Nikola Jokic on Nuggets coach David Adelman: ‘He changed the energy’
OKLAHOMA CITY David Adelman wasn t ready to address the elephant in the room but his players were The moment the final buzzer blared on Sunday the Nuggets didn t have a head coach Their season was over in Oklahoma City as was the interim portion of Adelman s tenure after games in charge He coached almost as multiple Meeting s two as he did regular-season contests three That s how preposterous the circumstances of his temporary promotion were At least one competitor unambiguously hopes it s more than temporary I love DA Aaron Gordon revealed I hope he s here next year I hope he s our coach I hope he gets an entire training camp and a whole offseason Employed by the Nuggets since Adelman took over as interim coach after the group fired Michael Malone in the last week of the regular season Denver was in danger of falling to the Play-In Tournament when the dramatic change was made Adelman shepherded the gang back into fourth place then into the second round of the playoffs I don t think it s time for me to think about that he mentioned when requested about the possibility of earning the full-time gig We just lost Contest Our season is over Decision-makers will make that decision Obviously fortunate to have this opportunity to take the helm and lead this squad If I m not back next year I ll obviously never forget this It s been an incredible experience And to have the buy-in from the guys was really special for me Nuggets president and governor Josh Kroenke broadcasted after firing Malone that a full search for his replacement would be conducted after the season But sources informed The Denver Post that even after Denver s Battle loss association brass was left impressed by the turnaround and job Adelman did And even the players who didn t endorse Adelman as explicitly as Gordon Nikola Jokic commented it s above my pay grade offered positive evaluations I think he did a great job Jamal Murray reported pointing out the different schemes that we came up with It s a tough spot to be Jokic mentioned He had three games to change something and I think he changed the vitality I think the guys were woken up a little bit The guys had more capacity He made us believe in something and we played good you know We played a seven-game series with allegedly best crew in NBA and we had opportunity We had chances So I think he did a really good job Malone was the third coach fired during the - NBA season joining Sacramento s Mike Brown and Memphis Taylor Jenkins In both other cases the interim coach who finished the season ended up getting the full-time job despite the fact that neither the Kings nor Grizzlies won a playoff match Everyone s gonna remember these Battle s and the playoff series and all that I m gonna remember the last three games of the regular season Adelman explained Those were big-time games and for the guys that fleetly to come together and give us this opportunity very special to me I ll never forget it Something I think down the road when I m older this group will perpetually remember this
