The Nuggets are taking their time looking for a new head coach, with a decision not expected for another couple weeks.

Team president Josh Kroenke spoke at length about the search and other topics Thursday with The Denver Post. The most pressing issue is securing a coach, and Kroenke said that process has gone as expected.

“It’s exactly how we thought it would go,” Kroenke said. “We’ve had several conversations with a lot of people. I think that it benefits us to talk to as many people as we can. We have some people in the back of our mind that we think would be great fits. I’ve talked to enough people, and going through the process before, your coaching hire is probably going to be your hardest hire because there’s so much that goes into that role in today’s sporting industry.”

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Kroenke said he is not worried about the length of time it has taken. The Nuggets season ended April 15.

“It’s beneficial for us on some level to be patient,” Kroenke said. “I think more candidates have opened up since the end of the season. Based on different organizations wanting to go different directions with different guys, I think there was never a time when we wanted to rush into anything.

“Until you have that guy that you know is the one that you want, I think it really benefits you to talk to as many people as you can. Because also during the course of these interviews you’re getting to pick some of the best basketball minds that are out there. That’s an incredible benefit to the process.”

The Nuggets finished the season with Melvin Hunt as their interim head coach. He’s in the mix for the job along with others such as Mike D’Antoni and Alvin Gentry. The Nuggets have talked to other candidates as well.

“We have a list of traits that we have identified that are incredibly important to us going forward,” Kroenke said. “And we’ve had several conversations with people already to kind of identify if those guys have the traits that we’re looking for.”

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As for the roster, Kroenke hesitated to say he would author a complete rebuild after just 66 victories in two seasons.

“Your job each year is to put as competitive a team together as you can, along with a bigger picture towards something possible at the end,” he said. “Honestly, I think people fall back on the term ‘blow up’ too easily. I always just say ‘retool.’ We’re going to keep tinkering until we have the group we feel can compete going forward. Whether that’s through the draft, or we create (cap) space going forward, or what.”

Kroenke was generally pleased at how the team finished out the season after then-coach Brian Shaw was fired and Hunt took over. He noted, however, that the players’ attitudes over the entire course of the season would be taken into account as roster adjustments are made.

“I think that while we were left encouraged by everything that was done after the coaching change, and smiles on guys faces, playing more free flowing style on offense, we can’t ignore the previous 50 games, either,” he said. “It was all part of the same group. You’re going to weigh both options as we go forward, because we don’t want to be a negative environment.”

The Nuggets have the No. 7 pick in the June 25 NBA draft.

“Our fans deserve the best,” Kroenke said. “They’ve been subject to a lot of things over the last couple of years — a couple of different styles of play, different players — we made it through the Carmelo (Anthony) saga. Now, we really want to build a team that they are going to be proud of going forward, that can truly try to compete for something.”

Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dempseypost