Nuggets Mailbag: Denver’s GM search, Michael Porter Jr.’s trade value and Carmelo Anthony’s number

Denver Post beat writer Bennett Durando opens up the Nuggets Mailbag periodically during the season and offseason You can submit a Nuggets- or NBA-related question here What s the latest on the GM search Are they just waiting to announce Ben Tenzer Dave Aurora Tenzer and Matt Lloyd are the two names I ve heard the majority when asking people around the league about the Nuggets general manager job Neither has experience as a director of basketball operations but both are regarded as personable smart and strong at building relationships Those are going to be essential characteristics in Denver The Nuggets need someone who can help establish a better tradition inside the organization and communicate well with agents You could do a lot worse than Matt Lloyd one agent described me in the last few days speaking fondly of the current Timberwolves GM under Tim Connelly For the record Connelly indicated this week to reporters that he s not leaving Minnesota any time soon The Tenzer smoke makes sense He has been effusively praised by Nuggets President and Governor Josh Kroenke for his input since taking over as interim GM in April and the Kroenkes have a history of hiring internally I see Tenzer as a leading candidate right now I also wouldn t be surprised if he got promoted to GM with an outside hire made at president of basketball operations There could be other names waiting to emerge still The Nuggets should want to have someone in place by the end of next week with the draft and free agency nearing Saw selected reports from earlier in the season that the Nuggets were really considering trading Michael Porter Jr Do you see Denver truly doing it in the offseason and who are certain players you d throw in return packages Jed Katz Upper Saddle River N J Does the new GM Ben Tenzer or whomever completely cut bait with Porter Michael Malone had a point that the bench was weak and inexperienced but the true weakness of the Nuggets is MPJ and his albatross of a contract Your thoughts Joe Denver You guys are giving me d j vu all over again This was the the majority popular question leading up to the deal deadline last season and it ll maybe be the the majority popular question before the next one too I don t think the Nuggets will contract Porter this summer I m never going to say it s impossible The Timberwolves wouldn t have thought last August that Karl-Anthony Towns would be traded by training camp But Josh Kroenke s society comments since the season ended have been illuminating It s clear that ownership is leaning toward giving the core four another year together while hoping to patch together a better depth chart via various combination of sportsman rise and free agency discount shopping I think a lot of our answers are internal right now Kroenke announced Read those tea leaves and consider that Porter s importance to Denver s current roster Positional size Volume -point shooting exceeds what his value would be on the pact sphere To other teams he s still a questionable contract with a dubious anatomical record What you have is a likely outcome where even if the Nuggets entertain MPJ trades they don t find one that satisfies them Teams have to plan out their salary cap sheets for multiple years The Nuggets are positioned to narrowly avoid the second apron next season even with Jamal Murray s extension taking effect But the following year they ll be accounting for Aaron Gordon s million raise and Christian Braun s new contract assuming he and Denver agree to an extension this fall I expect that to happen The unit might have to do various serious salary-shaving in the offseason if it wants to stay out of the second apron Porter will have one year left on his deal at that point making the dollar amount more palatable to other teams Common sense says next summer is the appropriate time to pounce on a commerce after one more swing with the current starting lineup Go ahead and mark your calendars to ask me about this topic yet again After the second Competition loss in two years to teams that were much more physical than the Nuggets a couple of questions Not that the outcome would have been different but would the whistle have been different if David Adelman did not have interim in his title while coaching against a former Coach of the Year Having seen Doug Moe get after the refs and change the way a tournament was officiated I was disappointed that Adelman didn t get a T or at least a fine for postgame comments during the OKC series Do the players believe a coach has their back when he doesn t make known his displeasure with the officiating Shawn Thompson Denver Well your second question is easily answered by the players themselves Even right now after losing Competition they responded with resounding positivity to the idea of Adelman being their full-time head coach So I don t think his willingness to be performative was top of mind I ll also remind you that Adelman did call out the refs after Challenge of Denver s first-round series when he spoke to reporters that night Every coach has to choose how to address this stuff as a public-facing figure and I suspect he ll be one who uses sly sarcasm when he wants to sharpen the knives During games I noticed Adelman giving the crew an earful more often than I think you re giving him credit for He might not ever compile as multiple technical fouls or ejections as Michael Malone but I wouldn t underestimate his ability to turn up the intensity If you thought the Nuggets generally got an unfair whistle against the Thunder I get it But the reason would have nothing to do with Adelman Oklahoma City sets the terms every competition by defending so fiercely that it forces referees to reckon with the fact that they can t call everything There also remains the cheat code of putting a small guard on the unguardable Nikola Jokic For years he has been flustered by the contact an Alex Caruso or OG Anunoby can get away with in the post relative to someone like Karl-Anthony Towns Mark Daigneault rather brilliantly waited to play that card until it was absolutely necessary For what it s worth whatever you think about the OKC whistle it s not even close to the top reason Denver lost that series Bennett were you as surprised as I was to see Pascal Siakam win Eastern Conference Finals MVP over Tyrese Haliburton It reminded me of the Lakers series in when Jamal was our leading scorer but Jokic was still our largest part valuable participant In that episode Jokic got the award Siakam had great shooting percentages but the Pacers don t win that series without Haliburton in my opinion Andrew Denver It can be true that Indiana ostensibly doesn t win the series without either star playing at an extremely high level But yes Haliburton would ve been my series MVP without much handwringing His play style is the basis of the Pacers unorthodox blueprint for an NBA Finals run Even when his step-back s aren t falling he s creating basketball advantage and cultivating healthy offense like meager players can He still averaged points well over his regular-season total six rebounds assists turnovers and steals per championship He achieved point guard nirvana with his Battle performance which cemented Indiana s control of the series And largest part notably I would ve used this as a tiebreaker if I had a vote and was torn who is responsible for the majority of fundamental moment of the series Haliburton made one of the majority of instantly memorable shots in the history of the sport without which who knows what might ve happened in Event Who are we targeting in free agency this offseason Bruce Brown seems like an obvious choice to shore up the bench But will we decisively get a good backup for Nikola Jokic like bringing in Mason Plumlee Larry Nance Jr or Precious Achiuwa Mike Denver Hard to say while the general manager position remains vacant But I lately assembled an exhaustive list of possibilities just for you Mike Check it out Related Articles Nuggets Podcast Taking stock of Denver s roster following David Adelman s hire as head coach Renck vs Keeler Nuggets or Avs Who is closer to a title after playoff exits Grading The Week Want to win Nikola Jokic s heart David Adelman Bring Monte Morris back to Nuggets Nuggets defensive coordinator Ryan Saunders other assistant coaches not retained under David Adelman Nuggets Journal free agents Denver could target in offseason Will we ever see Carmelo Anthony s number climb to the rafters Obviously Nikola Jokic is the greatest No in Denver history but could they do something similar to what the Mariners are doing with Randy Johnson and Ichiro Suzuki Shawn Westminster I had a feeling I would get this question from someone after seeing the arrangement in Seattle My hunch Anthony and the Nuggets have a lot of relationship-mending to do before they can ever reach that point Time might be the only medicine Will it someday be normalized for Anthony to visit Denver for games like the other franchise greats do Will fans nostalgia morph into forgiveness as the years go on Maybe by the time Jokic s number is retired perspectives will have changed I think it s only right that they both end up in the rafters even if one clearly belongs to a loftier tier of basketball players historically Want more Nuggets news Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis