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Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 10:22 pm
by CaliforniaNuggetsFan
The Nuggets have traded reserve guard Chucky Atkins to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for reserve center Johan Petro. Denver will also trade their first-round pick in the 2009 draft to the Thunder for the Thunder's second-round pick. By Benjamin Hochman
The Denver Post
Denver was rumored to be looking at Petro a few years back leading up to the draft and a few of the "experts" had us taking him in the first round. I find it interesting that Draftexpress.com had him projected as a best case Samuel Dalembert and worst case Steven Hunter (let's hope he stays healthy either way):
October 24, 2008
Overview: A young French center who has great natural physical tools, but doesn’t have the fundamentals or feel for the game to take advantage of them at this point. Tall, long, and extremely well built. Moves well for a center. Possesses decent vertical explosiveness. Relies on his athleticism to be effective at this point in his career. Has some unpolished offensive tools to work with, but does not know his limitations in the least bit. Shows decent touch around the rim on occasion. Shoots a very poor percentage from the field. Good shot blocker, with the potential to be great. Could improve immediately by cutting down on fouls. Lack of experience makes it hard for him to be consistent defensively. Possesses the tools to be a good defender. Pretty raw in all areas of the game. Needs to bring more intensity and effort to both games and practice to begin to get to where he needs to be. Has been known to mail it in at times. Lets his emotions get the better of him on occasion.
Offense: A very raw center who is still struggling to find himself on the offensive end. Gets about half of his touches in the post and from spot ups, with the other half coming from hustle plays. Not efficient in the least bit relative to his height. Displays a decent jumper for a player his size, but tends to fall in love with it. Will try and put the ball on the floor to score at times, but struggles badly doing so. Does most of his post damage on the left block where he can turn over his left shoulder and go to his right handed hook shot. Has gotten better in that regard, but is still working on his touch. Will use his athleticism effectively to grab some offensive rebounds and be the beneficiary of good passes from his teammates. Finishes at the rim at a decent rate, but not a good enough one for an athlete of his caliber. Needs to expect more from himself. Shoots a great percentage from the foul stripe. Doesn’t have a lot of polish outside of that. A poor passer who can be a bit of a black hole at times.
Defense: Has the size, length, athleticism and strength to be a good defender, but is very green on the defensive end. Will get fakes off his feet from time to time. Very foul prone. Decent rebounder. Needs experience and seasoning in practice, but may lack the natural feel to get all that much better at this point. Could become a very good shot blocker down the line. Needs to learn how to read offensive players better.
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 10:27 pm
by corona
works for me. sucks we had to swap picks (basically move down a little in draft)....but i'm not upset about it.
looks like we're a ~million below the cap now. and we added an emergency big.
was expecting something small like this.
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 10:35 pm
by CaliforniaNuggetsFan
Getting under the salary cap has clearly been the top priority here for the front office. I'd still like to see them do something about Hunter but maybe he'll end up doing the Nuggets a favor by retiring. Considering that Hunter and Atkins have done nothing for this team, getting anything back in return at this point has to be viewed as an upgrade. As far as the pick swapping, if the Nuggets are doing what they're supposed to do (winning) and the Sonics...err...Thunder do what they can't seem to help doing (losing...a lot), trading our first for their second could be a fairly small exchange...and would cost us less money to sign the pick.
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 10:37 pm
by denvers_finest
I like it. The trade of picks doesn't bother me, in fact the first pick in the second round is probably better than a mid 20 pick in the first round. Moving Atkins, who wasn't needed, for a back up big is exactly what needed to be done. Petro is about the quality of big we could have expected for Atkins.
Doubt Karl plays him, but its nice to have a little more depth in case we lose one of our main bigs.
I'll be interested to see if this is the final move we make, or if the FO has something else up their sleeves.
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:00 pm
by eslr
I think its a great trade. Petro is a young 7 footer that still has some upside, we get under the tax for good, and all we give up is 5-10 slots in the draft.
I mean really, Petro+#30-35 pick>>>#20-25 pick IMO, and that doesn't even account for our lux tax savings.
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:03 pm
by RRFB
What does Petro give us that Samb didn't? I guess I haven't seen much of Petro but they both seem to play a pretty similar game.
I guess it saves money and gets us under the cap though. Good trade.
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:17 pm
by jax98
Another added bonus for you guys.
If you're thinking of drafting a Euro kid in the draft, having a 2nd rounder is definitely better than a late 1st rounder. Simply because 2nd rounders doesn't have salary slots. European players won't come over on a 4-year deal worth a fifth of what they can make in Europe. As a 2nd rounder, it's easy to get out of those deals and into new ones.
Just look at the Tiago Splitter situation in San Antonio. Had he been a 2nd rounder, he would probably have been in the NBA now. But most likely, we'll never see him play in the US.
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:22 pm
by It_Was_Typed
I think the Nuggets could have gotten more for Atkins and a first rounder.
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:24 pm
by Test of Wills
I like that trade for you guys.
But that's just me.
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:25 pm
by berserker
I don't mind the trade......although, I would have liked to see Hunter/1st swap instead.
Face it, although Chuckster was making a lot this year, next year he was only due a small amount......and he was actually playing decent ball. I agree with the poster earlier, Samb/Petro seems about the same, but I'll hold off on remarking until after I see a few more games.
Good trade from the standpoint of having a backup CENTER, rather than a PF. Nene needs help in the post, and although raw offensively, we have enough firepower off the bench in JR/Kleiza (when Melo returns)... He and Birdman should be able to provide several blocks a game off the bench.
The other perk is that Petro is only 22 or 23.
I really like our lineup: Billups/Jones/Melo/Kmart/Nene, A/C, JR, Kleiza, Anderson, Petro, key reserves Balkman and Weems. Will it be enough to get us over the hump? Let's hope so, or let's get another trade done!
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:26 pm
by eathy
from what i've seen of Petro... that dude is useless.
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:39 pm
by SnakefromHell
We got our 14 and 10 guy!!!!
I saw some Sonics games last year, I thought he has a pretty nice game.. It's just he is not really involved in their schemes and was obligated to rebound and block shots. He has nice touches around the rim, with our unselfish play, he might have a career here. I like this trade although I I thought we'd get David Lee.

Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:41 pm
by berserker
I guess what I want to know is why we didn't keep Samb, whether or not we were going to make this move???
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:46 pm
by denvers_finest
^^ Money

Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:47 pm
by bigballajohn
petro seems like a guy that could improve to be a good defensive player, but needs some fine tuning. but good trade
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:48 pm
by eathy
i've done some more digging up/research on Petro:
Pros:
- he has a midrange jumper
- pretty good rebounder which is what we need.
Cons:
- defense
- no post moves
- average shot blocker (??)
knowing the nuggets coaching staff, they should be able to develop a 3 ball shot in him.
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:49 pm
by berserker
Samb wasn't making much........and with this trade, we'd still be VERY close to the tax amount......I understand giving away Camby (although a 1st would have been better) but why Samb? I say if you have two young talented centers, and one of them progresses, you have your center of the future and can put Nene in the PF spot (given that he's far younger than Kenyon)....and neither of them is likely to command a lot of money for the next few years....
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:52 pm
by Gogo Babaroga
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:54 pm
by eathy
we're actually under the luxury tax by a million now.
Re: Chucky Traded for Petro
Posted: Thu Jan 8, 2009 12:01 am
by berserker
and had we kept Samb, we still would be under........Plus, Petro is expiring, so if he didn't prove his worth, he's gone and we still have a young, raw center as a backup! I think Samb was worth more to us than a 2nd rdr...