Explain to me WHY we HAVE to trade Melo?
If I'm not mistaken, jpage might have said something to this effect. If he has, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to steal an idea or something.
Anyway, it seems as though the general consensus is that if Melo wants to stay, we should keep him. However, even though Melo hasn't come out and said he wants to leave, we feel impelled to trade him.
The one thing we HAVE to remember is that if we don't trade Melo prior to the season, he'll be playing. This isn't the kind of situation where a player is like "I want to be traded, and I refuse to play otherwise". Sure, Melo has said he's considering becoming a free agent next year, but a lot can happen in a season.
Some people have mentioned that letting Melo walk after the season is an option. What I haven't heard is people mention how we can convince him to stay with OUR PLAY ON THE COURT.
One argument that I arguably hear the most is that "we're only 2 years removed from being a team minutes away from a finals appearance/championship". We've added Al Harrington, and we have Kenyon and J.R.'s contract to bring in some pretty good pieces. I mean, as it is, we're still borderline contenders! Factor in some good trades and it's easy to envision a situation where we're in championship contention! Would Melo want to leave then?
Sure, banking on us becoming a contending team again is a risk. But then again, any trade involving Melo would also be a risk. But shouldn't we be focusing on getting a title, no matter who's on the team?
Basically, let me ask you this. Honestly, what are our chances of Melo re-signing if we make a trip to the WCF again, or even the Finals? Why don't we re-double our efforts to build a championship team around him rather than plan for a future without him?
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You don't HAVE to trade him
especially if you can convince him to sign an extension. However most sources are saying he doesn’t want to stay. This of course can change, but unless something changes you will have a disgruntled star which will kill chemistry and he then he would just leave. The point of the trade is to make sure you get something for Melo before he leaves, of course you could just let him leave next summer and use the cap space, but then you have to deal with the whole decision thing that the Cavs just went through. Of course all decisions are in the Nuggets hands, and the only thing that requires Carmelo’s cooperation is if they attempt a sign and trade.
"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown
If he is disgruntled before the Feb trade deadline then I say trade him
Otherwise, why rush it before the season even starts; even to the lowly Clippers. Unless they give us Griffin, Gordon, Kaman, and three 1st round picks, I wouldn’t trade before the season starts. It makes no sense.
Yeah in your dreams Melo isn't worth that much
He is worth Kaman+Aminu+Mini’s 2012 unprotected pick (which is a very valuable pick at the direction that Mini is going in)
"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown
I was being facetious because I know you are a clippers fan
Hoping Melo is traded to you guys before the season starts. I was saying that the Nuggets would only trade Melo before the season starts for an offer like what I said above. Otherwise, I don’t think the Nuggets are that dumb and will wait to see how the season plays out before they deal Melo.
I think all these trade rumors are happening because the Nugs want to see what value they can get for him now and realize they can only get an Aminu and Kaman.
I could be wrong and the Nuggets just want to re-build from scratch for no apparent reason, but I think they would be dump to trade before the season starts.
With regards to NoHoops comment on injuries, that can happen to anyone at anytime in this league. It is a risk worth taking especially with a player like Melo. If that is your argument, then why play anybody on the team? They might get injured and we won’t be able to win games/ trade them. Plus if Melo gets injured, I think he would take the max extension knowing that it is his safest bet at getting a good contract (which might be bad for the Nuggets if the injury is bad…lol)
Ok,someone has to figure to way to make sarcasm more obvious on the internet X (
"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown
since the Clippers are shopping Griffin, Kaman, and Gordon...
I’ve been talking to Danny Ainge over the last week, and he said he’s amenable to considering Wallace’s expiring deal, Ray Allen’s right ankle, and front row seats to all Laker’s home games…
Nick Swisher is handsome.
You can keep Ray Allen and his right ankle
His disappearing act along with the absence of Perkins is why the C’s aren’t the champs.
injury = loss for both sides
melo gets injured his value goes way down for both sides. look what happened to grant hill when he left detroit for orlando. there will be less teams willing to pay him a max deal if he gets hurt. nuggets and melo know this too well. lebron and chris bosh were both accused of not going all out by the owners and management of the teams they played for. any time melo gets an injury and sits out there will always be questions about the true extent of the problem.
pick up a calf every day pretty soon you will be picking up a cow
we're on a mission from god
Oops sorry about my earlier comment nohoops
I just got what you meant by injuries. I think Bosh tanked because he was on the Craptors, but I don’t think you can say the same about LBJ who was on the best team in the NBA. I don’t think he missed many games in the regular season. If you say he took games off then how did he win MVP? I know the media rides the LBJ train hard, but not that hard if he took off games like you claim he did.
He had a playoff series in his hand and he just sucked. He is a human being, he is not like Michael Jordan who can be good in every game. Just because he had the worst performance of his career in the most important game of his career doesn’t mean he gave up on the Cavs. He just choked. Dan Gilbert was just angry he left the Cavs, he knows more than anyone else that LeBron gave his all for the team even in the last year of his contract.
LBJ TANKED HARD!
Sorry JR15, but anyone who watched the Cavs in the playoffs could see that LBJ mailed it in those final 3-4 games. He also took off about 5-6 games with his elbow “injury” that doctors couldn’t seem to find. He wasn’t scared of Paul Pierce’s awesome defense in the playoffs, he sat out on the wing and launched 3 after poorly timed 3. For someone who probably lead the league in drives to the paint, that is a curious judgement on his part at best. We’ve all seem Lebron act, commericials SNL etc…and we know he’s no good at it. That acting like a superstar in the playoffs had the same look as his cameos. Refusing to take the ball to the rim does not sound like giving it his all…that’s just my take though.
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by Joelsopinion on Sep 2, 2010 10:29 AM MDT up reply actions
It amazes me that a lot of fans give LBJ excuses
LBJ gets into 3 point shooting mode very often, it is not that he isn’t trying. It is because he thinks he can make those bad threes he takes(JR Smith state of mind so to speak). He did that a lot even in his other years in Cleveland.
Why can’t people admit he just choked and sucked? Why do they have to say he tanked. I don’t think he want to lose on purpose in a playoff series. No one does especially if they are even remotely competitive. How do you say he tanked when he got a triple double in game 6. He definitely tried his best in that game. Unless you tell me LBJ tanked every game he played in Cleveland for the 7 yes he was there, then I will believe it. Otherwise, he showed us what he does in pressure situations time and time again. Btw it wasn’t Pierce’s defense, it was Boston’s team defense that shut LBJ down.
LBJ is not the King of basketball, he is just s good player with a lot of flaws. Don’t give him excuses.
by JR15 on Sep 2, 2010 11:28 AM MDT via mobile up reply actions
I'm not making an excuse for him
I’m accusing him of being a selfish coward when his team needed their leader. I can’t question his ability or basketball IQ. I’m saying that as far as I saw he tanked. I still think he had him mind made up before the playoffs about taking his talent to south beach. If he had made it to the finals the backlash of him leaving would have been even worse.
Again I make no excuses for his shoddy workmanship. As a matter of fact it would be better to think that he just choked, but when the guy wins as much as he has it’s hard to believe that. I think he just bitched out on his team. That’s far worse than choking IMO.
FIGJAM Bitches!
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Q.P.U. # π
by Joelsopinion on Sep 2, 2010 12:11 PM MDT up reply actions
Sorry
I didn’t mean to plug another website here, I just thought this was the funniest picture ever. Feel free to remove it if it goes against Stiffs policy.
Awesome
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In retrospect
Did Melo take a dive in that game that he supposedly injured his neck?
I think he came back and scored several points down the wire
to get the Nuggets the victory.
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I think everybody is in agreement...
that our first option is to resign Melo and put a great cast around him. I can’t imagine that not being the mindset of every Nuggets fan. The problem is the actual execution.
We have no financial flexibility at the moment. We’re already like $26M over the luxury tax cap so it’s not like we can just sign whoever we want, NBA rules don’t allow it even if Kroenke slapped his debit card on the table and said “Go Nuts!” It’s not like the Nuggets didn’t try to sign a big man this summer, just none of them agreed to come here so we ended up with Harrington. It’s pretty tough to make a splash in free agency when you’re limited to the mid-level exception and not a destination city/team.
As far as trade assets, we’re extremely limited… as in we have none. Since we’ve traded what seems like every first rounder (and most seconds) since 2004 while building a veteran roster, we have no young, cheap players with potential on our team to use as trade fodder. Ty Lawson is the exception but he’s just about untouchable to us because of Billups’ age. Lawson is the only player on our team under 25 or on a rookie scale contract. We have some expiring contracts but if there was ever a year where their value was deflated, its this year. Unless we’re willing to take back an absolutely toxic contract (Arenas, Brand, Hamilton), we’re not gonna get much of a player back for those expirings. We literally have nothing to offer to other teams. Everyone remember the Pau Gasol trade? The biggest pile of crap ever was sent to Memphis and is now (and then) called one of the most lopsided trades of all time. It was Kwame Brown and Aaron McKie (expirings), Javaris Crittenton, the draft rights to Marc Gasol, and two future 1sts. The Nuggets can’t even match that trash heap (obviously Marc Gasol is a good player now but at the time he was considered a fatter, slower, less skilled version of Pau who would at best be an average player) of “assets.” That’s how limited we are on the trade market in terms of adding any sort of impact player.
On top of all that, our team has no real direction past this year. Kenyon and JR are FA’s. Chancey is 34 years old with only two years left on his contract, not including the buyout for next year. Nene has an ETO. Who’s gonna be in a Nuggets uniform in 2012? Probably Lawson. Maybe a 34 year old Birdman. Maybe Balkman. Possibly a 32 year old Al Harrington. Not exactly what I call a foundation for the future.
If I’m Melo’s manager, those are the reasons why I’m asking for a trade, from a winning and team building perspective, and what’s gonna happen the next four years of his career if he signs an extension.
If the Nuggets are deadset on building a winner this year and the next couple of years, then we need to literally salt the fields in order to do it. I’m talking radical moves that will most likely have incredibly bad long-term ramifications on the team if it doesn’t work out.
1. Send Kenyon and our 2011 first-rounder to Philly for Elton Brand. Philly will probably do just about anything short of putting a hit out on Brand to get rid of his contract so I think they’d jump at this trade. Brand at his best is a 20/10 machine who works in the low post. The problem is he still have a huge contract and coming off two injury plagued seasons. And he’s 31. But hey, if you’re looking at potential upside for big men in the short term, he has some.
2. Ship JR Smith, Balkman, $3M and our 2013 first-rounder to Detroit for Richard Hamilton. Detroit is desperate to shed Hamilton’s contract so they’d probably do this. Rip gives us a legitimate outside/mid range shooter who’s only purpose in life is to run around screens and shoot the ball. He’d space the floor well in a Ray Allen type way. The problem is he also has a huge contract left, he’s 32, and he’s coming off the worst year of his career. In addition, he’s a defensive sieve but at least Afflalo would be available for defensive duty with the option of going Lawson/Billups in the backcourt.
These trades give us a lineup of: Billups, Hamilton, Melo, Brand, and Nene with Lawson, Bird, Afflalo rounding out our 8 man rotation. In a perfect world, Rip shoots like he has in the past, Brand comes back healthy and becomes a dominant low post player, Billups, Melo, Nene, and Afflalo play like they did last year, Lawson keeps developing, and Birdman shakes off the injuries and plays like he did in 2008. If all those things happened, we’d be a pretty formidable team, certainly in the running for #2 in the West.
Another option would be sending Martin, JR, Lawson, Balkman, a couple of first rounders for the combo of Biedrins and Arenas (shudder). No clue how Arenas would fit in with Melo and Chauncey but hey, if you’re looking for a pure scorer, Arenas certainly fits that bill.
Or you can just go with the team we have and pray Martin and Andersen can come back from injury near 100% sooner rather than later. In the offseason, let the expirings expire and essentially field the same team next year minus Kenyon and Smith with no other additions except our 1st rounder and see if Melo will stick around for that.
Well that is a negative viewpoint on the situation
It always feels like most Nuggets fans have a sense of negativity towards the Nuggets because they have seen the bad years and expect it to happen again.
I don’t see how expiring contracts have become “deflated” in value. If anything, the teams that struggle in the middle of the season will definitely want to shed payroll before the new CBA assuming the salary cap is lowered again. In that case, I think we can definitely try to pry a talented big out of a team that is in the crapper and needs financial relief.
Also with regards to letting Smith’s and KMart’s contracts expire, we can then make a pitch at Marc Gasol or other free agents at the time. It may be a limited market, but it is still a FA market nonetheless.
I think by next summer we can add someone significant through free agency and through the draft. That is the positive counterargument to your negative argument.
I am sure there are more options than Brand and Hamilton
Those are the desperate moves we make. Those trades don’t even sound good at all.
A KMart and Smith for Biedrins and Ellis can be realistic a couple of months into the season when GSW knows they will suck and wants to shed payroll. My friend is the son of the new owner of GSW and he tells me his dad wants to re-tool around Curry and Udoh (aka Biedrins and Ellis are expendable).
Biedrins and Ellis is a definite gamble, but it is better than Rip and Brand for sure.
Deflated...
Because there’s more teams then ever this year (we can thank the Great Crapout known as the 2010 FA period for that one) that still have substantial cap space who can simply absorb contracts, or large portions of them, without sending a matching salary in return. If I wanted to trade a $13M player and I had the option of sending him to a team with $8M in cap space, I’d only have to take back $5M worth of salaries in return as opposed to a $13M. So yes, expiring contracts are deflated this year due to this reason. If that wasn’t enough, numerous teams have the same amount (or close) of expiring contracts and better peripheral assets to make any deals. And if that still wasn’t enough, there’s some huge trade exceptions floating around which act the exact same as cap space. So short of us having naked photos of another GM taking it in the rear in a bathroom stall, Denver’s chance of adding an impact player is insanely slim.
Even with Smith and Kenyon’s contracts expiring, we’re STILL over the cap next year meaning we can’t sign any FA’s except for the mid-level exception. A common misconception among Nuggets fans is that if we let those two contracts expire we can start signing FA’s. Absolutely false. If Melo opts out, Nene opts out, or we buy out Chauncey for the $3.5M, then we have money to spend in FA but then all we’re trying to do is fill holes to replace those who left. In this situation, it’s unlikely we find anyone to match who we lose much less improve our team. I suppose best case there would be for Nene and Melo to come back, buy out Chauncey, give the keys to Lawson, and spend the money we would have allocated to Billups. I wasn’t lying when I said we have no financial flexibility, at least not at the cost of Melo, Nene, or Chauncey. If that happens, we’re rebuilding anyways and any talk of trying to improve upon our current team goes down the crapper.
The Biedrins/Ellis thing is also an option but I really dislike Ellis on the Nuggets team just because of his fit. He’s a volume scorer, needs the ball in his hands, not a great outside shooter, and a horrible defensive player. I just don’t think he’s a great fit next to Melo but if you’re looking for scoring, he’s certainly an option. We’re gonna be destroying any sort of financial flexibility till 2014 anyways, may as well go with the scorched Earth tactic.
Finally, I really don’t feel I’m being negative even though I can see how it’s misconstrued that way. I think of myself a realist who’s able to remain subjective, even towards his home teams. The simple fact is our roster has zero financial flexibility or young trade assets which puts us in a serious bind when trying to improve the team.
That's the first I've heard of this...
I don’t know what league you’re watching, but it’s probably not the NBA. While what you say makes some sense, it never works out that way. NEVER in the NBA is an expiring contract not worth a lot, and the bigger it is, the better. I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen a trade deadline, but teams literally grab gold in return for their expirings. K-Mart is arguably one of the best trade pieces in the entire league at this point, and J.R.‘s expiring’s not that bad either.
Let’s say K-Mart breaks both of his legs and has to retire from the NBA. You realize his trade value would barely even take a hit? The important thing to remember is that we’re not talking “Melo-Expiring”, we’re talking “K-Mart-Expiring”. Basically any player we get is an improvement over the worn down, injury prone player we’d be shipping out.
You realize we got Chauncey with AI’s massive expiring deal? And Houston was able to get Kevin Martin, Jordan Hill + more with T-Mac’s expiring. Cleveland got Shaq from Phoenix with Ben Wallace and Szcerbiak’s contracts (although I believe Shaq was an expiring as well).
[blockquote]"It’s kind of interesting the way you’re describing that,‘’ Bucks general manager John Hammond said Monday. "I’ve been in the NBA for almost 20 years and ‘expiring contract’ has always been part of the vernacular. But in today’s age, it’s kind of the whole economic landscape that now it’s even become more common with the everyday sports fan. Because everyone’s concerned about the dollar, and the dollars being spent by their teams.’’[blockquote]
Honestly even teams with cap space likely won’t just take on the bad contracts that bad teams are trying to dump. That would be financially irresponsible, not to mention the fact that teams who have cap space in the middle of the season are rarely in title contention. No, the teams who take on the players that the bad teams are trying to get rid of are the ones that are just one or two pieces from a title shot. It’s really always a win-win for everyone involved.
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by Agaliarept on Sep 2, 2010 3:14 AM MDT via mobile up reply actions
Okay...
Quote fail.
But in my defense, I’m posting from an iPod.
"J.R. SMITH! WITH NO REGARD FOR COMMON SENSE!" - Future Kevin Harlan Quote
"Scars remind us of where we've been. They don't have to dictate where we're going."
by Agaliarept on Sep 2, 2010 3:15 AM MDT via mobile up reply actions
""Honestly even teams with cap space likely won’t just take on the bad contracts that bad teams are trying to dump."
You realize your entire article was basically in agreement with mine except the first paragraph? All the deals you named were bad contracts. Billups at the time, Shaq at the time, Jared Jeffries at the time. I stated pretty clearly that the only way we could get a player back with the expirings was with a toxic or bad contract. The very players I named: Brand, Hamilton, Biedrins, Arenas are absolutely in line with Billups/Shaq (Jeffries was a salary dump in NY’s crazed attempt to free up cap space).
I stated if you wanted to try and win a championship now, you would need to take huge risks with our future financial flexibility which is absolutely still true. It’s easy with revisionist history to say Billups was a phenomenal trade. Just for a moment, pretend he sucked. His last year in Detroit wasn’t very good and he still had a lot of years for a lot of dollars left on his contract. If Billups had come over and wasn’t at the high level he was two years ago or even last year, we’re a fringe playoff team with a financial mess. I doubt it would have been rainbows and unicorns around here about the trade. People would have been shouting “We should have just let AI expire! Then we could have gotten real help through FA! Our cap space is screwed for the next three years!” But we rolled the dice on a bad contract (one of the worst at the time by general consensus) and it turned out incredible. That option is ALWAYS available to any team willing to roll the dice.
Maybe I should have been more clear but when I said impact player, I meant a guy in his prime on a palpable contract. Basically a Gasol, or Melo, or Paul type player. Or even a young guy who’s a pretty good contract. We have no chance at those types of players.
I disagree about the last part of your comment
I think Gasol can be available at the trade deadline b/c he is going to be an FA. If the Memphis Grizzlies suck and realize they are going nowhere, they could trade Gasol and try to lure other FAs (including Gasol) in the summer during free agency with the relief in cap space they get from a JR smith contract for instance.
Don’t underestimate the expiring contract. There will always be bottom feeders who need cap relief in the middle of the season.
by JR15 on Sep 2, 2010 11:34 AM MDT via mobile up reply actions
Memphis could take on a JR
B/c his contract is within 75% or Gasol’s, but they will have more money to spend in free agency when Smith comes off the books.
by JR15 on Sep 2, 2010 11:37 AM MDT via mobile up reply actions
Actually those arguments of financial reasons are silly
Nonetheless, the reason Memphis dumped Pau Gasol was that they realized they were going nowhere with him and wanted to get under the cap so they decided to take Kwame and Gasol Jr.
I mean Al Jefferson left Minny for a bag of chips and CAP space. Unless you think Jefferson is a bad contract, I think that was a lopsided deal for Utah.
Bottom line, don’t underestimate expiring contracts. Yes, we probably will get a player who has a couple more years on his contract. We don’t need an all-star, we just need a big who can defend other bigs well and rebound and a good shooter. They may bot be impact players in your mind, but they could be huge additions for the playoffs.
by JR15 on Sep 2, 2010 11:43 AM MDT via mobile up reply actions
I meant Pau Gasol as in referring to his trade to the Lakers. However, I extremely doubt Memphis would give up Marc Gasol in a trade this summer. The Grizzlies player more likely to be moved if they do shop anyone is Zach Randolph. Realize that the Grizzlies are in terrific shape financially. Rudy Gay and Tony Allen are the only players signed past this year so they can do whatever they want really.
I also have no clue how you’re doing your math. Gasol’s contract is $3.57M. Smith’s is $6.75M. 75% of 6.75M is $5.06M. Hence, trade does not work. Not to mention I have no clue why Memphis would trade him for Smith’s expiring. A more realistic trade if I’m Memphis would be Marc Gasol, Darrell Arthur, and Demare Carroll to Houston (if Yao’s having issues coming back) for Jared Jeffries and NY’s 2012 1st rounder.
Yeah I know my M. Gasol argument was flawed
Posted without thinking. Regardless, I am saying if Al Jefferson can be pried so easily, why is it not possible for us to pry someone like that down the line? Even Chris Kaman from the Clippers? I think he fits under your “bad contract” player. He would definitely help us in the short term.
I still think a win now attitude is better than thinking about way down in the future. Especially with this new CBA, we don’t know what is going to happen. The enitre NBA landscape can change.
My attitude is take the risks now when we know what we can fix to make us legitimate championship contenders.
TChizza, it seems that the base of your argument is that we should’nt take risks with mid-season trades, but we should take it in free agency. The problem with that is in free-agency, we have to offer more money to a player than he is worth and in essence we are adding our own “bad contract” player (see Al Harrington).
It seems any way you cut it, you have to roll the dice to win big in this league, and I think if we acquire a “toxic contract” player he could pay off huge dividends for the team in the next 2-4 years which is what we need.
I am not planning on waiting another ten years for another chance to be a title contender. Lets do it now while Melo is on board. If he leaves, blow it up and pray for a game-changing player in the draft. That is how I think the Nuggets should approach it.
My argument is you either decide on rebuilding which means blowing up the team, or you absolutely sell out for a championship. With the way our roster is constructed, there’s no real middle path unless we’re content being fringe playoff contenders. Free agency isn’t an option next year because we’re still over the cap so if you’re gonna sell out, it’s this year, right now with: JR, Kenyon, future 1st rounders, and even Ty Lawson if necessary.
the new CBA
could make bad contracts much worse
And that's part of the risk
If we do end up with some more bad contracts and the new CBA takes a nosedive in terms of a hard cap, lower luxury cap, lower player contracts or whatever, our roster flexibility will probably be the worst in the league. If Melo also decided to leave… we would literally have the worst roster in the league. Maybe not in terms of wins and losses but the worst in terms of flexibility and any sort of future hope. If you think the Cavs roster looks bad after Lebron left, wait till you see the 2011 Nuggets roster if Melo leaves and we absorb some shaky contracts.
And no JR15, I do not consider Kaman to be a bad contract, at all. He has 2/$22M left. Centers are naturally overpaid due to their scarcity. In a world where Darko gets 4/$19M, Petro gets 3/$10, Heyward gets 6/$55M, and so on, Kaman at 2/$22M is a bargain. Especially for a team that has playoff aspirations like the Clippers.
thats pretty much what happened to cleveland
trading in desperation for players to “put you over the top” isn’t gonna necessarily (and probably won’t) make melo stay anyway and we’d be stuck with those shitty players with bad contracts which would be the absolute worst situation.
We should wait until the deadline and see what’s available for our expirings. If its nothing worthwhile we either need to give a shot with what we got now or we need to trade melo for a combination of proven talent and draft picks. not one or the other. that’s why in my opinion Kaman is our best target. he will keep us afloat till we can turn minny’s unprotected pick into a useful player on a rookie contract. we should at least be able to get aminu and I’m still holding out hope for gordon. That is talent, both young and old, and a very valuable draft pick for rebuilding.
We're close
Our average age is 28.0. Dallas is 28.2. LAL is 28.5. Miami is 27.9. There’s still a little wiggle room on these numbers as teams make final roster moves to 13-15 but we will be one of the oldest teams in the league.
What is Boston's and LA's?
Just curious. Also I think PHX may be a few years older than the Nuggs.
FIGJAM Bitches!
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by Joelsopinion on Sep 2, 2010 10:32 AM MDT up reply actions
Boston is 27.4. Lakers were 28.5 as I stated above. If its the Clippers you’re asking about, they’re 25.1. PHX is 26.8.
Damn!
How does Boston’s team of NBA seniors not make the oldest roster on earth? I know they have Rhondo, Davis, Perkins and Robinson…but they also have Wallace, Shaq, Garnett, Allen, and Peirce. I just didn’t think the Nuggets were that old.
FIGJAM Bitches!
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by Joelsopinion on Sep 2, 2010 12:15 PM MDT up reply actions
if you only average the age of team cores
maybe 10 players deep then L.A and boston will be alot older than us but they have a few young players down the depth chart
Bynum is the only rotation laker under 30
we arent too bad but we have age and injuries combined also Harringtons 30 but has had 11 seasons already. but I think our core will be good for a few more years. Id still call Nene young and we just need to learn to keep inserting young guys in every year or so
Boston has the guys you mention along with Avery Bradley and Luke Harangody to push their number down. The Celtics have done an absolutely terrific job these past few years of adding young blood to that aging core, something the Nuggets have not done sadly.
The Lakers have Bynum, Caracter, and Ebanks really driving their number down. They’re already the oldest team in the league but without those two new rookies they’d be a distant 1st place.
NZ Nuggets is also correct though. These numbers are based off the entire rosters at the moment. If you were just to do the ages of 8-9 man rotations, those numbers would change, pretty drastically in same cases. However, the Nuggets number would remain pretty much the same.
You actually read that essay of a comment?
Anything more than 2 paragraphs and I assume it’s a sales pitch.
FIGJAM Bitches!
Via con Dios Brody
Q.P.U. # π
by Joelsopinion on Sep 2, 2010 10:31 AM MDT up reply actions
I don't always have time for it, but I don't mind it
Though it’s kind of funny to think what some of these posts would translate to as live conversations. After several minutes that may or may not include some pie charts & trend graphs, it would be like, “…ok, your turn”.
…it’s better than flagrant trolling.
True
I grew up in a large family, so we’d all get 15 second to make our point before the next kid’s turn. I’m just accustomed to short conversations. LOL @ the real life application though.
FIGJAM Bitches!
Via con Dios Brody
Q.P.U. # π
by Joelsopinion on Sep 2, 2010 12:17 PM MDT up reply actions
"What I haven't heard is people mention how we can convince him to stay with OUR PLAY ON THE COURT."
For the record, I have definitely brought this up a couple times in conjunction with the “play the season with Melo” strategy. I’m also more than glad to hear it coming from someone else.
also jpage.
Are you suggesting that Melo will tank on purpose?
I beleive most NBA players are competitive by nature and hate losing no matter what situation they are in. If it is inevitable and late in the season (i.e. Chris Bosh) then I could see them tanking. However, early in the season these players give it their best espeicially if they are playing on a playoff team where wins mean a whole lot more than it does when you are on a losing team.
I think Melo is too competitive to just sandbag the season for his own needs.
Let me give you a quick example of why I beleive Melo will compete hard. Lets say you get picked up on a team in some rec league that you never wanted to play for, but are stuck with them. You go through the 7 stages of grief and realize it is not such a bad deal after all. Then you go out and give it your all every game just for the sake of being competitive and wanting to win. The differnce betweem NBA players and your semi-pro joe is that they are scared of getting injured. My counterargument to that is if we are winning, even spoiled NBA players will try their best because that is all they know how to do. They have been competitive since they were 4 or 5 years old. Those things don’t just leave the brain because they are playing at a higher level. If anything, it increases their drive to win.
I am not insulted, but
re-reading my comment, I can’t see how you could have gotten that from what I said.
Actually, I have adamantly stated the same exact argument as you on several occasions. I feel exactly the same way about Melo’s competitiveness, even more so than most NBA players.
I have definitely met with many doubters who compare him to LeBron in the Celtics series, and some who even claim that any NBA players would tank on purpose in that situation. I just don’t believe that Melo wouldn’t try to rise up in any playoff series ever, regardless of his contract situation. The dude plays to win, that’s why he hasn’t signed yet. It’s not about the contract, it’s about winning.
Anyway, no, I am not suggesting that Melo will tank on purpose. I think we are generally in agreement on the Melo situation, JR15, and I appreciate your optimism.
Sorry about the misunderstanding.
I thought you were saying why was no one mentioning how they need to convince Melo to play hard on the court.
Now that I see you are one of the few fellow optimists left I am really sorry for the misunderstanding….lol. Not that I hate the pessimists, they still love the Nugs
by JR15 on Sep 2, 2010 5:26 PM MDT via mobile reply actions
no worries
Not that I expect anyone to pick out my opinions from the maelstrom that has hit this site recently, but I have mentioned the strategy that agaliarept posted here and am fully in agreement (with him AND myself!). I’m way, way glad to hear more people willing to adopt a “try to keep Melo by winning this season” strategy.
As discussed above, we have to be careful about what contracts we pick up to improve our roster. It’s a tall order, but if we can improve our roster while alleviating some of the financial clusterfuck, we can find ourselves with a very bright outlook for the future. But none of this will be enough without proving something on the court this season.

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