sport368.htm

[David A Wickerham <aw623@freenet.buffalo.edu> (by way of wickerhd@nyslgti.gen.ny.us (Dave Wickerham))]

Bristow says Duncan, Billups and Van Horn are 1-2-3

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   The Denver Post Online
   
                                   Sports
                                      
                 Deal blows up, but Nuggets still searching
                                      
   By Mike Monroe
   Denver Post Sports Writer
   
   June 21 - The Denver Nuggets' proposed trade with the Philadelphia
   76ers that would have netted them the second pick in Wednesday's NBA
   draft blew up Friday, but the club continues to work on a deal that
   will enhance its draft-day prospects.
   
   "We'd like to squeeze as much as we can out of this draft,'' Nuggets
   vice-president for basketball operations Allan Bristow said.
   
   According to NBA sources, the Nuggets on Friday still were busy in the
   trade market, exploring at least three new deals:
   
     Center Ervin Johnson to Toronto for the ninth pick in the first
   round of the draft, and forward Popeye Jones.
   
     Johnson to Milwaukee for the 10th pick in the first round, and
   center Joe Wolf and guard Johnny Newman.
   
     Veteran guard Dale Ellis and the fifth pick in the first round to
   the Vancouver Grizzlies for forward Eric Mobley and the fourth pick in
   the first round.
   
   Bristow acknowledged only that the Nuggets talked to other teams about
   moving up - and down - in the first round. He would not comment on the
   Johnson-for-Michael Cage-plus-picks deal that was reported in
   Thursday's Denver Post. Nor would he comment on the specifics of
   trades the Nuggets had discussed Friday.
   
   The Nuggets, who have the fifth pick in Wednesday's draft, had offered
   to trade Johnson and the pick to Philadelphia for veteran
   forward/center Cage and the second pick. However, the 76ers yesterday
   traded Cage and small forward Clarence Weatherspoon to the Boston
   Celtics for power forward Dino Radja, effectively choosing him instead
   of Johnson.
   
   Though Bristow wouldn't comment on the effect Friday's
   Boston-Philadelphia trade had on his attempts to trade up to
   Philadelphia's second position in the first round - the Nuggets would
   have used that pick to draft 6-foot-10 Utah forward Keith Van Horn -
   he said the club has been narrowing its predraft focus to the fifth
   spot in the first round it ended up with after the draft lottery in
   May.
   
   "We're somewhat resigned to the No. 5 pick,'' Bristow said, "which has
   been our primary strategy all along. And that's not at all bad.''
   
   Bristow expects Wake Forest center Tim Duncan, Colorado point guard
   Chauncey Billups and Van Horn to be the first three players selected,
   not necessarily in that order. Vancouver has the fourth pick, and the
   Grizzlies are playing that selection close to the vest.
   
   "We still have no idea who Vancouver is going to take,'' Bristow said.
   
   The Nuggets' primary need is a point guard, and Bristow would be happy
   with either Billups or Bowling Green's Antonio Daniels, the only
   player the Nuggets brought in for two predraft workouts. Vancouver,
   though, also has a point guard high on its draft list. Were the
   Grizzlies to take Daniels, the Nuggets would choose between Texas Tech
   center/forward Tony Battie and Cincinnati forward Danny Fortson.
   
   Were Daniels to get past Vancouver, the Nuggets might try to pull the
   trigger on the trade with Toronto that would net them the ninth
   selection in the first round, figuring Daniels might slide that far,
   allowing them to draft the muscular Fortson with the fifth pick and
   still get a point guard they like.
   
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