NBA Trades: Did the Denver Nuggets Improve by Trading Carmelo Anthony?

Simply thinking, it's impossible for an NBA team to trade away their best player(s) and actually improve.

But the world is as complex as trading a superstar in the NBA, and what the Nuggets received in return for Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups (and three guys on the bench) was substantial.

The Melo megadeal will go down as a turning point in Nuggets history, when the franchise changed from selfish, isolation-oriented ball to team-first basketball.

One only has to look at George Karl, whose body has been beaten up by cancer twice, as Karl smiled when he spoke of his new squad.

The wise old head coach said, “There are four things that are as good as it’s ever been: We’re bigger than we’ve ever been, we’re younger than we’ve ever been. It’s the best team in my mind. Now this hasn’t been proven yet, but I feel it will be the best running team we’ve ever had...You're young, you're big, you run and you pass.

“The personality of how we play is now much better than I think it was before.”

In the trade, the Nuggets added heaps of height, an area Denver was deficient in for many years. New starting small forward Danilo Gallinari is long (6'10”), Wilson Chandler is as tall as Melo (6'8”) and the two 7-footers the Nuggets received in the trade (Timofey Mozgov, Kosta Koufos) have yet to play.

Both Gallinari and Chandler have shown how they can use their height to their advantage on the defensive end. Gallinari has four blocks and Chandler three blocks in their first two games in Denver, and newly acquired point guard Raymond Felton has assisted six times per game, snagging 3.5 rebounds per.

And the three newcomers' effort on the defensive end, along with the rest of the Nuggets, is a reason why this team could be better than they ever were with Melo.

This young unit, who has had relatively no time to practice together, is currently functioning better on both ends of the court than the Melo-era Nuggets ever did.

Karl is excited because he finally has a group of players that will relentlessly try hard and play the game the “right way,” and Nuggets fans should be excited too.

In their first game together, the new-look Nuggets dominated a Boston Celtic team that is the beast of the East, D-ing up their opponents with as much fervor as Denver usually displays only on the offensive end.

The Nuggets actually resembled the Celtics' style of play, a possible best-case scenario coming out of this trade.

The Nuggets held the C's to only 75 points on the night and Denver's young squad ran the old team from Boston up and down the court, outscoring them 14-4 on the fast break. Newcomer Wilson Chandler was second on the team in scoring, at 16 points, and Gallinari blocked three shots.

In their second game against a solid Trailblazers team, the new Nuggets lost a heartbreaker that went into overtime (107-106) but they fought hard the entire way. Gallinari and Chandler combined to score 50 points, while snagging 15 rebounds as well. They didn't win the game, but Denver did run the floor and rebound better than they have all season.

Here's a quick look at some important stats for the Nuggets in their first two games together post-Melo:

Points per game: 97.5

Points allowed: 91.0

Rebounds per game: 57

Blocks per game: 6.5

Fast break points per game: 14.5

Points in the Paint per game: 37

Assists per game: 21.5

Of course, the sampling of games is still too few to know for sure how this new group of players will consistently play together, but the numbers are encouraging to say the least.

Denver's scored almost 10 points per game less than they usually do, but they're also allowing 13 points less than they previously had.

The most shocking statistical improvements by the Nuggets have been their increase in both rebounding and blocking the basketball. Denver has gone from 15th in the NBA in rebounding (40-57 per game) increasing by 17 boards per contest, and they've been doing much better at blocks, averaging 6.5 blocks per game compared to their league-worst 4.1 per contest.

Those are both very telling stats when defense and effort are concerned.

These Nuggets, they way they are constructed currently, may not have the star power or the spark that made them a nationwide fan favorite before, but this is a team that will play together, give their all at all times and this team will surprise many people as time goes on.

Contract Questions

Of course, this team must continue to grow together, and they may not have much time since so many of the players coming up on the end of their contracts.

As of now, six of the current Denver Nuggets are not signed past this season, and Nene has a player option to opt out of his deal a year early at the end of this season as well.

Kenyon Martin, JR Smith, Gary Forbes and Melvin Ely all have contracts that end this year, although the Nuggets are likely to re-sign Smith and Forbes would be a cheap option to keep around for depth at the small forward position.

Arron Afflalo and Wilson Chandler's contracts also end, although each have a team option that Denver could pick up. Both options are relatively inexpensive (Afflalo: $2.9 million, Chandler: $3.1 million) and both players are proving important to the Nuggets. In 2012, Denver only has three players signed (Al Harrington, Chris Andersen and Timofey Mozgov), so the future is definitely in the air in Denver as of right now.

The Nuggets' front office has much more work to do beyond this blockbuster trade, but they've laid the foundation of a winning franchise as of now, and if they re-sign the majority of these players Denver will be a better team in the end then they were with Melo.

Rich Kurtzman is a freelance journalist actively seeking a career in journalism. Along with being the CSU Rams Examiner, Kurtzman is a Denver Nuggets, Denver Broncos and NBA Featured Columnist for bleacherreport.com, the Colorado/Utah Regional Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com and a weekly contributor to milehighhoops.com.

Rich also heads up PR for K-Biz and Beezy, a Colorado-based rap group.
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