NBA Free Agents: Denver Nuggets Make Grave Mistake by Re-Signing Nene

In a game of high-stakes stare down, the Denver Nuggets were the ones to blink first.

The Nuggets were playing hard ball with Nene beautifully for the first few days of free agency, only to blow it. ESPN’s Marc Stein is reporting that the Nuggets have signed the Brazilian power forward to a mega deal:

The move baffles me.

Not only did they give him the maximum amount of years a team can give a player under the new agreement, but they overpaid him by about $10 million!

No team was willing to shell out over $13 million per season for a player who doesn’t know if he’s a power forward or a center.

To make matters worse, the Nuggets are the one team that is more than aware of the incompetence Nene has possessed time and time again in the postseason. In 44 postseason games he has averaged 10.8 points and 6.6 rebounds on a 53 percent shooting percentage. Bump all of those numbers up by three in the regular season. He doesn’t want to take the big shot and lacks the toughness required to survive in the paint come postseason time.

The Nuggets led the league in scoring a season ago and needed to upgrade their horrendous 21st-ranked defense. Re-signing an offensive-minded big man is not the answer.

Denver has been given ample evidence that the team is no better than a first-round exit the way they are currently structured. They could have used this season to rebuild and figure out who is worthy of sticking around in time to make a big push for a star player in next summer’s free-agent bonanza.

Instead, they will be regretting this deal by next April, when Nene fails to deliver in the playoffs yet again. At that point the organization will realize that they still have to pay him a ridiculous sum of money for four more years.

I understand loyalty, and both parties should be commended for sticking with each other for the last nine years, but this is the NBA. Loyalty doesn’t exist. It’s the “get mine” era and the Nuggets are insane for thinking they are going to get the same production from a 29-year-old Nene that they could have gotten from Grizzles center Marc Gasol, who signed a four-year deal worth $57.7 million.

Ironically, the 26-year-old Gasol (15 points, 11 rebounds) already has done more in the playoffs than Nene has in his entire career.

This is an awful move for the Nuggets, and one that prohibits them from taking that crucial jump up from playoff team to championship contender.

The Mile High City’s pro basketball team is now stuck at playoff team level for another five years.