Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
First thing I want to mention is a few years
ago when the Nuggets won the NBA Championship, I did
a remote broadcast from in front of the Mercantile Restaurant
down the down there by Union Station with Ryan Edwards
as the parade went through town. And there was a
lot of stuff that happened at that parade. A rod
(00:21):
was there and we had all kinds of stuff and
then it ended up that, uh that that Ryan and
I actually won a Colorado Broadcasters Association Award for for
that broadcast, and I was that was kind of funny,
because I mean, I did a fine job, but I
don't know anything about basketball. And when when I have
(00:41):
a conversation about sports with Ryan Edwards, I can almost
kind of sort of not sound like a moron. If
I'm talking about the NFL and anything else, forget it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I need Ryan.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
So with this, with this big story about the Nuggets,
I wasn't even going to attempt to cover it myself
because I don't know anything. And Ryan, I won't say
he knows everything, but he knows act.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Of a lot.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So Ryan is co host of KOA Sports three three
pm to six pm here on KOA, and he has
kindly agreed to go on the air much earlier than usual.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Good morning, Ryan, Good morning, my friend.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
How are you I I'm I'm hanging in there. Why
don't you just jump in with what Nuggets fans should
make of this change?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, I mean, it's it's kind of it's a lot
really because it's unprecedented. So when you say something is unprecedented,
sometimes that sign sounds a little hyperbolic, but in this case,
it really has never happened. I mean, it ties the
latest in season firing with Huey Brown in nineteen eighty one,
but hean only won thirty one games, so they were eliminated.
(01:48):
They were out of it. So the fact that the
Nuggets were the four seed when this went down, it's
something we've never seen before. So it's hard to really
make to know what to make of it because on
one hand, the signaling of firing of coach and a
GM is, hey, we're going in a new direction, We're
we're maybe blowing things up. We don't expect much out
of this team going forward. We're going to be in
(02:09):
evaluation mode, so on and so forth. But then you
have the owner coming out, Josh Cronkey and he said,
quite the contrary. We actually think this is going to
help boost us. We think we have a chance to
make a real run and win a championship this year.
So it's hard to know what to make of it exactly.
I mean, we went through it, you know, for three
hours yesterday. I'm sure we'll get back into it a
(02:29):
little bit this afternoon as well. There's this moment of like, Okay, well,
I see why you did it. I don't see why
you did it now necessarily especially with Malone, but I
see why you did it because of the way they
were playing. They weren't that there was some there're some
disconnect certainly the things that were happening in the court.
But on the other hand, if it's like but to
really upset the apple cart here and I don't know
(02:51):
if it's going to have the outcome, and if you
get bounced in the first round, well maybe that was
always going to be the case. So it's really kind
of all over the place on how you feel this
news should be taken.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
All right, you know very well, since we're friends that
I'm president of the Bad Analogy Club, and while you
were talking, I just thought of what could be one
of the worst analogies of all time, and I'm going
to share it with you now. And I just thought
of this thanks to you. But maybe what the Nuggets
just did to their team is kind of like what
(03:25):
Donald Trump is doing the international trade. Like, okay, you
when you say the reason that you're doing it, I
kind of get it. But I'm also more than a
little skeptical that you're going to achieve your goals by
doing that.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Fan, how about that? I like that? I mean, and honestly,
that's exactly right. And that's the skepticism. We met with
Jos Josh Cronky's words yesterday, and I guess for him
there and again I won't you know me, I'm not
going to go into that avenue of it now. I'll
let you talk about the stuff, right, But I guess
(04:02):
for Josh, like, that's what you've got to say, Like
you're not going to say, hey, this team underachieved. They're
stay at the four seed, So you can't say this
team underachieved. And we just don't think we're gonna be
able to do it this year, so we went ahead
and fired everybody. I can't say that. You know, you
still got self tickets, you still expect people to show
up to the arena. You hope the Nuggets can hold
on somehow to the top six here there they're gonna be.
(04:23):
They really kind of need to win all these games.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
To do that.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
But there's a scenario. If they win tonight, I think
they kind of put themselves in a really good spot.
We can get into that little later, but if you
don't win these games, these next three games, then you're
definitely in the play in which means you're really I
mean it's it's your life is on the line. I mean,
you gotta win these that game or else you're out.
So it's a fascinating spot I think for the owner
(04:47):
in your case, the president say things where you sit
there and you say, well, okay, yeah, I hear what
you're saying, and you're kind of tying these logical things
together and I know why you're saying it. It just
there you kind of say, that doesn't it still doesn't
quite line up for me because every other scenario in
my mind of a coach getting fired and a gym
getting fired results in we're going in a new direction
(05:10):
philosophically as an organization, and we're getting ready to make
some major changes.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, and I'm gonna, you know, leave it, leave it
to you and your pals in the afternoon to really
talk about the sports aspect of this and what it
means for the playoffs and all that. For me, as
I read this story think about this story, I think
about it as a business story and as an interesting
management story. And I want to and I want to
(05:36):
ask you about a headline I saw over at the
Denver Gazette written by a guy I'm sure you know
well named Mark kislaw. I. I've never met him, but
he's a very well known sports writer here who always
seems to write like he's a little bit angry. But anyway,
he you don't you don't have to confirm or deny that,
(05:56):
since you're probably friends with you.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
That should be a Twitter bio. I'm writing like I'm angry. Yeah,
that's perfect.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
So, but the short version of this story is that
the coach and GM were both fired because they couldn't
get along and they had a bad relationship and management
was tired of it. Do you think there's any truth
to that and do you think they were equally to
blame And do you think if that's right, that it's
a good enough reason to fire both.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I think it's one hundred percent true. Well, I don't
even think I know it's one hundred percent true. And
they've let this thing play out in the public. It's
like one of those things where in some organizations we
hear rumblings of this is an example where they're both
publicly doing interviews with national media as well as local media,
telling everybody how they don't get along and how they
(06:46):
philosophically view the way that this team should be operating differently.
And so Mark Kids is usually right, and just ask him,
but he is right on this because they have this
thing spill out into the media, spill out into the public,
and there's been this back and forth now for several
(07:07):
years about who deserves the credit for what, including the championship,
and there's been hey, we need to play the younger players,
says the GM, and he's going on record with you know,
national pundits as well. And then you have the coach
coming out and saying I'm gonna play who I'm gonna
play because I'm the freaking coach, and that that is
a problem. That's like again, and if you're the owner
(07:30):
and you're watching all this play out, You're like, look,
it's okay if you're winning, and if my best player
in the NBA, Nikola Jokich, feels okay about it. But
if he doesn't feel okay about it, and you're not
winning the games, and now all of a sudden, you
can just sort of see the riding on the wall.
This team is about to get bounced in the first round. Yeah,
you start to maybe get a little bit desperate to
(07:51):
swing things the other way. I think it would have been
really weird. I think in his case, for Josh Kronicky,
you it'd been kind of weird to keep one or
the other, because then I think there's a view externally,
maybe even some internally, that he chose a side. And
we talked about this for weeks now, like is he
gonna choose a side here? On which side would he choose?
Would he side with the GM who's been saying we
got to play the young players, or is he gonna
(08:12):
side with the coach to help bring in the first
championship in Nuggets history. That maybe NICOLEA Jokic backs And
in the end he decided not to decide with either
of them. He got rid of both, and again I
think his is right. That's exactly if you're Josh Troncky,
you're just tired of it.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, So I'll give you another band analogy. So imagine
that you're a parent of two kids and they and
they are constantly bickering with each other, and you're kind
of tired of it. You show up one day and
they're fighting and they're crying, and then each one points
to the finger at the other one and says, you know,
he started it, No, she started it. You're like, I
don't care, you're you know.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Both of you go to your rooms.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Right. And Also, and I mean this really in a
not a sarcastic way, but almost like a game theory way.
And the incentives that you create its you did pick
a side in that even if there's still both going
to be your kids in my bad analogy, but if
you but if you did pick aside, you could potentially
create a lot of bad incentives for bad behavior in
(09:12):
the future.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I completely agree. Yeah, Josh Tronky, when he said I'm
gonna turn this car around, he did turn the car around, Yeah,
he did. I love That's the great analogy too, man,
What are you talking about that any all?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Right here. Last question, last question for you. I saw,
and I don't remember where I saw it, some reporting
that said, if I if I read it right, that
Nicola jokicch was made aware of the move to fire
the coach before it was announced.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
To the public.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I'm curious broadening that out a little bit. Do you
think Nicola Jokicic's opinion was asked whether either or both
should be fired? Do you think it should have been asked.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I think it should have been asked. There's been some
speculat and reporting. I mean, he definitely knew ahead of time.
I'll confirm that he did know ahead of time. He
was now the level of consulting as in was he
asked his opinion was? He asked, hey, do you want
to save one of them or both of them? Like,
do you think we should do this? I don't really know.
(10:16):
I think he should though, honestly, he's the best player
in the NBA. He's a faith of your franchise, he's
a three time MVP. He ushered in a whole new
era of basketball. When he retires, obviously a Hall of Famer,
but he'll go down as one of the top ten,
maybe top five best players of all time that's playing
for your franchise. So I absolutely think you involve him
(10:37):
in these decisions. He's already had an impact in some
of the roster moves that you're going to do, that
you have done and you're going to do. I imagine
he'll be very much consulted on who the next head
coach is going to be, as well as probably the GM.
So yeah, I think he should have been in there.
But then you know, again, if you're Nicole Jokic, maybe
you want the appearance you don't want to be Lebron James, right,
(10:58):
You don't want to be seen as the guy that
really is doing everything, and you want Josh to appear
though he is really in charge here, even though we
know it's a player driven league. So it's an interesting
balance there because Lebron gets a lot of flack for
being kind of the Alpha and the Omega out there
in Los Angeles, like people kind of like, oh, I mean, gosh,
(11:19):
everything that's being done. You're drafting his son in the
second round when a lot of teams would probably wouldn't
have even drafted him at all. Because it's Lebron James.
He gets to say that because he's one of the
greatest of all time. Well, Nicola Jokis, maybe he doesn't
want to be known like that, so I think he
gets to have a little bit of bolse. He gets
to say, hey, you're consulting me, right, Okay, yeah, this
(11:39):
is what I think. But simultaneously, no, no, no, this was
an organizational decision and I'm just here if they need me.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Excellent, love that analysis. Ryan Edwards is co host of
KOA Sports weekdays three pm to six pm here on KOA.
Thanks for the conversation, Ryan, appreciate
Speaker 2 (11:56):
It always, man, Thank you all right,
First thing I want to mention is a few years
ago when the Nuggets won the NBA Championship, I did
a remote broadcast from in front of the Mercantile Restaurant
down the down there by Union Station with Ryan Edwards
as the parade went through town. And there was a
lot of stuff that happened at that parade. A rod
(00:21):
was there and we had all kinds of stuff and
then it ended up that, uh that that Ryan and
I actually won a Colorado Broadcasters Association Award for for
that broadcast, and I was that was kind of funny,
because I mean, I did a fine job, but I
don't know anything about basketball. And when when I have
(00:41):
a conversation about sports with Ryan Edwards, I can almost
kind of sort of not sound like a moron. If
I'm talking about the NFL and anything else, forget it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I need Ryan.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
So with this, with this big story about the Nuggets,
I wasn't even going to attempt to cover it myself
because I don't know anything. And Ryan, I won't say
he knows everything, but he knows act.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Of a lot.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So Ryan is co host of KOA Sports three three
pm to six pm here on KOA, and he has
kindly agreed to go on the air much earlier than usual.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Good morning, Ryan, Good morning, my friend.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
How are you I I'm I'm hanging in there. Why
don't you just jump in with what Nuggets fans should
make of this change?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, I mean, it's it's kind of it's a lot
really because it's unprecedented. So when you say something is unprecedented,
sometimes that sign sounds a little hyperbolic, but in this case,
it really has never happened. I mean, it ties the
latest in season firing with Huey Brown in nineteen eighty one,
but hean only won thirty one games, so they were eliminated.
(01:48):
They were out of it. So the fact that the
Nuggets were the four seed when this went down, it's
something we've never seen before. So it's hard to really
make to know what to make of it because on
one hand, the signaling of firing of coach and a
GM is, hey, we're going in a new direction, We're
we're maybe blowing things up. We don't expect much out
of this team going forward. We're going to be in
(02:09):
evaluation mode, so on and so forth. But then you
have the owner coming out, Josh Cronkey and he said,
quite the contrary. We actually think this is going to
help boost us. We think we have a chance to
make a real run and win a championship this year.
So it's hard to know what to make of it exactly.
I mean, we went through it, you know, for three
hours yesterday. I'm sure we'll get back into it a
(02:29):
little bit this afternoon as well. There's this moment of like, Okay, well,
I see why you did it. I don't see why
you did it now necessarily especially with Malone, but I
see why you did it because of the way they
were playing. They weren't that there was some there're some
disconnect certainly the things that were happening in the court.
But on the other hand, if it's like but to
really upset the apple cart here and I don't know
(02:51):
if it's going to have the outcome, and if you
get bounced in the first round, well maybe that was
always going to be the case. So it's really kind
of all over the place on how you feel this
news should be taken.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
All right, you know very well, since we're friends that
I'm president of the Bad Analogy Club, and while you
were talking, I just thought of what could be one
of the worst analogies of all time, and I'm going
to share it with you now. And I just thought
of this thanks to you. But maybe what the Nuggets
just did to their team is kind of like what
(03:25):
Donald Trump is doing the international trade. Like, okay, you
when you say the reason that you're doing it, I
kind of get it. But I'm also more than a
little skeptical that you're going to achieve your goals by
doing that.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Fan, how about that? I like that? I mean, and honestly,
that's exactly right. And that's the skepticism. We met with
Jos Josh Cronky's words yesterday, and I guess for him
there and again I won't you know me, I'm not
going to go into that avenue of it now. I'll
let you talk about the stuff, right, But I guess
(04:02):
for Josh, like, that's what you've got to say, Like
you're not going to say, hey, this team underachieved. They're
stay at the four seed, So you can't say this
team underachieved. And we just don't think we're gonna be
able to do it this year, so we went ahead
and fired everybody. I can't say that. You know, you
still got self tickets, you still expect people to show
up to the arena. You hope the Nuggets can hold
on somehow to the top six here there they're gonna be.
(04:23):
They really kind of need to win all these games.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
To do that.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
But there's a scenario. If they win tonight, I think
they kind of put themselves in a really good spot.
We can get into that little later, but if you
don't win these games, these next three games, then you're
definitely in the play in which means you're really I
mean it's it's your life is on the line. I mean,
you gotta win these that game or else you're out.
So it's a fascinating spot I think for the owner
(04:47):
in your case, the president say things where you sit
there and you say, well, okay, yeah, I hear what
you're saying, and you're kind of tying these logical things
together and I know why you're saying it. It just
there you kind of say, that doesn't it still doesn't
quite line up for me because every other scenario in
my mind of a coach getting fired and a gym
getting fired results in we're going in a new direction
(05:10):
philosophically as an organization, and we're getting ready to make
some major changes.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, and I'm gonna, you know, leave it, leave it
to you and your pals in the afternoon to really
talk about the sports aspect of this and what it
means for the playoffs and all that. For me, as
I read this story think about this story, I think
about it as a business story and as an interesting
management story. And I want to and I want to
(05:36):
ask you about a headline I saw over at the
Denver Gazette written by a guy I'm sure you know
well named Mark kislaw. I. I've never met him, but
he's a very well known sports writer here who always
seems to write like he's a little bit angry. But anyway,
he you don't you don't have to confirm or deny that,
(05:56):
since you're probably friends with you.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
That should be a Twitter bio. I'm writing like I'm angry. Yeah,
that's perfect.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
So, but the short version of this story is that
the coach and GM were both fired because they couldn't
get along and they had a bad relationship and management
was tired of it. Do you think there's any truth
to that and do you think they were equally to
blame And do you think if that's right, that it's
a good enough reason to fire both.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I think it's one hundred percent true. Well, I don't
even think I know it's one hundred percent true. And
they've let this thing play out in the public. It's
like one of those things where in some organizations we
hear rumblings of this is an example where they're both
publicly doing interviews with national media as well as local media,
telling everybody how they don't get along and how they
(06:46):
philosophically view the way that this team should be operating differently.
And so Mark Kids is usually right, and just ask him,
but he is right on this because they have this
thing spill out into the media, spill out into the public,
and there's been this back and forth now for several
(07:07):
years about who deserves the credit for what, including the championship,
and there's been hey, we need to play the younger players,
says the GM, and he's going on record with you know,
national pundits as well. And then you have the coach
coming out and saying I'm gonna play who I'm gonna
play because I'm the freaking coach, and that that is
a problem. That's like again, and if you're the owner
(07:30):
and you're watching all this play out, You're like, look,
it's okay if you're winning, and if my best player
in the NBA, Nikola Jokich, feels okay about it. But
if he doesn't feel okay about it, and you're not
winning the games, and now all of a sudden, you
can just sort of see the riding on the wall.
This team is about to get bounced in the first round. Yeah,
you start to maybe get a little bit desperate to
(07:51):
swing things the other way. I think it would have been
really weird. I think in his case, for Josh Kronicky,
you it'd been kind of weird to keep one or
the other, because then I think there's a view externally,
maybe even some internally, that he chose a side. And
we talked about this for weeks now, like is he
gonna choose a side here? On which side would he choose?
Would he side with the GM who's been saying we
got to play the young players, or is he gonna
(08:12):
side with the coach to help bring in the first
championship in Nuggets history. That maybe NICOLEA Jokic backs And
in the end he decided not to decide with either
of them. He got rid of both, and again I
think his is right. That's exactly if you're Josh Troncky,
you're just tired of it.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, So I'll give you another band analogy. So imagine
that you're a parent of two kids and they and
they are constantly bickering with each other, and you're kind
of tired of it. You show up one day and
they're fighting and they're crying, and then each one points
to the finger at the other one and says, you know,
he started it, No, she started it. You're like, I
don't care, you're you know.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Both of you go to your rooms.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Right. And Also, and I mean this really in a
not a sarcastic way, but almost like a game theory way.
And the incentives that you create its you did pick
a side in that even if there's still both going
to be your kids in my bad analogy, but if
you but if you did pick aside, you could potentially
create a lot of bad incentives for bad behavior in
(09:12):
the future.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I completely agree. Yeah, Josh Tronky, when he said I'm
gonna turn this car around, he did turn the car around, Yeah,
he did. I love That's the great analogy too, man,
What are you talking about that any all?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Right here. Last question, last question for you. I saw,
and I don't remember where I saw it, some reporting
that said, if I if I read it right, that
Nicola jokicch was made aware of the move to fire
the coach before it was announced.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
To the public.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I'm curious broadening that out a little bit. Do you
think Nicola Jokicic's opinion was asked whether either or both
should be fired? Do you think it should have been asked.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I think it should have been asked. There's been some
speculat and reporting. I mean, he definitely knew ahead of time.
I'll confirm that he did know ahead of time. He
was now the level of consulting as in was he
asked his opinion was? He asked, hey, do you want
to save one of them or both of them? Like,
do you think we should do this? I don't really know.
(10:16):
I think he should though, honestly, he's the best player
in the NBA. He's a faith of your franchise, he's
a three time MVP. He ushered in a whole new
era of basketball. When he retires, obviously a Hall of Famer,
but he'll go down as one of the top ten,
maybe top five best players of all time that's playing
for your franchise. So I absolutely think you involve him
(10:37):
in these decisions. He's already had an impact in some
of the roster moves that you're going to do, that
you have done and you're going to do. I imagine
he'll be very much consulted on who the next head
coach is going to be, as well as probably the GM.
So yeah, I think he should have been in there.
But then you know, again, if you're Nicole Jokic, maybe
you want the appearance you don't want to be Lebron James, right,
(10:58):
You don't want to be seen as the guy that
really is doing everything, and you want Josh to appear
though he is really in charge here, even though we
know it's a player driven league. So it's an interesting
balance there because Lebron gets a lot of flack for
being kind of the Alpha and the Omega out there
in Los Angeles, like people kind of like, oh, I mean, gosh,
(11:19):
everything that's being done. You're drafting his son in the
second round when a lot of teams would probably wouldn't
have even drafted him at all. Because it's Lebron James.
He gets to say that because he's one of the
greatest of all time. Well, Nicola Jokis, maybe he doesn't
want to be known like that, so I think he
gets to have a little bit of bolse. He gets
to say, hey, you're consulting me, right, Okay, yeah, this
(11:39):
is what I think. But simultaneously, no, no, no, this was
an organizational decision and I'm just here if they need me.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Excellent, love that analysis. Ryan Edwards is co host of
KOA Sports weekdays three pm to six pm here on KOA.
Thanks for the conversation, Ryan, appreciate
Speaker 2 (11:56):
It always, man, Thank you all right,
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
Popular Podcasts
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.