Where Did All Those Picks Go?

The other day, while having lunch with the Shark, we somehow got on the topic of the pot of #1 picks the Nuggets used to own. It was basically spawned from the fact that we haven't drafted anyone in a while. We did a quick search and one of the picks struck me the wrong way. In 2006, the New York Knicks had the rights to our pick.

How did that happen?

Besides the Balkman trade in the off season, we haven't dealt with the Knicks since screwing them in the draft day trade that involved McDyess and Nene. Through pure boredom with the help of the internet and last year's media guide, I did some research on the Nuggets. Some of the trades might crush your soul, and others might give you a smile.

Let's start off in the year of the "Blow Up". It was the 2001-2002 season and the Nuggets boasted the trio of Nick Van Exel, Raef LeFrentz and Antonio McDyess. Expectations were high, but performance and results were...typical...no hope for a title. While reading through the media guide I noticed a transaction early in the year right on the eve of the new season:

October 22, 2001: Nuggets trade F/C Kevin "I'm as old as dirt" Willis and C Aleksandar Radojevic in a three team trade involving Milwaukee and Houston. In return we received F/C Scott Williams and a future 1st Round Pick.

Hey, it's a pretty solid trade. For one, I hated Willis since we traded Keon Clark for him ten months earlier, and Scott Williams was a decent off the bench player for us that year. And now to the #1 pick, we'll label this 2004 1st Round #17 (what it turns out to be).

Next we move on to later that year when Kiki Vandeweghe said, "F*ck it." and traded the team away. By the way he became the team's GM right before that season.

February 21, 2002: The blow up. Nuggets trade Van Exel, LaFrentz, Avery Johnson, and Tariq Abdul-Wahad to the Dallas Mavericks for Juwan Howard, Tim Hardaway, Donnell Harvey, cash and Dallas' 2002 1st Round pick.

Basically we traded away four big, long term contracts for two huge expiring contracts, a throw-in player and a 1st Rounder. 1st Rounder is the 25th Pick overall in the up and coming draft.

June 26, 2002: We pull the trigger on a deal that sends McDyess, and the draft rights for Williams and a 2003 2nd Round pick to the New York Knicks for Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson, the draft rights for 7th Pick Nene Hilario. The Knicks take another one up the *ss! Vandeweghe is a genius! Except for drafting
Tskitishvilli. I thought they should have taken Caron Butler.

August 1, 2002: Nuggets trade 2004 2nd Rounder to Orlando for F Don Reid & a future 1st Round Pick. First of all, who the hell is Don Ried? Secondly, why do you trade a 1st Rounder and a player for a second round pick? Label this: 2006 1st Round #22.

Next Kiki loses some of his magic.

October 1, 2002: Nuggets aquire Rodney White for Reid, C Mengke Bateer (our token Chinese dude) and the 2004 1st Rd #17 to Detroit.

Huh? We got screwed. And we partially built the Pistons championship team. They wheel n' deal some guys and that 1st Rd pick and pick up Rasheed Wallace. So the remaining question is...who is that 2004 1st Rd #17 pick? We'll get to that a little later.

December 18, 2002: In a three team trade: the Nuggets send James Posey to the Rockets and receive F/C Mark Bryant, F Art Long and a future 1st Rd pick from Philly and 2nd Rd pick from Houston. 2005 1st Rd #16 & 2004 2nd Rd.

Let's do a quick recap: Nuggets currently own 2005 1st Rd #16 & 2006 1st Rd #22 in addition to their picks.

June 24, 2004: We immediately draft and trade Jameer Nelson to Orlando for a future 1st Rd pick. (2005 1st Rd #20). Now the Nuggets have 3 1st Rd picks in addition to their own. A possible 3 2005 1st Rounders and 2 2006 1st Rounders. Holy sh*t! That's five 1st rounders in the next two years and they had just drafted Melo a year earlier. Youth movement! At least that's what you would
think.

Now let's shred some draft pick pounds...

July 15, 2004: Nuggets trade three 1st's for K-Mart & sign him to one of the worst contracts ever! (Signed through 2010-11 season) Bad, bad, bad deal. 1st rounders: 2005 #16, 2006 #20 & #22.

February 24, 2005: Nuggets trade Rodney White, & Tskitishville to Golden State for F Eduardo Najera, G Luis Flores & a future 1st Rd pick (2007 #30).

Wow. Kiki got his mo-jo back, lets not blow it this time. Luckily for us, there are still dumber teams than us in the NBA.

Let's move a little further into the future to the day we got "The Answer". Actually there may have been a little event that landed us "The Answer".

December 19, 2006: Nuggets aquire Allen Iverson and Ivan McFarlin for Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two 1st round picks (2007 #21 & #30).

Draft Recap Since "Blow Up":
(Nuggets Original Pick Slot in Blue)

2002
5: Nikoloz Tskitishvilli DEN
7: Nene Hilario (Acquired in McDyess/Nene deal)
25: Frank Williams (Acquired in Van Exel deal; traded in McDyess/Nene deal)
33: Vincent Yarbarough DEN

2003:
3: Carmelo Anthony DEN
30: Maciej Lampe NY (Traded away in McDyess/Nene deal)
46: Sani Becirovic DEN (Acquired from Celtics for Mark Blount)
57: Xue Yuyang DEN (Acquired from Mavericks for Spanoulis)

2004:
17: Josh Smith ATL (Acquired for Kevin Willis; traded for Rodney White)
18: JR Smith NO (They were targeting him all along!)
20: Jameer Nelson ORL (Traded for Julius Hodge)
49: Sergi Lishook MEM (Traded to Magic for Reid & 06' #22)
50: Vasillis Spanoulis DAL (Traded for Xue Yuyang)

2005:
16: Joey Graham TOR (Acquired for James Posey; traded for K-Mart; Raptors traded for pick)
20: Julius Hodge DEN (Acquired from Magic for Nelson)
22: Jarrett Jack POR (Traded to Trailblazers for Kleiza, & Sanchez)
25: Johan Petro SEA
27: Linas Kleiza DEN (Acquired from Trailblazers for Jack)
35: Ricky Sanchez DEN(Acquired from Trailblazers for Jack)
52: Alex Hervelle DEN

2006:
20: Renaldo Balkman NY (Traded for K-Mart; Knicks traded for pick)
22: Marcus Williams NJ (Acquired by Magic in Ried deal; traded for K-Mart)
49: Leon Powe BOS (Traded to Celtics for 2007 2nd Rd)

2007:
21: Daequan Cook PHI (Traded for Iverson)
30: Petteri Koponen PHI (Acquired in White/Tskitishvilli deal; traded to 76ers for Iverson)
49: Aaron Gray CHI (Acquired from Celtics; traded to Bulls for JR Smith)
51: JamesOn Curry CHI (Traded to Bulls for JR Smith)

2008:
20: Alexis Ajinca CHA (Traded to Bobcats for conditional 1st Rd)
39: Sonny Weems DEN (Acquired from Bulls for 2009 2nd Rd)
50: Devon Hardin SEA (Traded in Ruben Patterson, Reggie Evans deal)

2009 Outlook:
1st Rd - traded for Johan Petro
1st Rd (from Charlotte; if they make playoffs)
2nd Rd - traded for Sonny Weems

Out of the last 6 Drafts, we've only drafted in our slot four times. Only one out of the four is currently with the team...Melo. Looking back at the drafts...and I gotta say..."I'm sorry Dan O'Dowd." I thought he was reckless at wheelin' and dealin', but holy crap, the Nuggets are just as bad.

If you haven't figured out the answers: 2004 #17 was Josh Smith. Basically we traded Rodney White for Josh Smith. Ouch!

And the main question which brought me to this journey...the Knicks acquired one of the K-Mart draft picks in 2006. New Jersey traded the pick to Toronto Raptors to complete the Vince Carter deal. The Knicks acquired Jalen Rose and the pick for Antonio Davis from the Raptors.

Some times I look back and think, "Maybe we got the better end of the K-Mart deal. Outside of his huge, immovable contract, two reconstructive knee surgeries, bad attitude and thousands of tatoos we honestly didn't lose much." Graham (career 6.0 pts per game), Balkman, and Marcus Williams (6.4 pts per game) really haven't amounted to much. Besides, Balkman's a Nugget anyways.

At one time the Nuggets had stock piled enough draft picks to do the unimaginable. Those three firsts in 2005 could have been packaged to move up in the draft. There could have been a possibility of drafting a Deron Williams (3) or Chris Paul (4) or Andrew Bynum (10). Even lesser names like Danny Granger (17), Hakim Warrick (19) and Jason Maxiell (26) were available in the slots by their picks.

Who knows what could have been? A realist would say the Nuggets would have wasted the picks anyway. The Nuggets kind of have a history of doing that. But all that's for speculation, bottom line is we're stuck with who we got.