He absolutely shouldn't be on the floor this late in the game. Not gonna kill the kid too much since it's his first playoff appearance...but Malone shouldn't be letting him play the last 4-5 minutes especially when its that close. Him knocking down a 3 or two isn't worth the mistakes and points he's giving up at such a crucial point.
He absolutely shouldn't be on the floor this late in the game. Not gonna kill the kid too much since it's his first playoff appearance...but Malone shouldn't be letting him play the last 4-5 minutes especially when its that close. Him knocking down a 3 or two isn't worth the mistakes and points he's giving up at such a crucial point.
Maybe not short-term success. I think the plan was always for a longer term: get him healthy, give him some spot minutes, see how he responds, and from there slowly give him an opportunity to get some meaningful minutes and to be a significant player. I don’t necessarily think he expected that to happen all in this year. I think the plan got accelerated due to some injuries. I think the overarching goal for this year has been to keep MPJ healthy and to know that he will have the potential to be apart of that core with Jokic and Murray next year. I’m confident Malone didn’t expect both Harris and Barton to be out for extended time such that MPJ would be playing big minutes so late in the season. I think you also have to consider the existing talent on the Nuggets to fairly assess how Malone has brought MPJ along. With that said I don’t think Malone has been perfect but I definitely don’t think he’s mishandled this. That young brother is in position to have long-term success.
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