Here are this weeks lingering questions regarding the "MeloDrama" and the speculation about the Nuggets rebuilding. Join me in this journey through incompetent journalism and wild, baseless speculation done by our supposed friends in the legitimate media,
MELODRAMA
1. Our "friend" Marc Spears recently plunged head first into MeloDrama country by reporting that Melo's wishlist includes New York and Chicago.....WHOA stop the presses. New York and Chicago? Places people had mentioned before? GET OUTTA HERE! Leave it to Marc Spears to break the story everyone has been DYING to hear! When you look closely at the article you will see that there's virtually no substance to it....and then Spears took to twitter when confronted by our fellow Stiff commenter MelosPersonofSeattle, and "defended" himself by saying people had retweeted his story. WOW.....Marc Spears ladies and gents. Went from making up stories about Kenyon getting surgery to saying Melo is going to Chicago....only to be rebuffed by the Bulls and his fellow reporters the very next day...../stands up and applauds
2. The very day Marc Spears decided to rehash old news came Adrian Wojnarowski's tirade about Chauncey Billups. The shame of this article is I LIKE Wojnarowski's columns very much. He puts alot of thought in to them and is by and large reliable. Until his recent column that a meeting with Josh Kroenke and Melo went bad (which by Kroenke's admission didn't go bad at all) and the Nuggets were being led around by World Wide Wes (the supposed "demand" never happened either) but the article on Chauncey ends on a sour supposition....that Chauncey knows Denver won't win, with or without Melo. That last line contradicts everything Chauncey had said in the column up to that point, including Chauncey telling the organization to do what it takes to keep Melo. Disappointing. It seems tacked on to fit Wojnarowski's narrative.
Wojnarowski's column on Chauncey
QUESTIONS OF THE NUGGETS FUTURE
1. Chris Dempsey speculated on how the Nuggets should rebuild....and his narrative would be supported by roughly half of Denver Stiffs readership I think. Despite my problems with Dempsey's actual "reporting" of late, this is a thought provoking column on how the Nuggets should address life after Melo. While I don't agree that's the approach we should take, it's a valid conclusion.
2. My own thoughts on the Nuggets future. I'm speculating the closer we get to October, the chances of Melo being dealt are getting to be slimmer and slimmer. The Nuggets aren't taking calls. Ujiri hasn't met with Melo. The Nuggets don't seem to be in any hurry to meet, and Melo doesn't particularly seem to be in a hurry either. I believe that the Nuggets found out what kind of "offers" were out there and are now convinced they won't get near what they ask/need in return. So now all calls are being rejected. That doesn't mean he wont be traded, and it doesn't mean he will be traded. Nuggets fans should just be prepared to see Melo in uniform on opening day.
As far as building through the draft. This is a HUGE risk. Enormous. This organization has been through long, painful droughts and I don't think putting this organization through another one is needed THIS YEAR. Maybe the next season. The other end of the CBA is what we should be watching. If there's a hard cap (as speculated) it will change everything we know about NBA salary structures. The exceptions will be gone....the luxury tax will be gone. Replaced with a hard number much like the NHL. With this all up in the air, why make a dramatic trade now when on the other end you could be left with what amounts anywhere from 40 to 50 million (depending on what they do with Chauncey) in cap space. The only team with wiggle room to sign good players on teams that have to shed payroll to get under the cap. Why tank this season when you don't have to? Win now, let the expiring contracts take care of themselves at the end of the year.
