Report: Denver Nuggets Expands Its President, Tim Connelly, General Manager, Arturas Karnisovas, and All Staff in charge of Basketball Operations

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Denver Nuggets and basketball president Tim Connelly have reached an agreement on an extension of the contract.

The announcement came just hours after the New Orleans pelicans, Connelly's last employer, had dismissed Dell Demps as chief executive and, according to Wojnowski, "are planning to be aggressive in the marketplace." to hire a high-level basketball officer ". Earlier, it made sense that Connelly was a prime target for New Orleans, given his history in the organization and his success here in Denver. Now these questions can be put aside. The nuggets also announced that they have extended the general manager Arturas Karnisovas and all the staff of the basketball operations.

This is an excellent gesture from Josh Kroenke, Governor of the Nuggets, who shows that he has learned the lessons from his previous mistakes. A few weeks ago, while he was on the radio show "Kreckman and Company" on Altitude Radio, Kroenke was briefly voiced about the negotiations between Tim and him and he told them that he was in the mood. was confident that an agreement would be reached. That naturally tired the Nuggets fans, as the last time Denver entered the off-season with his top unsigned ruler, they lost vice president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri to the Toronto Raptors.

After successfully navigating Carmelo Anthony's business and finding success in the last parts of the first round of the project, Ujiri has become a rare commodity. It was believed that he and Kroenke had reached a verbal agreement, but this has never been confirmed. At the time of negotiation, the Raptors, the former Ujiri team, made him an offer. Kroenke knew he could not compete. After shooting Demps today, it seemed like the same scenario could be destined to be played with Connelly. Like Ujiri, he did a remarkable job moving into the new era of Nuggets basketball. Connelly's most famous gesture is of course to find the jewel that is Nikola Jokic with the 41st pick in the draft in 2014, but there have been many other commendable moves.

After a stormy start with some disappointing free agent signatures while the team was still thinking of a playoff race, Connelly quickly realized that was not the case and began to change the form of the training. He sent Aron Afflalo to the Portland Trail Blazers for Will Barton and a first round pick that would eventually be Malik Beasley. He managed to secure two first-round picks for Timofey Mozgov and used one to unload Javale McGee's inflated contract. Connelly has also done a great job in the project beyond Jokic. In the same project, he exchanged the choice that became Doug McDermott for the choices that became Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris. The following year, he wrote Emmanuel Mudiay, a remarkable bust, with a seventh overall pick, but at the time he was applauded as an excellent choice. The following season, he obtained the services of Jamal Murray, Juancho Hernangomez and Beasley in the first round. Only the 2017 project marks Black Connelly's resume in this arena where Denver inexplicably took Tyler Lydon, after swapping the choice that became Donovan Mitchell for Trey Lyles. The Nuggets have already denied Lydon's 3rd year rookie option, and Lyles has had big problems in the last year of his contract. However, dig deeper and he always found the gems. Monte Morris, a 2nd round pick that year, was a key part of the Denver rotation and seems to be an integral part of his future. The choice of the second round Vlatko Cancar plays the best ball of his career in Liga ACB and seems ready to make the jump in the NBA at any time.

Make no mistake, it was an agreement to make. With Denver sitting in the second seed in the West and, barring massive collapse, likely among the top three NBA playoffs, not only Connelly's rebuilding abilities have been validated but also his ability to move from organization to a young exciting team. to the dangerous team have also been validated. He does this not only by building his repertoire, but by creating a reorganized culture within the Pepsi Center. Several players mentioned that the Connelly draft had not even talked to them about basketball, but that he was more interested in their personal identity. Connelly also made repeated efforts to ensure that his players were well placed, although he knew the team had to move on. For example, we accept Danilo Gallinari's request not to be traded, or we release Jameer Nelson instead of trading for a late pick so that Jameer can choose the next team.

Beyond the players, Connelly has also had incredible success with her staff and the Nuggets have clearly given their agreement by extending the front office team. He stood alongside his coach Michael Malone, who was subjected to intense criticism last season when the team did not miss the playoffs of a match for the second time. consecutive year. 9 months later, the coach is now heading to Charlotte to coach the LeBron team in the NBA All-Star Game. Connelly speaks highly of praise and acknowledges that scout Rafal Juc has identified European perspectives, including Jokic. He brought in the analysis guru, Tommy Balcetis, and instilled Arturas Karnisovas into the role he now holds in the post of General Manager (after Karnisovas sparked the "Gathering"). interest of many teams for their own jobs at GM).

Whether it's the repechage, its staff, the trades or even the free agency where Connelly is arguably the biggest free agent in franchise history signed last season when the Nuggets acquired Paul Millsap he has always been able to make solid decisions that have pushed this organization further than ever before. where they were before. He also showed patience all along, constantly reminding everyone that we should not skip steps. Yes, there are trades that do not seem so pleasing, the Nurkic and a 1st round pick for Mason Plumlee and a widely regarded as a loss for the Nuggets, though, in retrospect, he seems much closer to the same. a win-win, but overall, the body of work is exceptional and the results are there to prove it. The Nuggets are transitioning young people and young people here and they are dangerous and in many ways Connelly's extension was the last part of that transition. With its president, coach and star player all long-term jailed, Denver Nuggets basketball seems to be reborn for a long time.