{"id":66168,"date":"2025-05-30T14:39:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T14:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/66168\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T14:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T14:39:12","slug":"david-adelman-pays-tribute-to-denver-nuggets-legend-as-he-begins-role-as-permanent-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/66168\/","title":{"rendered":"David Adelman pays tribute to Denver Nuggets legend as he begins role as permanent head coach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Denver Nuggets are set to enter a new coaching era under the leadership of David Adelman.<\/p>\n

David Adelman<\/a> has been appointed as permanent coach at the Denver Nuggets<\/a> after impressing on an interim basis.<\/p>\n

Adelman led the Nuggets to Game 7 of the Western Conference<\/a> Semifinals, where they were ultimately defeated by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>\u2018s Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shams Charania reported how Nikola Jokic enjoyed Adelman\u2019s coaching<\/a> for the Nuggets. With approval from Aaron Gordon<\/a> too, Denver decided to give Adelman a proper chance.<\/p>\n

Adelman has already plotted his blueprint for the team<\/a> moving forward, as he and the Nuggets begin preparing for 2025-26.<\/p>\n

\"DENVERPhoto by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver PostDavid Adelman speaks out on replacing Michael Malone<\/p>\n

Adelman took the coaching keys of the Denver Nuggets from the man responsible for his ongoing stay in the Mile High City.<\/p>\n

Michael Malone<\/a>, was sacked by the Denver leadership alongside general manager Calvin Booth<\/a> with just three games left in the regular season.<\/p>\n

It was Malone who brought Adelman to Denver in 2017 to be his lead assistant. <\/p>\n

And after years of solid partnership in helping the Nuggets win the title in 2023, the 44-year-old confessed that he has mixed emotions about replacing his coaching mentor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult. But like I said, I think we all know that as you move up in this league, you\u2019re taking somebody\u2019s job one way or the other,\u201d Adelman said in his first exclusive interview as the Nuggets\u2019 head coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what he did here is never going to be forgotten. He\u2019s the greatest coach in the history of this franchise, not even close. His leadership ability, the staff that he brought in, the ability to develop the players, all those things are incredible positives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you feel mixed feelings because you feel proud that you were a part of it with him, and then you feel proud that you made progression as a coach because of him. So it\u2019s a weird feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Adelman offers appreciation to Malone<\/p>\n

Despite his messy exit, Malone cemented his case as the greatest Denver coach of all time. He holds the franchise\u2019s all-time coaching record in wins (471) and the one who served as the mastermind behind the Nuggets\u2019 first-ever NBA title two seasons ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many raised their eyebrows at the Nuggets decision to fire him. Kevin Garnett was among those<\/a> who hit out at the decision.<\/p>\n

Adelman could not be any prouder to be Malone\u2019s successor and apply what he learned from him in aiding the Nuggets back on top.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think about him and his family and then there\u2019s this flip side of you that goes, I can\u2019t thank him enough for, one, the opportunity to come here, but two, to be ready to take this job. It\u2019s because of him,\u201d Adelman said about Malone, who now works as an analyst for ESPN.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of mixed feelings, but all I can say is he\u2019s the reason I\u2019m sitting here. He\u2019s the reason why there\u2019s a banner up there. So just nothing but an honor to work for him, and honestly, an honor to take the job, the seat that he had, and try to keep it at that level, that standard that we\u2019ve had for so many years.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Denver Nuggets are set to enter a new coaching era under the leadership of David Adelman. David…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,250,301,187,3943,4231,6,302],"class_list":{"0":"post-66168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-david-adelman","10":"tag-denver","11":"tag-denver-nuggets","12":"tag-denvernuggets","13":"tag-michael-malone","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nuggets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114597302344137604","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}