You win some and you lose some.
On the day Carmelo signed a five year, $80 million extension, the Nuggets may have lost both Greg Buckner and Francisco Elson. The horror.
It's hard to criticize signing Melo or letting the other guys leave. Well, Carmelo's not really worth max money, but how many in the NBA are? Even if you count borderline guys, you've got Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Shaq, Dwyane Wade, LeBron, Kobe, and Allen Iverson, tops. Wade, Duncan and LeBron are the closest to sure things. That said, the Nuggets would be in pretty sad shape if he left.
Buckner and Elson are odd cases. Buckner doesn't do anything on offense, defense, special teams, off the bench, or in the community. When you hear that the Nuggets need an outside shooter, it's because Greg Buckner is a pro basketball player (a shooting guard, even) who can't shoot. I don't know about you, but I'd consider that a remarkable concept, if it wasn't so commonplace. Yet the championship runner-up Dallas Mavericks, who've been absurdly deep for years, thought he was worth adding to the roster. Bizzare.
Elson is a good center as far as backups go, and while he's a restriced free agent-meaning the Nuggets can match any deal and keep him-the Spurs wanted him badly enough to make an offer. Of course, the Spurs just lost center Nazr Mohammed, but it's hard to picture a team that good starting Elson. So, as usual, I have no idea what NBA teams are thinking.
Power forward is still the real trouble spot on the Nuggets roster. First, there's Kenyon Martin. I can't imagine he'll want to stay and be anything but a disruptive influence. I mean, Martin's played in the NBA Finals, but last year he was suspended from the first round. The Nuggets were right to bench him, but I don't see Martin as the forgiving type, you know?
Martin has a horrible contract that is going to make any trade difficult. Waaaaaah-it was obvious from day one that deal was a mistake. But the Nuggets don't really have any choice other than to get Isiah Thomas on the phone and work something out.
The team ignored any lesson it should have learned from Martin's deal and handed Nene a six-year, $60 million contract. Everyone likes Nene, who must be leading the league in injury rehab to get sixty million one year after appearing in one game. He's a young bruiser down low and no one disputes he'll turn into a great player.
But...they should. Basically, his numbers have been the same since he was a rookie, and he's already twenty months older than Carmelo. “Already”...not like that gap's going to widen...anyway, while Anthony still has room for improvement, no one's waiting around for him to start being a difference-maker, either.
Of course, Melo's a rare talent and an unfair comparison. But Nene has to fill K-Mart's shoes pretty quickly to earn his keep. Can he do it? This year...I don't think so. What do you think?
On the day Carmelo signed a five year, $80 million extension, the Nuggets may have lost both Greg Buckner and Francisco Elson. The horror.
It's hard to criticize signing Melo or letting the other guys leave. Well, Carmelo's not really worth max money, but how many in the NBA are? Even if you count borderline guys, you've got Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Shaq, Dwyane Wade, LeBron, Kobe, and Allen Iverson, tops. Wade, Duncan and LeBron are the closest to sure things. That said, the Nuggets would be in pretty sad shape if he left.
Buckner and Elson are odd cases. Buckner doesn't do anything on offense, defense, special teams, off the bench, or in the community. When you hear that the Nuggets need an outside shooter, it's because Greg Buckner is a pro basketball player (a shooting guard, even) who can't shoot. I don't know about you, but I'd consider that a remarkable concept, if it wasn't so commonplace. Yet the championship runner-up Dallas Mavericks, who've been absurdly deep for years, thought he was worth adding to the roster. Bizzare.
Elson is a good center as far as backups go, and while he's a restriced free agent-meaning the Nuggets can match any deal and keep him-the Spurs wanted him badly enough to make an offer. Of course, the Spurs just lost center Nazr Mohammed, but it's hard to picture a team that good starting Elson. So, as usual, I have no idea what NBA teams are thinking.
Power forward is still the real trouble spot on the Nuggets roster. First, there's Kenyon Martin. I can't imagine he'll want to stay and be anything but a disruptive influence. I mean, Martin's played in the NBA Finals, but last year he was suspended from the first round. The Nuggets were right to bench him, but I don't see Martin as the forgiving type, you know?
Martin has a horrible contract that is going to make any trade difficult. Waaaaaah-it was obvious from day one that deal was a mistake. But the Nuggets don't really have any choice other than to get Isiah Thomas on the phone and work something out.
The team ignored any lesson it should have learned from Martin's deal and handed Nene a six-year, $60 million contract. Everyone likes Nene, who must be leading the league in injury rehab to get sixty million one year after appearing in one game. He's a young bruiser down low and no one disputes he'll turn into a great player.
But...they should. Basically, his numbers have been the same since he was a rookie, and he's already twenty months older than Carmelo. “Already”...not like that gap's going to widen...anyway, while Anthony still has room for improvement, no one's waiting around for him to start being a difference-maker, either.
Of course, Melo's a rare talent and an unfair comparison. But Nene has to fill K-Mart's shoes pretty quickly to earn his keep. Can he do it? This year...I don't think so. What do you think?
Comments
Okay, I just checked out ESPN's NBA 2006 Free Agency page. Apparently we are not one of the teams with significant cap room. No surprise.
I wonder if our team chemistry sucks because of the top-heavy salary structure. As much as athletes who want more money are criticized, can you imagine working alongside a guy who makes eight times as much as you? Not like a boss but a co-worker? That would suck. The more I think about it the more I have to say Kiki was not very good at his job. We always have to plug holes with guys like Buckner and DerMarr Johnson because we blow all our money on guys like K-Mart.
i also find it amusing that much of your blog is two brothers talking to each other.
you could just email each other and occaisionally cc me and we'd be all set.
i do like hps though, all joking aside
I think Dirk is a sure thing like I think, say, Donovan McNabb is a sure thing. They're both awesome and almost guaranteed to be all-stars every single season. Maybe you'd even call them future Hall of Famers. That's nearly as sure as it gets.
That said, I don't think either of those guys is going to be the focal point of a championship team, so I guess it depends on how "sure" you mean. In Dirk's case I'm almost certain he won't win a title (unless he does it like Gary Payton-style, though I think Payton was way better than Dirk), though I'm not sure I could put into words why.
where is alexis when you need him? man, those were hps glory days...
I hope I don't come off too hard on Carmelo. He is fantastic at the end of games, but for some reason that hasn't translated to the playoffs. He's won a national championship and seems pretty immune to pressure in season games-in fact he thrives on it-so I have no idea why that is.
It's unfortunate that he'll always suffer by comparison, having been drafted between LeBron and Dwyane Wade. He's not as good as those two, or at least as well-rounded, but literally only a few people on the whole planet are. Then again, pro sports are all about competition, so it'd be silly to brush off being not as good. I wonder how we'd think of him if he'd been drafted straight out of high school.