'Melo to Motown? On Second Thought...

(Boulder-CO) As you, and countless other Nuggets maniacs have read, I basically scoffed at what seemed like basically a straight up swap between the Pistons' Chauncey Billups and the Nuggets Carmelo Anthony in rumor. My reasoning was Chauncey is on the backside of an otherwise fantastic career, has already won the big one, and would not be able to sustain (at least at the level they are currently at) the franchise in the figurative long haul.

But now things are starting to get a little bit spicier with the possible inclusion of Tayshaun Prince, a couple of crumbs off the Detroit bench, and a draft pick from the Pistons while the Nuggets would have to throw in Marcus Camby to make it all work. Or at least, that is what commenter ibrahim says is the rumor floating around Detroit.

Then there is this mind-expanding-just-crazy-enough-to-work scenario that Woody Paige published this afternoon.

Woody says, "...An exchange of Anthony, Marcus Camby, Kenyon Martin and Chucky Atkins for Billups, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Detroit's first-round pick (29th) makes the most sense (and dollars under the cap for the Nuggets) and is scary-good for both teams..."

Which brings me to just one question: Is a complete yard sale truly what this team necessitates at this point to realistically have a shot at a title?

It's no secret that owner Stan Kroenke is willing to make it rain in attempt to make Denver the temporary home of the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Currently he is paying the league's third highest payroll at $81.6 million, but is still yet to see his investment make it out of the first round of the playoffs.

So, let's just look at who the Nuggets would really be with this trade if in reality it were to go down. Right off the bat, my initial impression is Denver would be getting the core of a proven commodity from the Pistons (A team that has been to the Eastern Conference Finals more often times than not in the last five years), would maintain a first round HOFer who shows no drastic signs of slowing down, and still have two incredibly talented young players in J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza ready to spring off the bench. Sprinkle a healthy Nene into that starting line up and you're already a solid seven deep.

Give Eduardo his walking papers, shell out Anthony Carter a little bit of dough to hang around another year, eight, whip Steven Hunter into game shape, nine, and have Yakhouba, ten, around to keep an eye on two rookies, eleven and twelve, from this year's draft and there's your 2008-09 Denver Nuggets.

Pretty enticing isn't it? I mean, if you were going to revamp, restructure, and re-culture the team I could sure think of a whole lot of worse scenarios than doing a line change with the perennial Eastern Conference contender Detroit Pistons.

But, in all of this crazy sideways rumor talk concerning Carmelo Anthony (and whoever else at this point too) there is only one thing for sure: Carmelo isn't going anywhere until after June 30th because 'Melo's max contract stipulates he can not be moved before then. So, rest assured that if the Nuggets are indeed looking to make drastic changes. They are not going to do so unless all of their pieces are ready to move.

However, once again, is a complete yard sale truly what this team necessitates at this point to realistically have a shot at a title?

Who said the off-season is boring? Oh yea, I did...

Stay tuned.