CASTLE ROCK — After a strenuous round of golf on the longest course in PGA Tour history, Nuggets president Josh Kroenke cooled off with a round of questions about Denver’s arduous offseason.
It’s been perceived that way by a majority of voices and pens outside Ball Arena, anyway. The Nuggets have been widely declared one of the losers of the NBA summer, owing to a combination of polarizing strategy, internationally staged inefficiency and plain awful luck.
Internally, that’s not how the front office views it. They’re aware of the dice they’ve cast, of course, most prominently in the avoidable sacrifice of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and subsequent additions of Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric. KCP signed with Orlando for three years and $66 million, an offer the Nuggets chose not to equal despite possessing his Bird rights. But if the outcome is a marginally worse (but still elite) starting lineup traded for marginally better depth and lineup versatility, so be it, their philosophy dictates.
That’s especially true with other player retention efforts to consider, even after Jamal Murray. Aaron Gordon becomes extension-eligible starting Sept. 27. Christian Braun and Peyton Watson each have two years remaining on their rookie deals.
Flexibility for future spending is a critical fourth dimension on the chessboard, Kroenke explained Wednesday after the Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am.
“Once we knew that (Caldwell-Pope) was going to opt out and test the open market, we thought it would probably be pretty difficult to retain him,” he said when asked what the determining factor was in deciding what number to go to during KCP’s free agency. “We had some pretty good offers in that we thought made sense for us going forward, but when you hit the open market and there are teams that have space and there are teams that really need a certain skill set, (it’s difficult). We’ve been smart about how we’ve planned, and we think we have young players that can fill in to certain roles, and so we also have to think for the future in the new system.”
He speaks of the 1-year-old collective bargaining agreement, which the league is still breaking in. More specifically: the punitive competitive penalties associated with roster payroll passing the second tax apron.
“It’s much more relatable to the NHL style, even though the NBA’s not a pure hard cap,” Kroenke continued. “In the NHL, whenever you think about contracts and you start to plan, you have to think a year or two ahead. Because if you give up space, and you have to wind up getting off players to give up something you don’t want to give up, that’s not a good place to be. So we’re pretty excited about the group we’ve got — while also planning and keeping an eye on that future and making sure we have our flexibility to retain the guys we want to keep.”
A comparison of salary cap systems in the NBA and NHL spurs an obvious follow-up question: Should the expectation be that Nuggets ownership will not exceed the second apron going forward? Did the KCP situation set a precedent?
Does Kroenke see that second apron as a hard cap?
“Not necessarily,” he said. “But when you talk about our starting five, and you understand the rules of flexibility when you’re in that second apron, it’s a real juggling act. We call it, we’re spinning as many plates as we can, trying to keep those plates as stable as possible. But yeah, it was a different exercise (this offseason). … We were excited about the possibility of retaining (Caldwell-Pope), but we also knew that once he hit the open market, it was going to be something that we may have to step away from to preserve our future flexibility.”
In the meantime, back to the present state of the roster. Forfeiting KCP provided a small bit of immediate flexibility as well. The Nuggets were able to use the taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Saric, a viable backup center for Nikola Jokic. That was their most expensive move of the summer, but nowhere close to their buzziest.
That title belongs to Westbrook, a former MVP, future Hall of Famer and current bench player.
The post-Thunder era hasn’t always been graceful for Russ. Denver will be his fifth new uniform in six seasons. Twice during that span, he has been convoyed through Utah only for the Jazz to waive him so he could promptly sign with a new team (including this one).
At his best, though, every player in the league understands the jolt he can supply. And Kroenke is willing to engage in a little nostalgia.
“I got a chance to meet him for the first time right after he signed, and as I said to him, I’m very grateful that he’s on this side,” Kroenke said. “Because I’ve watched him kind of tear our hearts out for so many years in Oklahoma City, among other places. So he’ll be a really good person for us to have, both on and off the court, with some of the young guys who we’re expecting to take bigger roles this year. Russ has seen it all, in and around the NBA, so he’s gonna be a big part of who we are both in the locker room and on the court.”
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Second apron fears aside, the Nuggets are nonetheless over the first apron for a second consecutive season. With all 15 roster spots occupied, any additions to the team at this point would require circumnavigating other CBA side effects to make a trade. DaRon Holmes’ season-ending Achilles injury granted Denver a disabled player exception worth $1.53 million, but that doesn’t make the first-round pick exempt from occupying a roster spot. To take, the Nuggets have to give.
“I think right now the roster’s pretty set for this year,” Kroenke said. “But you never know. Our eyes and ears are always open. The new rules are interesting, and how some of those trades work once you’re over the tax. But it was an eye-opener I think for a lot of teams this summer, in how some of the teams behaved.”