The Knicks sent Renaldo Balkman and cash to Denver for a 2010 second round pick, Taurean Green and Bobby Jones. I think the Knicks were just helping the Nuggets shed some cap.
I guess some of these guards have potential, but I don’t think it’s enough to pat Donnie Walsh on the back. Walsh has been pretty quite, in terms of wheeling and dealing (not like he’s got much to work with!). Ultimately, these deals don’t matter in the thick of things. The goal set by Walsh is simple: see if these guys can make anything happen for a couple of years, let their contracts expire and start chasing stars in the free agent market of 2010. There might be a couple of guys that fit well into D’Antoni’s system (QRich did well with him in the Suns) and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but they might keep them.
Here’s how I think of the Denver situation:
George Karl was playing cards with all of the playoff bound Western conference teams, put down the “we’re gonna suck at defense and see if offense can win a title” card and lost miserably. Now he and the Nuggets are scrambling to cut costs, become a lottery team and get better for the future.
I understand why Melo didn’t get the Camby trade, it’s not all NBA GM’s aren’t rocket scientists, right? Well the Denver rocket had a mechanical problem: it could get up high in the sky (think of that as scoring), but when getting back into Earth’s orbit (think, defense), the only thing that kept them from a crash was Camby’s defense (they settled for an emergency landing).
Anyway, if I was a big Nuggets fan, I’d be disappointed.