So how did you first, you were 25, correct? When you first kind of started with Denver, is that right?

Yeah, you know, I came right to my experience was I actually played football in college at New Mexico State.

I got out in 91.

My first job out of college, I actually worked at UNLV.

I was a sports information director there.

I was there for three years.

I was with Jerry Tarkanian, who had an assistant by the name of Tim Gergerich, who's the godfather of player development in the NBA.

So how did you see him, Tommy, kind of evolve and change performance-wise on the court?

How do you, from your perspective of, you know, especially from, from us that can't see it, the same perspective as you, what do you, what do you look at when you're looking at assistant coaches for what would become a good head coach in the league?

Well, certainly it all starts with, with your acumen for the game, your ability to, ability to teach the game, to coach the game, to motivate people.

I think anymore it's really unlikely one person's gonna be the solution to everything.

So with a head coach, who is your staff? Who is gonna be your Yoda? Who is gonna be the person that fills your blind spots? Who, you know, all the strengths that you have, where maybe are some of your blind spots, who are you gonna fill those with? That, those are really big questions.

When older coaches have their staffs they assemble, you notice there's a lot of symmetry throughout, where there's young coaches that can deal with a lot of the younger players.

There's, there's vets that can deal with the veteran players, and they're different problems, different problem sets in, during the season, and certainly in the playoffs.

You, you know, you wanna make sure you have people that are instilling confidence in their players.

And what did a team do that, that failed a player in a way that wasn't on them if they were a bust or whatever?

When you have a legit title window or legit contention window, how do things change for front office people running a team, and how they think about what to do?

Well, I, I think certainly you always have to have a pretty good idea of who has a legit chance every year to win a title.

A- and I go back to when, when I first started with the Wizards and we were getting going.

You know, it's, it kind of ends up who do you run into, and we kept running into LeBron James.

And, you know, you, you look back in history, and a lot of teams could have probably done much better except for this player, right? Y- Detroit was that team for Michael until Michael figured them out and finally got over the top.

It doesn't come overnight.

And I, I think for teams, you shift as the game ...

So I'm curious how you've seen team building dynamics evolve just in the last four years and how teams have kept up with what the league is now.

When you look at the top of this draft class, where does this rank amongst other draft classes that, you know, you got to really scout and observe and study?

Well, certainly th- this, this draft class has been having a high twitch for, for some time.

I've, I've worked with USA Basketball, uh, just go to a lot of their camps and, and spend a lot of time with, I've been with the U16s, U17s, U18s.

I'm heading to the U17s this weekend for their camps.

And what I do, really I just kind of stand around and evaluate the talent, talk to the players, talk to the coaches.

You know, when they're selecting players, we just kind of throw some stuff out there, 'cause I, I really enjoy my time with USA Basketball.

It's been over 25, 30 years.And, and so, you know, when you're putting FIBA clubs together, you have to really examine, what do we need for this week to win? But the point I'm trying to make here is that I've been around this cl- draft class right here since they were 16.

Let's do it.

How much do you feel like ownership plays a responsibility in that? And then how does that kind of permeate?

I think everybody in the NBA is so grateful.

The valuations of these franchises have skyrocketed.

It's good business to be an owner in the NBA.

A lot of people are coming to it now.

I think a big part of that, obviously, is that it's a great game.

We talk about football being America's game, but basketball is kind of the global game.

you know,