Well, the trade deadline has come and gone and the Nuggets made two moves. The problem is no one can make sense out of either one. The Nuggets shipped Arron Afflalo to the Blazers for a heavily protected pick and a bag of scraps. Instead of trading for C. J. McCollum who wanted out and has some upside, the Nugs caved and took on Thomas Robinson, former Kansas star and NBA underachiever. The Nuggets would've had Robinson to pair with another perplexing and underachieving athlete in the form of Javale McGee, but they traded him to Philly for a trade exemption. The Nuggets also gave up OKC's #1 pick in the deal. This pick could've been used to combine with the Nuggets own pick this year to move up into the top five of the draft but now that possibility has flown the coup. Instead of cutting McGee outright like the Pistons did to Josh Smith, which would've been the sensible thing to do, the Nuggets had to give up a #1 to ship the problem child out of town. The trade for McGee will go down as one of the worst in team history--the Nuggets traded a #1 pick and Nene for a trade exemption and a handful of pitiful games from McGee.

The fans of Tim Connelly will claim these moves give the Nuggets flexibility. But as we all know, this is a euphemism. What free agents will come to Denver given the dullsville image of Denver in the NBA, the tinder box locker room, and the tendency of coach Brian Shaw to condemn players in the media? The Nuggets also never use trade exemptions--they just accumulate them and let them sit on the mantle like curios to stare at. The Nuggets still have a roster that doesn't fit together and doesn't respect the coach.

Josh Kroenke better wake up and admit his mistakes. It is clear Shaw can't coach (what coach gets in dust ups with Afflalo and Andre Miller?) and Connelly is the overmatched, clueless novice GM he was portrayed to be in media reports earlier in the season. Get rid of both before it is too late. Then let a competent GM conduct the real rebuilding process the Nuggets so desperately need.