Per ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Denver Nuggets have finally decided on the structure of its front office, hiring interim GM Ben Tenzer as the Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, as well as adding Jon Wallace from the Minnesota Timberwolves as the Executive Vice President of Player Personnel.
Wallace was the Director of Player Personnel for the Timberwolves for the past 3 years as well as the GM of their G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves. Wallace worked for the Nuggets previously under former President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly, leaving his job as Scouting Coordinator to join Connelly in Minnesota. Those of you familiar with the long-term operation of Denver’s front office under the Kroenkes may be getting a familiar feeling, as the “King of Thornton” Jeff Morton noted:
That front office with Mark Warkentein and Rex Chapman also had input from Bret Bearup as an unofficial-official advisor who kept Stan Kroenke informed. Here is how this ESPN article from 2006 described the situation:
Mark Warkentien has a fancy new job title — vice president of basketball operations for the Denver Nuggets. As for what duties come with his new title, he’s not sure. But he’s open to anything that comes up.
“I pride myself on being a great employee,” Warkentien said. “Whatever role they need from me, I’m there. I’m old school. What do you need me to do?”
Warkentien’s promotion was one of the moves the Nuggets made Thursday as they juggled their basketball operations office. Rex Chapman was named vice president of player personnel and Bret Bearup adviser to the Nuggets. The team also moved Masai Ujiri to director of international scouting.
Denver severed ties with assistant general managers Jeff Weltman and David Fredman. “We feel we have a well-balanced front office team in place to continue our pursuit of an NBA championship,” Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke said in a statement.
So the the Nuggets have done this kind of thing before, but the front office personnel all pulling in different directions is what caused a restructure under Masai Ujiri as GM in the first place. This is not a move that provides more outside input so much as one that divides general manager duties among multiple people and provides Josh Kroenke with final say without needing his day-to-day input.
Will it work this time? Denver fans are certainly hoping so – Nikola Jokic is the best basketball player in the world and both he and the Nuggets fans deserve the best effort from ownership and the front office to get the roster built correctly moving forward, no matter how the power is structured. With the draft this week and free agency starting next week, hopefully everyone gets up to speed quickly. The Nuggets don’t have any more seasons to waste.
