Media Availability with Josh Kroenke, Ben Tenzer, and Jonathan Wallace | 6/24/25

Media Availability with Josh Kroenke, Ben Tenzer, and Jonathan Wallace | 6/24/25

all right uh welcome everyone i’m excited to uh be here again uh for the third time in a few months um and really excited to introduce a couple people to you um one of which has been uh an integral part of us for a very long time now but uh really showed me a lot of growth over the last couple of years and then for sure in the last few months uh and i want to commend him on the job that he did uh in the interim role um you know following a really rough stretch and then through the playoffs for us um and then i also want to introduce john wallace reintroduce john wallace he was with us for uh three years um has been gone for the last three up in minnesota um really uh blew me away kind of to see his growth um both as an executive and as a person um and i’m really excited to uh to pair these two guys together because i think they have really complimentary skill sets uh they’re going to serve this organization incredibly well moving forward uh so that being said uh we’ll open it up to questions uh first of all john welcome to denver welcome back uh this question is for josh just how did you eventually come to the decision of kind of divvying up these roles and just can you continue to explain just the the layout of the responsibilities in in what is kind of an an abnormal situation um abnormal uh it’s an interesting word um you know i think that uh you know unorthodox could be another another word um but i think that you know really most everything that has got us to this point uh has been unorthodox um we’ve hired firsttime guys before uh and our best player is the 41st pick um in a very uh unorthodox manner the way he plays the game so everything about us is unorthodox um i think from a process standpoint i think it was important for uh us as an organization and myself uh and my father to really slow down take stock of what the organization really needed at this point in time um talk to a lot of different people from a lot of different areas and gain a lot of different perspective um both in the basketball world and out of the basketball world and uh really kind of nailing down what the denver nuggets need and that’s the margins on the outside of our roster and i think that both john and ben complimentary skill sets are really going to help us address those things in a creative way moving forward uh also for josh just just sort of could you shed some light on sort of how this system will work in terms of how the basketball decisions are made who is on the phone with other teams in terms of negotiating on trades contracts for free agents or extensions that sort of stuff how how does kind of the layout of of this um i think that they both will um i think that you know from the outside looking in sometimes people have a a false sense of how things actually go down in the professional sports world um you know sometimes that’s owner talking to owner sometimes that’s president talking to president um that’s basketball operations staff talking to basketball operations staff uh there’s a lot of different ways that that deals get done in the nba and a lot of that is through relationships and i think that our organization uh has great relationships at all levels throughout the league and we’ll continue to have different conversations in different ways with different teams with different people for ben and for john what do you guys feel like your strengths are what will you be bringing to these new roles i’ll start off first of all want to say thank you to mr k josh and ben for trusting me uh with this position um and everyone else who’s welcomed me back uh to start this off but uh to answer your question i think for me uh just my relationships with the guys relationships around the league i think the collaboration that we’ll bring as a group and kind of being able to galvanize that uh is going to help me you know obviously add to my strengths here um and to kind of empower the individuals that we already have in place yeah first off i just want to say thank you to mr kunky and josh for believing in me when i got this internship in 2005 i felt like i hit the the jackpot so you could imagine how i feel now um yeah in terms of skill sets i as an intern i did every job here and i ended up going to law school learning about the cap and contracts um managing people i was the gm at the gold so i feel like just us two together in terms of collaboration will be really healthy uh this is for john welcome back um you were around the team for quite a bit you’ve observed them even when you were in minnesota what is your roster philosophy building around nicola joic what things if you can identify the most important things the team lacks now that they need to add well i think josh hit on it already uh where we have to be really conscious of the margins we’ve got to be very deliberate and obviously the time is now uh with joker it’s obviously a generational talent and how he helps out and how he elevates the level of play of so many people around him we’ve got to make sure that you know we find some more shooting uh obviously address some of the defensive concerns but i think we have both young individuals here that can step up and do that as we continue to develop them as well as you know we’ll look outside and see what makes sense this is for ben and josh you can chime in if you would like but we’re two years into the new collective bargaining agreement you’ve existed in this kind of environment and i’m curious how your thoughts on the aprons have evolved over the last couple years and if you know the second apron is kind of serving as a hard cap yeah it’s a fascinating one because when there’s a new cba there’s unintended consequences that that come with that so we’re we’re studying everything right now the second apron is is challenging because it’s very restrictive if you go over that um so yeah we’re looking at everything and we’re we’re very aware of of those rules um ownership has always provided us the resources we need and and we feel like we’ll always have that from an ownership perspective uh around the second apron um you know there was a lot of conversations last summer uh about uh kcp and us resigning him and around the second apron and we never really got any pointed questions about that or at least i didn’t um and it was a fascinating one because we we really did every exercise looking through um retaining him and what that meant under the new rules um and you know i think that for us as an organization uh going into that second apron is not necessarily something that we’re scared of uh i think that there are rules around it that we needed to be very careful of with our injury history um the wrong person gets injured and very quickly you’re into a scenario where uh that i never want to have to contemplate and that’s trade in number 15 um and so uh you know we’re very conscious of that pushing forward um and you know providing the resources that we can when the moment arrives but uh that second apron is it a hard cap i’m not 100% sure uh but it’s something that teams are obviously very aware of uh going forward sorry kind of piggyback off vinnie’s question there in this age of the apron how do you treat free agency has it has it changed how you guys look at free agency and when with building depth and building this team anyone of you i think it’s important to hit on the margins more than ever um but you know you’re hardcapped at certain situations so you just have to be aware of what you spend and how that affects you know essentially where where you’re hardcapped at and to add to that i mean with the skill sets you know coach adam is such a creative coach and to give him more tools to add to that toolbox to allow him to to complement the guys that we have i mean we have to remember there’s a core group here that won a championship a couple years ago so you know when these guys are healthy and at their best you know they’re one of the best starting lineups in in the entire league so just to kind of put certain skills certain things that can kind of alleviate the the ceiling of us and uh just kind of add compliments to da’s uh toolbox for ben or john whoever wants to take it the draft tipping off tomorrow getting into this job full-time just yesterday what’s the approach without having any draft picks are you are you all trying to get in there how do you try and handle it with such a short turnaround i think right now just being patient kind of checking out the landscape seeing what’s there what could come our way but at the same time we’re going to do our due diligence to kind of be ahead of the curve and be prepared for whatever might shake itself out and and to add to that we have a great group of front office people that we’ve been working around the clock before john started so feel very comfortable with the draft and we’re always going to be aggressive looking at getting in getting getting a good player you guys keep mentioning the margins talking about depth um specifically for john just plans for strawther watson continuing to develop the young guys well they’re good players i mean obviously the easiest way to develop is is time and so i think over the past couple years they’ve gotten more experience they played in real games and real situations so we have you know the utmost confidence in them it’s just a matter of you know kind of restructuring that and having a new approach this year uh with a few new voices but the energy and the outcome and the you know expected outcome is still the same i’ve got a question i don’t have a microphone i was wondering all three could answer uh what what kind of a role do you envision for don holmes is he a power forward is he a center how important will he be to the team next season i think he’s he’s probably both um i think that for him to come back you know we want to not rush him back from his injury and we’ll just allow him to take his time but he’s playing summer league and we’re not going to put pressure on on him coming back but he you know we expect him to be to be healthy and and ready to go then yeah we got the environment that’s going to be able to facilitate his growth i mean the age of positionless basketball and the type of system that we play he has actual skill sets with his shooting with his rim protection with his mobility to where we’re going to be able to highlight the way he plays and let him get more comfortable just getting those reps at this point this question is for both josh and ben just you guys have obviously been around nola you probably i would expect be looking to offer him an extension over the course of this summer do you expect to be offering that and do you expect him to accept it uh we’re definitely going to offer it i’m not sure if he’s going to accept it or not because we’re also going to explain every financial parameter around him signing now versus signing later be completely transparent that’s the way we always are and then he makes the best decision for himself and his family and we’ll support him in it john what made you want to come back to denver familiarity is always key in the situation i mean being able to work with good people has always been on the top of my list um knowing ben prior knowing the individuals that make up our office front office coaching staff it just seemed you know sort of a no-brainer and obviously you know having the ability to work with you know jamal uh nola ag mike you know that’s always you know an added bonus as well so makes sense this is for josh but also ben i’m curious what you think since you’ve been around ksc not just the nuggets but ksc for a while what property team have you observed a front office structure and you said that really works we need to learn the most from from this team and how the front office was structured and what are some of the key details that you think make for good front office structure um it’s a great question adam um i think that you know different front offices and different organization require different things at different points in time um you know i think from a nuggets perspective right now we’re not starting from scratch um we need to hit the ground running come game one next year um and so from an organizational standpoint i would say you know every team and every every one of our teams in our umbrella is slightly different um the rams are structured slightly different than arsenal and arsenal is structured slightly different than the abs and the abs are structured slightly different than the nuggets um but i think that the the the best to to i guess to answer your question i would say that the best traits involve uh constant communication people challenging one another going into a room and challenging different beliefs about themselves and the team and then coming out uh unified as as decision makers and all in together um you know just thinking back to uh you know the last 12 months on the avalanche side you know i think that that joe and chris did a phenomenal job navigating a difficult situation with miko randon um you know kevin my dad and i were involved on the periphery of all those those discussions and then eventually you make a decision together and you move forward um so i’ve seen it all in in different sports in different ways and uh i’m really excited to see what this group can do together because i think they have all the traits to be really successful i would just add uh synergy and collaboration is is always key for every organization i’ve seen um with with the kunkies and what they own i was able to go over and see arsenal recently and i’ve spent some time with the rams and the abs and um you know you need good people a healthy working environment it’s good to disagree but uh collaboration and and being together is is everything it’s a great question on that note ben when you collaborate with john if you guys disagree how do you fix that i honestly think it’s really healthy to disagree and we have a great group some of the front offices over there and we disagree constantly but what’s important is you know we make a decision together and and we’re united and uh we have great leaders josh mr kunky kevin demoff even mike ner who who’s a leader at at ksc um you know we have great people around to help navigate these things yeah i mean like like ben said you got to have tough conversations i think having individuals who kind of have the temperature and kind of seek out the temperature amongst the individuals involved in said collaboration i think is important i mean the game of basketball is about adjustments and the league can sometimes become sort of a copycat situation and i commend these guys for having the forward vision and being progressive just in the structure of what we have in place and so i think you got to be able to have that connectivity to know who to talk to how to talk to them and then reach that desired outcome ben you had the opportunity to be the interimm gm for the last two months or so what were some of the things you were up to and what were some of the things you learned in that role that you’re going to take forward in you know to your new role yeah to be honest i i didn’t know what it would be like and then when i got in the the chair i felt really comfortable and i think i was around messiah eugi for his first time here tim connley calvin booth all first time gms all very successful and uh i felt really prepared and it kind of surprised me because i didn’t know what it would be like um but we have a great front office so it was it was easy to lead that group through draft prep free agency all those things the team is amazing and da did an i would say coach adam did an amazing job um and uh i just felt like it was easy for me to help support the group and that’s that’s all i was trying to do um in this role you know it’s it’s a new challenge with john and it’ll be really fun to collaborate with him and i feel like the last couple months working with josh closely i feel ready for for this new responsibility for uh for any of you i guess that you guys have three roster spots open right now uh are you looking at bringing back any of those three guys that lead to those openings or or are you kind of trying to use what you can in those spots to to add to the roster with newcomers i think it’s it’s too early to speak on all that to to be honest but we’re we’re looking at everything and we’re always going to look at everything and be aggressive to to make the best roster we can john you want to yeah just it’s too early right now um obviously we know what we’ve had and kind of know what’s out there we just got to kind of go back to the drawing board next couple days and be objective and kind of see what the immediate needs are and address them as such josh what kind of input did you ask for or did you receive from jokic or from adelman on on these two guys getting getting the job and then for ben and john have you had any initial conversations with both adelman or jokic so far um you know i think i knew where uh most everybody in the organization stood um just not speaking to job responsibilities but where they they stood with both these guys personally um i think they’re two unbelievable human beings um that have no ego and so you know we’ll we’ll start there for sure uh they also have incredible skill sets um so to answer your question about da and yoke i think um one they know these guys as people um but they also know their skill sets and i think that they’re both really excited uh to have them and in the roles that they’re going to be in moving forward um both personally and professionally josh do you anticipate anybody adding anybody else to the front office or do you feel good about where you guys are at i think this was the most important first step for us right now um talked to a lot of people we have a lot of ideas uh about how we can continue to strengthen the front office but i think it’s important for for me and us to acknowledge how how much talent we have in there right now um i think it’s been great to re-engage with some of those guys that have been you know we have scouts in from out of town right now all in for the draft and so um adding john to that mix um is i can already tell it’s it’s going to work well um and for myself you know i think i trust both these guys and i’m going to be in constant communication with them both uh matt brooksnuggets.com nice to meet you both uh this is for john and ben um culture and the family atmosphere has been a big part of this organization how do each of you see yourselves adding to that and potentially influencing it again goes back to the familiarity aspect just kind of knowing what these guys need and what they want in terms of resources and playing into that um you know we’ll have conversations with each of the players you know outside of here one-on-one just kind of hey reintroduce ourselves kind of see what the outlook is and what their expectations are as well as what do they need from us and then that i think speaks back to this to the aspect of staffing and just you know from the overall standpoint of where we want to go as a team we’ll just uh we’ll take that into consideration and just to keep keep supporting them and their families as as much as as much as we can like like we always have john i’m vinnie benedetto um having the kind of viewpoint of being here and then leaving for a few years and returning and looking at the roster is there one skill that you see the roster as a whole kind of lacking not necessarily lacking um i mean you have to look obviously at what you’ve done where you you know where you are now the uh the west specifically has gotten younger and it’s gotten deeper so obviously depth is one of those things that you got to you have to address um i think the iq is so high here um the positional size is so high here i think you have you’re further alone than what you think you are i think now it’s just adding a few more pieces that can just give these guys honestly some rest i mean you can’t control the injuries you can’t control things but again it goes back to controlling what we can control and that’s just adding the individuals that fit this culture and fit this style of play josh i know we’ve asked you a couple times sort of about your role and hands-on hands-off when to be those two things now that you have this sort of structure in place is there anything different about your role with sort of these titles these two executive vps as opposed to sort of the title system with the gm before or do you see it as fairly similar um you know i think i can probably cite one of my answers uh from a previous day here with you with you with everyone was you know i think in times of transition i need to be a little bit more hands-on um and so i’m going to be around quite a little bit you know as as these guys are kind of assuming their roles making sure things are are moving smoothly um but at certain point i’m not saying i let go of the rope but you have to let people do their jobs um and my role with the nuggets is not a daily one um and so these guys i’ll be checking in with them you know probably you know every few days weekly um and then as the season starts the cadence of those conversations changes based on kind of what’s going on so um no i’m just excited excited to get to work with these two guys uh like i said i think they complement each other really well and i’m excited to see them continue to grow last questions adam spencer john um minnesota’s kind of had denver’s number for the last year or so so you easy easy so i i’m just curious what if you feel the team had identified something in in denver that that you could exploit and what those things maybe were and how you can address them i mean who who am i to speak to that you know in this in in this form um yes and no um i think anthony edwards is another he’s a generational talent i mean the the type of the type of pressure that he put and the way he played you have to commend that sometimes it’s not your night i say that’s not a knock on denver it’s not a knock on minnesota but um you know again it goes back to that that depth thing so we’re going to reassess some things and try to get some more more pieces in here to to be prepared for whatever we may face on a nightly basis all right thank you everybody we’ll do a quick follow up

Hear from Josh Kroenke, Vice Chairman of KSE with Ben Tenzer the Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, and Jon Wallace the Executive Vice President of Player Personnel.

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Media Availability with Josh Kroenke, Ben Tenzer, and Jonathan Wallace | 6/24/25