So, what do you think about the trade? It looks like Denver did two things with this trade by trading their second leading scorer: 1) upped the ante in the Lebron-a-thon: They saw Cleveland go on that 15 game losing streak, so they knew the level of suckiness at which the Cavs are capable. They didn't want to take any chances, so they end up getting Mark Bryant and Art Long, both of whom spend more time with the Pine than Yao Ming. 2) Clear up cap space: Damn, seven players in the final year of their contracts and $20 million in cap space for next year. That's not too shabby, but just ask Chicago how effective having a bunch of cap space is in signing free agents. Of course, a lot of that had to do with potential free agents living in the shadow of Jordan, and the last great player for Denver was...what...Kiki Vandeweigh?? Anyways, it's not like Denver could have gotten any WORSE with any trades, so this actually isn't too bad of a deal for them. James Posey might ask for a big extension, so the Nuggets eliminate any possible contract hassles with him so they can focus on big name free agents...
I think arround 30M for FAs. Counting on NBA rules and the penny pinching owner of the LAC, that could easily be translated into Kandi, Odom and Arenas.....add some luck in the Lottery and LeBron....everything but a starting 4 and Camby and Hilario should handle that nicely. Kandi/Hilario/Odom/James/Arenas.......0 to contender in one summer, with only 1.5 years of rebuilding. Well, James may be too much to hope for....how about Anthony....
Denver is doing the smart thing. Instead of taking a "band-aid" approach to a declining team like the Knicks did they just blew up the whole thing and started over. With a solid FA summer they could be very respectible very quick and it looks like they have a great coach there as well. I think Kandi is a VERY serious possibility there for next year. Arenas is also a serious possibility. Perhaps they can get one more decent level FA and a decent draft pick and BAM...just like that they are back in action. Better to be a Nuggest fan than a Knicks fan these days. At least there is a "direction"! Chris
I wouldn't be too sure of this approach. Will it work...maybe? But first, who's to say that being such a crappy team for what will amount to a year and a half will definitely result in good FA pickups? Almost certainly not a topnotch STAR. Olowakandi...maybe. Arenas...maybe. Another decent FA....maybe. But, the Clippers already have Olowakandi, they have Andre Miller, who is better than Arenas, they have other decent players (Richardson, Piatkowski) and another star level player (Elton Brand), and they STILL can't find a way to win. But adding Kandi and Arenas and whoever to Juwan Howard and whatever other players they put out on the court is going to put them back into the hunt, much less contention. I'll give Denver credit for taking the risk, but their plan may or may not work out any better than the more common method of slowly rebuilding over time
I can easily see Vandeweghe's recruiting conversations going something like this: Kiki: We have so much cap room, we can sign you AND the other free agent of your choice. Just tell me who you want to play with! Free agent: Well, I've always wanted to play with ____________ ... but basketball's a 5-man game, isn't it? Who else are we gonna be playing with? Kiki: Oh, well, you'll be playing alongside our rookies from last year, Nene Hilario and Tskitishvili. Free agent: Uh... aren't they still a couple of years away from being good? Especially Skita? Kiki: Um, sure, but there's also our very highly regarded top-3 pick, ____________ ... Free agent: That high schooler you drafted? Another guy who's two to three years away from being a good NBA player? Kiki: Yeah, but -- Free agent: I'll tell you what. How about if I sign a three-year deal somewhere else so I can win a few games while your guys are developing, and you come talk to me then?
Money is money, Swopa. Utah and Denver will draw free agents because they have the cap space. It is as simple as that. The reason the Bulls had so much trouble attracting free agents is because of Jerry Krause. Players seem to have a lot of respect for Vandeghwe. Denver is in much better shape than teams like the Knicks, Cleveland, Golden State and Memphis. They don't have a lot of high priced players playing the same position (like the Nuggets and Grizz) and are not capped out. I think this was a very smart move for the Nuggets.
I say denver trades thier entire roster for Zan Tabak, clones him into 5 people, and plays that for the rest of the season.
it is a great trade for the nuggests, james posey for 1st round pick, second round pick, and lebron james.. years from now, people will be asking, how did the nuggets do it?
What happened to NugzFan and Nuggets4? I think one of them was banned, but what happened to the other one?
