Roundball Mining Company - Denver Nuggets Blog

Denver Nuggets Announce Summer League Roster

July 1, 2010
by Jeremy

The Denver Nuggets 2010 Summer league team is headlined by Ty Lawson and Coby Karl. Former Colorado Buffalo star shooting guard Richard Roby, who is also Kenyon Martin’s half brother, is on the roster as is late season addition center Brian Butch. Othello Hunter is an athletic big man who moves well and played a few games with the Atlanta Hawks over the past two seasons. Dontaye Draper is a talented, but undersized point guard who has played for the Nuggets in Vegas before. With Anthony Carter once again a free agent perhaps Draper has a chance to get an invite to camp this fall.

No.	Player	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Birthdate	School/Country	Exp.
13	Antonio Anderson	G	6-6	215	6/5/85	Memphis	1
43	Brian Butch	C	6-11	240	12/22/84	Wisconsin	R
10	Dontaye Draper	G	5-11	180	8/10/84	College of Charleston	R
7	Shane Edwards	F	6-7	220	5/31/87	Arkansas-Little Rock	R
34	Laurence Ekperigin	F	6-7	235	2/21/88	Le Moyne College	R
14	Brian Hamilton	F	6-6	205	5/14/82	Louisiana-Lafayette	R
12	Othello Hunter	F	6-8	225	5/28/86	Ohio State	2
22	Coby Karl	G	6-5	215	3/6/83	Boise State	2
3	Ty Lawson	G	5-11	195	11/3/87	North Carolina	1
8	Richard Roby	G	6-6	200	9/28/85	Colorado	R

Denver Nuggets Summer League Schedule

June 15, 2010
by Jeremy

The Nuggets may or may not have a top ten pick to check out during the 2010 NBA Summer League, but regardless of who is on the roster, Denver has the great honor of playing in the first game in Vegas this summer. OK, so maybe that is not such a big honor. Regardless, here is the schedule (all times Pacific):

1:00 PM Friday, July 9 at COX Pavilion
Denver vs. Dallas
3:00 PM Saturday, July 10 at COX Pavilion
L.A. Lakers vs Denver
1:00 PM Sunday, July 11 at COX Pavilion
New York vs. Denver
1:00 PM Tuesday, July 13 at COX Pavilion
Denver vs. Chicago
1:00 PM Wednesday, July 14 at Cox Pavilion
Denver vs. Houston

Sadly, barring any trades the Nuggets will not face off against any of the top picks in this year’s draft, or even last year’s draft for that matter. Still, it is fun to have some basketball to obsess over in the summer.

Update: The Nuggets have announced Ty Lawson will play on the summer league team. “I want to be more aggressive,” he [Lawson] said. “Summer league is where I can work on being more assertive on the court.” Of course Lawson will still have to be a Nugget if he is going to participate.

Late season additions Coby Karl and Brian Butch will be a part of the team as well. Jamahl Mosely will coach.

George Karl to Miss Final Three Games of Current Trip

March 12, 2010
by Jeremy

The Denver Nuggets have announced that George Karl will not join the Nuggets for the final three games of their current road trip. Adrian Dantley will coach the team through games in New Orleans, Memphis and Houston.

Karl had a feeding tube inserted into his stomach during a surgical procedure on Monday.

“I have tremendous trust in A.D. and my staff,” Karl said. “I think they’ll keep the team in a good place over the next few days, and hopefully I’ll be ready to rejoin them when they come home next week.”

I would have been shocked if Karl was able to rejoin the team for these next three games, but I was not going to put it past him trying to be there.

Dantley did a very good job in Minnesota and it will be interesting to see how he handles extended duty over the next three games.

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.

Record	53 - 29
Pythagorean Record	56.5 - 25.5
Projected Pyth Rec	56.5 - 25.5
Defensive Efficiency	104.7
Offensive Efficiency	108.7
Pace Factor	97.3
Field Goal %	47.0%
Opp Field Goal %	45.6%
Effective FG%	51.1%
Opp Effective FG%	49.5%
True Shooting %	56.3%
Opp True Shooting %	53.5%
Def Rebound Rate	72.8%
Off Rebound Rate	26.0%
Total Rebound Rate	49.6%

Roundball Mining Company - Denver Nuggets Blog

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