The Blueprint

(Boulder-CO) Just like with any blueprint, my off-season ideas are only possible because of the strong foundation that the Denver Nuggets currently have. My prescription is to upgrade positions that are deficient to their counterparts, keep the Nuggets near the same luxury cap overage as last season, and to maintain the starting foundation while also strengthening the bench in the best, hypothetical, scenario possible. The short term goal is for the Nuggets to advance past the first round. The long term goal is for the Nuggets to win the Larry O’Brien trophy. Now let’s shuffle the cards!

My first, and most drastic, move is to trade Marcus Camby for a floor general that is both a calm commander with a sense of time and possession and a player that can create for himself off the dribble while looking to put his teammates in better scoring position. A tall order indeed, and to make things even more complicated he needs to make less than Marcus Camby’s next year salary of $8,000,000. The reasons why I think Marcus Camby is the player to be traded is because of his all-time high market value after winning the Defensive Player of the Year award and the rapid development of Nene. We also have to keep in mind, and our fingers crossed, that Kenyon Martin is returning to action next season and that he will be able to provide the Nuggets with a solid option at power forward.

The man that I like the most for the job of starting point guard is Antonio Daniels. While with the San Antonio Spurs in the 1998-99 season, Daniels did win a ring while coming off the bench for Avery Johnson, so he knows what it is like to play on the NBA’s biggest stage and emerge victorious. He is set to make $5,800,000 next season and what is most exciting about Daniels is how he picked up his game when Gilbert Arenas went down right before the playoffs this past season. During the regular season last year he averaged 22 minutes of action a night while coming off the bench and giving the Wizards 7.1 points while shooting 44% from the field and dishing 3.6 assists per contest. These numbers may not seem like much to in comparison to what the Nuggets are trading, but there is much more to this story than first meets the eye.

When Washington’s starting point guard, and first scoring option, Gilbert Arenas went down with an injury on April 4th it opened up the playing doors for Antonio Daniels and he did not wait long before proving that more minutes were all that was needed for him to boost his scoring output by more than four points and to nearly double his assist totals. In the month of March, Daniels was averaging 18 minutes of play which translated into 7.2 points and four assists. In the month of April, he saw his minutes spike to 35 per game and his averages jumped to 11.2 points and 8.6 assists! Furthermore, during the playoffs, Antonio showed his post season polish by raising his game even higher to averages of 13.3 points and 11.8 assists in the unfortunate sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Obviously, the ten-year veteran still has some gas left in the tank and with his experience he could be the exact kind of player that the Nuggets are looking for.

Now I know that from the outside looking in it may appear that the Nuggets are getting the short end of the deal by giving up Marcus Camby for the Wizards back-up point guard. But when the luxury cap is considered, plus the return of the nearly un-tradable Kenyon Martin, and the emergence of Nene as a legitimate low post scorer and defender something has to give. I for one am from the school of thought that you sell high and buy low and by trading Marcus Camby for Antonio Daniels, and potentially a first round pick in a future draft, the Nuggets would be doing just that.

So with that being said, the starting five now has an upgraded backcourt with Allen Iverson and Antonio Daniels, and the front court has Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, and Nene. Now let’s take a look at this bench situation and see if there can be some moves made to trade some guys who have not worked out in return for some part-time contributors.

Right off the bat let me say that the Nuggets would be foolish to let J.R. Smith or Linas Kleiza escape from their grip at this point in either man’s young career. Both are relatively inexpensive for what they bring to the team and more importantly far outweigh their salaries in potential contribution. I would also like to see Steve Blake return as the back-up point guard, but his contract has run its course and he is looking for a mid-level deal of around three to five million dollars per year for the next three or four years. He made $1.3 for his services last year and the aforementioned price jump for his services might be too much for the Nuggets to shell out. But that is ok because the Nuggets have a team option for $1.1 million on Anthony Carter’s services for next season. With that in mind, Anthony Carter has proven to be a basketball journeyman and provides the Nuggets with at least somebody off the end of the bench at point guard, if in the event that Blake opts out for more money. However, make no mistake about the Nuggets only needing one back-up point guard with the likes of AI and Antonio Daniels playing over 40 minutes per game.

So, if the Nuggets can find a way to keep Smith, Kleiza, and either Blake or Carter that is a solid one through three bench rotation right there. Add in the promise of the 6’5” Von Wafer from the NBDL Colorado 14ers, (where he averaged 21 points while shooting 45% from downtown), and the Nuggets already have nine players on their roster.

The obstacle now becomes what to do with the likes of DerMarr Johnson, Reggie Evans, Jamal Sampson, Yakhouba Diawara, and Eduardo Najera with the possibility of a couple of the aforementioned still remaining in Denver with the Nuggets looking for a free agent big man. We all know that Reggie Evans (four million) and Eduardo Najera (4.9 million) are the most expensive of the role players currently on the Denver bench, so trading at least one of these guys to any team with a late first round or early second pick is what I feel the Nuggets need to do (and I would prefer Reggie to be the one traded). This way they can sign that future draft pick to the standard rookie three year contract and alleviate some cap space. As for DerMarr and Jamal Sampson…Good luck finding a new NBA home. Yakhouba is a cheap swing man at $687,456 and should be kept at the end of the bench for defensive assignments. Now let's find the Nuggets a free agent big man.

And that big man is a familiar one indeed. A man that would need no introduction to the Pepsi Center patrons. A man that would be familiar in a Nuggets uniform and a man that probably haunts George Karl’s dreams. This man is Dikembe Mutombo. Mt. Mutombo is a free agent this off-season and I would be very surprised if the Rockets choose to resign him. He has already hinted that he has one more good year in him and the Nuggets would only need him to lock down the middle when Nene takes a blow. He can certainly still rebound and block some shots and if there ever were a NBA city that he would want to finish his career in it would only seem natural that Denver would be it! This would mean that the Nuggets could have their cake and eat it too in a sense because they could waive a guys like Jamal Sampson, (who is a free agent this year too), and DerMarr Johnson, (which they should have done last off-season), therefore winding up allotting that money to Dikembe. In this two for one deal, the Nuggets shuck two players that rarely ever saw any light for one that would be an instant fan favorite and contribute right away.

And if you’re keeping track… That means we can still keep either Eduardo Najera on the bench to further solidify the front line while also having one more open active roster spot for Von Wafer. Seems so simple now doesn’t it?

Now the only thing left to do is to add up the salaries and see if all this wheeling and dealing is going to be a reality underneath the 2007-08 NBA luxury tax limit of $65.42 million dollars.

Last year’s Nuggets combined payroll was $66,843,840, which was $5 million and change over last season’s luxury cap of $61.7 million. I feel that if all of these changes can still hover around last season’s overage then the Nuggets can afford to make the necessary changes to improve this franchise.
.
Allen Iverson -------------------------- $21.1 million
Carmelo Anthony --------------------- $13.7 million
Kenyon Martin ------------------------ $13.0 million
Nene ------------------------------------ $11.05 million
Antonio Daniels ----------------------- $ 5.8 million
Eduardo Najera ----------------------- $4.9 million
J.R. Smith ----------------------------- $1.6 million
Linas Kleiza - ------------------------- $1 million
Von Wafer ---------------------------- $770,610 (team option)
Anthony Carte ------------------------ $1.1 million (team option)
Yakhouba Diawara ------------------- $687, 456
Dikembe Mutombo ------------------- $1.5 million (estimated)

Total------------------------------------- $76,207,610 in 2007-08 salary

This total is just barely over what the Nuggets exceeded the luxury cap by last season and in my assessment gives Denver a much stronger roster with more contributors than last year’s team.

What does everyone think?