10 best NBA front offices

The Denver Nuggets still in the rebuilding process after the Carmelo Anthony trade and the departure of former head coach George Karl. For most of the 2000s, Denver was a strong Western Conference team led by Anthony, but a few years after the team traded their disgruntled superstar to the New York Knicks, the Nuggets were in full-blown rebuild mode.

Though Denver managed to win 57 games and get the No. 3 seed in the 2013 Western Conference Playoffs sans Anthony, a mass exodus was on the horizon as Karl was shockingly let go and two top executives in Masai Ujiri and Pete D’Alessandro left for general manager gigs elsewhere.

The Nuggets were without a head coach, a superstar, and a decimated front office when former Washington Wizards and New Orleans Hornets executive Tim Connelly took over the Denver grease fire. Yes, hiring Brian Shaw as the head coach to replace Karl was a terrible decision, but Connelly has quietly turned things around with this Nuggets rebuilding project.

Hiring Michael Malone as the next head coach of the Nuggets in 2015 was a great choice by Connelly. He’s also been doing a fine job in selecting high-end players that aren’t going to bust with the Nuggets’ subsequent mid-lottery picks.

Jusuf Nurkic is an interesting piece, Nikola Jokic is on his way to being a star, Emmanuel Mudiay has great promise as a dynamic point guard, Jamal Murray was a solid jump-shooting selection at No. 7 in the 2016 NBA Draft.

In short, the Nuggets are actually doing a better job of rebuilding when compared to most of their league counterparts. They’ve got a great hands-on coach in Malone that likes to work with young people. Their player development program feels sound, as most of the players on the Nuggets already have incredibly high floors as professional. Denver doesn’t seem to have a terrible contract on its books either.

In a way, the Nuggets are on a similar path to what the Boston Celtics have done in their rebuilding process. Denver has stockpiled an intriguing collection of role players. Getting the star player is going to be very difficult for the Nuggets, but they have already swiftly departed from that chaotic two-year window of 2012-14 to field a potentially competitive team in 2016-17.

Connelly has been huge for the Nuggets in the last year and so has Malone. Don’t be surprised if Denver contends for a seventh or eighth seed in the 2017 Western Conference Playoffs. They’re probably still a year away, but this team will be interesting at the very least this winter.

Next: 9. Minnesota Timberwolves.