Re: Nuggets want Batum I would do this trade. http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=27qcbdu Harris/Johnson/Mills Roy/Rudy/Williams Matthews/Babbitt Aldridge/Favors/Cunningham Camby/Oden/Oberto
Re: Carmelo Trades if he wants to win now and have a good chance the next several yrs POR should be a top pick of his, but it's more than Bball apparently
Re: Nuggets want Batum I don't see the point of gettin Favors when we already have a borderline all star at PF. Trades like that kill chemistry.
Re: Nuggets want Batum It's going to take a helluva lot more than Harris IMO to prise Batum from this roster. Cho has already said that he likes players that play both ends of the court and Nic is maybe the best example of one such player I can think of in the NBA. (shutup, I know saying Nic is the best two way player in the league is hyperbole, but dammit I'm going to take a moment to be completely irrational).
Re: Nuggets want Batum If we got Favors in the Melo trade, and I'm not saying they'd do that, but we could move LMA for another small forward. It really depends on how the team is playing. If we keep playing at this level, I doubt we see any kind of major trade. If we start to struggle, which is always possible, I could see Cho making a move that really shakes things up but keeps Roy as the cornerstone of the franchise. I could see this team getting very frustrated with Aldridge if he has another "meh" season.
Re: Carmelo Trades I said it in another thread, but if Batum is outgoing it had better be for a bonafide star player or I'm going to be super pissed. You can call me crazy, but I think Nic's already making a case for himself that he's the second best (or second most important?) player on this roster.
Re: Nuggets want Batum "*Sources said that the Nuggets have registered strong interest in Blazers swingman Nicolas Batum and would naturally be unable to resist if a trade scenario emerged that enabled them to acquire Favors, Batum and future draft considerations. " The Nuggets want Favors Batum AND draft picks? They'll lose Mello for nothing at the end of the year so seems to me they're being optimistic in getting that much. Teams just need to wait and the price comes down.
Re: Carmelo Trades I think Nic could easily be the second best player on the roster, but I don't think he's passed LMA just yet. If he can keep up this pace, then absolutely I think he will surpass LMA as the second best player on the roster.
Re: Nuggets want Batum At this point, I do not know. We have yet to see how Favors translates to the NBA. I like Nic so much, however, that I would not do Nic for Harris straight up.
Re: Carmelo Trades But with that said, I think the second most important person on the team is Camby. He might not be the second most talented, but I think he has been vital to our success so far.
Re: Carmelo Trades I again agree. He anchors the defense - which is something that is needed on most teams - no matter how good your perimeter defenders are. At this point in time, the offense runs through Roy, the defense is anchored by Camby - and hopefully, in the near future - by Oden (who is not as good a team defender as Camby - but is so big and imposing that overall, I think, he is a better anchor).
Re: Carmelo Trades Oden could be as good as Camby at leading the D, but that's really a veteran thing. He's going to need more time on the court, and more experience overall before he'll be able to do that.
Re: Nuggets want Batum No, I wouldn't do Nic for Harris, but I think adding Favors would give us some insurance if we don't like how LMA is developing.
Re: Carmelo Trades Oden could go anywhere from being both the offensive and defensive anchor, to being just the defensive anchor, to merely being valuable on either end. Assuming he stays healthy. It's really hard to evaluate his "value" at the moment. But in terms of willingness to trade a player, for me it's: 1. Roy 2. Oden <sizeable gap> 3. Batum <sizeable gap> 4. Aldridge