I have the entire thing on tape. Ball goes out of bounds. Melo grabs it. Garnett tries to grab it from Melo, so Melo pulls it back and then tries to pass it to the ref. Garnett grabs it from him, so Dre pushes Garnett. Chaos ensues. Garnett's always trying this intimidation crap. Uprising, Minnesota started the trash talk. Hell, Garnett started most of this when he tried to start a fight after game 3. Apparently on the loading dock at the Pepsi Center (where the visitors bus loads) Garnett started screaming at Francisco Elson and a fight ensued. Minnesota has been talking **** since game 1, we're just now responding. I love it. The best part about this is the fact that Minnesota is going to be in our division next year -- the Northwest. It's gonna be ugly. And we're gonna win the division. Jon Barry has been quoted saying that he's trying to convince his brother to sign in Denver. We re-sign Camby, and we still have enough money left over for Kenyon Martin. I hate Martin, but he's got the attitude this team needs. It'd be nice to see White re-signed as well. PG - Miller, Boykins SG - Barry, Barry SF - Melo, White, Bowen PF - Martin, Nene C - Camby, Elson, Birdman One thing's for sure, Bzdelik is GONE. Tonight was one of the worst coaching experiences I've seen since, well, games 1 & 2 of this series.
merged. You swear just curious, which coach do you think would be fit for Nuggets(also available) at present? B.Scott? Doc Rivers or Rudy.T...
It didn't look that way to me but I don't have it on tape. My most vivid recollection is Carmelo with that "s**t eatin' " smirk on his face holding the ball from Garnett. But, if you're up by 22 points why not just hand him the ball? It's hard to be intimidating when you and your team are getting your butt whipped good. I did not read or hear anything about the fight. Is there a link you could provide? It wouldn't be surprisng...Garnett is pretty tightly wound. We'd all like more oinfo I'm sure. First things first. 1) Camby has to take his $7.8m player option for 2004-05. Highly likely, but few things in life are a 100% guarantee. 2) With Camby, you have only 6 contracts for 2004-05 and must leave at least 1 player available to CHA. It looks like 'Skita from your list so better update your sig. That drops your committed contracts to 5 players @ ~$22m. 3) Before you have all of your ~$23m (KMart) cap space, you will have to renounce or re-sign almost all of your FA's. If you re-sign John Barry, Rodney White, Cris Andersen, Vo Lenard, Boykins amd Ryan Bowen to a 10% raise (and no one offers them more money or playing time), your $23m cap space has now dropped to ~$11m. That 's a best case scenario... and you lose your MLE because you went below the cap. (I see you don't have Vo Lenard so add back $3m). 4) Because KMart is a QO FA and because NJ has his Bird Rights, your offer will have to exceed $8.3m which cuts into the $11m (or $14m w/o Lenard). IMO, KMart won't leave Kidd but we'll see. If he signs for $9m you've got $5m remaining for Brent Barry. I haven't watched the series closely but the final play of Game 4 was ugly. Boykins was guarded by Hoiberg and that's who should have had the ball in their hands. One things for sure, the team was built to uptempo and the new coacjh better be able to coach that style. If I were Kiki, I'd ask for the right to talk to the Eddie Jordan at WAS. He's the guy who basically installed Byron Scott's offense for Jason Kidd's style.
I just realized this morning I violated pretty much every CBA rule. WE're gonna have $15 mil in cap room, but that's provided that Camby opts out. Gater, Lenard has a buyout in his contract. With all of that, we're looking at about $15 mil (at least according to all the research done so far -- if there's one thing Nugs fans are good at, it's figuring cap space ). I'll look for a link on the fight, but it was during the telecast of the game that they talked about it. Garnett's been trying this intimidation crap all series, and when Melo dishes it back, he can't handle it. I've seen Garnett do the same exact thing while on the court. Turnabout is fair play. Another incident I was reminded of this morning -- Cassell starting a fight with Bzdelik. Man, Sam, shut up and just throw the damn ball in. Buzz wasn't talking to you, you weren't involved in the conversation, SO GO AWAY. Spree's talking even more now. One of my friends was trying to get tickets to the game in MN this Friday, but couldn't find cheap enough airfare. Too bad, because he was gonna get a big PJ Carlesimo picture to remind Spree of his choking ways. Buzz is just frustrating. What coaches are out there? I don't know. I'm still not 100% convinced Buzz should be fired, but debating it is a moot point, Kiki has made up his mind. Read some of his quotes the last month of the season. The most telling one was after game 3 when someone asked about Alex English getting a potential assistant coach job and he replied, "That's not my decision. That's up to the head coach." Besides, Buzz will get a nice $1.5 mil parting gift, so don't feel too bad.
Nice post, Gater. However, I believe Boykins is not a free agent. Hoopshype salary does not show his pay beyond this year, but I believe it is blank (as opposed to zero) because they don't have details of his contract. I'm 99% sure he has a multiyear deal. I also see Voshon Leonard as being signed for the next two years. Am I mistaken? Also, everything I've heard (Denver press, in particular) points to Rodney White walking. He's still convinced that he's a potential all-star that needs PT to prove himself. I don't see him staying to play behind Carmelo. My guess is they renounce him and he moves on to an empty cupboard team like Atlanta. I can see all other FAs (Pope, Anderson, Trepagnier, Barry, Doleac, Yarbrough, Harrington, Marcus) with the possible exception of Doleac and Barry, being renounced. Even without being renounced, they won't count as being much more than $5 million against the cap. Current salary ~ $1.7 million, 150% count against the cap ~ $2.5 million. Hoopshype lists their salary commitment for next year as $26 million. Without the Camby or Bowen options included (but Boykins added at what should be about 3 million), I count about $21 million committed. Add the options, as well as the salary cap hits for not renouncing any FAs but White and I get $38 million. Salary cap is currently $44 million. There's talk of it decreasing again because of lack of revenue, but I'll assume it goes to $45. Denver should have anywhere between $20 to $7 million for summer play money, largely depending on what Marcus Camby does. Honestly, they may want him to opt out no matter what, since they do hold his Bird rights. If he opts, they should have no less than $15 million to bid on Kenyon Martin (though I don't see him leaving the swamp). Evan
well... I just watched this game on tape. Nuggets4, sorry to say Anthony was terrible in this game He made only one shot out of 16 I wonder what the hell happen to him... Lenard's 3-pointers was amazing, but too pity he couldn't save the whole team at the buzzer. Here is a quote & recap from yahoo: any thoughts?
Melo was bad last night. There's no one even debating this on the Nugs board. However, there are a few encouraging things about his performance: * He crashed the boards hard all game. His shot wasn't falling, so he worked his ass off to do something productive. * When on the bench, he was jumping up and down to cheer instead of sulking. The biggest knock on Melo right now is the fact he's not driving to the hoop. It's not an excuse, but it's hard to blame him for settling for jumpers. Every time he goes to the hoop, a Minnesota player (or 3) clobbers him hard. Unfortunately, the refs aren't calling much this series either. It's easy to see why he's frustrated. That said, I expect him to have a MONSTER game on Friday. EmJohn: Boykins is signed for 4 more years after this one (believe it's a 5 year, $15 mil contract if I remember correctly). Lenard is signed for two years, but there's a team buy-out available this summer for $500,000. The team will take it and go after Brent Barry. Also, be careful when looking at our numbers -- a lot of the free agents we signed last off-season (Miller, Boykins, etc.) had contracts set up so that their salary was higher their first year, and then actually dropped their second year so we could have more money to go after FA's this summer. Another reason why Kiki should at least be considered for Exec of the Year.
Boston already grabbed Doc Rivers. TOR fired Kevin O'Neal but he probably stresses D too much for your roster. Doesn't Alex English coach in the NBDL? What about Fratello? Here's a long-shot for you if you think you have the perimeter passers for it. Pete Carril coached motion offense at Princeton for 30 years before going to the Kings in 1996. Both Princeton and the Air Force Academy are coached by former players of Carril. I'll have to update my spreadsheets to reflect Boykins, Vo, etc. Thanks to both you and emjohn for the info.
A rumor that I have heard several times (even on the Denver Post)........ Buzz being replaced by George Karl.
Unfortunately, I've heard that rumor and know for a fact there is some truth to it. I just pray it doesn't happen. Karl is known for being HATED by his star players within a year or two of him being hired. Not a good situation. I try not to think about it. All I ask is that it's not a former Nugget (we've gone that route TOO many times, it always sucks) and that's it not some re-tread. So in other words, knowing my luck, it'll be Issel.
