The Nuggets took the boring but responsible route on draft day — the “disciplined” approach, as executive vice president of player personnel Jon Wallace described it.
So naturally, a 10-second out-of-context video attracted more attention than Denver’s actual moves.
A live feed of the Nuggets’ war room on Tuesday night caught team president as Denver completed a trade of the 26th pick to San Antonio. Fans tried to dissect the meaning behind his urgent gestures as the clip circulated on social media over the next 24 hours — there was no audio, leaving it open to interpretation.
Denver’s co-general managers laughed it off when asked about the moment after the second round of the draft on Wednesday, explaining that Kroenke was reacting to some confusion on the Spurs’ end of the trade.
“I think it looked like there was more of a miscommunication on our end,” said Ben Tenzer, Denver’s executive vice president of basketball operations. “I think we were finalizing the deal, and we were kind of just confirming the deal that we thought was still there, and that’s where it seemed like from the other side, we were just double-checking. … It’s a pretty chaotic environment in general, so for us to see (the fan reaction) brought a smile to our face. Because those moments happen all the time. There’s just a lot going on.”
“Meaning it got blown out of proportion, is what he’s saying,” Wallace interrupted, laughing.
Before the video went viral in the corner of the internet occupied by Nuggets fans, a team source told The Post on Tuesday night that the Spurs didn’t inform Denver which player to draft on their behalf until almost the last second, holding up the Nuggets’ attempt to formally call in the trade even though both teams had agreed to it. That left most of the room at Ball Arena applauding, even though Denver was still up against the clock to complete the transaction.
It all worked out in the end, of course.
“We were waiting for the other side to kind of finalize what the decision was, and at that time, it was like, you know, you’re on the clock,” Wallace said. “So you’re kind of waiting, and it was like, ‘Hey, what did they decide?’ So it was one of those types of issues. It wasn’t an internal issue by any means.”
Kroenke’s gesticulation wasn’t even the most controversial war-room scene to go viral on Tuesday. As time ran out on the Warriors with the 11th pick, cameras showed a tense interaction between general manager Mike Dunleavy and owner Joe Lacob. Dunleavy’s tongue-in-cheek explanation to reporters was that they were arguing about the best golf course in San Francisco.
The Nuggets acquired the 35th pick and two future second-round picks in their trade. San Antonio took Connecticut big man Tarris Reed Jr. at No. 26, while Denver ended up with Arkansas power forward Trevon Brazile at No. 35. Before trading down, Wallace and Tenzer had pursued opportunities to move up in the first round, but the cost was too high.
“In the moment, it’s important not to always get draft-happy and get draft fever,” Wallace said. “There’s always guys that you like. You kind of want to push the envelope sometimes. But you’ve gotta stay disciplined in what your overall goal was — not to do too, too much, but also kind of hit those areas (of the roster) where the need is.”
