In a little less than two days, the executive pairing of Ben Tenzer and Jonathan Wallace, respectively holding the roles of executive vice president of basketball operations and executive vice president of player personnel, did more for the Denver Nuggets than former general manager Calvin Booth did in two seasons.
And it’s not even close.
As a matter of fact, rather than opinion, the Nuggets have just made the NBA’s biggest splash in free agency. In a matter of moments, Tenzer and Wallace have effectively changed the perception of the Nuggets. A week ago, it was widely expected that a team that had taken the eventual NBA champs to a seventh game in the Western Conference Semifinals was going to essentially “run it back.” Behind the world’s best player, close was most likely going to be “close enough.”
That’s not what happened, however. By subtracting the prohibitive contracts of Michael Porter Jr. and Dario Saric – moves deemed largely impossible up to this point – Tenzer and Wallace deftly added Cam Johnson (who’s expected to replace Porter Jr. in the starting lineup), Bruce Brown (a key piece in the Nuggets 2023 title run), Jonas Valanciunas (providing depth behind Nikola Jokic, something the Nuggets haven’t had since Mason Plumlee ) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (a versatile 3-and-D that should provide rookie head coach David Adelman with depth and versatility). Aside from the immediately impactful acquisitions, the roster suddenly has cap space; in theory, the Nuggets still have room to add yet another piece to their puzzle if they so choose. When the dust settled on Tuesday, Denver’s Vegas odds to win a title jumped from +1600 to +750 overnight, the largest single move across the NBA. Only Oklahoma City holds better odds.
Instead of looking like the shadow of a championship roster getting older and thinner with each passing season, the Nuggets once again look like a serious title contender.
You know what else they look like?
As Mile High Sports senior editor Dan Mohrmann so acutely observed yesterday, these “new” Nuggets sure look “like a team former head coach Michael Malone would like to coach.”
At the risk of dousing the fireworks show Tenzer and Wallace so graciously ignited well ahead of Independence Day, doesn’t their recent handiwork make you a little miffed about what the Nuggets couldn’t – or wouldn’t – do over the past two seasons?
To recap: After a dominant run through the 2023 postseason, a 16-4 surgical path to the franchise’s first-ever Larry O’Brien Trophy, Denver was on high. Behind Nikola Jokic, already a two-time MVP still on the front end of his prime, was there any reason the Nuggets couldn’t go back-to back?
It turned out there was. General manager Calvin Booth hinted as much when he suggested – mere moments after winning it all – that he was less interested in repeating than he was in being in the mix for many years. His plan to draft and develop was far different than the vision of head coach Michael Malone, who preferred striking while the iron what hot on the backs of role-playing veterans. The Nuggets attempt to repeat fell woefully short, as a tired roster ran out of gas against the young and hungry T’Wolves. Last season didn’t go much better, as the Nuggets, with fewer players from the championship run and little to no bench, again looked worn out as they were ultimately dismissed from the postseason by the Thunder.
It’s difficult to say if Booth’s model would have been more effective had Malone wanted to play along. But it was clear following the 2024 postseason that Denver needed to do one of two things: Either acquiesce to Malone’s way of thinking; or, embrace Booth’s methods, hope to survive the regular reason and be ready to adjust at the trade deadline if need be.
Neither really happened. Instead, Malone would buy in occasionally, sometimes without any choice because of an injury-riddled roster, but ultimately revert to winning games with players he trusted. Rather than identifying the reality of the situation, realizing that his young players weren’t taking the “next step” and therefore making moves at the deadline, Booth stood pat. As such, the Nuggets headed into the ‘25 postseason tired and flawed, and with neither Booth nor Malone, as both were let go after a Cold War that Josh Kroenke ultimately couldn’t end.
It was widely believed, largely by his obvious lack of action, that Booth’s hands were tied. The contracts he was dealing with – some of which he inked himself – were problematic and ultimately immovable.
As it turns out, where there’s a will there’s a way. Tenzer and Wallace have already done what nobody believed was possible.
Their recent actions beg a simple question: Had Booth had the same brains, brawn and creativity, what might have been?
Would Michael Malone have happily guided a seasoned roster to one or two more titles?
Would Nikola Jokic be wearing three championship rings and have a few more MVP trophies on his mantle?
Would Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon have been plagued by the kind of injuries often the result of overuse?
Sadly, we’ll never know.
The Nuggets roster, as currently constructed on July 2, looks like one that might have beaten Oklahoma City. That’s impossible to say for sure, but across the league, the Nuggets are overwhelmingly viewed as “better” than they were a month ago.
What if…
What if?!
For nearly two years, trying to decide who was more at fault – the salty and stubborn Michael Malone, or the loose-lipped, happy with status quo Calvin Booth – wasn’t easy.
As Tenzer and Wallace busily reshape the Nuggets – and simultaneously their championship aspirations – the picture gets clearer.
Calvin Booth was the problem. He was asleep at the wheel, causing a two-year train wreck that could have been cleaned up in two days.