After weeks of trying to decipher the baffling decisions made by the Denver Nugget’s front office in my first first article of this two part series, they threw perhaps the biggest curve-ball to date: the trade of Marcus Camby to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Wednesday morning came much the same as it always does: Wake up, turn on the TV, and flip to the series of ESPN channels. It was then when I caught a teaser informing the viewers that Marcus Camby was no longer a Denver Nugget.
The possibilities were racing through my head, both good and bad, as to what the Nuggets front office might have pulled off. Then I got to thinking, what could the Clippers really offer for Camby? My hopes were fading fast, and rightfully so.
The Denver Nuggets received no players in the deal. They received no future draft picks.
So what exactly made this deal so enticing? It was a salary dump to the tune of 20 million dollars, in addition to a trade exception totaling 10 million dollars.
Color me unimpressed.
The upside of the trade is obviously getting rid of Camby’s contract, providing some much needed salary cap relief. That was one of my keys to a quick rebuilding process. This will allow without a shadow of a doubt that the Nugget’s will retain J.R. Smith.
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Now the Nugget’s can build around a young core of Carmelo Anthony, Linas Kleiza, Nene, and J.R. Smith.
The trade exception is what is mind-boggling to me. If a team were looking to get rid of contracts, why ask for a trade exception? Now the Nugget’s must find 10 million dollars worth of a player to use it on. So in essence they got rid of a bad contract to take in another?
Case in point, the New Jersey Net’s reportedly offered a package of Nenad Kristic, Josh Boone, & Marcus Williams for Camby, and the Nugget’s rejected it. If that’s the case, Denver obviously didn’t want to take back salaries, making the trade expense perplexing, as stated above.
There exists one alternative to all of this. Denver seems to have a loaded gun involving the ever so enticing expiring contract of Allen Iverson, three draft picks in 2009, as well as the rather large trade exception.
Is there a scenario out there to satisfy that sort of deal? I’ll leave that to you readers and arm-chair GM’s to come up with ideas and dreams.
Another option would be not to use the exception at all. If that were the case, why not ask for at least a draft pick while you’re at it? That makes for more alluring trade packages when you have four draft picks to work with in 2009.
If the front office is choosing to strictly travel down the salary dump road, they must prove it and send Allen Iverson on his way. If they do not, I’m not quite sure what the thought process is here.
To make matters worse, the trade left Denver pretty thin in their front-court, after the Nuggets chose not to draft a big in this year’s draft when plenty were available at pick No. 20.
Who was available at pick No. 20? Kosta Koufus, DeAndre Jordan, or Alex Ajinca all would have been assets and made dealing Camby more tolerable.
So what are the options now? Chris “Birdman” Anderson and Francisco Elson. No, really, that is not a joke. What’s next? Are they to re-acquire Earl Boykins and lure Voshon Leonard out of whatever rock he is hiding under?
One would think that the front office wouldn’t be dumb enough to just sit on their hands while other Western Conference teams pass them by. I’m not holding my breath though.
So the jury is still out on whether or not this trade was worth it. Several opportunities exist, and the next move should provide what direction the Denver Nugget’s front office is taking the team.
In the mean time, Nugget’s fans remain pessimistic, hoping that the team does not revisit the nightmares of a downtrodden past.
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about 1 month ago
I just hope Denver trades Iverson and put him out of his misery. That guy deserves better. If they trade him, the least they can do is make sure they trade him to a team where he can contend utill he retires, considering that they fooled everyone into thinking that when they made the trade for him that they were ready to contend now. The only thing is, if/when they trade Iverson it is going to get a hell of a lot worse before it gets any better for the Nuggets and i'm not just talking about this up coming season, i'm talkinng about seasons to come. They are going to be in trouble and if they don't make the playoffs for two or more seasons (which is a strong possibility in the West) they will more then likely have to trade Carmelo too and start all over.
from about 1 month ago
Amen!
about 1 month ago
Hey man, I totally agree with you. I mean, that has to be the worst deal of the off-season to date
about 1 month ago
I agree about Iverson. Many Denver fans seem not to respect him, saying they can't wait to get rid of him next year and all this. Some called him selfish for not opting out (?). If the Nuggets are really planning to rebuild and this year is viewed as a wash (ie: they are seriously not trying to contend this year), please send the guy somewhere he can at least have a shot at better.
from about 1 month ago
I agree with you Mark, and I am not one to bash Iverson, but we all need to admit the AI/Melo experiment failed. I am looking for the benefit of my team, and by no means am I saying "get the hell out" to Iverson, rather, if the Nuggets are currently pursuing the salary dump route, AI needs to be traded as well, just as Camby was.
AI is a tremendous player who will not benefit under Coach Karl's regime, and in no means does it downgrade him as a player in my eyes.
from about 1 month ago
Mike* Dont know where I got Mark from, lol
about 1 month ago
I actually don't think the nuggets are going to inferioirty. They are freeing up cap space, AI is going to leave next year, and they will have lots of money to put talent and needed bodies around Melo, Kleiza, JR Smith, and Nene. These people are all young, not above the age of 28 and can easily have a team be built around them. All they need is some big bodies, and a point guard, which will be easy if next years off season is anything like this years.
from about 1 month ago
I dont think the Nuggs are headed back to inferiority either, but it is a possibility with those who are in charge.
The problem with addressing problems through free agency, even with the departures of Camby and Najera, they are over the cap, and thats before the impending signing of JR Smith.
The Nuggs are 20 million in the hole, and that equals AI's contract, so getting his conract off the books either this year or next will help. As I said though, signing JR will put them right back in the hole.
The soonest any real money could be spent is after K-Marts contract is up. That is why the trade exception was aquired, but again, that will keep them in salary cap hell for quite some time.
The MLE is about all Denver will have to offer the next couple of years.
about 1 month ago
Good article about the blunders made by the Nuggets front office.
Actually its Mark Warkentien who is behind all of these foolish trades.
The move I do however agree with was the trading of the 20th pick for a 2009 1st round draft pick, because it allows the Nuggets a bit more leverage than it did this year.
There are a few desirable big men that the Nuggets could use: Patrick Patterson, Jordan Hill, Austin Daye.
But the big name that sticks out: Hasheem Thabeet.
If the Nuggets are able to snatch Thabeet, it will be a franchise saving move.
The 2009 NBA Draft however, is loaded with shooting guards and small forwards, speaking of which if they're lucky they could land Stephon Curry or Gerald Henderson.
Both would be lovely for Denver.
from about 1 month ago
I agree with you Sean, Wark is the man behind these problems. He is our labeled "GM" and Im tired of it, we need to hire a real full time GM.
The only problem with trading our 20th pick this year was that it was protected. Can the Bobcats make the playoffs and reward us with thier pick? possibly, but that is a big risk to take. We may not even recieve that pick for a couple of years.
To get Thabeet, we are going to have to be in the lottery, thus missing the playoffs, and then more than likely move up even farther to get him. He's top 10 material depending on this upcoming college season.
I just actually hope we USE our draft picks next year.
about 1 month ago
No problem Cody...the immediate issue with the Nuggets is health. Their projected lineup isn't that bad, if you move AI to PG and have JR start at the SG. Round out with a frontline of Melo, Martin, and Nene, and it's actually ok. The loss of Najera hurts...so does that of Camby, except I have a theory about Marcus and the overall "crappy" D shown by Denver. It's no secret that they have wanted to be a run and gun, up tempo team...while I don't think any of their guys are all world defenders on the perimeter, I do think the strategy was to funnel players into Camby to take advantage of his great helpside D and initiate break opportunities. I think it's a combo of porous D on the perimeter and strategy. Without Camby back there, the perimeter guys will automatically be held more accountable.
I think it's unfair to waste another season off of AI's career...they should do their best with what they got NOW. An offensive trio of Melo/AI/Smith is arguably the most potent trio you will find anywhere in the league. A frontline of Martin/Nene/Melo is also very good, IF Martin AND Nene can stay healthy.
Also, I don't think the AI/Melo experiment was ever thought thru in the first place. That said, they've had two first round exits with that combo, but to who? The Lakers (W.Conf. champs) and the Spurs (NBA champs). To say that equals "failure" is beyond me, since in both first round exits, they lost to the best in the West, and, in the case of SA, the best in the NBA.
We all have reason to think Portland will be much better with Oden and all the young talent they have. Clips may improve aswell. But Dallas, Phoenix, and GS are no longer gimmees. LAL should come back strong, as should NO and Utah, but what about SA (age). Denver is far from dead this year. They threw away AT LEAST 5 games last year and still racked up 50 wins.
Of course, for AI's sake, I'm hoping all this translates to success in 2008-09.
from about 1 month ago
What I mean by "failure" isn't me saying it was a disaster to pair these two players together. The move bringing AI over was supposed to take the Nuggets to the next step, but in fact, it got them no further than they got before Iverson arrived.
I've seen far too many games in which it seemed like Melo and AI would try to stay on par with each other. If AI was lighting it up, Melo would come down and jack up a shot with 18 still on the clock to keep pace with Iverson, and vice versa. Just not very cohesive styles on the court.
As far as the argument of losing to the best of the West in those playoff exits, my rebuttal would be that the Nuggs should be garnering a 3,4,5 seed, and avoid those teams. In the end, they have underachieved in the regular season. Hell even when they got a 3 seed a few years back by winning the division, their record was still poor enough to not have home court advantage against a 6 seed.
Looking at the team without Camby, it still is a very formidable lineup. K-Mart has been and will be a better defender than Camby. Don't get me wrong, Camby is a plus defender, but overrated as all hell. K-Mart was put on Kobe in this years playoffs, and forced Kobe into a good amount of airballs and bad looking shots. Kobe being Kobe though, still got his.
The problem is going to be depth, and quality depth at that.
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