[Source – “Inside the Denver Nuggets’ Plan to Build a Dynasty”](https://www.theringer.com/nba/2023/10/16/23918200/denver-nuggets-2023-season-preview-dynasty-christian-braun)
> Members of the Nuggets front office say that when Booth was hired, he didn’t just maintain the status quo; he homed in on a specific philosophy for player acquisition. Instead of casting a wide net, the Nuggets are more targeted. Internal profiles are created for the types of players they believe will mesh with their existing core. “Of course, we have the best basketball player in the world,” Balcetis said. “So all of a sudden, it becomes a little more clear who we need to go after.”
> And who to get rid of. One of Booth’s first moves was to trade Bones Hyland, a young bucket-getting guard who came off the bench but didn’t offer a lot other than scoring. Despite being so young and showing promise, Hyland was dealt for just two second-round picks. The Nuggets didn’t want too much of the same thing on their team.
>“I knew you couldn’t have two guys that couldn’t guard, and we couldn’t have two guys that were young and kind of more ‘me guys,’” Booth said. “Mike makes $30 million. He’s one of the best shooters in the NBA. So, Bones, there’s no place for you.”
> Moving Hyland freed up minutes for Christian Braun, who became a rotation fixture as a rookie with his versatile defense and selfless offense, building up to his clutch postseason.
>
> Booth’s philosophy is built on four key pillars: basketball IQ, character, positional size, and the absence of skill deficiencies. All of the players the Nuggets target must meet at least three of the criteria, but ideally all four. The first three are fairly self-explanatory, but the latter means a player must be proficient at the typical skills for his position (a wing must be able to defend multiple positions, a center must be able to rebound, etc.). “Overlap is a silent killer,” Booth said about his team-building philosophy, citing the Lob City Clippers as a case in point. Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan both helped define that team, but they lacked the ability to space the floor, and neither was a great perimeter defender. In contrast, the present-day Nuggets don’t really have any players with overlapping strengths or weaknesses because they’re explicitly working to avoid it, instead targeting players who meet the vision.
This is a great article by KOC with very interesting insight on how Denver Nuggets GM Calvin Booth’s approach to team-building for more championships
by NokCha_
44 Comments
Wild for a GM to just outright say his own team’s guy (MPJ) can’t guard & is a me guy, like that.
>“I knew you couldn’t have two guys that couldn’t guard, and we couldn’t have two guys that were young and kind of more ‘me guys,’” Booth said.
Pretty brutal quote about one of your best players.
Calvin’s a really smart guy. His roster moves last year won the nuggets a championship. Kinda savage to say that about Bones, but he was right. No matter how much upside he has, Bones was getting in the way of what the nuggets wanted to do.
Some people need to learn the valuable skill of shutting the fuck up. Why he say that about MPJ for?
he’s not wrong
MPJ is way overpaid i don’t think they could’ve moved him anyway
Bruh why say that about MPJ after his playoff run?
Why would he say that about mpj? He was a great team guy this playoffs and improved on the defensive end imo
The team couldn’t tolerate Bones’ behavior while at same time Mike was sacrificing, being a team player, and improve on the defensive end.
Kinda odd to say when MPJ actually took a step forward defensively this playoffs. But likely just some internal motivation.
Bones Hyland deserves more hate.
To be fair, Michael Porter Jr. is a much better defensive player than he was when he entered the league
Damn, MPJ catching strays!
At first, it looks terrible when you read the comment. But it’s clear the GM knows what he is looking for and won a championship with the philosophy so it’s not like he’s being an asshole for the sake of being an asshole.
If MPJ has issue with it, prove him wrong but I don’t think the GM was talking out his ass at all.
So many people are worried about him saying this. Porter is an adult and he’s making a lot of money to play a game. If he wants to make an issue of it they can move on from their fourth best player. It’s more likely an adult would take this as a challenge to be better on defense and make the team better as a whole.
Bones seems like a cancer bitching about playing time and getting into it with Murray and others at a young age like wtf take your chip and then re asess why be a diva on a team like THAT mid season
if you in the nba and cant score, how can you not be a “me guy”. Besides.. guys make millions they can handle that.
Damn MPJ should really guard this season and shut down the haters. Hope he reads this and defends well
The lack of understanding and critical thought in here is peak r/nba.
Pretty shitty quote by Booth here. MPJ has done everything that is asked of him, sacrificed, and has shown he is a good defender and is an NBA champion. Yet, it’s still the punching bag for management.
I really don’t like Booth’s lack of tact here. And it reinforces my perception that KOC loves to stir shit.
Here is the thing… Booth is clearly referring to early last season when momentum was building for a trade. And at that time, you had MPJ coming back from another major surgery. With the only playoff data on him indicating he might be a liability defensively.
The reality is that MPJ’s struggles on D early in his carreer had a lot to do with how little his has played college and onwards. His IQ and ability to read the speed of the NBA were really lacking. And then in that Suns series, he had hurt his back which only made things worse.
That said, as he got more run last year, three things happened.
A) The speed of the game slowed for him and he started knowing where to be on D and when.
B) His athleticism, while still not where it was in the 2021 season, slowly returned.
C) He learned how to use his length to effect thing.
And thus, MPJ was quitly prett solid on defense in the 2nd half of the season and during the playoffs. Which is why he was still largely trusted by Malone against the Heat despite a shooting slump.
And top of that, the kid wants to win and was willing to take a seat when it became clear Brown was a better fit against the Heat’s plethora of guards.
This has to be the most common sense shit I ever read. Why are they acting like they’re doing something special with how they approach finding talent
Very blunt but not wrong
I don’t get it because MPJ is actually a good defender lol.
Do I get credit for this post since I posted about it in the Kawhi thread?
I don’t think this is that much of a slight toward MPJ, I’m sure they had plenty of these conversations behind closed doors with him as well. MPJ has shown a ton of growth within the offense and on defense and is obviously a much better all around player than Bones.
This is just him saying it was an easy decision to move Bones and why they only took a couple 2nd round picks for him.
Also, sometimes the truth hurts. Calling MPJ a me guy that can’t guard might have lit a little fire under him because he played great in the post season. He is a me guy but has learned how to do that effectively within the Nuggets offense and saying he can’t guard is only true to the amount of effort he puts in on defense. He doesn’t need to be a lockdown defender but just do the little things and using his size to his advantage makes him a net positive overall.
Positional size is certainly clear on the court.
Joker makes it “look easy”, but the rest of the players have to have that BBIQ to know their opponents, and find those advantages. The character / professionalism to know where they fit in. How to play the position.
Absence of positional skill deficiencies…
Keeping everything in the context of “position” makes perfect sense in DEN. As long as Joker is the engine that runs it – No overlap in the other positions, and don’t give up a clear physical advantage. Then, when Joker comes out, the C plays the positional role, and they switch to the backup generator. 🙂
Once again KOC… shutup
I can’t believe bum ass wizards traded away kcp without even asking for a FRP . Then again we gave him for Russ but still wtf ? I thought that was crazy
>“Overlap is a silent killer,” Booth said about his team-building philosophy, citing the Lob City Clippers as a case in point. Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan both helped define that team, but they lacked the ability to space the floor, and neither was a great perimeter defender.
I always thought the same thing about those Clippers teams.
Why did they draft him then?
Better than the GM’s first move as an executive for the Knicks… whose first move was to sign Lamar Odom… who WAS ON CRACK.
If that big ass himbo had a single thought whistling through that tall ass head of his he might take offense to this. But he doesn’t, so he won’t.
It’s so crazy to win a championship when you have an all-time great on your team and all 3 contenders from the East shit the bed before the Finals /s
So many teams ignore overlap, it’s nuts
Why would he publicly say that about his own player? I get that’s their internal process, but how is MPJ supposed to feel reading this?
No Bones about it
worked out perfectly for both sides tbh. we love Bones.
Booth was relating to the opinion at the time re: MPJ who obviously was really getting his legs under him after missing so much time. He has improved defensively but Malone has also been very candid about expecting and needing more from Michael on that end of the floor.
Booth was a guy in the league that got by on professionalism, intellect, following the scouting report and using his length/timing to his advantage more than tremendous athleticism or talent. He always seemed like a no nonsense guy from afar and a smart basketball mind. The Nuggets built their team organically while others have gone star chasing. It took a while with ups and downs but they hit the holy grail last season and no reason they can’t do so again this year.
That’s called “knowing your personnel” it’s not that wild or brutal. You have to know what each person brings to the team
Between this where Booth is shitting on former players and his Morey piece where he talked about him constantly illegally parking it’s amazing how Kevin O’Connor makes GMs look like complete assholes when he’s ostensibly writing puff pieces about how genius they are
Is Booth good with agents cause…
Don’t feel like reading the full article because I’m lazy. Was this a recent quote, but also was this an “at the time” comment? Because MPJ’s defense was arguably still coming along during the regular season and felt like it fully blossomed in the playoffs, which was after we shipped Bones off.
But frankly for me the real reason to get rid of Bones was he was more interested in himself then the team, which doesn’t fit the rest of the vibes that existed around the organization. He’s allowed to feel that way, but it isn’t going to fit when everyone else is focused on the larger prize. Even MPJ has said his focus is on maximizing the role he fills on the team.
Bones seems like he won’t be in the league for long. Didn’t the dude fight with his own teammate like a week after getting traded?
From the few clippers games I watched, dude is an enemy of passing the ball.