The rise of Rudy Gobert has some wondering the wisdom of the draft night trade that sent him to Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
During the regular season I do a bi-weekly mailbag. But just because the season ends doesn’t mean the questions do. Many of you have asked me questions about the team on Twitter, at my handle: @dempseypost.
I’ve answered some here, and will continue to at least semi-regularly do so as long as you guys keep ’em coming. This is the first installment of the very unoriginal name: Twitterbag.
Josh Thomas @jmthomas1991: Serious question, do you think we lost the Gobert-Foye trade? Seems like we got fleeced.
Josh: This is a loaded question. First off, it was a Gobert-Erick Green trade, but we know what you’re getting at. The initial issue stems from the annual problem the NBA has always had with draft night trades: The picks are swapped, but since the league doesn’t finalize those trades until after the draft ends, the two teams have to pick a player for the other. Consequently, it looks like one player was traded for another, when, in fact, each team is instructed who to pick when the traded selections come up.
So, in other words, Utah told the Nuggets to pick Rudy Gobert with the 27th pick in the first round of the 2013 draft. The Nuggets then instructed Utah to pick Erick Green with 46th pick, a second-round selection. It’s hard to know what the Nuggets would have done with that pick had they kept it.
At the time of that draft, the Nuggets were in a huge state of flux. The general manager (Tim Connelly) and the head coach (Brian Shaw) had just hit town after being recently hired. The roster already had a center on it that the Nuggets thought would be the full-time starter, JaVale McGee, and the projected backup, Timofey Mozgov. Beyond that, they felt they could use Anthony Randolph at center in a pinch, so while the Nuggets may have liked Gobert, the desire to draft him for themselves wasn’t very high. Added on top of that was the desire to not to have pay a player the guaranteed salary a first-round selection ensures. It all equaled the moves made that night. Now, did anybody know Gobert would grow this quickly into one of the best rim protectors in the NBA? No, no one saw this coming. But this whole episode shows just how fragile the line is on hitting on draft night.
A R Garbs @G_A_R_B_S: If Brooks was hired, thoughts on if he’d keep Hunt on staff?
AR Garbs: Someone asked Melvin Hunt this very question in his final press conference of the season, and he politely said he wouldn’t predict the future. But if he is passed over a second time for the Nuggets head coaching job — this time after he WAS the head coach for a month and a half — do not expect him to stay. He’ll get plenty of offers from other head coaches to join their staff, and he’ll definitely take one of them. Hunt has proven he is head-coaching material, the question is will the Nuggets see him as the man that they want to lead them. If they go for a “bigger name,” I’d still expect to see Hunt as someone’s head coach within the next couple of seasons.
Eric Nelson @ericgnelson: Does he (Scott Brooks) become the #1 candidate?
Eric: As weird as this probably sounds, I’m not so sure they have a bonafide No. 1 candidate. What they have is a list of coaches they are interested in, and the upcoming interviews will decide the hierarchy of the list. So many of them are similar playing style coaches — Alvin Gentry, Mike D’Antoni and Scott Brooks are all well-known to be up-tempo coaches. Melvin Hunt, obviously given what we saw in March and April, coaches that as well. So that much is taken care of. The separator is going to have to come in other areas.
Jeremy Nelson @houseoftrivia: Would you put Tom Thibodeau higher than Brooks if the Bulls part ways with him?
Jeremy: I probably wouldn’t, given the initial criteria of the next coach laid out by Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly. The Nuggets are looking to tap back into the franchise’s running roots, want a coach that understands that, and will not push to do something else. Thibodeau is well-known as being a defense-first coach, and while that is certainly worthy and we all have seen his success and know he is one of the NBA’s best coaches, it doesn’t necessarily fit with the Nuggets new stated direction.
Joe @jomito7: Isn’t it great to see all these former Nuggets in significant roles on these playoff teams?
Joe: I know this was tongue-in-cheek, but it is definitely interesting to see how many of them are not only in the playoffs, but playing significant roles on those teams. I think what it tells me is the Nuggets were on more of a right track than they were given credit for with how they were constructing the team, particularly after the Carmelo Anthony trade.
tom austin @chillidippa: CD, have you seen the fatality video for the new mortal kombat?
Tom: My favorite game of all time. I haven’t seen the fatality video, but I’m going to do the next best thing… do all the fatalities on the game itself!
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
