Masai Ujiri Named NBA Executive of the Year


No surprise here — Denver Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri was voted as the League’s top front-office executive. Finishing second in the voting for the award was Gary Sacks of the Clippers, followed by the Rockets’ Daryl Morey and Glen Grunwald of the Knicks. Here’s the NBA’s press release: “Denver Nuggets Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Masai Ujiri is the recipient of the 2012-13 NBA Basketball Executive of the Year award, the NBA announced today. Ujiri was instrumental in assembling an ensemble cast — nine players averaged between 8.0 and 16.7 points and Denver’s bench ranked second overall in scoring (41.3 ppg) — that finished with the league’s fourth-best record (57-25, .695) and secured the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference Playoffs. Denver’s league-best 38-3 (.927) mark at Pepsi Center tied for the 14th best home mark in league history. Over the summer, Ujiri augmented Denver’s roster by acquiring Andre Iguodala from Philadelphia in a four-team, 12-player deal, and he re-signed JaVale McGee and Andre Miller. Since joining the Nuggets front office prior to the 2010-11 season, Ujiri has drafted Kenneth Faried (No. 22 overall in 2011), and in addition to Iguodala, McGee and Miller, has acquired Corey Brewer, Wilson Chandler, Ty Lawson, Danilo Gallinari and Kosta Koufos via trades.With those players comprising the bulk of the roster, the Nuggets opened the 2012-13 campaign as the NBA’s third-youngest team with an average age of 24.9 years. Despite their youth, the Nuggets compiled two of the seven longest winning streaks in the NBA in 2012-13, including a franchise-best-tying 15 straight wins (Feb. 23-March 23). Additionally, according to NBA.com/Stats, Denver was a Western Conference-best 24-4 (.857) after the All-Star break.”