Chauncey Billups went off in the U.S. team exhibition game versus France at the world championships. Billups scored 17 points on 3 of 6 shooting and also grabbed four rebounds. Like always, he helped his team more with his leadership. He was talking to his younger teammates on the court and talking to them in the huddle. Without him, nobody knows where the U.S. team would be. Can’t say Lamar Odom’s play wasn’t too impressive, but he did state he is out of shape. Rudy Gay led the squad with 19 points.

Nuggets waive Coby Karl and Brian Butch, which shouldn’t be too surprising since both had non-guaranteed contracts. Butch’s contract may be guaranteed since he was injured, but that is not yet known. Karl, who is coach George Karl’s son may come back in a partially guaranteed contract, but he also may gain interest from another squad. This opens two roster spots for additional players with some quality players that may be cheap. Louis Amundson, Josh Boone, former Francisco Elson, Bobby Simmons and Trenton Hassell may be good cheap options for the Nuggets.

However, it isn’t the end of the world for the Nuggets. There are still a large amount of big man options that are on the market: