Mark Warkentien = Executive of the year

[JSD]

Can anyone make an argument against this guy?

He had the stones to make 2 major deals:

1) Trading Camby for nothing but cap space.
2) Trading AI for Chauncey.

His motto was "addition by subtraction" and made deals that allowed the Nuggets to be in the contending conversation. Billups has made everyone around him better,  Nene has shot 60% from the field and Melo looks like the player they signed up for when they drafted him.

Mark Warkentien = Executive of the year

[Who]

Warkentien sold out the future of his club for a 55 win ball club that has no hope of contending for an NBA Title.

But yeah, he had a pretty good season.

[Chris]

Well, trading Camby, and then agreeing to buyout McDyess, are two moves that could be the difference between losing to the Lakers, and being a legit championship contender.

The Billups trade was tremendous, but other than that, I think he hasn't been great.  Although there isn't much competition for executive of the year this year, so he may just have to win it.

[slam]

i don't follow - how did he sell out the future of his club?

[JSD]

Warkentien sold out the future of his club for a 55 win ball club that has no hope of contending for an NBA Title.

But yeah, he had a pretty good season.

Who, please explain.

[crownsy]

yea how did he sell the future of his club?

[JSD]

Well, trading Camby, and then agreeing to buyout McDyess, are two moves that could be the difference between losing to the Lakers, and being a legit championship contender.

The Billups trade was tremendous, but other than that, I think he hasn't been great.  Although there isn't much competition for executive of the year this year, so he may just have to win it.

Not moving Camby and McDyess for financial relief could have had negative effects too. It could have hindered the growth of Nene and Anderson who both have had tremendous years. Nene has been a wonderful piece in their offense shooting 60% from the field all year and Anderson looks like a future contender for the Defensive player of the year. I'm sure moving martin instead of of Camby or McDyess was first explored until that was determined impossible.

[Chris]

Well, trading Camby, and then agreeing to buyout McDyess, are two moves that could be the difference between losing to the Lakers, and being a legit championship contender.

The Billups trade was tremendous, but other than that, I think he hasn't been great.  Although there isn't much competition for executive of the year this year, so he may just have to win it.

Not moving Camby and McDyess for financial relief could have had negative effects too. It could have hindered the growth of Nene and Anderson who both have had tremendous years. Nene has been a wonderful piece in their offense shooting 60% from the field all year and Anderson looks like a future contender for the Defensive player of the year. I'm sure moving martin instead of of Camby or McDyess was first explored until that was determined impossible.

Well, let's just say that you clearly think much more highly of Anderson than I do.  I think he is a human pogo stick, who blocks shots, and doesn't do a whole lot more.  The upgrade from him to Camby is monumental IMO. 

Now, I understand that it was about saving cash for his owner (moving Camby doesn't give them cap space, it gave them room under the luxury tax...big difference), but if we are going to count that as a positive thing, then shouldn't Chris Wallace have 3 of these awards already?

[slam]

I'm with you on Anderson - very overrated as a defensive player.  Get's most of his blocks coming from the weak side.  Rebounds well, but more from his leaping ability than his boxing out/positioning.  Don't get me wrong, I like him, and wouldn't mind having him be a Celtic, but he should never win defensive player of the year unless it's based exclusively on the box score.

[crownsy]

I'm with you on Anderson - very overrated as a defensive player.  Get's most of his blocks coming from the weak side.  Rebounds well, but more from his leaping ability than his boxing out/positioning.  Don't get me wrong, I like him, and wouldn't mind having him be a Celtic, but he should never win defensive player of the year unless it's based exclusively on the box score.

I dont see how this can be anyone's assessment of Anderson and the think he's not camby-lite for 9 million less a year.

I mean, if you replaced the words Anderson with camby in the above, you've written the marcus camby scouting report. horrid on the ball defender, blocks shots as help only, ect, ect.

camby's DPOY, as we have discussed in other threads, is laughable.

[Chris]

I'm with you on Anderson - very overrated as a defensive player.  Get's most of his blocks coming from the weak side.  Rebounds well, but more from his leaping ability than his boxing out/positioning.  Don't get me wrong, I like him, and wouldn't mind having him be a Celtic, but he should never win defensive player of the year unless it's based exclusively on the box score.

I dont see how this can be anyone's assessment of Anderson and the think he's not camby-lite for 9 million less a year.

I mean, if you replaced the words Anderson with camby in the above, you've written the marcus camby scouting report. horrid on the ball defender, blocks shots as help only, ect, ect.

Camby is a MUCH better on the ball defender than Andersen, is a much better position defender, is a much better rebounder, and thats not even getting into the offense.  In general, he is just a much better (and smarter) basketball player.

Now, if you wanted to say that Andersen was a poor man's Dalembert, you would have an argument.  But Camby is not even close to the same player.

[crownsy]

I'm with you on Anderson - very overrated as a defensive player.  Get's most of his blocks coming from the weak side.  Rebounds well, but more from his leaping ability than his boxing out/positioning.  Don't get me wrong, I like him, and wouldn't mind having him be a Celtic, but he should never win defensive player of the year unless it's based exclusively on the box score.

I dont see how this can be anyone's assessment of Anderson and the think he's not camby-lite for 9 million less a year.

I mean, if you replaced the words Anderson with camby in the above, you've written the marcus camby scouting report. horrid on the ball defender, blocks shots as help only, ect, ect.

Camby is a MUCH better on the ball defender than Andersen, is a much better position defender, is a much better rebounder, and thats not even getting into the offense.  In general, he is just a much better (and smarter) basketball player.

Now, if you wanted to say that Andersen was a poor man's Dalembert, you would have an argument.  But Camby is not even close to the same player.

how much is anderson costing them Vs. camby who has clearly lost a step though chris? anderson provides them tons more flex for the future, which was my entire point against those saying "they lost camby" so what?

this isn't camby circa 2002 were talking about.

your not going to convince me that marcus camby, as currently constituted, would give them a chance in hell of beating the lakers front court if they had held onto him and crippled thier cap.

anderson, as i said, does a bit of everything camby does (to a career level this year i might add) for a tenth the cost. thats a massive steal for them, and only helps thier future prospects. They got the second best record in the west with the kid coming off the bench, so they improved thier team and saved a 10 million dollar corpse off the books.

mabey camby 5 years ago would have made the difference, but as he is now, no way. they would lose to the lakers with or without him, so why pay ten times as much for better production when you can get something like it for near the vet min and set themselves up to resign/ add pieces in the future to what appears to be a pretty solid western contender?

[jambr380]

Camby with the Nuggets would make this team very scary in the playoffs. A C/PF combination of him, Kenyon, and Nene would be very formidable. Camby wasn't even making that much $$ either- so the whole thing was sorta confusing.

I agree the Billups trade worked out very well for the Nuggets, but I don't think Warkentien had any idea his team would be one of the best in the West and a contender. If he did, he wouldn't have traded Camby (unless he had a REAL attitude problem- which I don't think he did).

[Who]

The Nuggets have no cap flexibility and are right up against the luxury tax threshold. Their big contracts are all poor trade assets, aside from their franchise player Carmelo Anthony. Their other players have little trade value, outside of JR Smith who is probably more valuable as a player than as a trade asset. Their draft picks are late in the first round. They have few young prospects, and will have financial difficulty hanging onto one of their best prospects in Kleiza.

In summary, the Nuggets have very little flexibility and they still need a major move to become a legitimate contender. Where is that move going to come from? .... It's not.

Chauncey Billups will be 33 years old before the start of next season and is already visibly on the decline (his defense). They're on the clock and they don't have the assets to get this done in time.

If Chauncey was 25 and the club had 5-7 years to make this happen ... then it would interesting ... but this is not the case.

Instead, they sold out their future (cap flexibility from Iverson's expiring deal, and better draft picks) for a 55 win ball club which has no hope of contending for a title. It's short term gain, long term pain.

This then leads to a new question - one which I think has no answer at this time - and that is how will this effect Carmelo's future with the Nuggets? Is this the beginning of the end? He'll be nearly 10 years into his career when Denver try to rebuild after Chauncey leaves, and still will not have had a realistic opportunity at a title. Is it in his interests to stick around? Is it in the Nuggets?

[crownsy]

Camby with the Nuggets would make this team very scary in the playoffs. A C/PF combination of him, Kenyon, and Nene would be very formidable. Camby wasn't even making that much $$ either- so the whole thing was sorta confusing.

I agree the Billups trade worked out very well for the Nuggets, but I don't think Warkentien had any idea his team would be one of the best in the West and a contender. If he did, he wouldn't have traded Camby (unless he had a REAL attitude problem- which I don't think he did).

or unless he noticed that marcus has aged rapidly, which he clearly has.