or… How to get under the Luxury Tax and get four 1st rd picks and three new players
This thread follows two assumptions:
- Melo is gone
- It makes no sense to keep Nene during the re-build process. Trade him now for top dollar
- The New Jersey Nets suck... Melo is not going to sign an extension with them no matter how much Stan and the ESPN squawking heads want him to
- Melo is not re-signing with the Nugs. The Nugget organization had 8 years to take care of business. they failed; time that Melo and everyone else moves on
Rather than continuing to drag out this sad tragic train wreck… or worse, fear that the Kronkster is planning to go full Donald Sterling, fight for the franchise tag with the singular intent of forcing Melo to stay and surround him with minimum wage players… all so tickets could be sold, my wish is to just cut the Melo deal now so the rest of the dominos can fall and further deals can be made to secure top trade dollar for Nene and JR (immediate cap relief or a future 1st)
Here’s how I’d do it… based on recent rumors and team intents
Deal #1: Melo Deal… Just pull the trigger already on the Den/NY/Minn deal
- Minn gives – Future 1st, Trade Exception
- Minn gets – Curry, Randolph
- NY gives – Gallinari, Chandler, Curry, Randolph, future 1st
- NY gets – Melo, Balkman
- Den gives – Melo, Balkman
- Den gets – Gallinari, Chandler, Two future 1sts
Deal #2: Nene to Houston
- Houston gives –Jordan Hill, Two future 1sts, expiring contracts for Battier & Jeffries
- Houston gets – Nene, Harrington
- Den gives – Nene Harrington
- Den gets - Jordan Hill, Two future 1sts, expiring contracts for Battier & Jeffries
Deal #3: Dump JR
- Houston gives – Trevor Ariza Trade Exception (worth $6.3mm)
- Houston gets – JR’s expiring contract
- Den gives – JR’s expiring
- Den gets – $6m immediate cap relief
In deal #1 I’d rather settle for dumping Balkman then taking on Corey Brewer (as was rumored)
The intent with Deal #3 is that Houston is willing to eat JR’s cap space as an incentive to get Nene.
To make the Houston deal happen, the Nugs may have to choose between Two 1st’s or Hill and a 1st. If you can get all three (Houston’s 2011 1st would be protected of course) for a guaranteed Nene that’d be a fair winner
The Nugs may be able to find a trade partner for Billups; but given the short timeframe I suspect they’ll just keep Billups. The Nugs won’t find a taker for Kmart because the Nugs won’t take back bad paper
Carter, Ely, Williams, Kmart, Battier and Jeffries will be gone next; and quite possibly (likely?) Billups
The Nuggets would roll into their 2011/12 rebuild with the following:
- Up to Five 1st round picks to use or deal
- Aaron Afflalo
- Ty Lawson
- Gary Forbes
- Jordan Hill
- Wilson Chandler
- Danilo Gallinari
- Chris Anderson
And an ending 2010/11 cap figure around $64m
Is it a happy ending for the post-Melo Nuggest? No
Is it the best the Nuggets are going to do?
