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The luxury tax-strapped Nuggets no longer have a pick in Thursday’s draft.

The Nuggets on Wednesday traded their No. 20 pick to Charlotte for a future protected first-round selection.

The Nuggets are in line to have a $90 million payroll next season, which would be about $20 million over the luxury-tax threshold.

The No. 20 pick will make nearly $1.3 million next season. With the Nuggets in the dollar-for-dollar luxury tax, that would be savings of $2.6 million.

Well at least the Nugs got a future first for their pick and not cash like the Hornets did.

Bobcats are prolly gonna try to get both lopez brothers

hmm

any word on who charlotte will take?

magicfan4life05 wrote:hmm

any word on who charlotte will take?

My guess is Roy Hibbert, or I could see them trading both picks to move up.

Denver seems to be going in the wrong direction..while Portland is on the come up

It depends on the protection of the pick. This is a weird draft... I think that I very well might be looking to trade out of it as well.

Denver really could of used that to grab a shooter, which I thought they'd definitely do... pretty surprising by Denver. Though they are over the lux tax.

Definitely good for Charlotte in that they can bolster their bench with a solid player, in addition to getting a big or Westbrook at #9. They're going to have a very nice draft I think.

cdubbz wrote:Bobcats are prolly gonna try to get both lopez brothers

Considering we worked out neither, I'd say this is quite unlikely.

LB is apparently infatuated with Love and Westbrook, so maybe we take one of them at 9 if they fall.

Charlotte has also been linked to Ajinca and Hibbert, so if they pick at 20 don't be surprised to hear those names.

I'm inclined to believe that it is an additional asset to try and move up and secure the player we like.

Haha, we suck.

When/ How do you find out the protection on this future pick? This is one of those trades that could me nada or HUGE down the line. (Think Piston when they got the #2 a few years back)

I don't think Westbrook will fall to #9, but Hibbert sounds good at #20 to move Okafor to the 4.

was does "future protected" mean?

could mean they are primed to resign JR and dumping pick to save money.

future protected means that it will most likely be for the bobcats pick next year BUT if the bobcats land on certain picks, the nuggets will not have that pick.

so if the bobcats get another lottery pick, then the nuggets have to wait because lottery picks will be protected. most likely the pick is protected up to the 15th. so if the bobcats finish with a bad record and have another 15 and under pick, they will keep it despite the trade with the nuggets.

Its top 14 2009, top 12 2010, top 9 2011, top 3 2012, and no protection 2013. I think that it would take a NYK-style Larry Brown collapse for Denver not to have the pick in the next two years.

Charlotte could trade up. I really doubt that they want/need two rookies added to this lineup. If we trade up I hope its for Mayo/Bayless/Westbrook.

nuggets future makes me rofl Utah and Portland are gonna be sharing conference titles for a couple years

edfmx86 wrote:nuggets future makes me rofl Utah and Portland are gonna be sharing conference titles for a couple years

I dont really see how this hurts there future.

A) They have a future pick that in all likelihood will be higher than 20

B)They have increased there tradeable assets if they choose to after a disgruntled all star (a la vince carter/Pau Gasol). Future picks typically have more value then the players they end up netting (for example, Memphis wouldnt have traded Pau for Balkman and Jason Smith, the previous #20 picks, but they did trade him for 2 future picks that will probably be even lower than 20)

edfmx86 wrote:nuggets future makes me rofl Utah and Portland are gonna be sharing conference titles for a couple years

Yeah... Um no, first one of those teams would have to pose a legitimate threat to the Lakers.

Come on, it's the #20 pick. Last time they drafted at that range they got Julius Hodge.

If Mario Chalmers were to be available at that slot, do you think he would make Denver an instant title contender?

As boring as it is to see Denver not draft anyone, this isn't such a bad move. A future Charlotte pick is worth more down the road. Maybe not a substantial amount more, but a 5-10 slot improvement in the draft isn't bad at all.