RealGM

Hello!
New Nugget fan from abroad... Long time reader, new writer...

Reading the Brandon Rush's profile on nbadraft, a player that appears to be in the range of our 1st, I got the feeling that he could be exactly what we need:

"Good size for a SG in the league at 6

Rush is a solid role player, who personally I think will be going at the very end of the 1st round, not necessarily where we would pick.

The problem with Rush is that he pretty much would be doomed to play behind Melo and Kleiza, and get relatively no playing time. That also means that he is not that much of a need (unless we were to trade Kleiza for someone like Artest, and Artest were to opt out). Personally, I would prefer if we picked up a big PG, or a PF/C for depth along the front line.

Unfortunately, there really does not look like there are many big PG's in the early-mid 20's (where we likely will be drafting), unless you consider Kyle Weaver a PG. The problem with Weaver is that he cant shoot from beyond the perimeter, which is a problem.

So personally, I would prefer someone like Rush's Kansas teammate Darrell Arthur (if he falls) who is ridiculously athletic and has decent post moves, Ryan Anderson from Cal who at 6-10 is a great shooter and could spread the floor (though is mediocre on D), or possibly take a chance on Serge Ibaka out of the Congo, who's upside is insane, but has little experience.

Welcome, Nuggets are in "win now" mode, so I don't think that in the offseason, the Nuggets will even have a 1st round pick. Not the time to get young guys, because they will take some time to develop, while AI is getting older.

Since we have traded our prior 1st rounders, I am pretty sure we are required by the collective bargaining agreement to use this years. I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure that is the case.

We may trade future 1st rounders however.

Thanks... I saw Rush listed as a SF, but I thought he maybe could play as a SG for our team. And he's kinda mature so he fits in the "win now" mode.

Arthur really impress me when I got to see Kansas... but he looks out of reach for us. I didn't see Weaver play, seems nice on the defensive end and has size, but outside shooting looks like a HUGE question mark.

Ibaka could be nice, but he has a long way to go. Maybe if we don't find anyone that fits...

this discussion makes no sense because the chances that the nuggets won't have a 1st round pick is very high if they trade for artest.

UNLVNugsFan wrote:Since we have traded our prior 1st rounders, I am pretty sure we are required by the collective bargaining agreement to use this years. I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure that is the case.

We may trade future 1st rounders however.

The rule in the CBA states that a team can not trade consecutive FUTURE first round draft picks. That doesn't mean that you can't trade firsts for two consecutive years. Since the 07 draft is behind us, we are able to trade this years pick if we choose. We could not, however, trade both this years and next years because they are both in the future.

If you think about the Nuggets didn't have a first round pick in 06 (traded to NJ as part of the Kenyon deal) or 07(traded to Philly as part of the AI deal). We were able to do this because our 07 pick was traded after the 06 draft had already occured.

Ah, my bad. Thanks for clearing it up.

Maybe Devon Hardin? Never go wrong with having another Big body..