Denver Nuggets have three sons of former NBA coaches on their staff

DENVER ― On the Denver Nuggets bench, head coach Michael Malone sits in his seat. To his right is assistant coach Ryan Saunders. To his left is assistant coach David Adelman.

All three are sons of basketball coaches − sons of NBA coaches.

Michael Malone’s dad, Brendan, coached in the NBA for 30 years, most notably as an assistant coach for Chuck Daly’s Detroit Pistons and also as the first head coach of the Toronto Raptors.

Ryan Saunders’s father, Flip, coached small-college basketball, in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and spent two decades as an NBA head coach for Minnesota, Detroit and Washington.

David Adelman’s dad, Rick, worked nearly 40 years as a coach, including three decades in the NBA − 25 as a head coach for Portland, Golden State, Sacramento and Minnesota.

"There's something to be said growing up the son of a coach, being around the game at every level," Malone said when asked by USA TODAY Sports. "My father was a high school coach in New York City, a college coach, an NBA coach, a head coach in the NBA. For Ryan Saunders and the journey that Flip was on throughout the CBA and the NBA, and for Rick Adelman and his many stops.

"You're hiring somebody that knows the game and knows what comes with the game."

Malone, Saunders and Adelman are on the verge of winning an NBA championship. The Nuggets own a 3-1 lead over the Miami Heat, and Game 5 is Monday in Denver (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

Father and son coaching duos are not uncommon: Bill and Eric Musselman; Bernie and J.B. Bickerstaff; Paul and Stephen Silas are among the other ones.

But to have three sons of former NBA coaches on one staff is unusual.

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"You know that you're getting guys that have grown up in this business, grew up in a locker room, grew up with a ball in their hands," Malone said, adding, "For me, it's just having basketball people. They're junkies. David Adelman eats, drinks, sleeps basketball, as does Ryan, everybody on my staff."

To varying degrees, dads tried talking sons out of getting in the family business.

"He had lived it with six kids, and he understood the pitfalls of that job," Malone said, speaking of job security, long hours, road trips, time away from family. "I was just too dumb and stubborn to listen to him."

Flip Saunders, who died in 2015, expressed a similar sentiment to Ryan. "He used to say, ‘You're always renting the whistle,' " Ryan Saunders told USA TODAY Sports.

That didn’t stop Ryan.

"You're kind of born into it and you're around it so much that, it's one of those things that you're basically raised in it," Saunders said. “Whether my dad liked it or not, that was going to be my path."

Rick Adelman, who was awarded the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award a week ago, was hesitant to steer his son into coaching but not against it either.

"It's not like the coaching ranks are really solid right now," the older Adelman said. "A few guys have gotten fired who have been pretty good. You just never know. You've got to get lucky. … That's why I was hesitant. But I just thought he had all the knack and the wherewithal to do the job."

Growing up in a gym and being around the game so much, that magnetic pull to remain close to the game in some capacity is irresistible.

"I don't remember not being in a gym,” Adelman said. “My dad, he'd take me out of school and take me on road trips. I always was around it, and I do think it was a major advantage for me when I started coaching because none of this stuff really was new to me."

Adelman began coaching high school basketball in Portland, Oregon, and had a winning program at Lincoln High. When his dad took the Timberwolves job, he gauged his son’s interest in joining the staff as a player development coach. He remained in Minnesota on Flip Saunders’ staff, was an assistant for Frank Vogel in Orlando and has been with Malone and Denver since 2017.

"When I started it, I realized how much I didn't know and how much I didn't know how to communicate," Adelman said. “And I became fascinated with how do I get better at this? The fascination of trying to get a group to do something correctly and organize them in an efficient way became the No. 1 thing in life I wanted to be better at."

Saunders enjoyed that same aspect − seeing players and teams improve because of a coach's instruction.

"I learned from my dad that our job is to serve the players but also be honest with them at the same time and try to make them better players but also better people off the court,” Saunders said.

Saunders was the head coach of the Timberwolves from 2019-2021 and before that, he was an assistant in Minnesota and Washington. Adelman has interviewed for head coaching jobs, including recently for the Toronto Raptors' opening.

"He's an offensive wizard just because he's showing us what's going to happen next game, and when we go and execute what he's showing us, it works out for us every time," Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. said. "We struggled with the Miami Heat's zone a couple games, and he was showing us what to get into, what to do. Then Christian (Braun) had that big game, all off cuts and just following what DA was saying."

Saunders’ 3-year-old son Christian finished preschool two weeks ago, and kids in the class had to reveal what job they wanted when they got older.

"He said that he wanted to be a coach," Saunders said. "He comes and hangs in the locker room and, and these players are great with him. There’s a lot of similarities. And you just love the game. You love the camaraderie."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Denver Nuggets boast three sons of former NBA coaches