Denver Nuggets Hire New Orleans Executive Tim Connelly as New GM

Filling the gap left by former GM Masai Ujiri, the Denver Nuggets have hired Tim Connelly, a former executive of the New Orleans Hornets, to be their new General Manager. Per Yahoo! Sports: “The Denver Nuggets have hired New Orleans executive Tim Connelly as the franchise’s executive vice president of basketball operations, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Connelly, 36, has been considered one of the league’s rising star young executives and will move immediately into the Nuggets search for a coach and preparation for the NBA draft and free agency. He will replace the NBA’s executive of the year, Masai Ujiri, who left for the Toronto Raptors. Nuggets CEO Josh Kroenke plans to work closely with Connelly in reshaping the Nuggets front office and building upon a 57-victory team that earned the third seed in the Western Conference. Connelly is part of a younger generation of league executives moving into top management positions around the league, and has been compared favorably to Orlando’s Rob Hennigan and Phoenix’s Ryan McDonough as part of the league’s next crop of bright young minds.”