Tag: Denver Nuggets (Page 13 of 22)

Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post writes that the Nuggets don’t want to go the way of the Cavs or the Raptors and lose their superstar with basically nothing to show for it.

There is no way Denver can afford to lose the face of its franchise for nothing as a free agent.

The Nuggets are now considering a strategy to part ways with their 26-year-old star forward, according to a league source.

After quietly gauging trade interest in Anthony for weeks, the team’s consternation has only risen as he has made no move to accept a $65 million offer for a three-year contract extension that was formally presented more than a month ago.

The Nuggets don’t want to get LeBron’d.

Well if that doesn’t cause the trade offers to come flooding in, I don’t know what will. It should be noted that the Nuggets don’t even have a general manager at this point, so one would think that little piece of business should take priority. It’s hardly fair to the new GM to trade your superstar away before he takes his job.

What can the Nuggets get for Melo? Well, he’s obviously a coveted player, but with his reported interest in playing in the Big Apple and the leverage of a three-year extension in his back pocket, most teams won’t bother to give up the farm only to rent Anthony’s services for one year.

The two most serious offers will likely come from the two teams in the New York area — the Knicks and the Nyets. The Knicks could offer Danilo Gallinari, Anthony Randolph and maybe Wilson Chandler as well, while the Nets could put a package together that includes Derrick Favors and Terrence Williams.

The Knicks have the upper hand because they are reportedly Carmelo’s first choice.

So if you’re running the Nuggets, would you take Gallinari and Randolph in exchange for Anthony? Let’s not forget that the Knicks just traded David Lee away in order to land Randolph, who has shown a lot of promise and is just 21 years old. In eight games as a starter this season, he averaged 12-6 and 2.4 blocks in just 23 minutes of playing time. In 2008-09, he started 21 games as a rookie and averaged 10-9 and 1.4 blocks in 25 minutes of playing time. And that was playing for Don Nelson, who yanks guys out of the lineup faster than you can say ‘headcase.’

Meanwhile, Gallinari averaged 15-5 in his second season for the Knicks. He’s just 22 years old and is a 6-10 ‘stretch 4’ who hits threes at a 38% clip.

If the Nuggets can land both players and maybe get a future 1st round draft pick out of the deal, they can move forward and build around Randolph, Gallinari and Ty Lawson. That’s not bad. It’s better than the alternative, anyway.

But would the Knicks pull the trigger? Maybe they’d rather wait a year, sign Anthony outright and hold onto Gallinari and Randolph. A lot can happen in 12 months, and there’s a school of thought that they should strike while the iron is hot, but they could also bide their time if they feel like the chances are good that they’ll be able to sign Anthony next summer.

Ric Bucher was on SportsCenter today talking about the Carmelo Anthony situation, which has gone from simmer to red hot in a matter of days.

Clearly the Knicks are very attractive. He has a great relationship with Mike D’Antoni and he loves to play in an up-tempo system. His new wife Lala Vasquez is from New York. He was born in the area, so that’s the attraction.

But more than anything, my sources are telling me, that it’s not in Denver. That at the beginning of this season, he is hoping to be someplace else. The only question is — can he do that signing the three-year, $65 million dollar extension, or does not signing it give him the leverage to force the Nuggets to send him elsewhere?

This is the first I’ve heard about Anthony potentially forcing a trade. It looked like he was going to play out the year and probably become a free agent next summer and sign with the Knicks. But with that dark cloud hanging over the franchise, questions are asked of sources and news is generated. Now we have a prominent NBA writer saying that Anthony wants to be elsewhere at the beginning of the season.

For all the angry (or in denial) Nuggets fans out there, let’s not forget that we just went through this with Chris Bosh and the Raptors, and even then the signs weren’t that strong that he was leaving, at least not before the season started.

The writing is on the wall and the Nuggets’ job now is to get the best deal they can get. Given Melo’s reported love affair with NYC, the Nuggets will probably get the best offers Knicks or the Nets — the two teams who believe that they’ll be best able to re-sign him next summer.
The Knicks could offer Danilo Gallinari, Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry’s expiring contract, but would that be enough for the Nuggets to bite? And [erhaps New Jersey would be willing to part with Derrick Favors and/or Terrence Williams, though it should be noted that the Nets don’t have an expiring contract like Curry’s to balance the deal.