Interesting Article on Hoopsworld...
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:04 am
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=11243
Denver Has Set Up Next Move
The Denver Nuggets have positioned themselves quite well for the future by virtue of a couple of trades they recently made that flew largely under the radar. By trading Cheikh Samb to the Los Angeles Clippers and Chucky Atkins and a first round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Johan Petro and the Thunder's second round pick the Nuggets successfully got under the luxury tax threshold.
However, Denver is also now better positioned to make another move prior to the trade deadline for a few reasons. First, acquiring Oklahoma City's second round pick, which will likely be the first pick in the second round, is a more attractive trade chip than Denver's first round pick in 2009 that will likely be somewhere around 25th overall.
Why, you ask?
Simple, you can get a player about the same caliber but without the risk of having to sign that player to a guaranteed contract. Also, a player early in the second round would likely sign for approximately $450,000 while a late first round pick would be more likely to earn around $1 million. In this era of the luxury tax and an unstable economy, this is a big deal to owners around the league.
The Nuggets were also able to move Chucky Atkins, who is guaranteed approximately $760,000 next season, to the Thunder for an expiring deal in Johan Petro. This helped Denver immediately in the sense that they cut more money off their cap for the rest of this season and next. Furthermore, if the team opted to, they could trade Petro to another team before the deadline as he is a much more attractive piece than Atkins given the fact he is an expiring deal and doesn't have a broken down 33-year-old body.
The other advantage for Denver is that they were able to get under the luxury tax threshold without having to part with the conditional first round pick the team acquired last summer from the Charlotte Bobcats. This pick is highly coveted due to the fact that it could turn into the number one overall pick by 2014.
New York's first round pick in 2010 that belongs to the Utah Jazz is really the only other pick that has people around the league aiming to make noise in the summer of 2010 excited. However, it is widely believed the Jazz has very little interest in moving this pick. That leaves Charlotte's conditional first round pick as one of the most tradable and appealing assets on the market. And unlike Utah, Denver is open to moving this pick in a package if it returns the right piece or combination of pieces.
The belief in Denver was that the Nuggets might have to move Charlotte's pick to get under the tax, which was something the franchise was not totally against. The fact they didn't have to part with that pick means the Nuggets now have the perfect sweetener for a deal prior to February's trade deadline.
The name that continues to surface is David Lee. The Nuggets are well aware that defensive rebounding has been a problem at times this season, and members of the organization believe Lee could help solve that problem.
That said, Lee is far from the only option. One plugged in source told HOOPSWORLD the team has as many as 20 potential deals the front office could consider between now and the trade deadline.
That's not to imply the Nuggets feel like they have to make a deal, but they also realize they may be very close to contending this season. In short, expect the Nuggets to be very active in discussions between now and the deadline.
Denver Has Set Up Next Move
The Denver Nuggets have positioned themselves quite well for the future by virtue of a couple of trades they recently made that flew largely under the radar. By trading Cheikh Samb to the Los Angeles Clippers and Chucky Atkins and a first round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Johan Petro and the Thunder's second round pick the Nuggets successfully got under the luxury tax threshold.
However, Denver is also now better positioned to make another move prior to the trade deadline for a few reasons. First, acquiring Oklahoma City's second round pick, which will likely be the first pick in the second round, is a more attractive trade chip than Denver's first round pick in 2009 that will likely be somewhere around 25th overall.
Why, you ask?
Simple, you can get a player about the same caliber but without the risk of having to sign that player to a guaranteed contract. Also, a player early in the second round would likely sign for approximately $450,000 while a late first round pick would be more likely to earn around $1 million. In this era of the luxury tax and an unstable economy, this is a big deal to owners around the league.
The Nuggets were also able to move Chucky Atkins, who is guaranteed approximately $760,000 next season, to the Thunder for an expiring deal in Johan Petro. This helped Denver immediately in the sense that they cut more money off their cap for the rest of this season and next. Furthermore, if the team opted to, they could trade Petro to another team before the deadline as he is a much more attractive piece than Atkins given the fact he is an expiring deal and doesn't have a broken down 33-year-old body.
The other advantage for Denver is that they were able to get under the luxury tax threshold without having to part with the conditional first round pick the team acquired last summer from the Charlotte Bobcats. This pick is highly coveted due to the fact that it could turn into the number one overall pick by 2014.
New York's first round pick in 2010 that belongs to the Utah Jazz is really the only other pick that has people around the league aiming to make noise in the summer of 2010 excited. However, it is widely believed the Jazz has very little interest in moving this pick. That leaves Charlotte's conditional first round pick as one of the most tradable and appealing assets on the market. And unlike Utah, Denver is open to moving this pick in a package if it returns the right piece or combination of pieces.
The belief in Denver was that the Nuggets might have to move Charlotte's pick to get under the tax, which was something the franchise was not totally against. The fact they didn't have to part with that pick means the Nuggets now have the perfect sweetener for a deal prior to February's trade deadline.
The name that continues to surface is David Lee. The Nuggets are well aware that defensive rebounding has been a problem at times this season, and members of the organization believe Lee could help solve that problem.
That said, Lee is far from the only option. One plugged in source told HOOPSWORLD the team has as many as 20 potential deals the front office could consider between now and the trade deadline.
That's not to imply the Nuggets feel like they have to make a deal, but they also realize they may be very close to contending this season. In short, expect the Nuggets to be very active in discussions between now and the deadline.