Nuggets Give Camby Away for Nothing
Posted by SBG on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 9:28 am
The Denver Nuggets admitted that they can't win a championship with their Iverson-Anthony core and decided to cut costs, trading Marcus Camby to the Clippers for the right to exchange 2nd round picks in 2010. Oy. The Nuggets get a $10.1 million trade exception. You'll note that the Clippers are under the cap, so no salary matching was necessary.
I like Camby, he's a brilliant interior defender and an elite shot blocker. But, he's 35 and injury prone. The Clips have him under contract for two years, so they'll probably be players in 2010. As for Denver, I wouldn't be surprised if Iverson or Anthony are sent packing.
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Just a 2nd round pick??? Yikes. Would have figured they could have gotten a lot more, but I guess they really wanted that trade exception.
Not even that. The right to exchange picks. This is a capitulation, pure and simple. They can't win, so they are going to clean house and start over.
Man, I would be so pissed if I were a Nuggets fan right now. I'd write an angry letter to the management demanding that the trade Melo to the Wolves for the right to trade second round picks in 2038.
this sounds to me like Denver is gearing up for a run at Ron-Ron.
I don't see either Iverson or Anthony coming back to Sactown, however. And HoopsHype is selling this as an owner-mandated salary dump. Which I don't get. Denver will be markedly worse without a replacement for Camby next year. Steven Hunter? Nene? Kenyon Martin? Not exactly a fearsome big-man rotation there.
Denver was in luxury tax land. They saved $20 million+ by dumping Camby.
Denver is in luxury tax hell and they get a trade exception for this deal that will likely open things up should they choose to blow up the squad in mid-season. Any money that they save will be put towards JR Smith's restricted free agent signing should he receive a large offer from another team. The problem now is that Memphis is the only team left with above MLE money to spend and they're not going to spend it. Players like Josh Smith and JR Smith just missed out on the last chance for a huge payday with the Clips. For the Clips it makes some sense; Camby doesn't have much time left on his deal and they can still be free agent players when his salary clears the books...with a core of Gordon, Thorton, and Kaman in place.
For Denver, it does make some sense. They weren't going to compete any more than they did last year and Nene, if he is healthy, should pick up some of the rebounding slack for Camby. They'll keep Smith and have some assets to move should the thing start to spiral out of control. They can walk away from all of this with Melo, Smith, Nene, and Kleiza still in tow, while having the flexibility to try and move Martin or Iverson. K-Mart is probably unmovable with his contract, but AI could be a nice addition to a squad that is on the verge of the playoffs...Denver could take back a ton of salary midseason with AI's deal (which comes off the books after the season) and the TE. In the long run, this is a good move that allows Denver to keep their relatively young core in place. I keep waiting for the Detroit/Denver trade winds to pick up.