Nuggets can learn free agency lessons from Celtics pursuit of Al Horford

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Outside of a successful draft and a Summer League outing which showcased their young players, the most exciting event for the Denver Nuggets this offseason was their seemingly quixotic free agency pursuit of future Hall-of-Famer Dwyane Wade.

Their efforts culminated in landing a meeting with the perennial All-Star guard which, though ultimately unsuccessful, was in its own right a sort of moral victory. Many doubted Wade would even give Denver the time of day, let alone lavish praise and respect on the organization and its promising future.

Given the Nuggets’ recently diminished stature in the NBA, and their long history of being unable to land marquee free agents, the perception that it was highly implausible Wade would sign with the Nuggets hung over the whole affair, and there was plenty of good-humored eye-rolling and “yeah, right”-ing to go around.

But Denver came at least close enough to take a swing and a miss, receiving Wade’s blessings in the process. More importantly, they have a talented, burgeoning young core, and the cap space to potentially offer two maximum contracts in 2017.

Considering all this, and the Nuggets’ reputation among the aggressive teams in the free agency and trade markets, there is good reason to believe they will be taken much more seriously next summer.

On a recent episode of The Vertical Podcast with Chris Mannix, Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens shed some light on his team’s process in pursuing two of the summer’s biggest name free agents, Kevin Durant and Al Horford.

Although the Celtics missed out on Durant, landing Horford was a coup which made their offseason one of the NBA’s most successful, and as a result, Boston should be a true force to be reckoned with in the East this season.

In the interview, Stevens offered insight into many aspects of Boston’s approach to free agency – what they focused on in meeting top players, the importance of a team’s vision in pitching to free agents, the significance to Boston of a player of Horford’s stature signing with them – which will soon be, if they are not already, of great relevance and consequence to Denver’s own free agent pursuits.

Some excerpts of the interview follow below:

Stevens, when asked by Mannix what his points of emphasis were in meeting with Durant:

“Well, we’ll go into each – you know, when we met with Al, and tried to, in a different way because they’re different positions and different players – show why he’s such a good fit for us. And you know obviously we did the same with Kevin and then you try to show why you’re close, why your group and this organization has a great shot, and is making progress and moving forward. And you know, again, I thought it was a really productive time, not productive enough in Kevin’s case, but certainly with Al it was, and we’re looking forward to keep making progress.”

On what about the Celtics’ pitch sold Horford on their team and resonated with him:

“You know, I don’t know, I don’t think it was anything specific. We talk about, again, who we are, who we want to be, some of the things we value as far as competitive character and people around you. Obviously we had a few of our players with us in the room, and they could speak differently about it, you know, with Isaiah coming in just eighteen months ago, and Jae twenty months ago, Kelly being there the whole time, they could speak to the process and the progress that we’ve made, and where we want to keep going.

Obviously, we played against Al in the playoffs so he had a real familiarity with how we play on both ends of the court. But then, we talked about not only the fit from a playing standpoint, but the opportunity from a leadership standpoint that we saw for him in Boston. And hey, he had a great situation with great coaches and a great organization in Atlanta. That’s what you realize when you’re out there and you’re trying to sell yourself or sell your organization.

There’s thirty good options, and the bottom line is everybody has something to sell. And so I just think you go in there, and you get a chance to acquaint yourself with him, and you kind of tell him your vision, tell him how you want to get there, and you hope they buy into that.”

On how meaningful it is for Boston to land a player of Horford’s caliber when the Celtics historically have been unable to sign big time free agents:

“You know, I think the meaningful part for me because I’m not aware of the fifty years of free agency, right, how often have we actually had the space to pursue somebody, etcetera, etcetera, I don’t know the stats on all that. But the meaningful thing to me is that coming in three years ago after the big trade and having, you know, a lot of change those first 18 months, is the kind of the stability and continuity they’ve provided, a real sense of progress that you feel like is being recognized around the league. And you’re hopeful that that’s the case, but when a guy like Al decides to come, you feel like you’re moving in that direction you’re talking about moving in, right? So that was the validating part of it.”

Among Stevens’ insights, perhaps the most relevant to the Nuggets’ situation is the aspect of the opportunity for leadership which they will be able to offer potential All-Star caliber free agents who would be joining a team comprised of players who would mostly be younger and less experienced, and developing toward their primes.

But we can also glean something of the importance of the idea that money isn’t everything, and that the team’s vision, their “competitive character” as Stevens put it, their process, their progress, and the direction they are growing in all factor in together as important components of the pitch.

And in the summer of 2017, we will find out if Nuggets will be able to finally put together the complete offer that finally lures an all-too-elusive superstar free agent (or two) to the Mile High City.