Roundball Mining Company - Denver Nuggets Blog

Chauncey Billups is an All-Star

February 3, 2010
by Jeremy

The Denver Nuggets have announced that Commissioner David Stern has named Chauncey Billups as the player who will replace the injured Chris Paul in the 2010 NBA All-Star game. Congratulations to Chauncey on a well deserved honor.

Chauncey Billups is Day to Day

December 17, 2009
by Jeremy

The Denver Nuggets have announced that Chauncey Billups underwent an MRI today on his strained groin. The results showed that it was a muscle strain and not a tear or something more serious. He is day to day with a status of questionable for tomorrow night’s game at New Orleans.

It will be interesting to see if George Karl gives Ty Lawson his first career start of if he reinserts Anthony Carter back into the starting lineup. Judging by the fact Carter played nearly the entire fourth quarter for the second time in three games I think we have our answer.

Chris Andersen Suffering From Sore Knee

November 18, 2009
by Jeremy

According to the Denver Nuggets Chris Andersen “has recently been experiencing soreness in his right knee.”

Thankfully an MRI has shown no structural damage, but this may explain why he has not been quite the game changer he was last year.

I have written how Birdman has relatively few miles on his wheels for a player his age, but for a player who relies on his athleticism, north of 30 who just signed a five year contract, this is not good news.

Joey Graham to Sign With the Denver Nuggets

September 25, 2009
by Jeremy

Chris Tomasson is reporting that the Denver Nuggets have agreed to a one year non-guaranteed $884,881 contract with Joey Graham, not to be confused with Stephen Graham. Graham has played with the Toronto Raptors for all four of his NBA seasons. He is a solid player and has played in at least 16 minutes a game in three of his four professional seasons.

Graham is a solid player who will not try to do too much. Graham is not a three point shooter having only attempted 50 over the past three seasons making only 14 and he does not appear to offer a specific NBA skill that will be useful to Denver.

With James White and now Graham on board Denver may be done shopping and as Tomasson writes the two “can fight it out in training camp for a possible roster spot.” Both are listed at 6′ 7″ and can play shooting guard or small forward, but Graham is considerably more bulky and the two are completely different types of players.

I may be barking up the wrong tree, but the fact that both of these guys have non-guaranteed contracts leads me to believe that if Wally Szczerbiak is still interested the Nuggets will have room for him. However, as of now it appears either White or Graham could be the backup small forward while the other will be looking for work.

Update: Tomasson is kicking butt today as he is also reporting that Coby Karl is heading to Cleveland despite George Karl pushing for the Nuggets to bring him in to Denver. All I will say is Cleveland is crazy if Coby does not break camp with the team.

Anthony Carter - Still a Denver Nugget

August 14, 2009
by Jeremy

Yahoo! Sports is reporting (via Twitter) Anthony Carter has signed his one year $1.35 million contract to continue his career with the Denver Nuggets.

I questioned if Rashad McCants presence in Denver yesterday was intended to induce a fire under some free agent. I do not know of the two events are connected, but it would not surprise me if McCants visit did indeed scare Carter into action.

Linas Kleiza Agrees to Deal With Olympiakos

August 10, 2009
by Jeremy

The Denver Post is reporting that Linas Kleiza will sign a two year, $12 million contract with Greek team Olympiakos. (Update: The contract is reportedly for $12.2 million and does have an opt out after one season.)

I cannot blame Kleiza because no NBA team was willing to pay him nearly that much, but as I pointed out previously, it only delays his restricted free agency to next summer, assuming he triggers his opt out clause after the first year of the contract.

Whether you love Kleiza or hate him, you have to admit that this hurts the Nuggets’ depth. I have no problem with Renaldo Balkman backing up Carmelo at small forward as an offense/defense combo like J.R. Smith and Dahntay Jones last season at shooting guard. Plus Balkman can fill in at power forward as Kleiza did when necessary.

Kleiza’s departure also saves the Nuggets an additional $5.4 million in luxury tax and salary and opens up another roster spot. I am sure the Nuggets would have preferred to have Kleiza to sign the qualifying offer, but with the trade of Steven Hunter and now Kleiza heading to Greece, Denver has saved almost $10 million in salary and tax payments, which is significant.

Assuming Anthony Carter returns the Nuggets now have to add two players to their regular season roster in order to field the minimum 13 players.

Steven Hunter Traded to Memphis Along With First Round Pick

August 7, 2009
by Jeremy

In a summer where their competition has made transactions that have been splattered all over the headlines the Denver Nuggets have made another low key move. The Nuggets have managed to coerce the Memphis Grizzlies to take on the final year of Steven Hunter’s contract in exchange for a future draft pick.

Dumping Hunter’s salary is no small accomplishment. It will save the Nuggets $3,696,000 in salary and an additional $3,696,000 in luxury tax payments for a total of $7,392,000. (Of course, in reality that amount is reduced by the salary and tax payment on said salary for whoever fills Hunter’s roster spot.)

While it is frustrating to see them give up another first round draft pick, keep in mind that they are getting a premium for what will, hopefully, be a late first rounder. The most you can “sell” a draft pick for is $3 million. For all intents and purposes the Nuggets received almost $7.4 million for one. That is pretty good business.

I have no idea if the trade was made as a salary dump, which is most likely, or if they did it to free up money they want to spend elsewhere, a small possibility. Regardless of the motive, this trade does make it more palatable to take on salary at some point this season.

This trade now leaves the Nuggets with only ten players under contract. Of course, they still have the qualifying offer on the table for Linas Kleiza and an outstanding offer to Anthony Carter. Even if both of those players sign, which I suspect they both will, the Nuggets will have to add at least one player to reach the 13 player minimum.

Who that player is can go a long way towards how successful this trade will be as a basketball transaction. Even though Hunter was trying to work his way back from his latest knee surgery with the intent to play in 2009-10, it has always been clear that George Karl never trusted him. If this trade is indeed a straight salary dump as it appears there can be a basketball component. If the player who fills Hunter’s vacant roster spot is a player that Karl does trust and can play even a little bit, that will be a plus.

Denver still has not made any this offseason headlines, but once again as with the Lawson trade and the Afflalo trade I think they have made a very solid transaction that will further strengthen the franchise even if it only ends up strengthening the bottom line.

Update: The Nuggets did receive a future second round pick as part of the transaction. There has been no information released as to whose second round pick it will be and when the Nuggets will receive it. If the second round pick belongs to the Grizzlies as opposed to another better team whose pick the Grizzlies have the rights to, it could work out like the Atkins trade with Oklahoma City where the Nuggets only drop a few spots in the draft order.

For the Memphis perspective, check out 3 Shades of Blue.

Up-Update: Travis Heath of HoopsWorld, who lives in Denver, is reporting the first round pick the Nuggets traded was protected 1-14 in 2010 and 2011 and 1-10 from 2012 through 2015. In 2016 it is completely unprotected so Memphis could get the number one pick from the Nuggets in 2016 if things fall apart in Denver.

Plus Travis points out that Denver received a trade exception equal to Hunter’s contract that is good until August 7, 2010. I am usually all over the trade exceptions, but I forgot all about it today for some reason.

2009-10 Denver Nuggets Schedule Analysis

August 4, 2009
by Jeremy

The NBA will release the 2009-10 schedule at 11:00 AM Mountain time. Check back here soon thereafter for a complete analysis.

Sactown Royalty has posted a link to the Kings 2009-10 schedule and Sacramento is one of the Western Conference teams the Nuggets only play three times (twice in Sacramento (12/28/09 and 01/09/10) and once in Denver (02/01/10). It took the NBA about 20 minutes to disable the link to the Kings schedule. Some poor IT guy is getting fired over that one.

Denver Stiffs is reporting the Nuggets open up at home October 28 against the Utah Jazz on ESPN and then travel to Portland the next night to play the Trail Blazers on TNT.

Update: The Nuggets play at Portland on Christmas as the last of five games to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Update (11:16 AM): Denver has 23 sets of back to back games. Update to the update (11:26): They actually have 22. Sorry for the mistake. I have never seen a team have more than 21 sets of back to back games and my educated guess as to the league average would be around 18 or 19. I have not looked at any other team’s schedule to see if other teams are playing more back to back games, but 23 22 seems like a very high number.

Update (11:18 AM): Here is the complete schedule for you to check out for yourself.

Update (11:32 AM): The four Western Conference teams the Nuggets face off against only three times are the Sacramento Kings and Houston Rockets, who they only play once at home, and the Los Angeles Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks who they only play once on the road.

Update (11:39 AM): There is only one home stand longer than three games and it is a four game sequence from November 27 through December 3 where the Nuggets will face off against New York, Minnesota, Golden State and Miami. Denver has four road trips of four or more games including a six game trip in early November and a five game trip at the end of March that takes them through New York, Boston (back to back), Toronto and then finishes up with a back to back in Orlando and Dallas. Ouch. That five game trip lasts only seven days.

However, after that the Nuggets only have two more road games in April at Oklahoma City and Phoenix.

Denver is one of two teams, Sacramento is the other one, who will end their season on April 13.

Update (12:15 PM): The Nuggets have 22 games on ESPN, TNT or ABC and another seven on NBATV.

10/28 Utah ESPN
10/29 @ Portland TNT
11/13 LA Lakers ESPN
11/20 @ LA Clippers ESPN
12/03 Miami TNT
12/25 @ Portland ESPN
01/08 Cleveland ESPN
01/17 Utah ESPN
01/21 LA Clippers TNT
01/31 @ San Antonio ABC
02/05 @ LA Lakers ESPN
02/11 San Antonio TNT
02/18 @ Cleveland TNT
02/21 Boston ABC
02/25 @ Golden State TNT
02/28 @ LA Lakers ABC
03/07 Portland ESPN
03/18 New Orleans TNT
03/24 @ Boston ESPN
04/01 Portland TNT
04/08 LA Lakers TNT
04/13 @ Phoenix TNT

All four contests against Portland and the Lakers are on national TV as well as both games against Boston and Cleveland. That accounts for 12 of the 22 games right there.

Update (1:28 PM): As I mentioned above the Nuggets have 22 games where they have played the night before. From what I have heard that is tied for the fourth most back to backs in the league (Charlotte, Chicago and Detroit all have 23). What makes it worse is on 16 of those 22 back to back sets the team Denver plays on the second night will have at least one day of rest. That leaves only six instances of those 22 back to backs where the Nuggets are playing a team who played the night before as well.

The Nuggets have announced that all games broadcast on Altitude will be in HD apparenlty what few games are on Altitude 2 will not be in HD. That means Nuggets fans will probably get 75 or so games in HD next season. Last season most road games were broadcast in standard D.

Denver Nuggets Adding Beijing to Preseason Destinations

July 22, 2009
by Jeremy

You may recall that the Denver Nuggets will be playing the Indiana Pacers in Taipei on October 8. That will not be their only stop in the Orient.

The NBA has announced that the same two teams will play in Beijing on October 11. I think everyone expected to have at least one other date added as it would make little sense to fly 35 hours or however long it takes to get over there for only one contest.

The game will be played in Wukesong Arena, formerly the Beijing Olympic Basketball Arena, which has been refurbished and holds a capacity of 17,022 spectators. According to Sun Kanglin, President of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sport, it will be the third time NBA teams play each other in Beijing. It will also be one of five NBA games played outside the United States this preseason. In addition to the Nuggets and Pacers playing in Taipei and China the Chicago Bulls will face the Utah Jazz in London, the Jazz will play Real Madrid in Spain and the Phoenix Suns and Philadelphia 76ers will face off in Monterrey, Mexico.

Hopefully, the Nuggets and Pacers games will be televised on NBATV, but there has been no word yet on any broadcast plans.

Sonny Weems Traded to the Milwaukee Bucks

July 21, 2009
by Jeremy

The Denver Post has confirmed the Denver Nuggets have agreed to send Sonny Weems and the recently acquired Walter Sharpe to the Milwaukee Bucks for Malik Allen. My initial reaction is…why? Allen clearly does not have the upside of Weems, or even Sharpe for that matter. The only real skill Allen has is his ability to hit the open jumper.

Financially this deal will save the Nuggets $172,840 in salary and an equal amount in luxury tax. $345,680 is nothing to sneeze at, trust me I wish I had that much in my bank account right now, but it also is not an amount of money that you would give up a talented player like Sonny Weems for.

Weems has shown that he still has a long ways to go before he fulfills his potential. During the Nuggets fifth summer league game George Karl listed off a bevy of concerns about Weems’ game, plays out of control, does not know a good shot from a bad one, does not commit to defense, but then he also said that Weems and Arron Afflalo would be fighting for the minutes that Dahntay Jones played last season in camp. As a side note, Afflalo is clearly the backup to J.R. Smith now although he always had a big advantage over Weems thanks to his ability to play defense.

Weems did not shoot the ball well in Las Vegas, but he rebounded like a big man and showed some growth on defense even from just a couple of months ago when he played in the D-League finals with the team formerly known as the Colorado 14ers.

Many of us have watched Weems and seen a comparison between him and J.R. Smith. Weems does not have Smith’s range, but he is an explosive athlete, capable of playing good defense and contributing to a good team. So I keep asking myself why.

As I said in my post discussing the original rumor, I do not see Allen getting very many minutes with Denver. Even if Weems and Sharpe did not appear to be contributors for next season, neither does Allen.

One thing we know is that the Nuggets front office has been highly competent over the previous couple of seasons. I think we can conclude that this trade is not as much about the personnel as it is building towards something else. What that is I have no idea.

The Nuggets now have 11 players under contract with Linas Kleiza and Anthony Carter still floating around out there. Assuming they resigned Carter and still have their eye on one more player that would put them at the league minimum of 13 players on the roster. Perhaps the Nuggets wanted to be at 13 players instead of 14. However, that makes little sense because as noted above if players 13 and 14 are Weems and Sharpe, they only cost $345,680 more in salary and tax payments than having Allen as your thirteenth man on the roster.

The only rational explanation I can come up with is the Nuggets are working on something that will bring in more than one player. What that is I have no idea, but this trade is certainly a move with the intention of setting up something else. It has to be, because if it isn’t it makes no sense to me at all.

From the Bucks point of view, I think they did this deal to acquire Weems, not to dump salary as the original rumor postulated. The inclusion of Sharpe in the transaction prevents the Bucks from saving much money by waiving Weems.

In conclusion, for those of you who love reading the Collective Bargaining Agreement you will wonder how Sharpe can be traded with Weems so soon after the Nuggets acquired him. The rule is a player cannot be traded with another player for two months after he is initially acquired via trade or signed off of waivers. The Nuggets and Bucks can get around this by using trade exceptions. Milwaukee apparently has a trade exception of $1.853 million and we all know about the Nuggets trade exceptions. Denver c an easily fit Allen in what remains of the Atkins exception and in return will receive two trade exceptions back from Milwaukee for $736,420, which will both be practically useless.

Record	43 - 21
Pythagorean Record	45.7 - 18.3
Projected Pyth Rec	58.5 - 23.5
Defensive Efficiency	108.2
Offensive Efficiency	114.8
Pace Factor	93.8
Field Goal %	47.2%
Opp Field Goal %	45.6%
Effective FG%	51.4%
Opp Effective FG%	49.4%
True Shooting %	56.7%
Opp True Shooting %	53.2%
Def Rebound Rate	72.5%
Off Rebound Rate	25.9%
Total Rebound Rate	49.5%

Roundball Mining Company - Denver Nuggets Blog

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