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The New York Knickerbockers President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh announced today that guard Taurean Green and guard/forward Bobby Jones have been waived. Both had been acquired on Monday from Denver, along with a 2010 second-round draft choice, for forward Renaldo Balkman and cash considerations.
I think Green will very likely get picked up by another team in the near future. Jones also belongs in the league, but isn’t a lock to return right away. Both can help a team’s deep bench.
The Denver Nuggets have acquired F Renaldo Balkman and cash considerations from the New York Knicks in exchange for G Taurean Green, F Bobby Jones and a 2010 second round draft pick, team Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced today.
Balkman, 6-8, 208-pounds, averaged 3.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 65 games for New York last season. Originally drafted by the Knicks after his junior season at the University of South Carolina in the first round (20th overall) of the 2006 NBA Draft, the Staten Island-native finishes his career in blue and orange having played in 133 career games, averaging 4.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 15.2 minutes over two seasons.
Green, 6-0, 177-pounds, averaged 1.6 points and 4.4 minutes in 17 games last season for both Portland and Denver. Originally drafted by the Trail Blazers after his junior season at the University of Florida in the second round (52nd overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft, Green was acquired by the Nuggets on Feb. 21 in exchange for guard Von Wafer. In addition the Fort Lauderdale, FL-native appeared in eight total games in the NBA Development League with the Idaho Stampede and Colorado 14ers.
Jones, 6-7, 215-pounds, averaged 3.8 points and 11.3 minutes in 47 games last season for San Antonio, Miami, Houston, Memphis and Denver. In addition, the Compton, CA-native appeared in fives games in the NBA Development League with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Originally drafted by Minnesota out of the University of Washington in the second round (37th overall) of the 2006 NBA Draft, Jones was traded to Philadelphia and appeared in 44 games for the 76ers last season.
InsideHoops.com says: The Knicks just needed to clear some roster space and they apparently don’t feel that Balkman is going to really help a rotation on a winning team. The guys they’re trading for will wind up being cut. But both Green and Jones are good enough to play in the league, so if they do get released someone should sign them. Green is considered more valuable than Jones.
The Oklahoman (Mike Baldwin) reports on a team’s 82-game regular season schedule: “Four games against division opponents. Four games against six out-of-division conference opponents. Three games against the remaining four conference teams. Two games against teams in the opposing conference. A five-year rotation determines which out-of-division conference teams are played only three times.”
The Denver Nuggets have signed F/C Chris Andersen, team Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released.
Andersen, 6-10, 228, returns to the Nuggets, the team he began his NBA career with as the first-ever “call-up” from the NBA Development League in 2001. He averaged 4.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 1.31 bpg in three seasons with Denver from 2001-2004.
During the 2007-08 season, Andersen averaged 1.2 ppg and 1.8 rpg in five games for the New Orleans Hornets.
The six-year NBA veteran has posted career averages of 5.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg and 1.34 bpg in 258 appearances with Denver and New Orleans.
Guards J.R. Smith, a restricted free agent who played the last two seasons for the Denver Nuggets, and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City NBA), the No. 4 draft choice in the 2008 NBA Draft,will join the 2008 USA Basketball Select Team for the squad’s final day of training against the 2008 USA Men’s Senior National Team, USA Basketball announced today.
Previously announced members of the USA Basketball Select Team roster include: LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland Trail Blazers); Jerryd Bayless (Portland Trail Blazers); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City NBA); Jeff Green (Oklahoma City NBA); Luther Head (Houston Rockets); Al Horford (Atlanta Hawks); Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers); Robin Lopez (Phoenix Suns); Kevin Love (Minnestoa Timberwolves); Kevin Martin (Sacramento Kings); O.J. Mayo (Memphis Grizzlies); Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls) and Rodney Stuckey (Detroit Pistons).
As was the case last summer, Oklahoma City head coach P.J. Carlesimo, who served as an assistant with the 1992 U.S. Olympic “Dream Team” and who has been a head or assistant coach of six other USA Basketball teams, is serving as head coach of the USA Select Team and assisting Carlesimo for a second straight summer is Toronto Raptors assistant coach Jay Triano.
The Los Angeles Clippers today acquired forward Marcus Camby from the Denver Nuggets. In return, Denver will have the option to exchange second round picks with the Clippers in 2010. As a result of the trade, the Nuggets receive a $10,000,000 trade exception, which can be used until one year from the completion of the trade.
More info and a link to our initial reaction is here.
The Los Angeles Clippers today acquired forward Marcus Camby from the Denver Nuggets. In return, Denver will have the option to exchange second round picks with the Clippers in 2010. As a result of the trade, the Nuggets receive a $10,000,000 trade exception, which can be used until one year from the completion of the trade. See the full report.
Super-quick, unedited, initial InsideHoops.com reaction: This is an interesting move for the Clippers. They already have Chris Kaman at center. Camby is up there in age, too and will be a free agent in a couple of seasons. Between Camby and Kaman, Camby is quicker if one has to guard power forwards, but he’d be out of position. They’ll sure be big up front, at least. Also, by taking Camby on this basically means the Clippers gave up on getting any of the league’s good restricted free agents, like Josh Smith, Andre Iguodala, Luol Deng and others. Which is surpising. You’d think they’d sign one of those guys to an offer sheet, even if the original team winds up matching the offer. Maybe the Clippers did their homework and found out that basically every good player was going to be matched by their original team.
On the plus side, this gives the Clippers a pretty damn good twin towers frontcourt. And Camby will be a free agent in a couple of seasons, so the team can maintain cap room if they want, or trade Camby when he’s an expiring contract.
So the core of the Clippers is now Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Al Thornton, Kaman and Camby. Extremely exciting backcourt, huge guys up front, and Thornton.
As for the Nuggets, creating more cap space is always a good thing, but Camby was their main defender, rebounder and shot-blocker. They traded him away for cap relief. Again, he’s old, but still, it would have been nice to get something useful back for him. Apparently that wasn’t going to happen. The team must have felt that what they’ve have gotten back wasn’t any better than some additional salary flexiblity and that big exception.
InsideHoops readers are discussing the news here. Go there and post your opinion.
The Rocky Mountain News (Chris Tomasson) reports: “I cannot play in Denver because they question my drive to finish my career off strong and not embarrass my family,” Artest wrote Sunday night. “Any player wants to win a championship is low risk.” So what’s that all about? I can’t remember anybody on the Nuggets criticizing Artest. So Artest was sent another e-mail on Monday asking who on the Nuggets might have spoken ill of him. The e-mail also asked if his thinking means he won’t consider Denver when he becomes a free agent next summer. Artest’s answer wasn’t specific. But he’s definitely down on playing for the Nuggets.
The Rocky Mountain News (Aaron J. Lopez) reports: Not only was Eduardo Najera an ambassador in the community, but he was the true definition of a team player, something the Nuggets lack far too often. He was one of the team’s best pick-and-roll defenders and never worried about how many points he scored. Not that Najera was invisible on offense. He ran the court as well as any big man on the roster and became a dangerous three-point shooter — much to the delight of coach George Karl, who would love to have three Najeras on his bench every season.
The National Basketball Association today announced that the Salary Cap for the 2008-09 season will be $58.680 million. The new Cap goes into effect immediately as the league’s “moratorium period” has ended and teams can begin signing free agents and making trades.
The tax level for the 2008-09 season has been set at $71.150 million. Any team whose team salary exceeds that figure will pay a $1 tax for each $1 by which it exceeds $71.150 million.
The mid-level exception is $5.585 million for the 2008-09 season and the minimum team salary, which is set at 75% of the Salary Cap, is $44.010 million.
For the 2007-08 season, the Salary Cap was set at $55.630 million, the tax level was $67.865 million and the mid-level exception was $5.356 million.