Why No Offers For Kleiza? No Defense

There have been many rumors surrounding potential suitors for Denver Nuggets' small forward Linas Kleiza. Denver extended the qualifying offer of $2.7 million to Kleiza, and soon thereafter Toronto quickly appeared as a strong candidate to outbid the Nuggets.  Cleveland has also surfaced as a team potentially interested in the Lithuanian forward. 

Yet, at this point, even in the midst of this frenzied free agency period that has seen so much movement among so many star players, not one single NBA team has seen fit to pitch Kleiza a penny more than that paltry $2.7 million.

On the surface, this might seem somewhat mystifying for a player who as recently as the trade deadline of 2008 was rumored to have been the key piece in a possible deal for Ron Artest, who was still with Sacramento at the time. And heading into the 2009-'10 season, it was widely expected that Kleiza would command the full MLE upon entering free agency.

So what happened? Why aren't there any teams out there trying to steal him for $4 million from the Nuggets?

Because he has proven only one thing this season: That he's just not worth it.

Consider the two teams rumored to be courting him. The Raptors with potent scorers in Chris Bosh, and the Cavaliers with LeBron James, are surely most interested in a complimentary player who can fortify them on the defensive end of the court. 

Well, don't look to Kleiza for that. He is a lethargic defender, with very limited lateral speed, who would generally rather step aside than face up his defender, and he consistently exhibits a lack of aggression and an inability to box out when it comes to grabbing rebounds on the end of the play. 

On defense he's practically useless.

And that sure doesn't make his inconsistent 3-point shooting, total lack of a mid-range jumper, inability to create, selfishness when it comes to dishing off to his teammates or the fact that his greatest skill is cherry picking appealing to the tune of the $4-5 million that would put his price tag out of the Nuggets' reach and cause them not to match it.

Not even close.