Well, there goes the Nuggets’ chance to draft Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor or D’Angelo Russell down the drain. If not for bad luck …
But wipe that pathetic frown off your face, Josh Kroenke. Pouting is not a good look for a son of a billionaire. And wipe those woe-is-us tears, Nuggets fans. I’m sick of hearing how no superstar will ever want to play in the Rocky Mountains and how the pingpong balls never bounce Denver’s way in the NBA lottery.
Here’s what happened Tuesday night: It became very likely that when the Nuggets draft in June, they will have the opportunity to select Mario Hezonja, a 6-foot-8 small forward from Croatia with the swagger that comes naturally to a 20-year-old with the wicked hops to posterize any defender on a dunk and the feathery touch to swish shots from 3-point range.
While there are no guarantees in the draft, there’s a very good chance Hezonja will prove to be a better NBA player than any of the overhyped, underperforming prospects who lived out of a suitcase at the University of Kentucky before getting bounced from the NCAA Tournament.
Yes, the Nuggets can become relevant in the NBA playoffs again.
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But luck is not a strategy.
In fact, since the league started all this lottery hullabaloo way back in 1985, only four players taken No. 1 have played a major role in winning an NBA championship. Their names? David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan and LeBron James. That’s it. You want to tell me how many rings were won by Patrick Ewing, alleged to be awarded to the New York Knicks 30 years ago in a conspiracy hatched in the devious mind of commissioner David Stern? I’ll wait why you count to zero.
Yes, I know the lottery didn’t go well for the Nuggets. Heck, the lottery never goes well for the Nuggets.
For all the pain and misery of 52 losses during a lousy season that forced coach Brian Shaw’s dismissal, the suffering local fans of pro hoops got absolutely no satisfaction from the lottery, which gave Denver the seventh pick in the draft, exactly what the league standings said the Nuggets deserved.
So why the sourpuss face, Josh Kroenke? As you watched the lottery unfold on stage in New York, you appeared as though Dad took away your keys to the Pepsi Center. You were born to parents now worth more than $10 billion, Josh. Now that’s the real definition of unbelievable good luck.
There are fans of the Nuggets, Avalanche and Rapids who curse young Kroenke for emerging from the gene pool covered in a Wal-Mart fortune. I do not begrudge Kroenke his good fortune, any more than I am angry either Towns or Okafor was blessed with genes that allowed them to keep growing until they were nearly 7 feet tall. I have plenty of problems. But envy is not one of them.
There will be begging for the Nuggets to trade up and grab Russell, the flashy Ohio State point guard. Forget that dream. In all likelihood, Russell is not slipping past the No. 3 overall pick by those kings of tanking, the Philadelphia 76ers, a team in desperate need of a point man for its offense.
But as I watched Houston play Golden State in the opening game of the Western Conference finals, it was impossible not to remember that the Rockets were a franchise going nowhere as recently as 2010. Their leading scorer was Aaron Brooks. Their leading rebounder was Luis Scola. Their record was 42-40. Their star power was nonexistent.
But instead of cursing the fate of a franchise stuck between coasts and mired in mediocrity, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey went to work. He believes in the math that suggests the 3-point shot, free throws and defensive efficiency can be the foundation for a winner.
After aggressively pursuing every potential deal for a star, Morey finally closed a bold trade in 2012 for James Harden, at that time the sixth man for Oklahoma City. A year later, Morey signed free agent Dwight Howard, who was then fleeing the bright lights of Los Angeles and trying to shake a growing reputation as a goofball. The Rockets’ success was not the result of winning the lottery.
Good luck looks a lot like hard work.
Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or
