got a ton of credit during the year for what really became known as the yokech offense. I got to correct a lot of people. The, the offense that the Nuggets run now really is not the same as they ran in 2016-17. That 16-17 yokech offense had less triangle to it, but it had more of yokech just doing point guard things. And Chris Finch really designed an offense to amplify yokech's passing ability and did it on the fly. A lot of credit goes to Chris Finch for being able to kind of adjust as much as he did. And I heaped praise on him, the people over at BSN, as they were known at the time, he praised on him, the post-heaped praise on him, rightfully so, because the Nuggets really did something. It was very similar to what Mike McCoy did with the Denver Broncos when Tim Tebow took over the Denver Broncos. Only this was obviously going to be more sustainable, but sometimes you are throwing into a situation where midway through your season you're having to adapt on the fly and get into a something that amplifies the people you had on the court. And one of the reasons the Nuggets were able to really have a potent offense that year was Danilo Galenarri was still a functional player and more than that he was still a good player and he and Yokech had a good synergy and he and Tana Fareed had a good synergy. And it was just naturally came through with Fareed in the dunker spot and Gallo spacing the floor all out what Michael Porter just does, but less the corner stuff that happens with Porter. So this was the way the Nuggets started winning games, they started winning games. And really by the time we get to the end of the year, the Nuggets really had a opportunity to win because the Nuggets by this point, by the time you get to the trade deadline in February 2017, the Nuggets had traded Yusuf Norkich to the Portland Trailblazers. And the Nuggets were able to really get themselves kind of accelerated in their development largely because Yokech was a is that player and everyone needed to realize that, but some of it was also Finch's offense. In the second half of the podcast, I'm going to talk to you about some, maybe some tension and how it made Finch staying as a Denver Nuggets assistant, untenable due to no fault of his or basically Michael Malone's own. But first I'd like to talk to you about Blanchett and why he's located between 18th and 19th Blake and Wazie, and be it for Lower Downtown Denver, Colorado, just a couple of walks of Whim Course Field, right in the middle of the Dairy Block, they're always online at BFWColorado.com. We're getting into May and there's no better time to go down to the Dairy Block and have some good time at Blanchett family wines. But if you're wanting to, if you're closer to the north side of the state, go to their location of Fort Collins, they got, for the Western Denver suburbs, they've got a tasting room down there in Golden. And of course they got their original location in Sonoma County, California. Really it's your, basically, the perfect Colorado wine bar. They make their own wines from Sonoma County, but they also have partnerships with Western slope wineries. So they got your reds, you got your wines, you got your wislings, you've got your rosades, they got everything you need in your favorite local wine bar. Once again, they're located between 18th and 19th and Blake and Wazie, and be it for Lower Downtown Denver, Colorado, just a couple of walks of Whim Course Field, right in the middle of the Dairy Block, they're always online at BFWColorado.com, they're on Facebook and Instagram under Blanchard Family Wines. When you go in or you talk to them to them, Jeff Morton from CSG podcast, sent you. When everyone's on the same page, getting things done at work is easy. Make a bigger impact at work with Grammarly. Grammarly is your secure AI writing partner that allows your team to make their point and move faster. You can even save time by going from spending hours editing drafts to just seconds. Join the 96% of Grammarly users that say it helps them craft more impactful writing. Sign up and download Grammarly for free at Grammarly.com/podcast. That's Grammarly.com/podcast, easier said, done. By the time you reach the end of the 2016-17 season, the Nuggets were had an opportunity to sneak into the playoffs, and they were neck-to-neck with Portland Trail Blazers, and the Blazers featured use of nuggets, where the Nuggets had acquired Mason Plumlee from the Blazers. What we saw was the Blazers, both the Blazers and the Nuggets benefited from the trade. As I said before, use of nuggets was a starting center, and it is hard to make two starting centers on a team work, and it's hard to make this a guy who thinks he's a starting center be subservient to a guy he thinks he's better than, and it's just it was never going to be tenable, and we all know the story of use of nerkage leaving town. The Nuggets had really accelerated with their offense, but if you recall, at the end of the 2017 season, there was a couple bad moments in nuggets history. One they go up to Portland in a pivotal game, and they lose to the Blazers, where famously Tim Connolly walks back to the hotel in the rain. He was so upset, and that's the game where use of nerkage said, "I hope you have a good summer," and then there was the game, the Westbrook game, where he set his record for triple doubles, and the entire Pepsi center crowd that was there at the time gave him a cheer, and it was just, yeah, it didn't conclude well, but it was a great stretch from December to basically March, and a lot of that, you know, this was early Jamal Murray, this is Jamal Murray's rookie year, this is, you know, still a developing team, Wilson Chandler was still here, Gallo was still here, as I said, and Wilson would be here for another year after that, this, the 17-18 season, and it's just, the nuggets really became more of a yokech identity team. Not the second half of the year, I wrote an article praising Chris Finch's revamping of the nuggets offense. It was put, I think, the Denver Post had one, as I said before, BSN, which is DNVR now, had one. There was lots of praise coming Chris Finch's way, and I do know from sources at the time telling me that that perception wasn't going over well, and it was creating some tension for credit, and I'll be honest with you folks, I think this is natural, this isn't a value judgment on anyone, I think that is just due to the circumstances of where we were. We have to understand that Michael Malone was fired from the Sacramento Kings very, probably you would say unfairly, and he probably was extremely sensitive to that sort of thing, and most coaches are. Like I said before, the Terry Stott's Adrian Griffin thing was a prime example of this, and coaches like guys who are their guys, and I don't necessarily think Chris Finch was a Malone guy, and I don't believe Chris Finch had his eye on just remaining me, Michael Malone, assistant. That there is a natural tension there, and it was not a surprise to me when I found out that Chris Finch would be leaving, and that was in May of 2017, it was not a surprise to me at all. And the next couple of months are very interesting in this story, and it would take me a long time to discuss this, because this is the summer they got Paul Millsamp. It's also the summer I left Denver Stiffs, coincidentally May, I left Denver Stiffs. This was really the last year I was around the team all the time. This was the very last season I was there as someone who was intently covering the Denver Nuggets. I really drifted out from there and have not been credentialed since 2020, and I do believe that there is a, both men could look back on the time in Denver and really say that they didn't handle things very well. I wouldn't say because I'm not privy to conversations that were had at the time, but I do believe Malone was very sensitive to the credit that Chris Finch was getting for the Nuggets revamped offense, and I do believe some of his sensitivity to that comes from his time at the Sacramento Kings. In fact, the 16-17 year is where Malone had probably, a moment he really, well I know for a fact he did regret it, was when the Nuggets lost to the Kings again, and he went off on the "veterans in the locker room," which didn't go over well nor will it, and that scene that happened afterwards was something that I'll never forget. It's needless to say that Jamier Nelson, Danila Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, and the veterans in the room were not pleased with Malone, but that aside, Malone is not the same guy now as he was in 2017, when he was still, that was only his second year as a Nuggets coach and only his, basically his third year as a coach in general, as a head coach in general. Maybe Malone really had to learn a lot about being a head coach, and I do think that he necessarily, probably didn't handle the credit that Finch was getting very well, but at the same time, Chris Finch had his designs to be a head coach, and there is, he interviewed for the head coaching position for the Rockets prior to being hired by the Nuggets, and sometimes when you got two big dogs, it just is not going to work, and without a doubt, Chris Finch was a big dog. Now a caveat to this whole thing is that when the Nuggets and Finch parted ways, Finch went to New Orleans, who coincidentally had just acquired Demarcus Cousins, I believe midway through the previous season, and we're trying to find a way to make the Anthony Davis Demarcus Cousins thing work, and what we don't remember is that Finch did make it work. That New Orleans offense was great, they knew how to attack with two bigs, and a lot of that goes to the lessons that Finch had learned with Nerkich and Yokich, and by the way, Demarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis, that's a different kind of thing, that's not the same as use of Nerkich, who really was not what he became in Portland, which was a role guy who could pass, he was still a low post person, which is what he was doing under Brian Shaw. So what Finch did with that offense was incredible, absolutely incredible, there's no way an offense that features Demarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis should be as great as that offense was, but he turned it into something, it was under Alvin Gentry, and he turned it into really something, and that is the year that the New Orleans Pelicans upset the Portland Trailblazers in the first round of the playoffs, and there was something to go with that. Now Finch ended up leaving a year later, and then he spent a little time with the Toronto Raptors, and then he became, as we all know, the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. I think both men, if you really get them in an honest moment, would say that, like I said, this wasn't a situation where there's anything juicy happening, but it was never going to work. There were two big dogs when you only need one. And Michael Malone ended up replacing Chris Finch with David Adelman, and Finch ends up a couple years later becoming head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. I think both guys got what they wanted. Now we'll point something out, I don't believe either guy has participated in a post game handshake. I think they just did not have a good time together, and that's okay. But what this season did was it created Nicole Yokech. They gave us the Yokech offense, or variation of that. It unlocked Nicole Yokech. With Michael Malone and Chris Finch can look at this and can look at what they accomplished with a lot of pride, because figuring this out in a league that no longer appreciates center play is incredible. And then Finch did it again in New Orleans the following year. So credit to Finch, credit to Michael Malone, and they are now facing off in a playoff series that should be a Titanic slug match that I'm very much looking forward to. All right, thank you for joining me on the latest broadcast presented by BetOnline. I'll be back with you in probably after game one with another podcast, goodbye. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] When everyone is on the same page, getting things done at work is easy. No matter what you do or what industry you're in, how you communicate is key. Everything you type is equally important to collaboration, and Grammarly can help. Think of it as your AI writing partner, empowering you to communicate effectively and efficiently, so you can make a bigger impact in the workplace. 96% of Grammarly users say it helps them craft more impactful writing, and as the gold standard of responsible AI, Grammarly is your secure AI writing partner that allows your team to make their point and move faster. By understanding your writing and context, Grammarly provides relevant personalized suggestions. And with tone suggestions, you can navigate even the most difficult work conversations. You can also save time from spending hours editing drafts to just seconds with one click. Sign up and download Grammarly for free at Grammarly.com/podcast, that's g-r-a-m-m-a-r-l-y.com/podcast. Easier said, done.
As we approach the rematch showdown between the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jeff talks about the "Chris Finch" year of 2016-17 and how it created a bit of tension but unlocked Nikola Jokic.
