Fwd: Williams & Denver Trade?

[CeltsSteve@aol.com]

The Nuggets were the beneficiary of what was obviously the front end of a
soon to be big free agent signing by the C's. Eric is a terrific young talent
and at least RP had the sense to trade him to the Western Conf. so he won't
have to play against him but twice a year.

But the bigger story is that with this trade/giveaway/salary dump, who do the
C's go after? Obviously, it will be a power forward or a front court player;
shifting Walker to his natural position at the "3". And it's no secret that
Pitino is impatient to win immediately. I'm thinking he made this deal to
bring in somebody now instead of next summer.

If my math is correct, the C's are now about $3.5 MM under the cap. Using
$3.5 MM as the base salary for a 7-year deal and factoring in a 20% max.
raise per annum; they can throw a $45 MM offer on the table immediately. 

Two guys come to mind in this year's free agent pool:

Cliff Robinson, a former UConn player and Brian Grant. 

Again, if he is making another move this summer, and I believe he is for one
more reason: neither Billups nor Mercer have signed yet (the C's want to give
them both the additional 20% above what their draft slot calls for but want
to wait until after they finish making all their personnel moves before
adding that additional 20% to their cap)...I 'm assuming it is Brian Grant.
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