A Colorado sports nut for life, Erin Hickey takes his obsession to a new level with the best seat in the house, covering local hoops, hockey, the Rox and everything in-between scene.

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Showing entries for Category: Najera

Nuggets add Balkman, don't get any worse....

1 comment

July 29, 12:09 PM

by Erin Hickey, Denver Sports Examiner

Photo: Elise Amendola/AP

On Monday, the Nuggets acquired forward Renaldo Balkman from the Knicks for guard Taurean Green, forward Bobby Jones, and a 2nd round draft pick in 2010. Try as I might, I just can’t get excited about this move. It’s not a bewilderingly stupid move, like, say, trading Marcus Camby for a free Netflix trial… but it’s not exactly a stroke of genius, either. I’m struggling to see how this makes the Nuggets any better than they were last year.

Balkman is typically described as a “defensive-minded” player, which is just a nice way of saying he possesses the offensive skills of a toaster oven. So even if he ends up filling the defense/hustle gap left by Eduardo Najera, the Nuggets will still miss Eddie’s offensive streak, and they still don’t have anyone to match Camby’s contributions on both ends of the court.

At least the Nuggs don’t lose anything by adding Balkman. They give up two players with non-guaranteed contracts who likely would have been waived, plus a late pick that probably wouldn’t have amounted to anything anyway. And Balkman is coming cheap, thanks to the Knicks picking up about $500,000 of his $1.3 million contract in 2008-09. But that’s about it….

I guess the most encouraging thing about this deal is that it’s the first offseason move that hasn’t made the Nuggets any worse. That’s got to be worth something.

For more info:
Nuggets recharge defense, add Balkman (Rocky Mountain News)

Topics: Denver , Sports , Nuggets , Marcus Camby , basketball , NBA , Najera , Renaldo Balkman , Taurean Green , Bobby Jones

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Nuggets lose Najera, have big shoes to fill

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July 12, 8:38 AM

Yesterday, the Nuggets lost Eduardo Najera to the New Jersey Nets. He was just too expensive for the salary-capped Nuggs. So while the rest of the West is getting better, the Nuggets appear to be completely hamstrung by the big-dollar contracts of Camby,... Read More
Topics: Denver , Nuggets , basketball , NBA , Anthony Carter , Najera