Denver Nuggets coach, Mike Malone, does not seem much inclined to enjoy the NBA title.
Little room for celebration after winning the ring, coach already thinking about possible dynasty that his team may have opened with this success.
This is the beginning of something big, not the final destination of the journey. I came into this league 23 years ago as an assistant and dreamed of becoming a head coach. I learned it from Pat Riley: you come in that you’re a nobody, you become a struggler, then a winner, later you become a contender and then the one who wins, a champion. But as a champion you aim to build a dynasty and we don’t settle for having won. That had never happened in Denver but we are not satisfied.
Then the dedications to family members, coaches who coached him and those he worked with in the past. But the best thought is for Michael Porter Jr., star of somewhat underwhelming Finals but most important to previous successes.
He should not be judged solely on the basis of the Finals, he did not get his outside shot in, but in the semifinals with the Suns or in the first round with Minnesota he was crucial, as well as throughout the rest of the season. We are talking about a guy who is still young, who missed the whole rookie season, who only made 9 games last year. He will improve again because he never gave up and never cried on himself. There is a poem by D.H. Lawrence called “Self-Pity,” but he never did. “Doesn’t the shot go in? OK I’ll do something else to help the team,” that’s how a champion thinks.
