http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=survivors-100728

Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets weren't able to rip off Joe Dumars in a trade this year, and their efforts to use their midlevel exception were rebuffed at every turn (Jermaine O'Neal and Udonis Haslem, among others, said no thanks). With Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen both suffering from knee problems that could last well into the season, Denver was desperate to come up with a frontcourt player.

Enter the creative contract for Al Harrington, a five-year deal for the full midlevel that, with partial guarantees in the last two years, contractually looks more like a three-year, $27 million deal. While Harrington isn't the defender Utah was hoping to nab, he offers a completely new dimension. The Nuggets haven't had a floor-spacing big man in roughly a century, and it should give Carmelo Anthony in particular a lot more breathing room on the blocks.

Denver also got good value by inking Shelden Williams to a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum. I saw enough of the Shelden Experience in Atlanta to know what a frustrating offensive player he is, but as a hard-working banger off the pine you could do a lot worse than this guy. The Nuggets need somebody to soak up frontcourt minutes in the first half of the season without killing them; Williams can do that.

The Nuggets' future is still tenuous -- Anthony is weighing whether to sign an extension, while Nene, J.R. Smith and Martin can become free agents after the season. But if Melo stays, the expiration of Martin's deal will relieve Denver from a painful stint in luxury-tax territory and it has kept a ton of flexibility for 2011-12 and beyond, including the aforementioned options in Years 4 and 5 of Harrington's deal.