The Nugget's Front Office Strikes Again

Nuggets 1 welcomes Center-Forward Steven Hunter to the Nuggets

Name: Steven Hunter
Height: 7-0 Weight: 240
Born: Oct 31, 1981 - Chicago, Illinois
College: DePaul
Draft: 2001 - 1st round (15th pick) by the Orlando Magic

Nuggets 1 welcomes Forward Bobby Jones to the Nuggets

Full Name: Bobby Ray Jones Jr.
Position: Forward
Height/Weight: 6-7 / 215
Birthdate: January 9, 1984 (Compton, Calif.)
High School: Long Beach Polytechnic HS (Long Beach, Calif.)
College: Univ. of Washington (Seattle)

The Nuggets received Jones and Center Steven Hunter for Forward Reggie Evans and the rights to forward Ricky Sanchez, a 2005 draft product who has been playing for Idaho in the minors. Jones was underutilized by the 76ers and is the key to the Nuggets getting the better of the recent (September 10) trade with the 76ers.

Everyone is focusing on Reggie Evans for Steven Hunter and saying the Nuggets did ok but not great with this trade. Hunter is a solid Forward-Center swingman, but Evans is one of the very best rebounding power forwards in the NBA, and in fact led the league in rebounds per 48 minutes, with 19.7 of them! But Evans had no outside shot, no midrange shot, and almost no short jumper shot, and struggled almost as much as Shaquille O'Neal at the line. And Evans was such a voracious rebounder, that you could make the case that he was allowing the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Linas Kleiza, and Eduardo Najera on occasion to get a little lazy at the defensive end. If you don't think you need to go all out after the rebound, your cover defense is going to suffer some.

Truth is, both the 76ers and the Nuggets helped themselves big with this trade, with the 76ers getting an outstanding inside defender and second chance killer in Evans, and the Nuggets bringing in someone who can actually score from more than a few feet from the hoop while being an adequate defender. This was a sleeper trade, meaning that the observers and fans yawned when it was announced, not realizing that the player each team got was badly needed to plug a gaping hole. To many it was a yawner because neither Evans nor Hunter have any 3-point shot at all, and neither of them are very good at sensing and passing off to the best scoring opportunity.

But for the Nuggets, Hunter is a true backup for Marcus Camby at the five, and he is also a solid insurance policy for the Nuggets to be cashed in if K-Mart's attempt at being one of the first to recover from double knee surgery comes up short this year. There is no insurance policy for Nene coming up short by the way; it is an absolute necessity that Nene play solid from start to finish this season. For the 76ers, they got the high powered weapon needed to go from being one of the worst to one of the better rebounding teams.

Also, a no nonsense midwesterner, Hunter has a better chance than did the deep South and excitable Evans of staying out of the large George Karl doghouse. Conversely, Reggie Evan's career will get a major boost by being transferred to a team with a downright tiny doghouse. It is interesting to note that, this summer, the Nugget's front office, after trading the player that George Karl most overused, Steve Blake, then went on to trade away the player that, other than J.R. Smith, George Karl most underused. They thus went a long way toward clearing the deck of the wreckage that George Karl left in his wake last season, thus giving him a second chance to avoid gross rotation mistakes and overly severe player punishment binges. However, I, for one, have lost confidence in this Coach, and I'll believe it when I see it if Karl avoids repeating the same mistakes with the new cast of characters.

Quite honestly, I would have preferred Najera being traded instead of the younger Evans, which the 76ers might have gone for, but Najera is virtually a Nugget for life fixture at this point.

The other part of the trade, Bobby Jones for Ricky Sanchez, was fairly lopsided in favor of the Nuggets, and I predict Jones will be a pleasant but badly needed surprise for the Nuggets on defense and on outside shooting. Jones made an astounding 31 of 61 3-point attempts in 2004-05 for the Washington Huskies, and a respectable 29 of 88 the following year. As a rookie for the 76ers in 2006-07, Jones played only 7 1/2 minutes a game and was instructed to or decided to not attempt any 3-pointers, but he did get 2.6 points in those 7 1/2 minutes on .462 from the field. Jones is a player with upside pro potential, needing the right context to take flight. The context for a young player would be mainly his coaches and the needs of his team. While the former is dubious for the Nuggets, the latter is clearly in Jones favor; Jones is exactly the kind of quick and talented defender the Nuggets so desperately need.

If you want to know whether Jones can score if given the chance, consider that he ranks as the 20th all-time leading scorer in Washington history with 1,226 points. He also ranks fourth all-time with 134 career steals. Jone's size and quickness make him a quality defender and, unlike Evans, he can guard multiple positions. So here you have the perfect young developmental forward for the Nuggets, someone who can score inside and out, and who has enough defensive hustle and talent to come up with some steals. A forward who can steal is a special disrupting advantage against teams that like to write the scripts for dominating a game and effectively have it won before the opening tip. The Spurs come to mind here. Please George Karl, don't blow this acquisition by not using Jones!

In summary, I think Hunter helps the Nuggets very slightly more than Evans helps the 76ers, but Jones helps the Nuggets way more than Sanchez helps the 76ers, unless Jones becomes a Karl Doghouse regular. I think the Nugget's front office has struck gold again, just like when they obtained Iverson over a dozen other teams who wanted Iverson. Hell, for all we know, realizing they might have given too much love to George Karl when they drafted the Coach's contract, maybe they have intervened in the George Karl-J.R. Smith war and arranged a truce that will last through the upcoming season. A fan can dream.

Here is the one and only Bobby Jones mixtape. Jones is number 15 for the Washington Huskies and you can see for yourself how he uses his height and quickness to do alot of damage to the opposing offenses.

BOBBY JONES MIXTAPE