If only Stan Kroenke could love the Denver Nuggets like he does his Los Angeles Rams.
to one of the most accomplished executives in Mile High Basketball history.
But alas, here we are, weeks removed from the Nuggets’ fourth consecutive playoff appearance, and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment is fumbling through the Ball Arena seat cushions in search of the money needed to retain president of basketball operations Tim Connelly.We’re talking about the guy who grabbed two-time MVP Nikola Jokic in the second round of the 2014 draft, took Jamal Murray seventh overall two years later, and smartly snatched up Michael Porter Jr.
Connelly brought in coach Michael Malone, gave him the freedom to do his job as he saw fit, and established a culture of organizational harmony and consistency that’s produced playoff series wins three of the last four years. Want to know the last time that happened here in Denver? The Reagan Administration. Back when cellphones could be used as blunt-force objects, the internet was a bizarre abstraction in a Matthew Broderick film and only one player on the current roster had even been born.half Rams coach Sean McVay’s salaryThe Grading the Week staff is willing to guess you’ll wind up paying more than that in lawyers’ fees connected to the Rams’ relocation from St. Louis to the City of Angels.
And we haven’t even brought up the bottom line bleed produced by your up-to-now fruitless lawsuit against Comcast over the Altitude TV dispute. Here you have an executive who’s constructed one of the most compelling rosters in franchise history, topped by its greatest player, that’s enjoyed the sort of success not seen here in decades … and a significant portion of the region’s television viewers can’t even watch them on TV.