The Nuggets are Crazy

Today's latest report out of the New York Post suggests that according to a league source debriefed on the Nuggets/Knicks trade discusisons that the Nuggets made a bizarre and pathetic offer to the Knicks. Below I have listed what the offer was and broke it down as best as I could:

Denver Receives	Age	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	Denver Giveth	Age	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG
F Danilo Gallinari	22	34.8	15.9	4.8	1.7	PG Chauncey Billups	34	32.3	16.5	2.5	5.3
F Wilson Chandler	23	34.5	16.4	5.9	1.7	SF Carmelo Anthony	26	35.5	25.2	7.6	2.8
PG Raymond Felton	26	38.4	17.1	3.6	9.0
SG Landry Fields	22	32.6	10.1	7.1	2.0
C Timofey Mozgov	24	13.4	4.0	3.1	0.4
1st Round Draft Pick (2011) [MIN]

New York Receives	Age	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG
SF Carmelo Anthony	26	35.5	25.2	7.6	2.8
PG Chauncey Billups	34	32.3	16.5	2.5	5.3

Minnesota Receives	Age	Notes
C Eddy Curry (Expiring Contract) [Salary Cap Reasons]	28	NOTE: Player has played 10 Games this Season. No stats posted
PF Anthony Randolph	21	NOTE: Player has played 10 Games this Season. No stats posted

As you can see, it's very understandeable to want a lot for a star player who is very capable of being so versatile and dynamic that he can turn you from a contender to a serious threat. However, it is irresponsible to demand all of the young talent on a team and expect them to break up their "farm" and destroy their bench depth. If the Knicks were to go through with this exact proposal, which they clearly have stated they will not, they will be stuck with the following players:

Starters:
PG - Chauncey Billups
SG - Toney Douglas
SF - Carmelo Anthony
PF - Amar'e Stoudemire
C - Ronny Turiaf

Bench:
PG - Andy Rautins
SG - Bill Walker
SG - Roger Mason Jr.
SF/PF - Kelenna Azubuike
SF - Shawne Williams

That is not something the Knicks nor any team would ever pull the trigger on -- it would leave them in a state of utter disarray. They'd become the laughing stock of the league this season -- not next season seeing as they'd be able to fix gaps on the bench during the offseason.

Elsewhere I read that the Nets are "Not a Player" for Carmelo Anthony despite earlier reports that the Nuggets reached out to New Jersey to try and make a trade.

The two easiest assumptions to make from this fiasco are:

1. The Nuggets want to spite Carmelo Anthony so much that they are willing to let him walk to the Knicks in the offseason, and receive absolutely nothing in return. There's no point in hoping the new CBA allows a Franchise Tag because, well, why keep somebody who wants out so badly he will demand a sign and trade to just one team?

2. Nets General Manager Masai Ujiri has absolutely no idea what he is doing.... plain and simple. If the man screws this up for the Nuggets fans he will be chased into the mountains by an angry mob. For christ's sake, he had the perfect package in place from the Nuggets about 1 month ago and then demanded more from them, ultimately forcing Mikhail Prohkorov to pull the plug -- and say what you want about "oh they gotta go after him!", Mikhail is a smart business man -- he knows when somebody is f-ing with him and he pulled the plug before he was made to look like a fool for working so hard to make a trade for Carmelo and then finding out face-to-face that Carmelo would refuse to sign an extension in New Jersey.