Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone. / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
The Memphis Grizzlies made the surprising decision to fire Taylor Jenkins on Friday, letting go of its head coach of nearly six seasons with just nine games remaining in the regular season and the postseason on the horizon.
Among the many stunned by the Grizzlies’ decision was Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone. Malone is familiar with a rare precedence of this type of firing from when his father, Brendan Malone, was an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers when they fired Paul Silas in the middle of the 2004-05 season despite holding the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference at the time. Even still, Malone found Jenkins’s firing a shock.
“Maybe I should be more in tune to what’s going on in the world,” Malone said Friday, via Luca Evans of The Denver Post. “Ryan Bowen said to me, ‘Hey how about Taylor?’ And I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ And he told me he got fired. I should be way beyond the point of being surprised by anything. I should be. But I was shocked. I really was. I mean, there’s eight, nine games to go. They’re tied for fourth place in the Western Conference. Taylor has showed himself to be one of best coaches in the league.”
Malone can relate to Jenkins after getting fired by the Sacramento Kings back in 2014. He said that it was the “best thing that ever happened” to him, and encouragingly said he believes the same will be true for Jenkins.
“So, for Taylor to get fired at this late stage of the season and for them to be where they are is really shocking and odd, at the same time,” Malone said, via Evans. “I just can’t wrap my head around it. There must be something going on that we’re all not privy to. … But as I told Taylor, we have the same agent—he’s going to have many suitors calling him. And I got fired in Sacramento, it’s never easy going through that for you and a family, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. And I’m sure the same thing is going to happen for Taylor Jenkins.”
Malone got another opportunity with the Nuggets, and has gone on to lead Denver to the postseason six times and win an NBA championship. Jenkins has already been tabbed as a strong coaching candidate this offseason, and will hopefully get the chance to follow a similar path as Malone.
