Camden wrote:Under Tim Connelly, the Nuggets also traded a top-10 protected first-round pick for Jerami Grant after he had his breakout campaign with Oklahoma City. Remember, that came before he made a comparable trade for Aaron Gordon, as Lip detailed above. Both of those trades should be considered successful and they illustrate a willingness from Connelly to trade a valuable pick if the fit, talent, and situation deem it worthy.
Combine those two deals with the trade that sent out Arron Afflalo and brought back Will Barton and a first-round pick, and the deal that recouped value in a first-round pick for an expiring Malik Beasley, and I think Connelly's "weaknesses" as it pertains to trades might be a bit exaggerated.
Good points, Cam. I forgot about the Jerami Grant deal. It's probably fair to say that even his "weakest" area isn't bad to say the least. Bottom line is he has an eye for young talent - whether it's lower draft picks or young players like Jerami Grant and Will Barton were when Connelly acquired them. But he doesn't strike me as a swing-for-the-fences guy. He's not a gambler. He's not a Daryl Morey. And that's a good thing. :)
I thought that move was terrific at the time but you could argue it didn't actually work out that well for Denver. Of course nobody was expecting Grant to chase a completely different role with Detroit as it was reported he didn't leave Denver for money. I would have a hard time knocking him for that deal without hindsight. So he ended up giving up #25 in the 2020 NBA draft for 1 year of Grant who he likely thought he was gonna be able to resign. Of course that didn't hurt much because Denver already had 2 first round picks in that draft. So yeah Connelly is willing to make a deal.
Edit: I should finish my thought here by saying like Adam on Dane Moore's podcast said Connelly is good at his job so he ends up with plenty of talent and in the case of looking back at this deal plenty of assets. At this point Nuggets have given up some future picks but anyways. Giving up a pick in a draft where he ended up with 2 more picks is hard to criticize when it's possible Grant could have been a solution in their front court. Ironically he traded away RJ Hampton one of the players he selected to Orlando in the Gordon deal. See Connelly is willing to make trades. :)
Camden wrote:Under Tim Connelly, the Nuggets also traded a top-10 protected first-round pick for Jerami Grant after he had his breakout campaign with Oklahoma City. Remember, that came before he made a comparable trade for Aaron Gordon, as Lip detailed above. Both of those trades should be considered successful and they illustrate a willingness from Connelly to trade a valuable pick if the fit, talent, and situation deem it worthy.
Combine those two deals with the trade that sent out Arron Afflalo and brought back Will Barton and a first-round pick, and the deal that recouped value in a first-round pick for an expiring Malik Beasley, and I think Connelly's "weaknesses" as it pertains to trades might be a bit exaggerated.
Good points, Cam. I forgot about the Jerami Grant deal. It's probably fair to say that even his "weakest" area isn't bad to say the least. Bottom line is he has an eye for young talent - whether it's lower draft picks or young players like Jerami Grant and Will Barton were when Connelly acquired them. But he doesn't strike me as a swing-for-the-fences guy. He's not a gambler. He's not a Daryl Morey. And that's a good thing. :)
I thought that move was terrific at the time but you could argue it didn't actually work out that well for Denver. Of course nobody was expecting Grant to chase a completely different role with Detroit as it was reported he didn't leave Denver for money. I would have a hard time knocking him for that deal without hindsight. So he ended up giving up #25 in the 2020 NBA draft for 1 year of Grant who he likely thought he was gonna be able to resign. Of course that didn't hurt much because Denver already had 2 first round picks in that draft. So yeah Connelly is willing to make a deal.
Reportedly, Jerami Grant left Denver -- not for financial reasons as you mentioned -- but for a bigger offensive role AND to play for a team with two black men in prominent leadership roles in Troy Weaver and Dwane Casey. Those were his reasons, not my speculation. Pretty impossible to see that unfolding if you're Tim Connelly and that Denver front office, especially with how perfect Grant fit in with the roster and next to Nikola Jokic. I'd still consider that trade a win, but it can't be considered a slam dunk, unfortunately, because of Grant's questionable/unforeseen reasons to leave. More importantly, I'm impressed with the correct identification of talent, aggressiveness in targeting said talent, and execution in acquiring that talent. The process was successful despite the outcome leaving a lot to be desired.
Camden wrote:Under Tim Connelly, the Nuggets also traded a top-10 protected first-round pick for Jerami Grant after he had his breakout campaign with Oklahoma City. Remember, that came before he made a comparable trade for Aaron Gordon, as Lip detailed above. Both of those trades should be considered successful and they illustrate a willingness from Connelly to trade a valuable pick if the fit, talent, and situation deem it worthy.
Combine those two deals with the trade that sent out Arron Afflalo and brought back Will Barton and a first-round pick, and the deal that recouped value in a first-round pick for an expiring Malik Beasley, and I think Connelly's "weaknesses" as it pertains to trades might be a bit exaggerated.
Good points, Cam. I forgot about the Jerami Grant deal. It's probably fair to say that even his "weakest" area isn't bad to say the least. Bottom line is he has an eye for young talent - whether it's lower draft picks or young players like Jerami Grant and Will Barton were when Connelly acquired them. But he doesn't strike me as a swing-for-the-fences guy. He's not a gambler. He's not a Daryl Morey. And that's a good thing. :)
I thought that move was terrific at the time but you could argue it didn't actually work out that well for Denver. Of course nobody was expecting Grant to chase a completely different role with Detroit as it was reported he didn't leave Denver for money. I would have a hard time knocking him for that deal without hindsight. So he ended up giving up #25 in the 2020 NBA draft for 1 year of Grant who he likely thought he was gonna be able to resign. Of course that didn't hurt much because Denver already had 2 first round picks in that draft. So yeah Connelly is willing to make a deal.
Reportedly, Jerami Grant left Denver -- not for financial reasons as you mentioned -- but for a bigger offensive role AND to play for a team with two black men in prominent leadership roles in Troy Weaver and Dwane Casey. Those were his reasons, not my speculation. Pretty impossible to see that unfolding if you're Tim Connelly and that Denver front office, especially with how perfect Grant fit in with the roster and next to Nikola Jokic. I'd still consider that trade a win, but it can't be considered a slam dunk, unfortunately, because of Grant's questionable/unforeseen reasons to leave. More importantly, I'm impressed with the correct identification of talent, aggressiveness in targeting said talent, and execution in acquiring that talent. The process was successful despite the outcome leaving a lot to be desired.
With working night shifts and getting ready to close on a house I somehow missed this news. I am really excited his track record, familiarity with Finch seem like an ideal pairing. Everyone misses from time to time but he seems to make solid decisions and hit more often than most. Very happy for the Wolves!
I was just watching a video blog about the draft. In an offhand comment about the brain drain experienced by some organizations, the guy referred to Denver's loss of Art?ras Karni?ovas, who was in his words "Connelly's right hand man". That fact reinforced my thinking that Connelly didn't sign with the Wolves only because of the money or so-called equity stake. I think he experienced a lack of support and saw a Wolves organization that already had the highly respected Gupta and would likely surround him with the support and talent he wanted.
Connelly Interview. "Every decision will be collaborative." Said there will a lot of input with coaches, ownership, business executives, front office and players. Said he likes "team-first guys", "self motivated guys" and "role accepting guys." "We don't like hugely ego driven guys." He was asked about DLO but not surprisingly, he was non-committal about his plans with DLO, "It will be an organizational decision." He also talked about Flip.
Connelly Interview. "Every decision will be collaborative." Said there will a lot of input with coaches, ownership, business executives, front office and players. Said he likes "team-first guys", "self motivated guys" and "role accepting guys." "We don't like hugely ego driven guys." He was asked about DLO but not surprisingly, he was non-committal about his plans with DLO, "It will be an organizational decision." He also talked about Flip.
"I love him. I love his game. I love how sincere he is. I love real people. And that guy, he drips real. We have to make sure he never loses that... And there are few young players that are more dynamic. Might be zero."
"I love him. I love his game. I love how sincere he is. I love real people. And that guy, he drips real. We have to make sure he never loses that... And there are few young players that are more dynamic. Might be zero."
Connelly says KAT can play the 4 or 5 and said he'd defer to Finchy on where KAT plays. I expected him to be open minded about playing KAT at 4 unlike Rosas but glad to hear it.
Just listened to Connelly on Dan Barreiro from Thursday. I think it was a REALLY good listen and I think a good look into Connelly as a person as an executive. I'm gonna just recommend listening and not do a summery. There is enough there to be worth your time. IMHO.
