Can The Nuggets Keep Nene?

It seems like the Denver Nuggets never get to have it easy and on Monday Masai Ujiri and Josh Kroenke lives got a little tougher.

Nene, the Nuggets’ starting center and longest tendered player told Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post he felt unappreciated and was thinking about opting out of the final season of his contract, which is worth $11.8 million.

Nene could possibly feel under appreciated, as most professional athletes do, but no one knows for sure. Most likely it is a ploy from Nene and his team to get a contract extension done before the Collective Bargaining Agreement is set.

Big men like Kendrick Perkins and Zach Randolph each received contract extensions and no doubt Nene took notice and would like one similar to the two. Each signed four year extensions and from the sounds of it the Nuggets are only willing to offer Nene a three-year extension. (more…)

Take it for what it is worth, Jon Rothstein, who covers college hoops, is reporting that the New Jersey Nets are the favorites to land Anthony. While New Jersey doesn’t want to include their young star Brook Lopez, they would be willing to package Devin Harris, Derrick Favors and multiple picks to land Anthony. He also reports that the Nuggets would trade Chauncey Billups and keep Harris.

Also the Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers were mentioned, with the Warriors packaging Andris Biedrins and Stephen Curry (there are still uncertainties about dealing Curry) together to land Melo. The Bulls would be their duo of Taj Gibson, Luol Deng and picks and the Clippers would be Chris Kaman and Eric Gordon.

Couple of flaws in the report though, he mentioned that the Nuggets would deal Billups and keep Harris. The problem  is that the Nuggets have a star in the making, Ty Lawson, playing behind Billups and Harris would eat at his minutes over the next few years. And the Nuggets would lose some faithful fans if they dealt Billups due to his ties with Colorado. Secondly, he doesn’t mention Minnesota’s pick in the Clippers deal and that is main trade chip the Nuggets want from the Clippers.

Also reports out of Sacramento and Washington has them interested in Anthony’s services. Omri Casspi, DeMarcus Cousins and Jason Thompson could peak the Nuggets attention and JaVale McGee, Andray Blatche, Kirk Hinrich and Nick Young could also interest the Nuggets – but neither team can offer the Nuggets as much as the Clippers or the Nets.