Mike Malone wants to restore Nuggets' defensive identity, expects Lawson back

George Karl and Mike Malone would have plenty to talk about.

Karl, the second-winningest coach in Denver Nuggets history, was axed in 2013, immediately after being named Coach of the Year, and having led the team to the playoffs for the ninth straight season. Malone was fired by the Sacramento Kings 24 games into the 2014-15 campaign, despite having forged a strong connection with notoriously truculent franchise anchor DeMarcus Cousins and coaxed meaningful improvement out of a team that hadn't sniffed the postseason in a decade.

A protracted game of musical chairs left Karl at the helm in Sacramento and Malone in Denver, each tasked with repairing the damage done in the wake of the other's ouster. They've swapped cities and rosters and disgruntled stars.

Karl, for those just now crawling out from under their rocks, is off to a bumpy start with Cousins. Malone, meanwhile, is trying to take a patient and understanding approach with Ty Lawson, who was arrested on suspicion of DUI on Tuesday for the second time in six months.

"I've reached out, but there hasn’t been a lot of contact," Malone told Grantland's Zach Lowe. "He has a lot going on right now. We're gonna see how this whole process shakes out."

Malone added he's confident Lawson will be with the team and ready to play when the season starts.

"If that changes, you go from there," he said. "But as of now, Ty Lawson is part of the Denver Nugget family."

That family, though, hasn't been subtle about its desire to disown him. The Nuggets reportedly tried to ship Lawson ahead of the draft to the Kings, where Karl is said to be eager for a reunion with his former point guard. After the Nuggets selected point guard Emmanuel Mudiay with the No. 7 pick in the draft, video surfaced of Lawson saying, "I'm going to Sacramento."

And Malone isn't shy about his and the organization's affinity for Mudiay.

"It’s very rare when you’re picking No. 7, to get the guy you target," he said. "I kid you not, when I got the job, (general manager) Tim Connelly said, 'Emmanuel Mudiay. That’s the guy.' We were in my hotel room just this afternoon, watching film together. Getting to know him, we feel we have a special young man."

But that doesn't necessarily mean Malone is ready to give up on Lawson, who, for all his off-court troubles, remains a highly talented scorer and distributor. Lawson is a bolt of lightning, and his speed makes him an ideal quarterback for the uptempo offenses the Nuggets have run over the years to leverage the altitude in Denver. Malone believes Lawson and Mudiay can play together.

"Look at the game now, and look at the finals," he said. "It’s no longer, 'You’re a point guard, you’re a 2-guard.' You put your best players out there. Ty and Emmanuel can get wherever they want off the dribble, and Emmanuel is big enough to guard 2-guards on defense."

And defense is where Malone most sees the need for improvement. He's taking over a team that finished 26th in the league in defensive efficiency, and he cited Karl's Nuggets teams as examples to aspire to.

"When I got the job, I mentioned the team in 2008-09 that made the conference finals. That was a team that was eighth in defensive efficiency. They defended and ran. That's a model I’d like to use: defend, run, and use the altitude. ...

"We want to get our culture back, and become a team that values defense."

It seems, on top of having plenty to talk about, Malone and Karl could learn a lot from each other. If Malone can draw inspiration from Karl's Nuggets teams, perhaps Karl can take cues from Malone about building a relationship with Cousins.

"When people ask DeMarcus about me, I think the things he respected about me was that I was always honest," Malone said. "If you’re dishonest, you’re done. You’re out. I never tried to B.S. him. I was real. If he messed up, I got on him. If he did good things, I praised him. I believed in him.

"That relationship was constant work. Constant. But we came to a deep respect."