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Thursday, August 9, 2001
Vandeweghe back with Nuggets as GM
Associated Press
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DENVER -- Kiki Vandeweghe was hired as general manager of
the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, rejoining the team he starred on in
the 1980s.
He signed a five-year contract that will pay him about $750,000
a year, ending the Nuggets' five-week search to fill the job.
Vandeweghe has no front office experience. He spent the last two
seasons as director of player personnel and assistant coach with
the Dallas Mavericks.
"I'm just very excited to be back in Denver," Vandeweghe said
at a news conference. "More than any other city I played in, I had
the most fun here. The fans were the best here. We had winning
teams and just a great family feeling here. I want to recapture
that feeling."
During a 13-year NBA career, Vandeweghe played for the Nuggets
for four seasons (1980-84) and was twice an All-Star.
Nuggets president and coach Dan Issel called Vandeweghe "one of
the premier player-development people in this league right now."
He said he clearly was the best choice from among 15 original
candidates.
The Nuggets plan to hire an assistant general manager to counsel
Vandeweghe on such matters as player contracts.
Issel noted he had no front office background when he became the
team's head of basketball operations three years ago.
By hiring Vandeweghe, the Nuggets free Issel to concentrate on
coaching.
"One thing we want Kiki to do is grow in this position," Issel
said. "I certainly don't want to get in his way. But obviously we
will all have input on player-personnel moves and what we do to try
to improve the team. Basically, what I want Kiki to do are all of
the duties that a general manager does -- negotiating contracts,
being in charge of scouting talent, acquiring talent, pacifying
agents, all of that stuff."
Because Issel ranks both above and below Vandeweghe on the
Nuggets' hierarchy, the question has been raised about who has the
ultimate say on matters. All parties agreed that owner Stan Kroenke
will be the tiebreaker.
Vandeweghe said he was encouraged by the Nuggets' improvement on
the court the last three seasons and by Kroenke's commitment to
winning.
Kroenke has won championships with the NFL's St. Louis Rams and
NHL's Colorado Avalanche.
"One of the first questions I asked Mr. Kroenke during the
interview process was, `Are you committed to win, will you spend
the dollars to win?"' Vandeweghe said.
"I woke up one morning and looked at the paper and saw how much
he was paying his hockey players," he said. "And I thought, `That
answers my question. This guy is committed to win.' And that's the
message we want to send to the rest of the NBA."
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