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Profile Of Denver Nuggets Free Agent Possibilities
Unlike the Celtics, Denver is awash in available free agent lucre,
somewhere
between 9 and 14 million under the cap, and they and a whole lot of
other
teams have interest in Celtics news group favorite Theo Ratliff. That
ay
explain Pitino's interest in Michael Stewart.
Seeking Hidden Treasures
If NBA, union settle lockout, Nuggets hope to strike gold by
exploring free-agent market
By Dave Krieger
News Staff Writer
--------------------------------------------------------------
If the NBA and its players ever decide how to divide their $2
billion -- and the two sides actually negotiated this week,
which represented progress -- that's when things will get
crazy.
Building a basketball team in microwave time might be
challenging anywhere, but it will be especially challenging
for the Denver Nuggets, who are again starting over. The
club's new front office and coaching staff will have three or
four weeks in which to acquire players and mold them into a
team.
The free-agent spending spree the Nuggets have been
anticipating as they became a national joke the past two
seasons will be compressed into a period of perhaps two weeks.
So while general manager Dan Issel might dream of bringing
Antonio McDyess back to Denver, he'll have to pursue a number
of free agents simultaneously to avoid coming up empty. If the
signals McDyess sent last week are any indication, Denver
isn't on his list of options.
Among the players various league sources believe the Nuggets
will contact when the lockout is lifted are Tom Gugliotta,
Theo Ratliff, Cliff Robinson, Loy Vaught and LaPhonso Ellis,
their own free agent. The club also is expected to go after
less-expensive free agents, among them point guard Cory
Alexander, who finished last season with the team, and former
Nuggets forward Tommy Hammonds.
Team officials can't talk about players publicly or contact
free agents until the lockout is over, but a Nuggets scout was
seen at one of Ratliff's workouts in Philadelphia a couple of
weeks ago. Since then, the league office has barred club
personnel from observing such workouts.
McDyess was in Houston last week to play in a charity game and
suggested he'll wind up with the Rockets, Bulls or Suns.
"There are three teams I'm considering," McDyess told
reporters in Houston. "I don't want to put anyone first. But
if I play here, I'll be delighted."
A number of teams with McDyess at the top of their wish lists
have targeted Ratliff, 25, as a fallback possibility. One
agent called the former University of Wyoming shot-blocker
"McDyess lite."
Like Ratliff, Robinson can play forward or center and provide
shot-blocking the Nuggets don't have now. They're also a tier
below McDyess and Gugliotta in the market, which might give a
team with a questionable reputation a better chance of signing
them.
"Theo Ratliff has no problem with Denver," said one
acquaintance of the athletic forward who asked not to be
identified.
Robinson played for $1 million last season in Phoenix and is
looking for considerably more this time around. Playoff teams
might shy away because of his history of postseason
disappearing acts. The Nuggets can only hope to have to worry
about it.
"We've spent the great part of the last four months designing
a strategy," Issel said Friday. "And it's hard to come up with
a strategy when you don't know exactly what the rules are
going to be."
If the two sides in the labor dispute arrive at a solution
along the lines they discussed this week, the rules would stay
mostly the same and penalties for overspending would be
imposed. That wouldn't have much effect on the Nuggets, who
have shown no inclination to overspend.
Because of their substantial salary-cap room -- $9 million if
they keep rights to Ellis, $14 million if they don't, assuming
a new cap of about $31 million -- the Nuggets also will be a
popular fishing spot for other teams looking to dump salaries
in preparation for the free-agent market.
Among the names that have been mentioned already are Boston
All-Star forward Antoine Walker and Toronto guard and Denver
native Chauncey Billups. Forward Danny Fortson and guard Bobby
Jackson have been mentioned in connection with those talks,
though the Nuggets' fistful of future draft choices is
considered their most desirable commodity.
"All I'll say is I know Boston has been talking to a lot of
people about Antoine," Issel said.
For the Nuggets, the Walker scenario poses considerable risks.
The Celtics, who are either unwilling or unable to match
Walker's salary demands, will trade him if the team on the
other end is willing to absorb much of the dead weight on Rick
Pitino's roster. Does the name Pervis Ellison ring a bell?
Such a deal would put the Nuggets back in the situation they
faced with McDyess a year ago -- a choice of signing Walker to
an enormous new contract or losing him and getting nothing in
return next summer. It also would fill their payroll with
flotsam and make it hard to add anyone else.
Besides, the Celtics want to pull the trigger as soon as the
lockout is lifted, and Issel said the Nuggets won't consider a
deal that takes them out of the free-agent market before it
begins.
"Our No. 1 priority is still to explore the free-agent
market," he said.
More plausible for Boston might be the rumored deal with
Miami, in which Walker and baggage would bring Jamal Mashburn
and P.J. Brown. Of course, Mashburn and Brown have been
rumored headed to Golden State for Latrell Sprewell, too.
While teams have been barred from talking with players or
their agents during the lockout, they've been free to talk
with one another.
"Although it's not the case with us," Issel said, "I would
guess that some of these deals have been consummated and you
will see deals being announced once the lockout is over."
A trade for Billups might be more attractive. Although Toronto
general manager Glen Grunwald has said the Nuggets have no one
he would want in return, he has taken on Charles Oakley's $11
million balloon payment in a trade with New York since then.
The Raptors might be looking to dump a modest amount of salary
going into the free-agent market.
New Nuggets head coach Mike D'Antoni visited the Air Force
Academy earlier this month to make sure he still has a
location for his postponed camp. Air Force officials told him
they'll work with him on last-minute scheduling requirements,
which gives him a leg up on Philadelphia 76ers coach Larry
Brown.
Brown has the Sixers' camp scheduled at his alma mater, the
University of North Carolina. He's now scouting alternatives,
including the Ivy League's Princeton University.
But having a camp site is the only slam dunk for the Nuggets
as they prepare for three or four weeks which could determine
the direction of their team for years.
October 31, 1998
[An E.W. Scripps Co.] © Copyright, Denver Publishing Co.