The longer it takes the Nuggets to finalize their front office situation, the more uncertainty the organization is creating. Denver relieved GM Calvin Booth of his duties back in April, with just under a week remaining in the regular season, and they’ve still yet to hire a full-time replacement.
The team immediately named Ben Tenzer interim GM and David Adelman as interim coach for the fired Michael Malone. After the team’s playoff run, Adelman was promoted to full-time head coach, but no such announcement was made regarding Tenzer.
That was now almost a month ago, and we’ve received no update regarding the Nuggets’ front office. In fact, it has been reported that teams around the league don’t even know who is currently in charge of decision-making for the team.
This is certainly concerning as the draft and free agency are right around the corner, and trade rumors are flying left and right. We’ve even already seen a blockbuster deal go down between the Grizzlies and Magic.
Zach Lowe indicates Nuggets will hire new GM
Many assumed that Denver would eventually promote from within, likely naming Tenzer GM, but the longer they stay silent, the less likely that seems. On the most recent episode of the Zach Lowe Show, Lowe and Bill Simmons were discussing the future of the Nuggets, and Lowe matter-of-factly stated that the Nuggets are going to hire a GM.
This indicates the team is looking at outside candidates and will be bringing in somebody who isn’t part of the organization to run the team. Maybe it will be a splashy hire like Bob Myers or luring Tim Connelly back from Minnesota.
But if so, why haven’t those deals happened yet? The Wolves have been eliminated from the playoffs for weeks, and Myers isn’t even employed by a team. One of those types of hires feels like wishful thinking, so what exactly are the Nuggets doing?
It’s one of the biggest and least discussed question marks in the league right now. Hopefully, the team has a plan, but based on their actions, it’s very hard to tell.
New GM could mean major shake-ups
What this does mean is that by bringing in a new voice to run the show, we can expect big changes this offseason. It’s highly unlikely that a new hire from outside will come in and keep the status quo.
Somebody new may not have as much loyalty to the core four guys from the title run. Maybe they will be more inclined to deal Michael Porter Jr., or even Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon. They likely won’t be as tied to the recent draft picks either.
Booth and the front office were major believers in Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther, and others. A new GM with no ties to any of these players may not see it that way and may look to ship these guys out of town for any potential upgrades.
There is a lot of uncertainty right now in the Nuggets’ front office, and with each passing day, it only gets weirder and more confusing. Whatever the team plans to do, they need to hurry up and do it before more of a critical offseason passes them by.