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Omer Osman: Nick Nurse on the Toronto Raptors building bridges with their alumni: “It shows a lot of maturity. The organization’s maturing just as the years go by, and you have these occasions of success to celebrate […] I think it’s great.” “I can tell you just yesterday, I’m sitting in our practice facility, looking at the names up there: Moses [Malone], and Dr. J [Julius Erving]. To me, it’s such a historic thing to be a part of. Now the Raptors get to start telling their little bit of historic stories, too.” “As far as long as I’ve been around, they’ve [Raptors] always done everything first-class and the right way. Now it’s nice to see them be able to celebrate some of the greatness that they’ve had.”
Peyton Watson: We ended up winning the series in six vs the Suns. But bro, it was a like super intense contentious series. And I just remember one of the practices um for either I think it was game 1 or game 2. I was playing KD on the scout team and there was a play that we had ran a few times over and I was just having fun at practice being able to be that guy to kind of just let loose and just try to get off and score on you guys. And I remember like at one point Coach Malone had asked me in front of the team. He was like, "Okay, what's the name of this play that we've been running that you just ran?" And I remember just being like, "I don't know. Like, I really just don't know. I didn't know." And I just remember like his face turning red. And him like just chewing me out, saying “you’re the youngest one in here. You should be paying attention. We give you a book with all the plays on it. You should know these things. You've been playing KD for x amount of practices and you don't know these things. Like, that just shows that you haven't been paying attention and maybe you aren't ready to play if I call your number." He went on like a tear. Even worse than that. You could hear a pin drop in the practice facility, but I remember just feeling embarrassed, pissed off. I'm like, how could he single me out like that when I've been here trying to help prepare and get everybody right, but at the same time, I felt embarrassed because I didn't know. He asked me a question I wasn't prepared to answer it. And I just remember taking that moment. And just since then I've always just been hyper focused on the game plan, the scouting, all that sh*t like I know everything now. But I remember that moment stinging. And I remember even Nikola [Jokic] came up to me and he was like, "He didn't have to do that."
Jordi Fernández: "I've learned that from especially Mike Brown, Michael Malone, and Sergio Scariolo is when somebody's investing in you, you almost work not just hard, but harder. Because you want to give back. It's the feeling that somebody believes in you and that you're responsible to do a job. It makes you have that willingness to do it right, do it for the team in the right reasons, because you want to grow and you want to take those steps, whatever your goals are in your career. But I think also is all of us, it's not about one person, it's about how we're all organized and how we work together for the team to be the best that the team can be. That's always the mindset that I've believed in, what I've learned from others, and the way I wanted to do it here."
Tim Reynolds: 11 coaches have made the NBA Finals since 2020. 6 are no longer with the teams they took to those Finals. 2024: Jason Kidd, Dallas 2023: Michael Malone, Denver 2022: Ime Udoka, Boston 2021: Monty Williams, Phoenix 2021: Mike Budenholzer, Milwaukee 2020: Frank Vogel, Lakers
Stack, going back to Dre for a minute, your respect for him is obvious. He really respects you. In fact, he was on his podcast pushing hard for you to get the North Carolina job, which ultimately went to Michael Malone. Were you surprised that they went outside the family? Because they’ve never gone outside the family.” Jerry Stackhouse: “Yeah, I mean, I was and I wasn’t. With what was going on there with Hubert (Davis), I think nobody really liked how that went down for him. Being part of the family, and then to not have an opportunity to talk about it, I think that was the most disappointing thing for me. They were like, ‘We’re not going to interview.’ I felt like I had a resume that could stand up to anybody. I won Coach of the Year in the SEC. I had a team that finished fourth in the SEC when we weren’t even participating in NIL.
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Bill Oram: Amid the damage control, what I’ve heard about the Blazers and Michael Malone is that Tom Dundon tried to set up a call with Malone but was rebuffed because the job is not formally open. Also that Blazers were looking to pay about half of what he got from UNC.
League sources — granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the coaching search — also say former NBA coach Michael Malone was contacted before he took the University of North Carolina job, as well as former Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who is no longer a candidate. And before he took control of the Blazers, Dundon spoke to former Toronto executive Masai Ujiri. “This isn’t Russian hockey players who don’t speak English,” a league source said. “In the NBA, everyone talks to everyone else. He says he didn’t make job offers … but it’s the narrative that is circulating … and it’s wrong. It’s bad business.”
Should Orlando move on from Mosley, keep an eye on veteran free agent coaches Taylor Jenkins and Tom Thibodeau drawing interest. Another name to monitor would be Bulls coach Billy Donovan, who will have the option to remain with Chicago or pursue another coaching position. It’s also worth noting that former Magic assistant coach James Borrego, who’s currently the interim head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans, will also be available this summer. Lastly, prior to Michael Malone accepting the North Carolina head coaching job, many within league circles believed he was a coaching candidate for Orlando if the franchise pivoted away from Mosley after its season concluded.
After firing Hubert Davis on March 24, UNC quickly identified a top group of candidates: Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd, Michigan’s Dusty May and Malone, according to multiple sources familiar with the search. Lloyd and May’s resumes spoke for themselves in terms of modern-era college success. Malone was the relative outlier, or so it seemed. In actuality, he’d spent plenty of time around the program last season when visiting Chapel Hill to see his daughter, Bridget, a member of UNC’s volleyball team.
Through Pat Sullivan — one of Davis’ assistant coaches, whom Malone knew from their overlapping NBA days — Malone attended multiple UNC practices. The first time, a manager led him to the traditional second-level viewing area, only for Davis to call for Malone to join him on the floor. Davis even had Malone address the team, something Malone said he deeply appreciated after being fired by Denver just one year ago. Malone brought a notebook to those practices, his basketball juices flowing as he scribbled. “He said, ‘I was not trying to be critical, I was being curious’ — and that’s just the way he is,” said incoming UNC athletic director Steve Newmark. “He’s a basketball junkie.”
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But Malone, at least at first, declined UNC’s efforts. The 54-year-old assumed Newmark called as a courtesy. He was focused on NBA jobs, he told Newmark. College wasn’t really on his radar, but he stayed in touch, asking follow-up questions, leaving the possibility open. “Every time I said no, I was regretting that,” Malone said. “I thought, I think I’m making a mistake.” Once Lloyd and May removed themselves from consideration at the Final Four, Newmark and director of basketball operations Eric Hoots — who were in Indianapolis for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) convention — asked Malone if they could fly to his home in Colorado to visit.
UNC’s full-court press eventually won Malone over. But so did the fact that his daughter, after hearing his name mentioned for the job, told Malone explicitly: Dad, I want you to come. “So I did,” Malone said, while joking that came with the understanding that he and Bridget cannot run into one another late at night at Pantana Bob’s, a local bar. Lastly, UNC sold Malone on being a reverse Larry Brown, of sorts. Brown — who played at UNC under McGuire and Smith — remains the only head coach ever to win both an NBA and NCAA championship. Malone’s already checked the NBA box, but now has another opportunity to forever etch himself in hoops lore.
North Carolina is set to pay new head coach Michael Malone more than $50 million across six years, according to a copy of his contract obtained by ESPN, putting him among the top five highest-paid coaches in the sport. The Tar Heels made the hire of the former Denver Nuggets coach official Tuesday. Malone, whose daughter plays volleyball at UNC, was recommended by a search committee led by executive associate athletic director Steve Newmark and director of athletics Bubba Cunningham, the school said in its statement. The university's board of trustees approved the terms of the hire on Tuesday.
Alex Kennedy: Mike Malone's daughter is a volleyball player at UNC, as @GoodmanHoops notes. This may help explain his shocking college-basketball pivot to coach the Tar Heels.