Brendan Malone, an NBA stalwart for more than 30 years, including his most memorable with the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons, has died at the age of 81.
Malone won two titles with the Detroit Pistons as an assistant coach under Chuck Daley in 1989 and 1990. He was part of the staff who crafted the famed “Jordan Rules” that saw Detroit focus all of its defense (and defensive intensity) at Michael Jordan and make one of the Bulls star’s teammates make a play instead.
Malone was also the father of current Denver Nuggets assistant coach Michael Malone, and the Nuggets announced the elder Malone’s passing on social media.
“It is with tremendous sadness that we share the passing of longtime NBA coach Brendan Malone, who holds a special place amongst the organization and will be a Denver Nugget forever. Coach Brendan Malone was a great man who left behind a great legacy in the world of basketball, but he will be remembered even more for the amazing husband, father, son and grandfather that he was and the profound impact he had on the friends, family and colleagues who were lucky enough to know him. Our thoughts are with the entire Malone family and all of Brendan’s loved ones who are feeling this loss today,” read the Nuggets’ statement.
Malone coached for nearly 20 years at various levels before finally getting his NBA break in 1986 with the New York Knicks. From there, he had his celebrated run with the Pistons, and then got a brief run as the first head coach of the Toronto Raptors, then was back with the Knicks as an assistant, the Pacers, the Knicks again, the Cavaliers, the Magic, and finally finished out his stellar career on Stan Van Gundy’s staff from 2014-16.