Time after time in the National Basketball Association, teams that once had success need an organizational reset in order to find their way back to the top of the mountain. Whether it’s trading away key players, bringing in external hires to be the new head coach, there’s a variety of different ways that organizations can reset.
The Celtics did it in the early 2010s, the Lakers did it once Kobe Bryant hung his shoes up, the Cavaliers did it after LeBron left the first time — many teams have gone the ‘organizational reset’ route and found success down the road.
Denver Nuggets president Josh Kroenke didn’t think that was the answer for the 2023 NBA Champions after he fired Michael Malone and Calvin Booth with just three games to go before the postseason.
“I can also say very clearly that this organization does not need a cultural reset,” Kroenke said in a press conference Wednesday. “I think that anyone who was in and around that dressing room for the last six weeks … could probably say that there was a very unified group. While I understand the pressure might have brought some of that unification, I also think it was the people in that locker room. I think, a long time ago, when we set organizational standards to get to where we are today, a lot of that is about culture, and a day-to-day thing.”
Josh Kroenke explains why he hired a coach before a GM pic.twitter.com/FXmdgiNWqY
— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) May 28, 2025
Kroenke talked about how much the players still embodied the culture of the Denver Nuggets. From Nikola Jokic at the top to two-way players like Spencer Jones toward the bottom (no shade towards Jones), everybody bought in to the same ideals and goals throughout the six weeks after the spring cleaning moves, and Kroenke took note of that.
“The players are policing [culture] on a daily basis, and from what I saw and how the players responded, our culture is still there, we just needed to peel off a few things, have a small reset, and I think we’re ready to go forward,” Kroenke said.
It wasn’t Kroenke assessing the culture, it wasn’t newly-named head coach David Adelman assessing it, it was the guys in the locker room doing so.
The culture that has been established within the Nuggets organization also played a major role in Kroenke deciding who to hire as the franchise’s new head coach and general manager. He said in a press conference last week that most of the answers are internal, and the promotion for Adelman to the full-time head coach showed that.
“When you’re contemplating changing out coach and general manager, one of the things I would look at from my perspective is, do we need a complete organizational reset? … That’s why I made the decision at the end of the season like I did was probably to do a little bit of a litmus test on that. With the benefit of hindsight, I can look back and see that very clearly now,” Kroenke said.
Culture will be key in maximizing what’s left of Denver’s title window with Nikola Jokic, and Kroenke has a massive summer ahead of him to get the Nuggets back to the top.
