Nuggets cleaning house with coaching staff

The Denver Nuggets have made David Adelman their new head coach, and they are making big changes to the rest of the team’s coaching staff.

Denver is not bringing back four assistant coaches next season, according to reporter Chris Haynes. Haynes says Ryan Saunders, Popeye Jones, Charles Klask and Stephen Graham will not be back.

All four coaches had served on Michael Malone’s staff. But Malone was fired towards the end of the regular season and replaced by Adelman, who was later made the team’s head coach on a non-interim basis.

Saunders is a well-known name on the list. He is the son of the late Flip Saunders and served as the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2019-2021.

Popeye Jones is another known name. Jones, 54, played 11 seasons in the NBA from 1994-2004. He earned his first coaching job with the Nets franchise and worked with them from 2010-2013. Jones then coached on the Indiana Pacers’ staff from 2013-2020. He coached with the Philadelphia 76ers for a season and then had been with the Nuggets for four seasons.

Klask had been with the Nuggets since 2018. Graham joined the team in 2016 working in player development.

The Nuggets went 50-32 and lost in seven games in the conference semifinals to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The team went 3-0 under Adelman in the regular season and then went 7-7 under him in the playoffs. They beat the Clippers in the first round in seven games before losing to OKC.