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HurricaneDij39
Fire Mike Malone
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Since the start of COVID, I had lost both my dad and my maternal grandfather. My grandpa died at the very nursing home facility that I have worked for nearly the last nine years back in December of 2020. And, of course, my dad passed on Super Bowl Sunday this year.
As soon as we got by Phoenix, the team that many thought was best team in the west at the time (myself included), I felt there was no way we were going to lose. My dad and grandpa had my back from above. It was only fitting that in my first summer without either of them, a team of mine would win an NBA championship for the first time since Michael Jordan’s Bulls did so (if one did some research, living in Northwest Indiana you pretty much had to be a Bulls fan during that particular age and time). I owe this championship to them.
Some was made about my being a “bandwagon Nuggets fan”. If this is in fact the accurate term, I had bandwagoned among the hardest ways possible, as the Nuggets were not in outstanding shape as a franchise during the summer in which I “bandwagoned” them. Andre Iguodala had departed as a free agent. Head coach George Karl was fired. General Manager Masai Ujiri was allowed to depart the organization for Toronto. Leading scorer Danilo Gallinari would be lost for the entire following season due to a torn ACL sustained late during the regular season that year. Both Iggy and Masai would go on to win championships at their ensuing destinations.
My personal background aside, perhaps no one deserves this title at this point and time more than the city of Denver. In 1998, the Nuggets became the third NBA franchise to lose 70 games in a season. The other two such teams, the Sixers and the Mavs, would win titles before the Nuggets did. As the oldest kid in my neighborhood growing up, we would often use the Nuggets as our punching bag on NBA Live ’98.
My Nuggets fandom actually began in large part as a result of my hatred for Carmelo Anthony in the early 2010’s. During the 2010-11 season and coming off “The Decision” spectacle courtesy of LeBron James, Anthony decided to hold the entire Nuggets team and organization hostage over his expiring contract, and to no fault of the Nuggets. While it is one thing to want to dictate your own future, basically Carmelo wanted to switch teams for no other reason than the fact that LeBron did, and to me, that is more cowardly than what LeBron did or has done. Denver reached the conference finals in 2009 and very much had strong roster heading into 2010-11. If the Nuggets are to one day retire his #15 along with Jokic (time will inevitably heal for the fans of Denver with regards to Melo) - I will, in fact, support it. But I was still pissed off at the precedent that was being set at the time, let alone a time when Karl had just returned from his bout with cancer. So, for those that just blindly assumed that my hatred for stars changing teams began and ended with Paul George leaving the Pacers – It did not.
Of course, my Nuggets fandom did not officially begin with the Melo trade. Barely two years later, it happened again and Denver lost yet another name talent when Iguodala accepted less money and a lesser role by signing with Golden State to team up with Steph Curry. Once again, the Nuggets franchise had been alienated for no reason at all. I thought at the time, “Why couldn’t this city host a winner?” So it was at that point, in 2013, that I decide to adopt them as my favorite Western Conference team, along with my Eastern Conference Pacers.
Coach Karl, concerned for his job security after Ujiri was allowed to walk, went to team ownership and asked for an extension. Karl would instead be fired as a result of his demands. Iggy’s D and Gallo’s O complement each other very well with Karl as coach, as the team won a franchise-record 57 games and one that still stands to this day.
My first two seasons as a Nuggets fan resulted in back-to-back losing seasons under Brian Shaw, though there were some nice individual performances that first year. Randy Foye was acquired in the three-team sign-and-trade for Iguodala. Mozgov had a 29-rebound game in a win at Golden State. Even Aaron Brooks gave us a nice lift after being added at the trade deadline, even though we allowed him to walk to the Bulls during the ensuing summer. In spite of these performances, however, Denver could not overcome the losses of Gallo and Iggy and missed the playoffs.
That second year Shaw would lose the locker room entirely and was let go before the end of the season. In 2015, Michael Malone was hired as head coach, 2014 second round draft choice Nikola Jokic was brought overseas, and the rest is history. With each passing season from that point, the Nuggets slowly but surely grew into the Western Conference juggernaut we know them as today. If I could go back to 2013 choose a different team knowing the success that Golden State and a couple other teams would later have, I would again choose Denver, over and over and over again. No matter the outcome or circumstances.
I did it the hard way. We did it the hard way. Nuggets 2022-23 champs forever!!! Dad and Papa, this is for you…
I’m not going to sit here and guarantee more championships, but I will say that we are going to play some fun basketball for years to come. You don’t know him, but Peyton Watson is bound to crack this rotation in the not-too-distant future. And even if it probably won’t happen, I would also vouch for three of our former players – Monte Morris, Will Barton, and Paul Millsap – for their contributions to Mile High Basketball.
As soon as we got by Phoenix, the team that many thought was best team in the west at the time (myself included), I felt there was no way we were going to lose. My dad and grandpa had my back from above. It was only fitting that in my first summer without either of them, a team of mine would win an NBA championship for the first time since Michael Jordan’s Bulls did so (if one did some research, living in Northwest Indiana you pretty much had to be a Bulls fan during that particular age and time). I owe this championship to them.
Some was made about my being a “bandwagon Nuggets fan”. If this is in fact the accurate term, I had bandwagoned among the hardest ways possible, as the Nuggets were not in outstanding shape as a franchise during the summer in which I “bandwagoned” them. Andre Iguodala had departed as a free agent. Head coach George Karl was fired. General Manager Masai Ujiri was allowed to depart the organization for Toronto. Leading scorer Danilo Gallinari would be lost for the entire following season due to a torn ACL sustained late during the regular season that year. Both Iggy and Masai would go on to win championships at their ensuing destinations.
My personal background aside, perhaps no one deserves this title at this point and time more than the city of Denver. In 1998, the Nuggets became the third NBA franchise to lose 70 games in a season. The other two such teams, the Sixers and the Mavs, would win titles before the Nuggets did. As the oldest kid in my neighborhood growing up, we would often use the Nuggets as our punching bag on NBA Live ’98.
My Nuggets fandom actually began in large part as a result of my hatred for Carmelo Anthony in the early 2010’s. During the 2010-11 season and coming off “The Decision” spectacle courtesy of LeBron James, Anthony decided to hold the entire Nuggets team and organization hostage over his expiring contract, and to no fault of the Nuggets. While it is one thing to want to dictate your own future, basically Carmelo wanted to switch teams for no other reason than the fact that LeBron did, and to me, that is more cowardly than what LeBron did or has done. Denver reached the conference finals in 2009 and very much had strong roster heading into 2010-11. If the Nuggets are to one day retire his #15 along with Jokic (time will inevitably heal for the fans of Denver with regards to Melo) - I will, in fact, support it. But I was still pissed off at the precedent that was being set at the time, let alone a time when Karl had just returned from his bout with cancer. So, for those that just blindly assumed that my hatred for stars changing teams began and ended with Paul George leaving the Pacers – It did not.
Of course, my Nuggets fandom did not officially begin with the Melo trade. Barely two years later, it happened again and Denver lost yet another name talent when Iguodala accepted less money and a lesser role by signing with Golden State to team up with Steph Curry. Once again, the Nuggets franchise had been alienated for no reason at all. I thought at the time, “Why couldn’t this city host a winner?” So it was at that point, in 2013, that I decide to adopt them as my favorite Western Conference team, along with my Eastern Conference Pacers.
Coach Karl, concerned for his job security after Ujiri was allowed to walk, went to team ownership and asked for an extension. Karl would instead be fired as a result of his demands. Iggy’s D and Gallo’s O complement each other very well with Karl as coach, as the team won a franchise-record 57 games and one that still stands to this day.
My first two seasons as a Nuggets fan resulted in back-to-back losing seasons under Brian Shaw, though there were some nice individual performances that first year. Randy Foye was acquired in the three-team sign-and-trade for Iguodala. Mozgov had a 29-rebound game in a win at Golden State. Even Aaron Brooks gave us a nice lift after being added at the trade deadline, even though we allowed him to walk to the Bulls during the ensuing summer. In spite of these performances, however, Denver could not overcome the losses of Gallo and Iggy and missed the playoffs.
That second year Shaw would lose the locker room entirely and was let go before the end of the season. In 2015, Michael Malone was hired as head coach, 2014 second round draft choice Nikola Jokic was brought overseas, and the rest is history. With each passing season from that point, the Nuggets slowly but surely grew into the Western Conference juggernaut we know them as today. If I could go back to 2013 choose a different team knowing the success that Golden State and a couple other teams would later have, I would again choose Denver, over and over and over again. No matter the outcome or circumstances.
I did it the hard way. We did it the hard way. Nuggets 2022-23 champs forever!!! Dad and Papa, this is for you…
I’m not going to sit here and guarantee more championships, but I will say that we are going to play some fun basketball for years to come. You don’t know him, but Peyton Watson is bound to crack this rotation in the not-too-distant future. And even if it probably won’t happen, I would also vouch for three of our former players – Monte Morris, Will Barton, and Paul Millsap – for their contributions to Mile High Basketball.
