KRIEGER: Nuggets' logic all over the board
By Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published July 23, 2008 at 10:21 p.m.
Photo by © The Rocky
Mark Warkentien seems to be following a course regarding Nuggets personnel parallel to the one former general manager Kiki Vandeweghe took.
In NBA circles, Nuggets vice president Mark Warkentien has a new nickname. Actually, he has two.
The sophisticated -- the ones who can name the year and the president -- call him Garry Kasparov. The rest go for Bobby Fischer because they don't know who Garry Kasparov is.
In either case, the joke is the same. It is a reference to Warkentien's self-congratulatory declaration that he's playing chess, not checkers, when he trades center Marcus Camby to the Clippers for two rolls of athletic tape and a box of laundry soap.
This is a deal that makes the much-criticized Grizzlies' giveaway of Pau Gasol to the Lakers last season look balanced by comparison. At least the Grizz got bodies and a couple of draft picks.
In isolation, of course, Warkentien's spin has a grain of truth to it. The Nuggets could turn around and use the $10 million trade exception obtained for Camby to acquire $10 million worth of upgrades, maybe even a point guard or defender off the bench.
In fact, however, it is widely understood that Silent Stanley Kroenke, the Nuggets' owner, has taken back his ATM card, revisiting a process of disillusionment with his front office we've seen before.
When former general manager Kiki Vandeweghe told Kroenke enough things that didn't pan out -- Nikoloz Tskitishvili can play; Kenyon Martin merits a max contract; Michael Cooper is ready to coach -- Silent Stanley stopped listening to him. By Vandeweghe's final year as GM, he was pretty much a figurehead.
Warkentien and sidekick Rex Chapman appear to be following the same path. They told Kroenke two years ago that Nene merited a $60 million contract despite having appeared in only one game the previous season. He has appeared in 80 of 164 since.
They told Kroenke 19 months ago that Allen Iverson was the final piece to the puzzle. Kroenke took on Iverson's enormous salary -- $20 million a year -- and the luxury-tax bill that went with it in the belief he was paying for a championship contender. The Nuggets are 1-8 in the playoffs since that trade.
The one thing Vandeweghe and Warkentien had in common, apparently, was telling Kroenke the draft is worthless. Vandeweghe gave up three first-round picks in the Martin trade. Warkentien gave up two more in the Iverson deal. Then he got rid of this year's first-round pick in yet another economy move he spun as strategic.
As a result, the pipeline of fresh talent is dry. It didn't help that the last time they actually exercised a first-round pick, in 2005, they picked Julius Hodge, a shooting guard who couldn't shoot. When they acquired the rights to Linas Kleiza near the end of that round for the 22nd pick, Jarrett Jack, it was the last time they got help from the draft. That's three years ago now.
The Nuggets have a long history of such front-office follies. They hold the unofficial record for blowing up their roster and starting over -- three times in the past 18 years, not counting the partial disassembly under way this summer. The pattern is always the same -- jettison pieces to achieve "financial flexibility," spend that flexibility unwisely, rinse, repeat.
And so it is in this case. What was the Nuggets' most glaring weakness last season? Defense. What does losing Eduardo Najera and Marcus Camby do for your defense? Weaken it. So these moves make little or no basketball sense, which is why Warkentien is resorting to board game analogies. When he starts talking Risk, we should make sure he has no access to nuclear weapons.
As Camby's agent said in the only Nuggets-related blast of honesty all summer, that deal was a salary dump, as was the goodbye to Najera without so much as a contract offer. Nor are the Nuggets in the market to use any salary-cap exceptions to add complementary pieces to a team that clearly needs a few.
You can't blame Silent Stanley, either. Why should he absorb eight-figure luxury-tax bills for a team that can't make it out of the first round of the playoffs? Combined with the decision not to give Iverson a multiyear contract extension, this summer's moves point to a year of cost cutting until next summer, when Iverson's big contract comes off the books.
At that point, whether it is still Warkentien and Chapman making the strained analogies is anybody's guess. One league source suggested they weren't even consulted on the Camby trade, that Kroenke crony Bret Bearup handled it.
If the Nuggets unexpectedly look like contenders next winter as the trade deadline approaches, Kroenke just might authorize using part of the trade exception to acquire a missing piece. Barring that, they'll hold on to it until next summer, when Iverson's contract expires and the luxury-tax implications disappear.
Either way, it's more like Monopoly than chess. And Silent Stanley just closed the bank.
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July 23, 2008
11:47 p.m.
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Highcountry writes:
Nice work Krieger. Think you nailed it.
July 24, 2008
1:05 a.m.
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wolfie writes:
they got rid of two great workhorses, worked hard for their contracts. now we will see what the 'franchise' players can do to earn their paychecks. you think that the rest of team is going to come up with 20 rebounds that Najera and Camby pulled down a game? it could force them to play a more complete game. (wishful thinking)
July 24, 2008
2:29 a.m.
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Slader writes:
Despite themselves, the Nuggets' managers have four valid young players: Nene, Melo, LK and JR, in descending order of age. I think the unstated goal is to shed AI's salary and rebuild around them, and the brass no longer really thinks they will contend this year.
The problem is that, as Krieger has often said, no plan to reach this goal appears to be shared by Stan and all 3 horsemen of the Nuggets' apocalypse (Warkentein, Chapman and Bearup). If they are not on the same page, this book will not have a happy ending.
July 24, 2008
6:17 a.m.
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mikeyg writes:
What a pathetic front office we're saddled with at Pepsi. Year after year they dump the guys who work hard, every night, play after play: Camby, Najera, Andre Martin. While they keep and pay top $$ for the malcontents, fragile and inconsistent guys: K Mart, Iverson, Nene & JR.
With all the thugs and bad attitudes on this team, combined with a players coach in Karl who has just wanted to be loved and hugged by his guys instead of holding them accountable and you get a lousy product on the court that gets swept in the first round of the playoffs every year. Sad thing is once upon a time in Seattle Karl was a tough guy who demanded performance and wouldn't put up with bad attitudes or lazy play.
It's no wonder a once-promising young, talented star in Melo has been a major disappointment. He's been shown that bad attitudes and selective effort gets rewarded in the NBA. And that the work horses are worth a big zilch in trades or releases.
The Nuggets won't be getting any of my $$ in the foreseeable future. I'd rather fill up my car with a tank of gas then blow it on a night at Pepsi.
July 24, 2008
7:19 a.m.
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AG writes:
This is the best assessment of the whole front office scenario I have seen to date. I have always mistrusted the "management by committee" approach from the beginning. Now it would appear the next step is to bring a single individual to take over. Let the speculation as to who that might be begin.
July 24, 2008
7:31 a.m.
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LingLingfor_prez writes:
Nuggets will have two players on the all-star team and not make the playoffs.
July 24, 2008
8:10 a.m.
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LaszloPanaflex writes:
Chess? Monopoly? Try Sorry!
July 24, 2008
8:23 a.m.
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farmgrl writes:
I just read on ESPN's site that the Nuggets have resigned Chris Andersen--"Birdman". Thrown out of the league for drug use, embarassing in the slam dunk contest, basically useless the past 5 years--yep, I agree, the game the front office is playing IS Sorry.
July 24, 2008
8:24 a.m.
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chillywilly writes:
They need to let AI go.
Your not commited to him so why keep him. They had a chance to cut salary, without losing thier all star caliber center... By resigning AI they could have cut at least 10 mill just like they did with Camby. They're not commited to winning cause if they were there is absolutly NO way Karl would still be employed by them.
July 24, 2008
8:44 a.m.
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jkl writes:
The Nuggets trade Camby and let Najara go, both of them made their impact on the defensive end. Then they sign Anderson, a junkie whose only claim to fame is drugs and various hairdos. And they avoid the draft as if it's cancerous. The Nuggets are rapidly slipping to the bottom of the barrel, which is where they belong with management decisions such as these.
July 24, 2008
9:08 a.m.
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fjv1026 writes:
Good article Krieger. It still baffles the mind how such "basketball minds" have no sense whatsoever.
July 24, 2008
9:39 a.m.
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SLoganSt writes:
As I understand it, the Nugs had no choice about resigning AI; it was a player option for next year. AI probably figured he wouldn't get anywhere near the $20mil on the open market, so he exercised the option.
July 24, 2008
10 a.m.
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not2serious writes:
You write good sports newspaper stories Dude. I like the humor you try to put into otherwise not very humorous news. Another bad year for the Nuggets? HA HA, that is not very funny.
July 24, 2008
10:15 a.m.
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anthony1979 writes:
Najera was a hustler who nailed open threes when everybody else was covered. He wasn' great on defense. Camby, though he had many good years in Denver, is winding down in his career. Defensive fraud due to that he NEVER was a post up player or defender. His blocks came off weak side help and his rebounds didn't make up for his lack of consistent scoring.
The reason nobody is making a move on JR is because they know that with the salary dumping of BOTH Najera and Camby that we intend on keeping our 22 yr old STUD SG.
I know that I will get grief and alot of dumb comments about what I called JR but he is too athletic, too young, and too talented to let another team take him. I believe they are right in what they are doing. Keepin YOUNG talent Melo, JR, Kleiza, and Nene.
Now to address a couple of you calling "Birdman" "uselesss"...look at his stats, he had more blocks per minute than anyone in the NBA the year before he left Denver. He brings a great energy for a cheaper price than Najera.
All this frees up money for a great PG, HOPEFULLY they will be able to land the right one...
July 24, 2008
10:18 a.m.
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ThatMileHighGuy writes:
1st it was Melo's fault, now it's the Front Offices fault?
Try looking @ the ego maniac of a coach who is too busy chewing mints to bother actually coaching his team in the middle of a game. Camby blew at man defense and the reason his block #'s were so good is he peeled off his own man to try and block guys which any decent player would simply pass under to the wide open dude CAMBY was supposed to be guarding. Let's also not forget the fact that Camby shoved his own teammates in the back on a regular basis to grab boards and hit the incentive #'s in his contract.
Krieger you're a moron...stick to what you know, which quite frankly isn't much outside of being one of those weird middle aged dudes who think wearing an earring makes you hip.
MikeyG...his name is Andre Miller, not Andre Martin...try learning the players names, then watch some games and not just highlights on ESPN and THEN come back and join the conversation with those of us who actually watch basketball. Also, if Melo is such a disappointment why did he have a career year last year and why does he dominate in international play when he has a coach that actually COACHES!!!!!!
July 24, 2008
2:29 p.m.
Suggest removal
rray writes:
Frankly I don't care WHO's fault it is. The buck starts and stops with the owner. When an owner of any business surrounds themself with "yes" people, many of which have only "dribbled" soup in their lifetime, you end up with the mess we have now.
At least the owner can DO something about his high expenses by dumping contracts. Fans have watched their ticket prices go UP and UP and UP since moving to the Pepsi Center. True, it is not on the scale of what the owner is shelling out, but I'm sure it hits us much harder since we don't have "Billions". When do OUR prices go down? I think we all know that is not going to happen.
It's the same old game. Bring in new faces. Promise results. Raise prices. Fail to deliver results. Dump players/salary. Start over. Year after year after year.
Just LOOK at the X-Nugget players that have left (or been shown the door) and who have gone on to be successful with other teams!
To me this speaks loudly of the Organization (or lack there of). Lack of real, valid leadership is the problem. You don't fire the soldiers... you get new commanders. But just like our ticket prices we all know this is not going to happen either...
July 24, 2008
3:09 p.m.
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EndZone writes:
To be honest, it doesn't bother me that Camby is gone. I feel he was the worst defensive player ever to be named Defensive POY. He was a spectacular guy in the community that will be missed, but the fact is he is an aging 7 footer, and like my car with high miles, things start to fall apart fast. He will be a back up in LA LA land behind Caveman. What does bother me is that he went for nothing. Even if it is a lottery protected first rounder or another body I would feel better about it. I too think the Nuggets will be younger and more exciting next year, but I also feel that AI will be the glue that holds this team together.
July 24, 2008
3:28 p.m.
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mikeyg writes:
Hey TMHG, it was 6am when I posted for crying out loud, gimme a break. If you bothered to read my post you would have noted that I, too, took Karl to task for his malpractice as a coach.
Look, the fact is there are too many strong individual personalities on the team. Very few coaches are able to control that kind of locker room. Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Parcells, Joe Torre are the only ones in recent memory in all of the top 3 sports in the U.S. And even they are only able to pull it off for awhile in the right situation before their schtick wears off.
Winning teams have more to do with possessing the right chemistry in the locker room than in having the most stars on the court. Karl has not succeeded at harnessing the egos he's had in in his stable because he felt remorse over his Seattle years when he was a disciplinarian with a "my way or the highway" style. He chose to become the polar opposite, a pushover instead. And with all those egos and attitudes he's had no control over the team. It is terribly undisciplined. Leaders, coaches, need to play to their strength. There are authoritarian and then there are empathetic bosses. It is the rare leader who is both. But it is fatal to most all leaders who are one style at their core to try to become the other. The result is total failure.
With the personnel moves the front office has made they've dumped the selfless guys on the team and kept the selfish ones. Melo sees the locker room dysfunction but has no other perspective to compare it to. He's developed bad habits in the NBA as a result of this harmful and shameful exposure. He watched a coach like Bzdelik get run out of the league because he carried too big of a stick without the authority behind it for his malcontents on the team. He's watched more malcontents be brought in and rewarded handsomely. He's not been shown that role players are the key to a winning franchise and these kinds of front office moves show us that he never will.
Melo won't be a true NBA superstar like he can be until he leaves the Nuggets. When he gets on a team that values role players and doesn't tolerate malcontents he'll finally learn how to be a superstar. And locals here in Denver will be crying about how we let him get away. Fact is, unless the Nuggets make different kinds of personnel and coaching moves that strive to build chemistry more than assemble a collection of stars he'll never have the same kind of opportunity to learn and will be just another big name on a mediocre NBA franchise.
July 24, 2008
6:08 p.m.
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puxico1 writes:
Really great group of comments, to bad not one of them is running the nugs...weather report for denver sports fans on the ice and at court side. it's going to be a long, cold, sports winter. The nugs will not I repeat not make the playoffs, not even close, they may lose 60 games. Things may be a bit better on the ice, but not much. My take is the teams owner, a very smart business man, is looking at the economic conditions in our nation and tighting the budgets of his teams. We can always look forward to spring training, oh I forgot the broncos, your guess is as good as mine...
July 24, 2008
9:31 p.m.
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duboisb writes:
Poor little Stan. The man's being misled.
He's shelling out his hard earned money.
Bull!
The man's a greedy, airhead buffoon. Fans don't buy tickets to watch him pinch his pennies. He has ruined a good basketball team which was only a couple of role players and a descent coach away from a championship.
Trade Iverson or buy him out. Then set flames to the rest of the Nuggets. Greedy, stupid, stingy Stan should go.
July 24, 2008
9:39 p.m.
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platoro79 writes:
One word---dismal
July 24, 2008
11:08 p.m.
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JasonM writes:
Yep, you also left out the part that the organization fooled Iverson into thinking they were ready to contend. Meanwhile, they have a Coach that doesn't seem to know how to manage and Coach the team properly, they have Carmelo who has fooled some people into still thinking he is a real "franchise player" (I swear Carmelo is the only guy I know who has yet to even have a breakout playoff performance and has only wom 3 games in 4 appearences in the playoffs..yet fans and some media give him a free pass with little blame for anything) and they have a FO that makes trades for large market players (Iverson), yet have no plan in place. What makes anyone think that after some of these players leave that any other major market stars will even want to come and play for the Nuggets after this? Just for that organization to try to ruin the rest of their careers they way they are seemingly trying to ruin a player like Iversons or Cambys? Give me a break. I agree with 'chillywilly', they are NOT commited to winning, so why bring in players like Iverson just to waste that guys time. I can't wait for that guy to leave so that team can go back to complete irrelevence, then i'm sure some fans and media will still find a way to blame that guy for that franchises complete incompetence..Iverson should have just opted out and left on his own accord, that franchise doesn't deserve anymore attention.
July 28, 2008
10:10 p.m.
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den2mke writes:
I agree with Krieger...Tough to blame Kroenke for continuing to be sold down the river by his front office. Give him credit for one thing: Like the rest of us, it was clear this year that the Nuggets will not contend with the arsenal they currently have.
And let's get off the Melo bashing for a second, can we? Anyone who thought this guy was Kobe or Lebron when he was drafted doesn't understand the game. But Melo will show again this summer that he's capable of being one of the best weapons on the team--scoring as much as anyone, playing acceptable defense and being an overall team leader--same as he was in college. Problem is that the Nugs haven't surrounded him with the right kind of talent. Trust me, most of the GMs in the league would love to have Melo and his 'deficiencies'.
Personally, I think Krieger hit it right on the head: Kroenke has already taken the ball out of his front office's hand. We should be thankful that the Nugs at least have a few pieces to rebuild around this time.
July 29, 2008
6:27 a.m.
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sll writes:
If it is true that Kroenke bypassed his front office to dump Camby's salary, that indicates either one of two things: a) Stan is an egoist intent on playing with his toy without regard for the consequences, or b) his employees (Warkentien and Chapman) didn't follow his orders so Stan put down his foot. I can't imagine an accomplished businessman like Kroenke making a "damn the torpedoes" move, so I'm guessing it was the latter. Which makes me guess that the next pawn to be sacrificed might be Mark "Deep Blue" Warkentien. Hey Mark, you're not the one playing chess, you're being played!
August 25, 2008
10:54 p.m.
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troopermsu writes:
Kroenke is fully to blame for everything. He is responsible for the circus over at the Pepsi Center. He is responsible for diffusing authority and responsibility over three people. He is the one that seems incabable of hiring a fully competent basketball mind. This team needs ONE voice at the top directing the show. This is the ONLY model that works.