The Denver Nuggets recently made some big news in trading Allen Iverson for essentially Chauncey Billups. Some thought this was a good move as it would give the Nuggets some leadership and calm the frantic storm that the Nuggets offense was. Others thought it was dumb because they not only gave up the best player in the trade, but lost long term flexibility in the trade too. Turns out, the others might be right.
The Nuggets are currently facing a big problem. That is, they have no bigs. They traded center Marcus Camby in the offseason for only a 2nd round pick in a cost-cutting move. The only bigs left on the Denver roster right now are Kenyon Martin (injured with a sprained wrist), Nene, Cheikh Samb, Chris Anderson (out until Thanksgiving), and Steven Hunter (out for an indeterminable time.) Basically, the Nuggets only have Nene and Cheikh Samb to play in the front court. Now, they could have Juwan Howard who they let go to make room on the roster for the Billups trade. However, that move would put them over the salary tax threshold. They could've kept Antonio McDyess, but that also would've put them over the threshold. If I didn't now any better, I'd say that the Nuggets were giving up on this team.
Apparently, the Nuggets aren't very happy about the lack of big men on the roster either. Things were so bad that Carmelo Anthony, the 6'8 small forward, was playing center against Charlotte. Melo had this to say after the game:
"I was the big man (Tuesday at Charlotte when the small forward played some center). Why not (acquire another post player)? If there's somebody out there we can get, why not?"
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the front office there. Supposedly even George Karl has asked the front office to reacquire Juwan Howard, but was denied.
So the question must be asked: If the Nuggets aren't willing to make the moves to put this team over the top, why acquire a big contract that they must pay for the next 3 years? Clearly, the Nuggets don't want to spend the money on this team because they don't believe it can win it all. In its current shape, the front office is probably right. That said, if you're going to rebuild, why not keep A.I. and let him go after the season? Or why not trade him for contracts that come off of the table this offseason and some first round picks? The truth is, the Nuggets have a nucleus they could easily rebuild around in JR Smith and Carmelo Anthony. The front office though handcuffed themselves with the Chauncey Billups deal and won't be able to make the big acquisition they would hope to make in a true rebuilding effort. Quite frankly, the Chauncey Billups deal just doesn't make much sense, unless the Nuggets plan on winning with this team, which they clearly don't plan on doing.
Nuggets Begging Boss for Another Big Man [Fanhouse]
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