Trade

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

Denver is making the same sort of gambling trade that Pitino made last year
in the Potapenko trade. They are banking that the addition of Mercer and the
return of LaFrentz, and an additional year of seasoning, will improve their
team sufficiently to make their draft pick less valuable. That draft pick
could end up being the key to the trade (even though it won't have an impact
until down the line). My guess is that we exercise it next year if possible.
I don't anticipate Denver passing any of the top nine teams in the West so
it should be a lottery pick.

On to the principals. Eric Washington competes with Griffin for the backup 
shooting guard spot, with the loser ending up on the injured list. The
backcourt is three deep in each position:
  2. Pierce, Washington, Griffin, (Minor)
  1. Anderson, Barros, Turner
There are eight spots left for frontcourt positions. The main power rotation
will be Potapenko, Fortson, and Battie. If these guys run into foul trouble,
Walker probably moves to power forward. McCarty can play spot minutes at PF
also. At small forward, Williams and McCarty may fight for backup minutes
behind Walker. There is probably room for another power player like Samaki
Walker here; I think his shotblocking abilities would fit in nicely since we
have two below the rim players in Potapenko and Fortson. Here's a possible
lineup:
  5. Potapenko, Battie, (Ellison)
  4. Fortson, McCarty
  3. Walker, Williams
The positions are approximations since many of the players can play two 
positions. There is a roster spot left for a $2M exception player. 

The question for me is, can Fortson play at the level he did during April
of last year when he averaged 15.2 ppg (53.8% fg) and 13.5 rpg, 4.8 
offensive? Those are incredible numbers.

Alex