Ryan Schwan at Hornets 247 sought out the best trade offers for Chris Paul from the members of the TrueHoop Network.  My four team masterpiece did not claim the top spot, but earned a gold star.  Make sure you head over and check out the best Chris Paul trade proposals from a group of savvy hoops writers.

drewjay: Jeremy, I would love to read how your opinion on the LeBron decision, although you might be sick of hearing about it.

There is nothing I have to add that has not already been said. I am disappointed that we do not get to see Wade and James battling it out on the court for eastern conference supremacy, but honestly we had not seen LeBron and Wade face off in the postseason anyway. Wade and the Heat had become somewhat marginalized as he was surrounded by a weaker supporting cast than even LeBron.

While it is easy to say that LeBron was disloyal to Cleveland there is very little loyalty in sports anyway. It is a business. Teams trade players over and over, just look at how many teams has Drew Gooden played for, but when it comes to franchise players they are supposed to stick it out in the city they landed in through thick and thin just because they were drafted to play there.

Players have a very finite number of years to succeed. Cleveland had seven years to put LeBron into the best position possible. They tried and so did he. He has the right to move on and choose the best situation for himself. For all the people longing for him to stay in Cleveland and try to carry a subpar supporting cast to a title ask yourself this; If LeBron were to have resigned with the Cavaliers and never won a championship would you be saying, “So what if he never won a ring, he stayed in Cleveland back in 2010 and that is what is important?” I doubt it.

In my mind the biggest positive with James and Bosh going to Miami is it makes another team relevant. Granted the Heat won just four seasons ago, however I am tired of the small handful of teams winning titles year in and year out. I am sick of seeing the Lakers and Spurs and Celtics win every season. Maybe the Heat will simply usher in another era of one team dominating the others and add another team to the pile of squads that plague us with their success. Even so, I look forward to the day where the Spurs are sans Duncan, the Lakers are without Kobe and the big three of Boston are sent out to pasture. I think we will see some great battles between the Magic and Heat in the East and watch out for Oklahoma City becoming a dominating force in the west and Dallas has at least one final run left in them. As long as Denver somehow finds a way to be included in the conversation we can look forward to a very exciting next five seasons in the NBA.

As far as “The Decision” considering all the other trash on television, what is one hour of a guy glorifying himself and announcing where he is going to play basketball. With all the media and fan hype leading up to this summer, I would have been disappointed if there was not some climatic moment. I agree with what others have said that he should have let everyone know that Cleveland was out of the running in order to avoid that gut wrenching moment for his home state fans when he announced where his talents would be taken.

Above all, there is no guarantee that the Beach Boys will win anything. Wade has had health problems. Bosh is a very talented player, but has yet to win anything and LeBron has been somewhat disappointing in the playoffs as well. He has been in the league seven seasons and won eight playoff series. Think about that.

Your Thoughts on Al Harrington

Hoss: Offensively its a good move. We have cover for KMart in the first few months of the season. And now we have a big coming off the bench that can score. But defense and rebounding have to be concerns for this team. Who is going to do the dirty work? Age is a concern, but Harrington has been fairly healthy historically. Does this move signal the eventual exit of KMart from the team?

I think Kenyon’s current knee injury may signal the exit of Kenyon from the NBA. He has been a warrior battling back from his numerous injuries during his career. You can complain about his contract and his attitude on the court in the past, but he has worked his tail off to contribute to the Nuggets. I hope he can bring Denver a nice asset with his expiring contract and then return to finish his career in Denver. He is not overly talented, but he fights and claws and will even guard Kobe Bryant in the playoffs if that is what the coach asks of him.

That being said, the silver lining of his massive contract has been the prospect of trading him for another really nice asset as an expiring contract and with the current financial state of the league there is no team that needs to dump that kind of salary next season which is very frustrating.

TSal: I think Harrington will help a bit. He’s a Kenyon that can score. Defense can be taught and unfortunately when you play for terrible teams, you spend time playing keep up (scoring points) and not trying to stay ahead (defense).

asdqqq: Harrington is, by all accounts, a great locker room, all effort every night guy. And he had a minor falling out with D’Antoni last year because the coach was not allowing him to play in the post more and telling him to take so many perimeter shots. He may have been a chucker last year, but it doesn’t sound like it was by his choice. He’s also been recently described by scouts as a solid on-ball defender. Just trying to throw out some additional info to temper all the broad, doom & gloom generalizations.

More from asdqqq: I just don’t buy your argument for why this will not fairly significantly help the offense.

First, he’s good enough shooting from the perimeter that teams will care. Harrington has shot well over .360 from 3 since ’07 except for last year. Ray Allen shot .363 last year. Kobe shot .329. But that didn’t mean teams left them alone at the 3 point line. Most significantly, Harrington is a streaky shooter. Teams can’t take the risk of leaving him open and having him get in a rhythm from range.

Second, I think you are misunderstanding how teams can double off of Kenyon. You ask how many times I saw “Kenyon cut through the lane and receive a pass from Carmelo because he was left uncovered.” I would respond, a small fraction of the amount of times I saw Kenyon brick a wide open 12-foot jumper, one that Harrington can regularly hit.

I agree, Harrington will help the Nuggets be a better offensive team, but the amount of improvement that can be garnered on that end of the floor is minimal.  When healthy, Denver is a deadly offensive team.  There is just not that much more efficiency to be gained.  If Harrington can help carry some of the load and allow Carmelo to save more energy for defense, that would be great, as long as Melo actually uses his excess energy on defense.

I have to admit that I helped drive the Harrington-does-not-defend bandwagon. He did play very good defense early in his career in Indy and in the two systems he has played in recently defense has not been a priority. He is not going to be the defensive stalwart he was early on in his career, his body probably will not let him. He will have the opportunity to prove his detractors wrong and he has said that is his goal, but I think the best we can hope for is that he fits in as a cog in a finely tuned team defense. After watching Denver defend last season, I am not so sure that is what we get.

Kyle: The only good that can come from this is possibly to just outscore the opponent every night. The nugs have always ranked in the top in scoring and that is with K-Mart and Birdman and Nene all rotating in the 4 and 5 spots (K-mart and Nene can both score in bunches on any given night), but none of these three bigs can be a significant scorer every single game. Playing Harrington at the 4 and then rotating the other guys in will give Denver more offensive weapons as well as rest the ailing knees of the three bigs. The positive on the defense can be that Nene, Bird and Kenyon each play different distinct styles of defense which could be utilized by more minutes in a particular game depending on the opponent.

Elsid: Overall, does the Harrington move even matter?… I think he is a solid player and is worth a mid level deal but it certainly doesn’t help us at this point.

This is the most important point of all. Does Harrington push this team into the top four in the west? The Lakers will be there, Dallas will be there, Oklahoma City will be there, Portland and Houston will be there. Utah and San Antonio will be very good as well. The only way Denver is a factor in the playoffs is if they pull off a major midseason trade or Carmelo, Lawson and J.R. Smith all take large leaps forward.

K: You would think the nuggets would learn a lesson from the cavs/lebron. Getting the al harringtons and antwoine jammison’s of the world are not going to win championships and will not help keep Melo in Denver. I was really hoping that they could make a big move by trading some combination of Smith/Kmart/Graham and get a real player. I am a big fan of all 3 of those guys but if we are honest the nuggets aren’t winning with the team we have now.

It sure seems like Denver signed Harrington because he was the best player still available which smacked of a “Look at what we did Carmelo!” desperation. Harrington’s presence will not keep Melo in Denver long term, in fact with their limited assets it might have the opposite effect. I believe a big reason why LeBron left Cleveland was they built their team to win immediately and had no assets to help build for the future. Melo could very well see the same type of landscape in Denver when it is his turn to opt out.

Brian: I guess my only question on this thrashing and continued discontent of the signing of Harrington, is what do u propose the Nuggets do? Roll over and play dead? Not use their mid-level exception? They needed a SCORING forward because Kenyon just doesnt cut it night in and night out. They have no guarantee of Carmelo resigning and no guarantee of Nene signing an extension next year.

In the NBA with guaranteed salaries and limited assets it is much better to do nothing than the wrong thing. Harrington is going to tie up a good chunk of money for the next three to five seasons (there are still conflicting reports as to whether or not the final two years are guaranteed or not). Yes, he is a good player and he can help Denver score. However, scoring is not the problem for Denver. For much of the season they were in the top two or three teams in the league in offensive efficiency and that was with Kenyon Martin starting at power forward.

Basketball is not about putting the most absolutely talented players together, you need that talent to fit together. Considering we have no idea how restrictive the new CBA will be and that Denver needs some big bodies who can defend and rebound signing Harrington to a sizeable deal could be very prohibitive in the future.

Should Denver have done nothing? Yes, that is the lesson we have seen from teams like Portland, San Antonio and now Oklahoma City. You do not use your assets just because you can. Doing so can lock you in a horrific situation. Just look at the Knicks. They maxed out every asset they could with desperate move after desperate move and it took three seasons to tear things down and even now the only thing they have to show for all the angst and losing is Amare Stoudemire.

The ultimate goal of any team should be to win a championship. Sadly, most teams worry more about selling tickets and avoiding any kind of rebuilding.

mattmo21: Jeremy, the same guy who was creaming over the idea of getting Beasley is bitching about picking up a proven NBA player in Al Harrington. This is a great move, Al gives us options he can start but he is used to being a bench player. Worst case scenario, he backs up Kenyon upon his return. Kenyon is a great defender while Al can light it up from ANYWHERE on the floor. Remember when he roasted the Nuggs for 41 points last season?

My interest in Beasley was as an asset that Denver could have acquired for virtually nothing. Miami was able to trade him to Minnesota for two second round picks because they were desperate. The Nuggets could have flipped Beasley to the Wolves for much more, at least a first round pick and a $5 million trade exception to that as well. Tell me you would not feel better about the Nuggets if they had pulled a first round pick and possibly more out of Kleiza’s move to Toronto?

So just to set the record straight, I cream over the idea of hoarding assets and using every last arrow in the quiver to do so over head case underachievers. Although, if I had to choose between Harrington and Beasley, they come at roughly the same price tag and Beasley is younger and will be more efficient on offense.

q: There is not a center out there that we could have got. Not to mention we have to protect our self if Kenyon not being able to play ever again.

I will let some other readers toss out their ideas first:

Colin: If we can just pull in Amundson, who I believe hasn’t signed yet and I heard he visited so he is clearly interested, then we would have a hell of a team. The guy plays D and pushes people around.

Steven: A big who could be interesting is Dampier. He provides major beef, if nothing else but fortunately he does provide other things, like rebounding and good post defense. Maybe he gets offered something above the veteran minimum, probably? It’s not he can’t be a valuable matchup at times.

q: Jeremy you have yet to say who else you would have prefer we got? dampier? maybe Shaq however I don’t think we stand a chance of him coming to denver.

avp: I think that they need to go out and get more better players too surround Melo like maybe get Shaq,Matt Barnes or even Shannon Brown.

Cougflank: please please please dont sign shaq.

As we all know Denver has done a great job of pulling rotation players out of the free agency bargain bin in August. I do not know if it was the fear of Melo walking after next season or the desire to keep up with the Jonses and respond to moves by the competition, whatever the reason, they splurged for talent this summer. Dampier would be a huge rebounder who should he be bought out, which is a certainty as he is not worth the $13 million he is slated to make this season, could possibly be brought in on the cheap to fill the lane for 14 or 20 minutes a night. Josh Boone is another cheap big who can rebound and defend who is still available. Ultimately, I like the idea of adding local boy Amundson as a dirty work power forward who can slide over to center against smaller lineups. In addition to Lou a center I have thought is a great bargain the past couple of seasons is Aaron Gray. He has reportedly resigned with the Hornets, but he could have been pried away by a small increase from the minimum with the Hornets one of the teams on the edge of the luxury tax line. Denver could have added Amundson, Gray and Boone for roughly the same cost of Harrington and addressed actual needs. I know none of them will ever score 41 points in a single game, but they would have added depth, rebounding, defense and helped Denver match up better with some of the big front lines they will be facing throughout the season and playoffs.

Shaq is intriguing because of his size and track record, but he is a terrible pick and roll defender and is a big plug on offense. Add in the cost it would take to get him and I would take my troika of cheaper role players.

NE Nugs Fan: There was a period last year when Shelden Williams was getting significant minutes with the Celtics (because of injuries), and the Celtic announcers were saying things like, “It’s going to be hard to keep him out of the lineup when everyone’s healthy”. In other words, he looked good. Then he lost his minutes and he was forgotten.

I wanted a center, but at least Williams is a rebounder and defender. He doesn’t have the height I want, but he has a ridiculous wingspan, which helps. But, as Jeremy says, he’ll be sitting on the end of the bench anyway. So I guess it doesn’t matter.

Williams is another player I thought was a bargain for what he contributed and his signing was more along the lines of what Denver has traditionally done. He is not a true center although as NE Nugs Fan points out, he is long and can block shots and rebound. As long as Kenyon is out he will be the defensive counterpart at power forward to Al Harrington. I like the signing and believe Williams will help Denver this season.

runningdonut: Nuggets paid dearly for devoiding themselves of all assets, forcing themselves out of the draft and having a thin team with a bloated payroll and nothing of any trade value.

Runningdonut is exactly right. Denver’s penny pinching ways has really hurt them as they have given away first round picks to Memphis and Oklahoma City to dump salary. Instead of adding cheap talent, they have been forced to cut corners and as a result lack depth. The perfect example of a move that was meant to save money was the sale of their second round pick in the 2009 draft. Denver was paid $2.5 million by Houston for that selection. Imagine the Nuggets did not sell that pick and drafted the man everyone was calling for, DeJuan Blair. With Blair in the fold there would be no need to sign a player like Shelden Williams and the need to sign Al Harrington would not be so dire. Denver could pass on a big ticket free agent like Harrington and save much more money than the $2.5 million they booked by selling the pick. You cannot put a price on nabbing a steal in the second round, but Denver did and ultimately they may have lost more than money.

GZ: Chris Paul has mentioned Orlando, New York, and LA (Lakers) as his preferred trade destinations. However, since the Hornets without Paul would be in a definite rebuilding mode around Thornton and Collison, they would almost certainly require Paul’s new team to absorb Emeka Okafor’s horrific contract ($11.5 million, 4 years) as part of the deal. It’s hard to see how any of those teams achieves this while sending enough young talent or expiring contracts back to NOLA to make the salaries balance. I could go further in depth explaining why I think none of these three teams is a good match for CP3+1, but I want to get to my main thought: how about the Nuggets as a potential trade partner? (Trade idea by GZ)

Paul emerged from a meeting with the Hornets’ brass today claiming he wants to be in New Orleans and he is excited to see what they do to build a winner. Read between the lines and what I hear is, I do not want to destroy my trade value and I know the best way to get a trade is to work with the Hornets to keep my value as high as possible.

I will say that I am fully on board with pulling out all the stops to acquire Paul. It would be very difficult to get over his flopping and constant complaining lobbying. The Nuggets have a nice tandem of point guards in Chauncey and Lawson. The sad truth is Chauncey, despite his offseason training regimen, has run down considerably the previous two seasons and it is only going to get worse as he ages. Lawson is a very good young player, but he is not Paul.

Most people want to dump their expiring contracts and current starting point guard on New Orleans in an attempt to steal Paul away. In my mind if the Hornets do trade Paul part of the reason why will be their faith in Darren Collison. Even though they are trading their star point guard, I doubt they will be looking for another starting caliber point guard in return because it would simply create a log jam with Collison already on board.

Secondly, as everyone has pointed out to land Paul you will have to take back their other bad contracts. That means acquiring Emeka Okafor’s four years and $50 some million and James Posey’s two years and $13 million. Peja Stojakovic is in the final year of his mammoth deal so I do not think he needs to be part of the equation.

As I said above, New Orleans has to be able to tell their fans they acquired some talent in addition to salary relief. Because of that a combo of Kenyon Martin’s expiring deal, J.R. Smith’s expiring contract, and still sizeable upside, Denver would not have a competitive offer. Plus the Hornets have no need for Chauncey Billups who would just be another expiring deal with his team option for 2011-12. Chauncey has more value elsewhere.

With those parameters, here is my proposal. Take a second to soak it up, it is a four team deal that I believe makes sense for all four teams.

Sadly, Denver must part with Nene because New Orleans needs talent to sell the deal. Nene is a talented big who still has room for improvement. He could be a great pick and roll partner for Collison and would give the Hornets a solid big they could pair with David West. J.R. Smith was run out of town four years ago, but that regime is gone and he could start over fresh with a more mature attitude and more mature game. Plus he still has a load of potential to fulfill. To top things off for the Hornets they avoid taking on a starting point guard in Billups creating a logjam with Collison. Chauncey goes to Charlotte, to be reunited with Larry Brown on a veteran team looking to improve on their first playoff appearance in franchise history. I hate parting with Chauncey. He is the hometown hero who led Denver to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in 20 years. However, he has taken Denver as far as he can and Paul is a player who could push Denver into the upper echelon of the west for the next five to seven years. With Billups heading to Charlotte New Orleans gets Dampier’s non-guaranteed $13 million contract that they can wipe off the books immediately putting them in a much better financial position.

The bad news is Denver must part with Nene. The good news is they have Kenyon Martin’s expiring contract and Ty Lawson, who is not superfluous with Paul in town, to work with. Denver has sought after Jeff Foster for years now and with Nene gone they need an offensive big man who can rebound. Indiana was rumored to be interested in Ty Lawson prior to the 2010 draft. Martin replaces Foster’s toughness and the Pacers get their point guard of the present and future. Murphy has value as Jim O’Brien loves his three point ability, but by all accounts he is not in their future plans.

The Nuggets come out of these trades a different and improved team. Okafor provides the interior muscle and rebounding they have been seeking, Posey can be a defender and three point shooter off the bench, Murphy gives them a big man who can stretch the defense while not losing out on rebounding and when paired with Okafor the Nuggets should be set on the defensive glass. Foster is an energy guy who can scrap and hit the glass as well. Denver might have to throw in some cash and a draft pick, but for an opportunity like this I think Kroenke gives it the green light.

This is all conjecture based on hearsay and rumors, but it sure is fun to talk about.

GZ: Finally, one depressing thought I had about this whole CP3 business: Does it seem foreboding to anyone else that he says he wants to team up with another star, specifically Melo, but did not include Denver on his list of preferred destinations? After the back-room dealings that went on between Wade-Lebron-Bosh leading up to free agency this summer, I wonder if CP3 already knows something we don’t- that Melo has already made up his mind not to resign with the Nuggets?

Thanks for bringing us all back down to earth GZ.

That does it for our first comment bag. Thanks for the comments. I could not list all the quality thoughts that were expressed and I hope everyone continues to chime in.

While Dallas, like Denver, offered Harrington the full mid-level exception starting at $5.765 million, Harrington didn’t want to talk about whether the Mavericks were willing to offer him the five fully guaranteed years that Denver did.

Five fully guaranteed years.  Once again we are faced with the specter of this deal weighing the Nuggets down in the near future.

The most frequently used argument in favor of bringing Harrington to Denver is that his outside shooting ability will prevent so many double and triple teams from converging on Carmelo Anthony.  There are several issues I have with that assertion.

First of all, Harrington will have to greatly improve on his outside shooting in order to protect Melo.  He is a solid shooter, but certainly not a deadly one.  Last season he only converted on only 35% of his shots from 15 to 23 feet and was slightly worse from behind the arc converting on 34.2% of his threes.  He has shot better in the past converting on 42% of his midrange shots two seasons ago, plus he made 43.4% of his threes in 2006-07.  He has the potential to shoot well, but seeing as how he is on the downside of his prime seasons I would not expect a repeat of his career highs.  I doubt many teams will choose to play man to man against Carmelo because Harrington is setting up from the perimeter.

Secondly, since when are double and triple teams a bad thing?  When a team commits more than one defender to an offensive player, they are putting themselves at a disadvantage.  A well drilled offensive team will make defenses that double pay a stiff price.  Denver has excellent three point shooters in Chauncey Billups, Arron Afflalo and Ty Lawson.  J.R. Smith had a horrid season from distance, but I would expect him to bounce back strong next season.  Those four are all much better three point shooters than Harrington and teams still sent extra defenders at Carmelo at will.

Third, the argument is teams used Kenyon’s man to double Carmelo and they will not leave Harrington like they did Kenyon.  My response is how many times did you see Kenyon cut through the lane and receive a pass from Carmelo because he was left uncovered?  Again, a double team is not necessarily a bad thing.  Plus even poor defensive teams are prepared to rotate and protect themselves from giving up a wide open shot off of a single pass after a double.  It is usually a shooter on the weakside who gets the open shot off of a swing pass, not necessarily the player whose man left him to double.  I would much rather have Afflalo, Chauncey, Lawson or J.R. sitting off the ball to take these shots than Harrington.

Harrington does provide another offensive threat at a position where they have lacked offense, but he is not some magic elixir that will make Denver an offensive juggernaut.  He is a perimeter oriented volume shooter.  While he played in systems that called for him to shoot a bevy of threes every night in New York and Golden State, even going back to his last half-season in Indiana he attempted more shots from outside ten feet, 7.3, than from inside ten feet, 6.2.  For a team that frequently forgets to work for good shots he is another player who likes jumpers and will only exacerbate those stretches when the Nuggets make one or fewer passes and jack up a long range heave.

I was also a little bothered by the timing of the deal.  With the Raptors having signed Linas Kleiza to an offer sheet Denver could have convinced them to rescind their offer and agree to a sign and trade (as the Nets and Warriors did with Anthony Morrow).  In order to do so Denver would have had to provide a credible threat to match the offer sheet.  With the announcement of the Harrington signing Toronto knows Denver is not going to match and thus has no reason to do a sign and trade which could have brought a valuable trade exception.  It is certainly possible Denver did their best to work out such a trade and Toronto rebuffed them.  Plus even though Harrington agreed to the contract there is always the chance he backs out if Denver asks him to wait a couple of days so they can keep the pressure on Toronto.  Even so, you never want to lose an asset for nothing, but that is what will happen to Denver with Kleiza.

I have had 24 hours to cool off after hearing about this signing, but even a day later I stand by my assessment that this is the wrong player and the wrong contract for Denver.  It is not an indictment of Harrington, who is undoubtedly a talented player, his addition simply fails to address the Nuggets’ largest shortcomings of interior defense and rebounding.

I hate to be all gloom and doom.  Keep in mind things could be worse.  At least Denver did not just hire Billy King to be their General Manager.

Williams was a player I thought Denver should have looked into last season as he is a good defender and rebounder who could be had for cheap.  His signing is good news from a defensive standpoint.  However, he is a little undersized and while he adds some girth he does not have the length to handle the Lakers’ twin towers.  Plus, when everyone is healthy he will be the fifth big and is not likely to see significant minutes.  As with Harrington we will take a look at what Williams brings to the table in the coming days.

The Nuggets should just sign Carter to a six year veterans minimum deal because we know as long as he can run he will be a Nugget.  With the growth of Lawson Carter should only see the court when either Chauncey or Ty are injured.  However, as we saw last season his play suffers when asked to play too many minutes too many nights in a row.

My response is taking action for the sake of taking action is not always the right thing to do.

This move reeks of a panic signing by Denver. With no teams coveting large expiring contracts like Kenyon Martin’s, Denver’s biggest asset was their midlevel exception. They used it entirely on Harrington who is the wrong player with the wrong contract. Denver is going to regret this contract possibly even as early as the 2011-12 season.

The Nuggets certainly made the most of their limited assets over the previous two summers. They have done a great job of signing players to reasonable contracts who fit a need and contributed to the team. Instead of sticking to their guns and working to acquire a reasonably priced big man who could help fill a need they have signed Carmelo Anthony-lite in Harrington.

For those of you not familiar with Harrington, he can play small forward or power forward, does not rebound particularly well, does not defend and is a high usage rate player who like to shoot jumpers. Over the next few days we will look closer at his strengths and weaknesses, but he has one major shortcoming. He is not a center.

The name of the game in the Western Conference is size. We have seen how the long and talented frontline of the Lakers has dominated on the way to back to back championships. Dallas has retained Brendan Haywood and added Tyson Chandler (plus they added Alexis Ajinca in the Chandler trade and also reportedly have signed Ian Mahinmi). Portland who added Marcus Camby last season is hoping for the chance of getting a full season out of Greg Oden with Houston, who added Patrick Patterson, is hoping for the same with Yao Ming. San Antonio has finally brought over Tiago Splitter to play alongside Tim Duncan. Utah has swapped a 6’8” Carlos Boozer for a 6’11” Al Jefferson. Golden State brought in David Lee. Sacramento acquired a mountain by the name of Derrick DeMarcus Cousins in addition to Samuel Dalmebert. The Thunder came out of the draft with Cole Aldrich. Even the Clippers have brought Sofoklis Schortsanitis over from Greece (I swear to God I got his first name and the first six letters of his last name right without looking).

Conversely, Denver has gotten much smaller with Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen dealing with surgical procedures which may cause them to miss time in the regular season, seeing Johan Petro sign with the Nets and now adding Harrington.

Denver did attempt to add some size as they tried to trade into the draft to select Derrick Caracter and they made midlevel exception offers to Jermaine O’Neal and Udonis Haslem. O’Neal chose to sign with the Boston Celtics, who you may recall were just a few minutes away from an NBA championship last month and Haslem took less money to remain with the only NBA team he has played with who just happened to sign the top three free agents on the market. As frustrating as it is to lose out on these two big men, you cannot blame the Nuggets for losing out on players to two championship caliber teams.

With the addition of Harrington Denver has basically given up on acquiring a quality center and committed to playing small ball. Harrington can score; we have seen him do that for years, especially when he plays power forward. He is quick enough to drive by most fours and has a good enough outside shot that he can make them pay if they play off of him.

We also know he will struggle to defend and with Carmelo playing 35 to 40 minutes a night at small forward Denver is going to be playing Harrington at power forward quite a bit, especially early on if Martin and Birdman are not healthy enough to play. I shudder to think of watching the Nuggets’ defense when Harrington and Melo are on the floor at the same time. I fear this trade signals the end of any hope that Denver might be able to return to the solid team defense they displayed two seasons ago.

Denver can win some regular season games with Al Harrington playing 20 or 25 minutes a night at power forward, but barring a midseason trade miracle come playoff time Denver will once again be one and done. In fact, with teams like Houston, New Orleans and possibly even the Clippers and Kings improving next season Denver might find themselves fighting for a playoff spot.

Even if I am wrong about how Harrington fails to fill a need for Denver, the contract he has signed makes this deal a nightmare. Harrington is 30 years old and as a preps to pros player has 12 full NBA seasons on his legs. By the time this contract ends he will be 36 making $7.6 million.  Denver is locked into all five seasons as Chris Tomasson is reporting there are no option years in the contract.  I have been preaching fiscal responsibility with the NBA on the eve of a new, more financially stringent collective bargaining agreement. Denver was in the position of having a clean slate entering the new CBA, but should Carmelo agree to the extension that is currently on the table, with this contract Denver is going to be locked into a mediocre team with little room to maneuver.

I never thought I would say this, but now knowing this is the alternative, I wish the Nuggets would have just matched the offer sheet to Linas Kleiza. He could provide some mediocre outside shooting and rebounding at a much lower cost.

I also think this move signals the end of the Mark Warkentien era in Denver. I may be wrong, and this is pure speculation based on his track record in Denver, but the way he has functioned under the financial constraints that were placed on him and how he found values from Chris Andersen to Dahntay Jones and Arron Afflalo I do not think Warkentien is the man who pushed this deal up the chain. His contract is up in a matter of weeks and Denver has given him permission to seek employment from other teams. We knew he was on his way out, but I have to think if he was still heavily involved Harrington would not have been offered this contract. (I do not mean to diminish the contributions of the other members of the Nuggets’ front office in their ability to find affordable rotation players, but it seems to be more than a coincidence that as Warkentien is seemingly on his way out Denver agrees to their first truly horrible contract in years).

The first memory most Nuggets fans have of Warkentien was when he claimed that he was not playing checkers, but chess when Denver traded Marcus Camby to the Clippers and he proved to be correct. Denver might have more tricks up their sleeve, but sadly the addition of Harrington cannot be characterized as anything other than a checkers move.

It was recently brought to my attention that readers were not able to register in order to leave comments.  This was an oversight from when the move was made to our new design.  I have modified the settings so that it will be much easier to comment and I look forward to getting much more insight from you all now that this issue has been rectified.

Thanks for your support and I apologize for the mistake.

Jeremy

The O’Neal signing is devastating to the Nuggets’ chances of fielding a quasi contending squad. There are no other big men on the unrestricted market that could provide the size and skills O’Neal possesses. Boston secured his services by offering him a full midlevel deal for two seasons worth roughly $11.8 million. Even so, if the Nuggets lost O’Neal to the Celtics based on their refusal to top the Celtics offer by tacking a third year onto the contract I believe they did the right thing. O’Neal is still an effective player, but paying him over $6 million a season in 2012-13 under a new CBA would be less than appealing.

It is possible the Nuggets will now turn their attention to Brad Miller as the remaining pool of centers drops off dramatically after him. Miller provides a big body to take up space on the block and would certainly make Denver better. However, despite his reputation as a solid perimeter shooter his numbers dropped off considerably last season.

There is good news from the Nuggets’ pursuit of O’Neal as it indicates that Stan Kroenke is willing to spend their midlevel exception this season on a player that will help the team.

Heading north of the border the Raptors have signed Linas Kleiza to a four year, $18.8 million offer sheet. The Raptors are a team that has shown interest in Kleiza in the past and it is no surprise they have reached an agreement with him.

Denver now has seven days to match the offer, but I suspect that outcome is highly unlikely. Kleiza is a very limited player and with the Nuggets watching the bottom line closely I cannot imagine them matching Toronto’s offer. However, some good can still come from this for Denver.

Please take note, this is complete speculation on my part, but the following is a scenario that peaks my interest. Denver cannot sign and trade Kleiza now that he has signed an offer sheet. However, if Toronto rescinds the offer sheet it frees up the possibility of working out a trade. With Chris Bosh having committed to sign in Miami and the Heat seeking to part with Michael Beasley and his salary of around $5 million a year Denver, Toronto and Miami could work out a trade where Denver signs and trades Keliza to Toronto, Toronto sends Bosh to Miami in another sign and trade and Beasley comes to Denver. Toronto gets Kleiza, Bosh gets his six year max deal with Miami and Denver gets an intriguing young big man.

That would be a pretty good coup for Denver considering Keliza has not exactly been very high on their list of prized assets.

Denver has some assets which would have been tasty in the past in the form of Kenyon Martin’s expiring contract as well as J.R. Smith’s expiring deal. In the past expiring contracts have been used to acquire players like Antawn Jamison, Kevin Martin and Marcus Camby exchanged teams last season at the trade deadline for expiring contracts and I bet everyone remembers the deal where the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Pau Gasol for expiring contracts and his younger brother.

The bad news for Denver is with all the teams that have cleared cap space for this summer and the handful of teams who are poised to have cap space next summer, the demand for a big expiring deal like Kenyon’s is very low.

Denver has dangled Kenyon in front of Golden State in an attempt to acquire Andris Biedrins and so far the Warriors, a team which is being sold this summer and teams on the block usually love to shed long term salary, basically told Denver they were barking up the wrong tree.

The biggest problem with trading Kenyon is the Nuggets desperately need him. He is the only big man who can bang down low and switch out onto a guard and keep him from driving to the lane. Martin is also a solid rebounder and while he lacks a classic post game and smooth face up jumper can contribute on the offensive end. The other problem with trading Kenyon is even though you might add another big man, you are losing one in the transaction as well. If Denver does trade Kenyon they would need some assurance that he would be bought out. The problem is that is kind of frowned upon by the NBA.

Maybe something that makes sense comes about towards the trade deadline, but I do not think Denver can count on it.

That leaves them with two exceptions to play with. Denver will have the mid level exception (MLE) and the biannual veterans minimum exception (BAVME?). The exact value of the MLE will not be known until the NBA announces the salary cap figures on July 8. Last season it was around $5.8 million and will likely be around that amount, if not lower, next season. The MLE can be divvied up amongst several players and the biannual veteran exception must all go to one individual.

Denver has been linked to players such as Brad Miller, Ty Thomas and Lou Amundson. There are serious problems with all three of those players. Miller is a legit center size wise, but saw his rebound rate and shooting percentage fall off a cliff last season. For a team in need of a defensive presence Miller just does not make sense.

Thomas is a tremendous athlete, but is wildly inconsistent and is not a quality low post defender. Thomas might be a nice piece to have for the future, but Denver is in win now mode. Plus Thomas is a restricted free agent which would require Denver to acquire him through a sign and trade. The only player that makes any sense for the deal salary wise would be J.R. Smith and Smith is not a player Charlotte has any need for. That does not alleviate the possibility of a three way trade, but it does complicate things.

Amundson is a great energy player. He moves well and is a beast on the offensive glass. The problem is he is not quite so good on the defensive boards and that is the area where the Nuggets need the most help.

Denver does desperately need another big man and sadly the pickings are slim. There are a lot of Kwame Browns, Jamaal Magloires and Primoz Brezecs. The bottom line is quality bigs usually do not hit the free agent market very often. Still, there are options out there.

Denver is in the position to pick one center and recruit them heavily. Everyone knows Denver needs help in that area as Nene, Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen have all suffered knee injuries late last season and Kenyon and Birdman have undergone surgical procedures on one of their knees this summer. Denver obviously needs help and whoever comes in could play a crucial role on a playoff contending team. Even if all three returning bigs are healthy it would be very good if they all saw reduced minutes during the regular season.

I am not the first Nugget booster to mention this player’s name, and when I first thought about the match I was not interested. However, when you look at the quality of players that are available he quickly rises to the top.

That man is Jermaine O’Neal.

O’Neal has certainly seen his level of play diminish over the previous couple of seasons. However, he is still an effective player. Statistically he is very solid in almost every area. He is a decent rebounder, solid defender and a capable midrange shooter. In fact according to Synergy Sports Technology O’Neal was very effective in defending the post giving up only 0.76 points per possession in such a situation. As a reference that number is better than both Nene, 0.77, and Kenyon, 0.91.

Offensively O’Neal can contribute as well. He relies a little too much on his turn around jumper to be effective on the block, but he has a solid midrange jumper. I imagine the Nuggets have been interested in Brad Miller is because of his ability to open up the floor with his shooting ability. Last season Miller converted 60 of his 160 attempts between 15 and 24 feet. That is a percentage of 37.5%. O’Neal cashed in on 69 of his 142 attempts from that same distance good for 48.5%. In my mind O’Neal is a better alternative than Miller on both ends of the floor (in case you were wondering Miller coughed up a respectable 0.82 points per possession on post up situations).

The big question with O’Neal is money and opportunity. Other quality teams might be able to offer him more opportunity to play, see Miami and possibly New York, but neither team would be able to offer him the money Denver can (Miami has not yet renounced O’Neal’s rights, but if they are going to hang onto Wade and acquire Bosh without a sign and trade, they will have to. Even so he is an unrestricted free agent and Miami has no right of first refusal with any contract he is offered).

Denver would have to offer O’Neal a significant salary for next season in addition to avoiding making a long term commitment to him. If Carmelo avoids signing the extension he has been offered it will be vital for Denver to maintain financial flexibility for next summer. In my mind a one year $5.0 million contract should be enough to outbid any other suitors while making it worth O’Neal’s while to sign a one year contract. If need be perhaps the Nuggets could tack on a partially guaranteed second season.

Not only would O’Neal bring help on the floor, he would also be another veteran hungry for a championship on the roster. That hunger will be important to keep the team focused with so many members of the team facing free agency after the season.

O’Neal is not perfect, but he is a center who can significantly boost the Nuggets defensive presence in the lane. A foursome of Nene, Kenyon, Birdman and O’Neal would be a step up from last season’s rotation. Would it bring Denver’s front line to the level of the Lakers’? No, but it would put them in a solid position to compete and that is a step in the right direction for next season.

The Nuggets might be reaching the point where they need to go out with a bang, but this time I do not mean sex.

According to this report from ESPN New York Amare Stoudemire, who at this point could very well end up not playing for the New York Knicks, has been in contact with Tony Parker and Carmelo Anthony in an attempt to convince them to join him in New York. Parker’s contract expires after next season and as everyone in America knows Carmelo can opt out of his contract after next season.

Should Amare actually be speaking truth, which by the way would make for one awful defensive team that would never ever win a championship, and Carmelo and Tony Parker are both interested in joining him in the Big Apple I would imagine both would try to force a trade so they can play in New York this season. At this point the Knicks do not have much to offer as a trade partner. They will end up with the Rockets pick next season and Houston has the rights to the Knicks pick in 2012 as well. The only player the Knicks have to offer is David Lee. There has actually been some rumors floating around that the Spurs are interested in a sign and trade for Lee, who could play next to a talented defensive center in Tim Duncan just fine. With George Hill being capable of taking over the starting point guard job with the Spurs there might be some fire going along with that smoke.

The Nuggets on the other hand could certainly use another good rebounder, but trading Carmelo for Lee would certainly not make much basketball sense. There is no way the Nuggets would be a better team after that transaction. Even so, Carmelo might ask for a trade and knowing he can walk after the season might make it difficult to say, “No”, but the Nuggets should.

No matter what he says or does over the next twelve months if the Nuggets want, he will be a member of their team. If he wants to commit to another team as soon as the clock strikes 12:01 on July 1, 2011 (assuming he can with the impending lockout) that is fine, but it does not mean next season has to be a total loss. Denver can send Melo out in style and take one more shot at being a winner.

The key to my plan is the fact that the Nuggets can basically walk away from their current roster after next season. Not only can Melo opt out, but Kenyon Martin’s contract is expiring, J.R. Smith’s contract is expiring and Chauncey Billups’ contract has a team option for 2011-12. The Nuggets can enter the new CBA practically free and clear.

What does that mean for 2010-11? Denver can break the bank and spend like drunken sailors in order to put together the best team possible.  After losing a hoard of money they will be in a position to make up their losses by cutting costs whenever the next season rolls around whether it be in 2011 or 2014. I realize it may not be the ideal way to run a business and ultimately Denver still might not do anything more than lose in the first round.  I would still take one last shot with this group, because that is what you do when something is coming to an end.

That is my plan.  Go out in a blaze of glory and then wipe the slate clean and put the franchise in the best position possible for the next CBA. Frankly, whether he wants to play with Amare and Tony Parker in New York or not since he has not jumped at the ridiculous $65 million extension he was offered he is not giving the Nuggets much of a choice.

Let’s party.