Roughly two months ago at this time, the Denver Nuggets fired former head coach Michael Malone and ex-general manager Calvin Booth. While they have since hired David Adelman to coach the team full time, you would think they would have also already had someone in place to run the franchise. You would think vice chairman Josh Kroenke would have worked to have everyone and everything they needed in place as soon as possible, with plenty of time to work with, for one of the most important offseasons in team history.
You know, the one where they have to finally build out a deeper roster for three-time MVP Nikola Jokić, especially after he called out Denver’s lack of depth when it got eliminated in the second round.
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Again, you would think. But you’d be wrong.
Here we are, two months later. The annual NBA draft is approximately two weeks away (though, the Nuggets don’t have a draft pick at the moment). Undoubtedly, teams all over the league have already been having different conversations and negotiations with prospective free agents and top trade targets. And here the Nuggets are, sitting around, twiddling their thumbs, still without a general manager. Oof.
If the Nuggets wanted to potentially ruin whatever plans they had for getting Jokić more help this summer, they probably couldn’t have chosen a worse route. So, what gives?
According to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post, no one knows anything about what’s happening behind the scenes with the Nuggets’ GM search. They’re either moving so discreetly that it’s hard for anyone to report any updates, or their search is still in its beginning stages, and there isn’t even any information to share. And if, say, they wanted to hire someone internally like current interim GM Ben Tenzer, why is it taking so long to just confirm his promotion and start moving forward full steam ahead? It boggles the mind.
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Regardless of what actually holds true in this perplexing situation, perhaps only one fact stands tall here: Denver’s already extended process is ill-conceived at the worst possible time of the entire NBA calendar for whoever ends up being tasked with trying to give Jokić more firepower.
“Or it’s possible that all of this leads to [Ben] Tenzer, the longtime Nuggets front office staple who has received effusive praise from [Josh] Kroenke during his interim tenure. The order of operations would justify itself in this outcome: Hiring a coach before a general manager was unorthodox, but [David] Adelman and Tenzer already work together in an organization that insists [Michael] Malone and [Calvin] Booth were the problem. This seems like the most likely possibility. The only hiccup: Why wait so long to make it official if minds are already made up?
The Nuggets have already seriously hinted that they would mostly be running it back for 2025. At no point has it ever seemed like they would really break up their core four of Jokić, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and Michael Porter Jr. Even if that ends up being the case, they still need more playable players on their bench. More guys who could actually eat quality minutes during the regular season. More guys who could provide a spark and give them more optionality during the playoffs.
Anything less, and you’re just asking Jokić to carry a load that will become more burdensome as he gets older. That’s a slippery slope.
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So, the more time goes on with their protracted GM search, the harder it is to believe the Nuggets will have a realistic chance to even find the necessary upgrades to the bottom of their rotation. That, above all, would be the worst-case scenario. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Nuggets taking forever in GM search, threaten offseason for Nikola Jokić