As we get closer to training camp and the start of the new NBA season, one of the questions that will be interesting to get an answer to is this one:
How many hats will new assistant Dave Joerger wear?
Earlier this summer, the Nuggets brought in Joerger to be the lead assistant on Adelman’s staff. Longtime basketball writer, Marc Stein, reported prior to the official announcement that the Nuggets were looking to bring experience to the staff. He reiterated that while making an appearance on the DNVR podcast.
“The way that it was explained to me, the mandate came from management that they wanted David Adelman to add someone to the staff who had head coaching experience,” Stein said. “So, I heard the same thing. I think that speaks for itself.”
One thing I’ve never really loved is when organizations bring in “veteran” coaches to the staff to, essentially, babysit the young head coach. This rarely ends well for the current coach. Every three-game losing streak, or 5-5 stretch in 10 games becomes cause to change the coach. Fans call for it. The organization gets antsy to pull the trigger. The current coach feels pressure and can’t coach to his truest self, instead making decisions he feels will help him keep his job instead. And that backfires.
This, I don’t love for Adelman, who I think is a genius offensive coach in particular and really good coach overall. Did he do everything right last season? No. No coach does. But he got 54 wins and crafted the NBA’s No. 1 offense out of a team that was ravaged by injuries all season long and was missing its best player, Nikola Jokic, for a month.
Joerger has consistently crafted good defenses for his teams in the past — almost all of them in the top 12 when he was the head coach — and if this is the sole hat he’s wearing, there is real value in that. It’s no secret the Nuggets, who were 21st in defense last season, need to improve on that side of the court.
Time will reveal how this all plays out. My hope for Adelman is that he coaches how he wants without constantly looking over his shoulder, and the team is successful in him doing so.