Jake Mintz

And that flashed in the pan for Denver alongside other talent that they had brought in where they could afford to take a risk like that and hit.

is what brought AK and then ultimately Mark Eversley and ultimately Billy Donovan here.

And John Paxson had stepped away.

I don't know how much he was involved with the process at that time, but that he had vacated his position in the front office to be able to allow that to happen.

So again, they did that.

But this time, we have to also ask, given everything that Michael Reinsdorf talked about, and that given this is a surprise in a way,

How much has the interview process at times, especially with the previous regime, you may have thought they went one direction with a draft pick, Derrick Queen, for example, and then they go a complete other way in Noah Essengate.

That's scouting, but it does indicate Patrick Williams, for example, with the fourth overall pick.

That's the part of this for me.

The interview process, as we understand, Bryson Graham nailed.

And he does have an impressive resume, starting as an intern in New Orleans, having played college ball at Texas A&M, working his way from the very bottom to the very top.

And he is respected in the league.

But you just don't want the one process to override everything else that may have been the criteria involved with who was available.

Whether it be Talep, whether it be Lewin from the Celtics, whether it be Matt Lloyd from the Timberwolves, who had the Bulls' adjacent resume.

Well, that's it, too, is the adjacency to the franchises, right?

The Hawks are not as prolific right now in the NBA as the locations of the other candidates.

Lloyd and the Timberwolves, I'd say they're doing pretty well perennial-wise.

Western Conference finalists, even with or without Anthony Edwards.

We saw what happened with Io DeSumo this season.

Maybe that's my recency bias, but I feel like the Timberwolves have been putting something good together for years.