New Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone looks to bring back the team's fast pace play which brought them success in the past especially in the 2008-09 season where they reached the Western Conference Finals under former coach George Karl.
Malone spoke about players wanting to have a running game in his introductory news conference Tuesday and also questioned their commitment.
"All players say they want to play fast, but are they willing to condition themselves to be a great running team, where you can run for 48 minutes? A lot of guys are not ready to make that full commitment. That's something I look forward to working with them on and demanding from them, so we can become an efficient running team," Malone discussed.
Malone expects the team to be the same as it did in 2008-09 under Karl as they had a fast pace game but was still defending at a high-level unlike what happened to the Nuggets under former head coach Brian Shaw who was fired last March.
Denver settled more in to a half-game setup under Shaw and it did not spell success for the past two seasons as they missed the playoffs.
Nuggets team president Josh Kroenke said according to ESPN, "We're excited to implement that style of play. Mike is going to coach our guys the best he sees fit. No matter who's on our team this year, next year, the year after, Mike is in a great position."
Malone also talked about the game getting faster saying that it is a "pace game."
"The game is getting faster. It's a pace game. The game is becoming a 3-point shooting game. ... My job is very simply to put our guys in a position to have success," he said.
The Nuggets finished with a 30-52 record last season and Malone will try to lead them to a better finish or perhaps their first postseason appearance in three years.
