Joe Mazzulla reacts to Nuggets' shocking Michael Malone firing originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Another shocking firing of a successful head coach rocked the NBA world on Tuesday.
Just over a week after the Memphis Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins, the Denver Nuggets parted ways with their longtime head coach Michael Malone. The timing of both firings was bizarre, with Memphis as the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference and Denver holding the No. 4 seed.
The cruel nature of coaching in professional sports isn’t lost on Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, who once stated, ‘We all get hired to get fired.” Reacting to Malone’s surprise departure, he shared a similar sentiment before Tuesday’s game against the New York Knicks.
“Coaching. It’s just coaching,” Mazzulla said. “You sign up knowing that. And again, I mean he was 10 years there? Yeah, that’s a lot. You hope for stuff like that. You hope for a situation of stability to be somewhere for as long as you have, and when it’s your time, it’s your time.
“But I think you focus more on the fact that he was able to be there for 10 years. Not many coaches get to do that. I think there’s only two left, three left now that have done it beyond that? Pop (Gregg Popovich), Spo (Erik Spoelstra), and (Steve) Kerr. So you hope for that, but you know that not everybody gets that opportunity.”
Malone is the winningest head coach in Nuggets history with a 471-327 record over 10 seasons. He led Denver to an NBA title in 2023.
That success still wasn’t enough to earn Malone job security. For Mazzulla, that harsh reality serves as an important reminder.
“It’s part of what motivates me, but I wake up every day saying, ‘This could be my last day.’ You have to have that type of perspective because it gives you gratitude and it also keeps you hungry,” Mazzulla said. “You have to have a healthy balance so if you want this for as long as you can, at the same time, you’re very much replaceable because that’s just how it works.
“So every day, I remind myself of my own mortality, and I think that’s what kind of keeps me in a perspective and a gratitude of the opportunity that you have.”
The Nuggets also fired their general manager Calvin Booth. Asked how he would react to being fired with his team primed for a playoff run, Mazzulla stayed diplomatic.
“I don’t know, I wasn’t there,” Mazzulla answered. “I just know that you do the best you can for as long as you can, and then there’s always a bunch of circumstances that you’re not aware of. You know?”
Mazzulla, the Golden State Warriors’ Steve Kerr, and longtime Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra are the only NBA coaches still with the teams they led to NBA titles. Malone joins Tyronn Lue, Nick Nurse, Frank Vogel, and Mike Budenholzer as NBA champions to lose their jobs in recent years.
While the NBA remains chaotic, the reigning champion Celtics are cruising toward the end of another successful campaign. They have a 58-20 record with four regular-season games remaining, setting themselves up to be the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
