Tuesday, June 10, 2008

'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.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Doc, Doc...

that deal is too big to go through and too unpredictable in its results. From Detroit the Nuggs could use Billups, if they insist that AI has to play the 2, not a head case like Sheed. So offer Camby and Atkins for Billups.
There really is a case for moving AI to the point to open more minutes for JR and LK. If Nene looks healthy, Camby might be expendable for cap space anyway, and when AI splits next year they'll have space galore to rebuild around the still-young core of Melo, JR, Nene and LK.

Richard from Milan

ThaAnswer said...

I'm a huge Billups fan, so seeing him pop up in Denver would be great. Plus and Chauncy/AI backcourt?? Are you kidding me?!

If you bring in Billups, Tayshaun and even (yikes) Rasheed...that solves our #1 problem right there. Defense. I can't help but think they would flourish in the run and gun style offense we use, especially Prince.

@slushygutter said...

the one thing that worries me about Chauncey here is the distractions of being in his hometown. You'd have every hangeron and friend from the neighborhood/college/etc trying to get his ear.

Arthur said...

forget billups and wallace, the last thing this team needs is to get significantly older. Any deal like this has to involve stucky, being he's one of 2-3 points that can effectively guard sg's every night, which will be good with AI.

I'd need stucky, prince, this years 1st, amir johnson, and a 1 year mcdyess deal.

And if they could throw martin and wallace, that would be even better.

Nugg Doctor said...

Four different takes on the subject that are all valid in their own way. Great stuff, guys!

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts.

Thanks for reading,

The Nugg Doctor

Arthur said...

Really, the deal the nuggets want is AI for billups straight up. There's no future in building a team around Iverson. Besides, as he's my favorite player, I desperately want him out of the west.

Unknown said...

Ronnie from Detroit here again. Gonna give you an update off the sports radio here in the D. Lots of talk about Melo and if people here really want him. Lots of people are saying yes but he has...HAS to play defense. Other talk is getting T-Mac but a lot of people are saying no because of his chronic back pain. Josh Smith from ATL is also starting to gain ground. 50/50 split on getting rid of Sheed here. I wanna keep him. Trust me I know a lot of people hate him but when he plays on your team it can be magic most of the time. Anyways just to give you CO people an update the people around here want Melo but he has to want to conform to blue collar Detroit basketball. I'll try to keep you guys updated with anything else.