Berger: Nene wants out ...
Well, this isn't the best news to start off the 2011-12 offseason. But Ken Berger, of CBS Sports, is reporting Nene wants out of Denver (no quotes) and mentions six teams that would be likely destinations: Golden State, New Jersey, Dallas, Miami, and Houston.
6 months ago
Nate Timmons
65 comments
0 recs |
Email
PrintComments
Rebuilding here we come
(throws up in mouth)
Overheard during Nuggets radio broadcasts in the 80's: "....Hanzlik.....HEY HANZLIK...don't ever dribble the ball again or I'll bench your ass!" Doug Moe
DenverStiffs.com
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/jmorton78
by Jeffrey Morton on Nov 29, 2011 11:12 AM MST reply actions
Marc Spears has a more complete story with tons of quotes
Other than the expected drama, nothing really suggests that he won’t be back. I think the Nuggets gave him
a very fair offer and should stick to it, other than making a final negotiating determination.
His ramblings sound like stock agent-fed blather.
Hopefully, it's Houston
They have the assets to help Denver in a rebuild. Will likely need a sign and trade for them to get him.
we might be able to net Marcus Morris and/or Nikola Mirotic, Hasheem Thabeet (expiring), and a couple draft picks (2012 Knicks pick and 2013 Grizzlies pick or 2012 Rockets pick would be nice).
Having three first rounders in one of the strongest drafts in recent memory can only help Denver. There’s going to be players taken at #15-25 that would have been top ten picks in other drafts.
I hope so too
Mirotic was traded to Chicago, but Thabeet (for salary and expiring) along with a pick or two and Marcus Morris would work for me.
Hard to believe that 2 days after the lockout ended .
some owner would offer Nene 30% of the cap ..(postscript in the article)
I want him to stay here and at 12 mil, I wouldn’t have a problem, but in the 15 mil+ range, I think it would make it hard to build a contender.
Nuggets had offered a 4 year $50 million deal.
I’d think going the 5th year, which other teams can’t do, would be worth his talent.
I think I would rather go 4/55 to 5/65 . .
I think 15% over market would be about right. However, given the dearth of good big men, I wouldn’t cry is the overpaid a little more than that.
The extra year make me more nervous just on injury risk . .with the current cap room and the young roster, a front loaded contract would make even more sense to me – say 15,14,14,12.If you are going to over pay, let’s do this year rather than years 3-4.
I dont blame nene he has always been playing hard for this team and the nuggets wait until after the season to offer him an extension. He got disrespected by management but i am sure the fans respect him
They also gave him a 6 yr, $60 million deal at a time when he had missed a ton of games and had yet to live up to his potential. Players have to stop saying “it’s a business” out of one side of their mouth and “they disrespected me” out of the other. You can’t have it both ways. I love Nene, but this all sounds like stuff that’s being whispered into his ear by his agent.
by Fence on Nov 29, 2011 12:30 PM MST up reply actions 7 recs
I love that argument man
I really had not thought about this.
But still, Nene really deserved an extension. If he played on any other team, and perhaps without the Melo drama, he would have gotten an extension. If I was Nene’s agent, I’d be pushing him to do what he’s doing now. It really convinces every team out there that he’s ready to go and he’ll sign if they pay up.
The Nugs should have offered 5 yrs / $65mil before the lockout. That is 13 mil a year and amnesty in their back pocket. But, I bet a part of Stan Kroenke was hoping for a hard cap and he said no new contracts before the lockout.
I wish things would have been different for Nene. But I wish him a lot of luck, because he earned all of his money here, and he really did earn a raise. In this era of guaranteed contracts, that’s rare. Now we can’t control the extent he’s going to get overpaid and that is our fault. I wish Nene and his family the best. I would go for the most money in his situation. I just wouldn’t diss the Nuggets in public. It really hurts the diehard fans who know he’s likely to get paid a bunch and leave anyways.
Good luck Nene. We really loved having you here
We'll Move the Earth for a Title
Roundball Mining Company
twitter.com/skitalicious
I don’t understand your line of thinking when it comes to saying “and amnesty in their back pocket.” in regards to Nene.
So, the team inks Nene to an extension to buy him out just a few months later? Or the Nuggets keep him for the 2011-12 season and then buy him out to the tune of $52 million? That would be INSANE. That would be something that an owner who doesn’t like wasting money would NEVER do and it makes little to no sense. Do you really think Nene is washed up now or a year from now? If so, why offer him $13 million per season?
Remember, you still have to pay these guys the money they are owed. It just doesn’t count against the salary cap. Click here.
Nate_Timmons on Twitter
DenverStiffs.com
Colorado Sports Guys podcast We're on iTunes (free!)
Here's Marc Spears article and interveiw with Nene...I suggest everyone read it
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=mc-spears_nene_nba_free_agents_112911
Overheard during Nuggets radio broadcasts in the 80's: "....Hanzlik.....HEY HANZLIK...don't ever dribble the ball again or I'll bench your ass!" Doug Moe
DenverStiffs.com
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/jmorton78
by Jeffrey Morton on Nov 29, 2011 12:06 PM MST reply actions
Good read
I can see why Nene was insulted by Denver waiting and waiting until the last minute to make an offer to him.
But offering $50 million over 4 seasons was a good offer. It wasn’t “nothing good” like he claims.
Sounds like he’s making a lot of excuses for his stats not being as high as he would like. Maybe Melo’s ball hogging negatively impacted his performance as he didn’t get enough touches, but he also isn’t very aggressive in general.
Sounds like he doesn’t think the Nuggets have enough help around him either.
I'll let you guys in on something
Nene has been claiming to feel disrespected, privately, since before the Melo saga began. This isn’t a new thing. Karl playing him at center was also a point of contention.
Overheard during Nuggets radio broadcasts in the 80's: "....Hanzlik.....HEY HANZLIK...don't ever dribble the ball again or I'll bench your ass!" Doug Moe
DenverStiffs.com
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/jmorton78
by Jeffrey Morton on Nov 29, 2011 12:33 PM MST up reply actions
How was he disrespected tho?
I mean Denver’s always been high on the guy. I could see if he felt the perception of him around the league wasn’t as high as he would have liked it to be… or if he felt Melo had always gotten more attention as well
I just don’t get it. Half of the time he gets the ball he passes it back out, it seems.
Who was slated to come off the bench with K-mart and Camby in town? It was Nene. Might that be one case?
Nate_Timmons on Twitter
DenverStiffs.com
Colorado Sports Guys podcast We're on iTunes (free!)
by Nate Timmons on Nov 29, 2011 1:28 PM MST up reply actions
He was struggling with health issues at that time
The Nuggets were right not to force him into the starting 5. We has not the player he is now.
I believe he tore his ACL in the first game that season, coming off the bench.
Was totally healthy otherwise.
Nate_Timmons on Twitter
DenverStiffs.com
Colorado Sports Guys podcast We're on iTunes (free!)
by Nate Timmons on Nov 29, 2011 4:36 PM MST up reply actions
Not otherwise ... but before the original injury.
Nate_Timmons on Twitter
DenverStiffs.com
Colorado Sports Guys podcast We're on iTunes (free!)
by Nate Timmons on Nov 29, 2011 4:37 PM MST up reply actions
Ok, I get that
And I could see Nene being pissed about that. It was weird to sign K-Mart when we had just drafted Nene a few seasons before… but the last three years he’s been an unquestioned starter, and he came close to starting minutes even when he did come off the bench.
Guess I could see him still being upset about that to an extent, but I don’t see it as that big of an issue. He said before, Denver’s where he wanted to be as recent as late last season. Think he’s more upset with Denver not offering a near max contract last season.
I don't really think it's about money at all.
We’ll soon find out.
Nate_Timmons on Twitter
DenverStiffs.com
Colorado Sports Guys podcast We're on iTunes (free!)
by Nate Timmons on Nov 29, 2011 7:06 PM MST up reply actions
You hit the nail on the head
Nene has publicly said he HATES playing C. Even Melo pleaded the case after the WCF vs Lakers that the team needed to add a true center in the off season and move Nene to PF. Melo even knew that Nene would kill opposing PF. But they did NOTHING!!!!! I think that if they would have brought in a descent center to create the Billups, Afflalo, Melo, Nene and said center(and our good bench of JR plus Kleiza as a dynamic duo) that we might even see Melo still here. Melo knew that this team was in a down fall by that single (non) move.
By the nuggets having Moz and Koufas, they have made somewhat of a commitment to play Nene at PF. This will be this teams only plus to him staying for basketball related reasons. If he does leave he will not be leaving for $$$reasons, simply Larry o’brien reasons. I still say if Miami can get him they will. They know he doesn’t need the ball and is a top 3 interior defender in this league.
Follow twitter : twitter.com/Jay_Ru96
Formerly JR2
Denver Nuggets dove c'e squadra nel basket
GALLLLLLLLLLOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by The U.N. Fab Five on Nov 29, 2011 6:54 PM MST up reply actions
Getting a decent center is easier said than done.
For one thing, teams with good centers aren’t in a hurry to get rid of them. Also remember that for much of Nene’s tenure the Nuggets have been in a salary cap quandry because of Kenyon Martin’s salary and it’s entirely unreasonable to tie up $26 million in cap space to one position on the floor. Center was the only position where they could give Nene his minutes.
But Nene still had one more year left on his deal...
and they offered the extension before he opted out.
MOZGOD Member #35
Ken Berger makes up crap fairly regularly
He’s stirred the pot based on “speculation” in the past. I’m not saying he’s wrong, but Spears’ article at least has more meat to it.
Great point
Actually both Berger and Woj often have reliably good infro….
but both are capable of stirring the pot to offer something interesting.
Pay him what he wants
Only a few million extra per year (In a season where we need to come up to the Cap floor).
Get Karl to assure Nene that he’s at PF this year and that Mozgov will be in at C
MOZGOD Member #35
Saw someone said earlier
This sounds like whispering in his ear from an agent. I hope him the best if someone offers him max money. He can be a great 3rd option a solid #2. But if he’s our #1 option we’re in trouble.
The market will give him leverage for a max contract. Oh well. We move on.
No Nene=No Lawson/Gallo/etc
The Nuggets must max Nene to avoid rebuilding.
Nene is a very valuable player, but given the lack of depth we have up front, his value skyrockets. If the Nuggets lose Nene they can kiss this season goodbye, and likely any hope of building a team worthy of their “young talent” being retained.
The Nuggets are under the cap by a mile, and can still afford to sign FA’s even after maxing out Nene. Will he be overpaid? Perhaps, but it’s better than any other options at this point.
Part of me is hoping he does leave just so the haters can eat their words when the Nuggets are the 14 seed this year.
I don't get this logic...
Max him cause we can and should. Would you prefer to be low 20s draft picks and hope for a hit in the next 2-3 years? At some point if you can’t grow you have to start over.
14th seed might not be a bad place to be this year…We own our pick and we have sure fire talent coming out.
To me the argument is two fold. Are we close enough to a championship that we just need a few middle tier pieces? Or are we very good but not great team stuck in the meddling point?
Obviously you can see I’m the later. I thought it was great play we got the end of last year. But given time to game plan for the fast pace/inside out type of game we had, that we’d be above the middle but below the top. Nothing we can do this off-season puts us above that level to me.
All that said I hope that I’m wrong…I want to be wrong and that we’re an elite team as we saw at the end of last year. Not the very good but not great team I saw in the playoffs. Maybe there’s a trade we all don’t see to come that could create that great team.
Improvement in Ty, Gallo and Moz
plus the addition of Miller and our rookies might be all it takes to make us a great team….also a healthier/skinnier Harrington. Of course, none of that matters without Nene IMO
That is a lot to ask in a short season
Let Nene go. Rebuild with the draft. If you draft well, the turn around will be short. If you overpay Nene and he eats 30% of your cap, you could be looking at years of frustration.
Remember, Nene is 29…with past health issues. He is no spring chicken.
still doesn't solve to problem of reaching the cap floor
I wouldn’t want that kind of $$ to go to anyone else in this years FA class….Nene is far and away the best of the bunch, and we HAVE to spend on someone. Throwing 12 mil at David West would make me barf
They have a lot of roster spots to fill
I would rather pay for Marc Gasol. He is younger and bigger. May be not max though.
There are a lot of good, if not great, players that can eat up cap space in a hurry. no need to blow it on one if that will kill you down the road.
I'm not opposed to that
someone else was saying offer him a front-loaded contract so Memphis won’t match. Not a bad idea at all
Excuse my anger.
Do you really want to turn a 50 win team into a 25 win team in one season with the “hopes” of landing that one transcendent player who might only be on your team a few years? In order for the Nuggets to find that player who’ll put them into contention, A TON has to go right. They have to tank, not get jobbed in the lotto, and happen to be in a position to draft that single solitary player who can become the cornerstone of a franchise.
And then they have to build a team around him before he walks…
Yeah, let’s hold out for that.
How many lottery picks have the Nuggets had in the past 20 years? How many have ended up being top 10, let alone top 5 players? ZERO (Melo is not top 10).
The best hope for a good/great team is to build on what we have, which is an unselfish team who’s cost, and talents, are greater than the sum of their parts.
Sorry, but not offering to max Nene, especially when you offered to max an inferior player in Carmelo, is absolutely foolish.
by rxmart2 on Nov 29, 2011 4:54 PM MST up reply actions 3 recs
So your answer is to
Have a good team and hope they turn great? Didn’t we do that for the last 8 years…Team game can get you to the playoffs and possibly make a round or two. It was a great thing to see last year. I was proud of that group. But my realistic take was it was not a championship team.
To make it clear, I want Nene back. But at a price. Max salary is not that price. You will cripple your space fairly quick. I want to see them go in with the same core and save their space for next year with the lure of having a contending surrounding cast that just needs the star. More then likely it doesn’t happen.
If we lose Nene it’s blow up time. If we resign him, I’m not one that things the internal devolpment pushes us over the top. We still need that star, we have the perfect supporting cast.
But would I rather not go another 7 years with 40-50 wins. I’d rather take a few years of 25 wins to push for a championship team.
i understand that banking on the draft is dicey...
but how many times has a fifty win season brought the nuggs a chip? zero. how many times has it even landed us in the finals? zero.
nenes about to be on the wrong side of 30 and is in no way deserving of a multi year max contract. has the kmart fiasco taught us nothing? last year nene averaged 14 pts and 7 rbs. i just dont see how any sane gm can give that a max contract.
i understand denver has to hit 85% of the cap, but id rather spend that on one year expiring contracts than give nene max. that way we can be a player in next years FA and hopefully pull nice draft pick. giving nene max is deja vu all over again. frankly id much rather have gasol over nene and i dont think gasol is worth the max.
giving max money to above average players is a primary component to the nba being in the dire financial straits it currently finds itself in. the drunken sailor spending has got to stop.
by calvin brodus on Nov 29, 2011 7:30 PM MST up reply actions
but
How many times has tanking it as a 20 win team brought us the chip? Face it, we are a small market team, and we’ll have to get EXTREMELY lucky to grab a transcendent player. We’re better off tweaking our very good core, a core who had one of the best second halves of the season.
by rxmart2 on Nov 29, 2011 8:49 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs
The face that you're quoting bulk stats for Nene
leads me to believe you don’t understand just how valuable he is to this team, especially given their lack of size at the present time. Look, the Nuggets have done the 20 win thing for the last two decades, and it sucks. I’d much rather have a perennial playoff team with the possibility for more.
the nuggs have two seven footers and bird is close to that as well....
three seven footers is a forest. i fail to see our lack of size.
the talent level of that forest is certainly up for debate.
and the nuggs have been a 20 win team for the past two decades? dude, we just hit the playoffs eight years running and have eclipsed or been near 50 wins for all of those seasons.
i think we both want the nuggs to win…but we clearly have different approaches to when and how to get there.
by calvin brodus on Nov 30, 2011 6:16 AM MST up reply actions
Here's my issue with paynig Nene the max
At no point in his career has he entered the game in crunch time and I have thought to myself…okay, now the game is over, Nene the difference maker is in the game, he’s going to carry us over the top.
I really tried last year in the playoffs. It didn’t happen. He simply isn’t that guy. He is not going to change to be that guy. He is a very good player, just not a max player.
Snoop speaketh the truth here...
by InboundingLobPass on Nov 30, 2011 5:28 PM MST via mobile up reply actions
I love me some Nene
but he’s not worth the max. A max player should be a proven all-star, which Nene is not. I like his game, but isn’t worth more than 12M if you’re a team trying to rebuild. It would make more sense to offer Gasol a massively front loaded offer that would make Memphis choke. That would solve the salary floor problem while leaving future flexibility when Ty and Gallo come due for raises. If that doesn’t work, why not just sit back, let your rookie develop and shoot for one of the bigs in the 2012 draft (Drummond, Davis, Sullinger or Zeller. Hell, even Perry Jones or John Henson).
What makes you think Gallo and Ty would want to stay on a cellar dwelling team with no future?
Maxing a player has more to do with your position than anything else.
Restricted free agents
They can sign offer sheets. But it’s been awhile since someone did that. We more then likely have them for their next contract as long as they get paid a fair market price.
If the point is winning championships
then there is no way that happens with Nene (or Gasol for that matter) eating up 30% of the cap. IMHO, you need to be an all-star to warrant a max contract, especially under this CBA. Both of these guys are 12-13M/year kind of players, not 18-21M. While someone will inevitably overpay them, for Denver to do so, would put us close to the tax line when Gallo and Ty’s extensions come due. So the question is, would you rather have a lottery team right before the most stacked draft of the decade, or a perpetual 6-8 seed without the means to add talent?
That's buloney
The point is to put together the best team… And either way you CAN win a ship with Nene taking up 30% of your cap. Have you read the CBA?
Just offer him the money we know he deserves and if doesn’t like it. Piss off.
Crouching moron, hidden smarta**
Optimism, pessimism, F*CK THAT; we're gonna make it happen. As God as my bloody witness, I'm hell-bent on making it work.
"This team is going to win a Super Bowl at some point."
Masai Ujiri, Brian Cashman: Magnificent Bastards
by Kevin L on Nov 29, 2011 5:51 PM MST reply actions 1 recs
I think we did that already
He walked away disgusted from $50m
by InboundingLobPass on Nov 30, 2011 5:31 PM MST via mobile up reply actions
marc gasol only demanding $9million/yr
says Grizzles prepared to match any offer. might as well offer him nene’s $$ and make the grizzlies overpay him.
Lower then I expected...
If he was only getting 9 mil I could talk myself in to that deal. But I don’t see Grizzilies letting him go for anything less then 14. They still have some movable contracts if it starts to get dicey.
Go into battle with this lineup
Lawson/Miller
Afflalo/Hamilton (Of course we hope for Chandler here)
Gallinari/Hamilton (Of course we hope for Chandler here, as well)
Nene/Faried/Andersen
Mozgov/Koufos/Andersen
Also considering the caveat below, why wouldn’t the Nuggets organization and its fans be thrilled with this team? (Of course, there’s room for more talent in addition to the 11 players mentioned above.)
And if the need arises, which is to say Chandler 1) can’t weasel out of his China gig, and/or 2) won’t return to Denver, can the Nuggets use their cap room and amnesty to get an experienced swingman who can shoot the lights out and bring Hamilton along?
Please bring on all the problems with this. I’m serious. All comers. I’m not a cap/contract guy.
No. More. Stickyball.
JR
Yeah, I left Smith off this list. Of course, he could be the shoot-the-lights-out guy any ole time. I just don’t expect him to return.
No. More. Stickyball.
by LongWindedHank on Nov 30, 2011 4:55 PM MST up reply actions
wheres Harrington / Forbes?
by InboundingLobPass on Nov 30, 2011 5:33 PM MST via mobile up reply actions
A better question might be
How can that money be better spent? I’m hoping Harrington’s $6.2 million can be used to sign a healthy swingman shooter in actual game shape. Forbes isn’t under contract, is he? I like that guy’s play at times, but he’s nowhere near essential to the picture.
No. More. Stickyball.
by LongWindedHank on Nov 30, 2011 5:51 PM MST up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Andrew Feinstein
(denverstiffs@gmail.com)
Nate Timmons
(ntimmons73@yahoo.com)
NBA Playoffs Content Module
Related FanPosts on Denver Stiffs
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
DENVER STIFFS T-SHIRTS!
Enter your email for updates
In Association With
Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sport
- Orlando Magic coaching rumors include Jerry Sloan and Scott Skiles
- Jrue Holiday needs to shoot more for Sixers to win, according to Doug Collins
- Create-a-Caption: Jeff Pendergraph scares his Pacers teammates
- James Harden is a cake now
- Mike Miller loses shoe, plays two possessions without it, Pacers don’t score (VIDEO)
