Denver Nuggets name Calvin Booth general manager

Calvin Booth (Google Images)

Calvin Booth of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, has been named the new general manager of the Denver Nuggets according to the Associated Press on Tuesday. Booth replaces Arturas Karinsovas, who left the Nuggets, to be the executive vice-president of basketball operations for the Chicago Bulls on April 13.

Booth has been the assistant general manager of the Nuggets since August 16, 2017. In three seasons as Denver’s assistant general manager, the Nuggets have had a record of 143 wins and 86 losses.

Booth is obviously very familiar with the Nuggets organization, and it will now be interesting to see the kind of tinkering he tries to do to improve the overall squad. Denver’s top player, center Nikola Jokic of Sombor, Serbia is currently battling coronavirus. Jokic had a game to remember for the Nuggets on February 4, as he had 30 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 rebounds in a 98-95 Nuggets win over the Utah Jazz.

Prior to his time in Denver, Booth was a scout with the New Orleans Pelicans during the 2012-13 season, and then joined the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 2013-14 season. He was a scout for two seasons and Minnesota’s director of player personnel for the 2015-16 season, and the 2016-17 season.

As a player, Booth played 10 seasons in the NBA as a center with the Washington Wizards, Dallas Mavericks, Seattle SuperSonics, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Sacramento Kings. He averaged only 3.3 points per game, and 2.8 rebounds per game in 366 career games. Booth usually came off the bench as he had only 83 career starts.

Also during his career, Booth was known for his shot-blocking. He had 358 blocks in his career, including 10 in one game. That occurred during a 104-96 Supersonics loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 13, 2004. Booth’s 10 blocks are the second most in one game in the history of the Supersonics/Oklahoma City Thunder organization. Only Serge Ibaka has more, as he had 11 blocks in a 124-118 Oklahoma City win over Denver on February 19, 2012.

Booth is also only the third player in NBA history to record 10 blocks in one game without committing a personal foul. The other two are Keon Clark, who had 12 blocks in a 112-86 Raptors win over the Atlanta Hawks on March 23, 2001, and Josh Smith, who had 10 blocks in a 90-68 Hawks loss to the Dallas Mavericks on December 18, 2004.