A couple of weeks ago we were planning parades and boasting about being the only city with two teams still alive in the NBA and NHL play-offs. Now we sit here licking our wounds and sports-talking about football practice for a team that hasn’t had a winning season in five years.
What a difference a few days can make, right?
Strike One: The collapse of the Colorado Avalanche is mystifying. No other way to describe it. A team that had looked so dominant down the stretch and in the first round simply caved in. Credit Las Vegas. The Knights are an outstanding team. But it’s hard to imagine this Avs roster losing four straight games to any hockey team on the planet.
So now what? During the stretch drive, Colorado looked like a team without a weakness. But something went terribly wrong.
Something is lacking.
The goaltending suddenly became suspect. The defense – so impressive in the first round – became a mess. The top line became mortal. There were unsightly turnovers and uncharacteristic blunders. All happening at once.
When this kind of thing happens, it all lands back on the coaching, right?
So is Head Coach Jared Bednar to blame? Do the Avalanche need a new voice in the locker room?
Bednar came to Colorado right before the start of the 2016 season and had to clean up the mess left by his disgruntled predecessor, Patrick Roy. With no time to prepare his own staff or system, the Avs were awful in his first season. But over time, he’s turned them into a perennial Stanley Cup contender, winning the Presidents Trophy in this, his fifth year.
Still, this was Colorado’s third consecutive second-round play-off exit. And that does not sit well with this anyone inside or outside the organization.
Could someone else get more out of Bednar’s roster?
The thing about making a head coaching change is that the replacement had better be a serious upgrade over whomever is being replaced. Just look across the building at Ball Arena for examples. Brian Shaw was nothing close to an upgrade over George Karl back in 2013, and the Nuggets on-court fortunes took a nosedive when that change was made. When Michael Malone replaced Melvin Hunt (who coached 23 games after replacing the fired Shaw) in June of 2015, it became apparent early on that yes, this was a move for the better. That’s been proven out too.
So who’s out there that would represent an upgrade over Bednar? How does the Avs organization feel about following the NHL’s well-worn formula of recycling old hockey coaches?
They could hire John Tortorella, Rick Tocchett or Gerard Gallant and have instant experience behind the bench.
Or…maybe they’d look within and opt to give Colorado Eagles Head Coach Greg Cronin his first shot as a head man in the NHL? Cronin is a veteran NHL assistant, but has never led an NHL team himself.
Neither had Bednar before Joe Sakic hired him.
Hockey is notorious for its revolving door of head coaches. Bednar’s five-year tenure behind the Avs bench is actually fairly lengthy in comparison to most. But fans should remember that Karl had led the Nuggets to the play-offs in all nine of his seasons in Denver, including 57-win regular season in 2013. He’d been named NBA Coach of the Year less than a month before he was fired for a lack of play-off success. Kroenke Sports has evolved. Play-off success matters now.
Strike Two: This season’s Nuggets exit from the NBA play-offs is much less of a shock. In fact, it was pretty predictable.
The Nuggets looked gassed. And they should be. It’s been an unprecedented grind over the past 11 months. The NBA returned to action in the Orlando bubble on August 1, 2020, and the Nuggets advanced to the Western Conference Finals last season before bowing out on September 26th. Then they returned to training camp on December 1st, after just over two short months off. Shortest off season in NBA history of course.
It’s been a wild ride to be sure. Sluggish start followed by great streaks. Injuries, quarantines…and all of that. Jamal Murray blew out his knee in March and Denver was written off by the national media. But while the Lakers, Heat and Celtics – the other three teams that made the NBA’s Final Four last fall – all faded early and could not get back to the upper reaches of the final standings, the Nuggets did, earning the third seed even without their second best player. MVP Nikola Jokic defied all the odds and lifted his team to unexpected heights.
But the writing was on the wall.
If you watched LeBron James and the Lakers fade at the end, you were watching a tired basketball team. The Nuggets look much the same against the same group of up and coming Phoenix Suns – coming off a full off season after failing to make the play-offs in the bubble. The Suns are full of energy and vigor…the Nuggets aren’t.
What the Nuggets truly need is a full off season. Maybe some roster tweaks, maybe not. Murray won’t be back until sometime around next February’s All-Star break, but they should have Aaron Gordon for a full season and Michael Porter Jr will be a year older and wiser…and hopefully gets more adept on the defensive end of the court. Monte Morris is coming into his own, too. Boss man Tim Connelly has proven to be pretty damn good at the whole roster-building thing.
Keep this group together, add a piece or two, and the Denver Nuggets will be right in the thick of the NBA title chase next season when the league has a “normal” season, starting in November. In the meantime, some well deserved rest will do them all a lot of good.
Strike Three: Now that the Avs and Nuggets are getting out of the way, you can stop worrying about having your regularly scheduled sports talk radio obsession with the Denver Broncos interrupted. You’re free to return to your regular 24/7/365 obsession with who will be the back up right tackle for the Orange and Blue. After all, there’s never and off season for talking about a football team that hasn’t had a winning season since 2016.
Sorry for the sarcasm, but as a former sports talk radio host, it still amazes – and irritates – me that (most of, not all) the Denver radio sportstalkers spend 80 – 90% of their airtime beating a dead horse, as it were. They do it because “ratings” they say, because that’s what the fans want to hear them talk about. Broncos Broncos Broncos Broncos. All the time. “The Broncos move the needle.”
Could it be the tail waging the dog though?
We’ve heard all about this in reference to national news. CNN, etc. covered nothing but “Trump this” and “Trump that” for five long years, all while competing for ratings. The on-air products suffered while the quality of content was sacrificed at the great alter of “ratings.”
Much of Denver’s sports talk media is guilty of exactly the same thing and have been since Peyton Manning was calling signals. At numerous stations, hosts are mandated by management to focus on the last-place football team because the decision makers have determined that that’s what you want to hear them go on and on about.
The medium is controlling the message.
It’s bad radio.
Fortunately, there are still shows like The Hull Show on this station that practice diversity in programming. Segments on Colorado State, the CU Buffs, the Colorado Eagles, and even the preps provide listeners valuable information instead of useless opinions and updates on Drew Lock throwing an interception during a seven-on-seven drill at a mini-camp in June.
You tell me what’s better programming?
Sadly, nothing is going to change in the Denver market any time soon. The great God of Ratings will continue to rule over sports talk radio, and they will continue to tell you what you want to hear (they do research, they say, so they know that you’re as Broncos obsessed as they say you are.)
Some advice from a former host and listener? Change the channel. Give diversity a try. You’ll be better for it.