Nick the Quit?

[MFFL]

Here's the link

Nuggets worthwhile once again
By Woody Paige
Denver Post Sports Columnist

Wednesday, February 27, 2002 - The Denver Nuggets had to throw Raef out with the bath water.

Nick Van Bath Water got his wish. Thus begins the Van Exit Watch in Dallas. What's the over-under on how many months until Nick The Quit demands to be traded from the Mavericks? The inevitable and unavoidable will happen as soon as Nick Van Exel realizes his 50 touches and looks and airballs and outbursts a game won't be tolerated.

Van Exel's misguided projectiles will become Mark Cuban's missile crisis.

The maverick Mavericks owner wanted Raef LaFrentz in the worst way, and that's how he acquired him - by having to take Van Exel, too.

Philosopher Shaquille O'Neal was right a couple of days ago to suggest Dallas is no threat to challenge the Los Angeles Lakers in the aftermath of the Dallas-Denver deal. "It won't work," he said.

Ding, dong, the Wicked Kitsch of the West is gone.

Now we have a reason to love the Nuggets again.

Everyone who has criticized, guffawed and given up on the Nuggets (including your foreign correspondent who was extradited home) should turn out in full force Friday night at The Can.

Welcome back the Nuggets and Antonio McDyess.

A Nuggets game with the Memphis Heartbreakhotels normally wouldn't become a cause celebre.

But it will be the 2002 McDebut of McDyess, the favorite son around whom this franchise must revolve.

It will be the meet-and-greet party for the McDyess-Juwan Howard-Tim Hardaway combination.

It will be the Nuggets' prime opportunity to prove Memphis, not Denver, is the worst team in the Midwest Division, the Western Conference and probably the entire NBA.

It will be a chance for the Nuggets' remaining loyalists to thank general manager Kiki Vandeweghe for pulling off a trade that rid the Nuggets of Van Exel and gave them hope for the future under salary-cap restrictions, in the free-agent market and at the draft.

It will be a night for people to become enthused again.

It will be a new march for the Nuggets on March 1.

At last, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not the headlights of Van Exel's oncoming Mercedes.

I haven't felt this positive about a trade since Rudolf Abel was sent to the Soviet Union in exchange for Francis Gary Powers.

Most assuredly, the Nuggets will not make a run for the playoffs this season and may not win another 10 games.

However, their greatest addition is by subtraction. The Nuggets subtracted more than $100 million in long-term contracts.

They weren't about to win 10 more games with the bunch they had, and they'd still be stuck with them next season.

The New Nuggets have wiggle room (and not just because of those thousands of empty seats at the arena).

In the draft, they can select one or two players - and may even get lucky enough to land Duke point guard Jason Williams (not to be confused with any other Jayson Williams). In the free-agent rummaging, they can entice another big man of rebound and renown, and they can prepare for 2003, when several quality free-agent players are due out. In the locker room they have eliminated the parasitic element. And in the offseason they can sign a head coach to guide this team back to respectability.

The 3H Club has been virtually ignored in this deal.

Granted, Donnell Harvey isn't much to look at on the court, but Howard and Hardaway aren't minced meat.

If Howard wasn't being paid $18.75 million (a gift from the old Washington Bullets), you'd like his game. Until McDyess is reacclimated, Howard will be the Nuggets' top scorer, and when McDyess is, Howard will be the team's top rebounder. And the Nuggets will be able to take a long, hard look at Howard and decide if he is worthy of a fresh (and considerably lower) contract after the 2002-03 season.

Hardaway's skills have been eroded by age (a fate that happens to most of us), but he's a true point guard (and former all-star) who isn't earning a fortune (by NBA standards). When the Nuggets pick another, younger point guard, Hardaway will be an adequate backup.

Vandeweghe has the same policy as I do when there's a traffic jam. It's better to travel sideways or even backward as long as you keep moving and don't stand still, stall and rot.

Vandeweghe helped his former team in the short - and the long - run. LaFrentz will be an exceptional complementary player for the Mavericks, and Avery Johnson is a quality individual and a clubhouse leader. The Mavericks hastily will unload Tariq Abdul-Wahad's salary (although the Nuggets tried and failed).

Van Ex-Nugget is the X-Factor. He will be happy in Dallas for a while. But the Mavericks will learn what the Lakers and the Nuggets discovered.

The Nuggets won't be better this season. But they will be better next season and even better the following season. And they always will be better off with this ablution.

[grbh]

"I haven't felt this positive about a trade since Rudolf Abel was sent to the Soviet Union in exchange for Francis Gary Powers."

Great Line

[mavsfan2121]

<< Here's the linkUntil McDyess is reacclimated, Howard will be the Nuggets' top scorer, and when McDyess is, Howard will be the team's top rebounder. And the Nuggets will be able to take a long, hard look at Howard and decide if he is worthy of a fresh (and considerably lower) contract after the 2002-03 season.
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I think most knowlegable writers would not confuse howard as a teams top rebounder. if they depend on howard to be the teams top rebounder they are in big trouble. His whole article was shaky at best and a statement like that makes him lose all credibility.

[Murphy3]

howard can be a nice player. sure he can grab 7-8 boards a game and score 18 a game. but will he significantly upgrade the denver team?

is a guy that can grab 7-8 boards at the PF/C position a guy worthy of being the top rebounder on the team? well, if he is their top rebounder, they are in trouble in that area.

the article was obviously written by a very, very bitter man

[grbh]

What I really don't understand about that quote is McDyess. Has the writer forgotten that he is a damn good rebounder. He averaged 12 a game last year. I don't think there is a chance in hell Howard surpasses that. Dice will be the leading scorer, and rebounder when he comes back.