We could have had Nene

[Buzzard]

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I don't think you can fault Knight for waiting waiting until the off-season to go after Nene.

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Sure we can. He is the GM; that makes it his responsibility. As much as I like the way our team is playing right now; manufactoring excuses for a millionaire GM is not something I favor at all....

BK has made some good deals and blown the hell out of some others. We give him due credit for his good deals and picks; we should also be able to criticize him for his bad ones.

[mrhonline]

For some of you guys to criticize Knight about Nene just shows how little you understand about the NBA as a business.

Many of you, and I mean MANY of you, believed Denver would not match an offer sheet presented to Nene because it would put them over the cap. Where did you get that idea? From me. I was the one who explained Denver's financial situation (Nene put them into luxury tax hell for quite a few more years). I was the one who advocated waiting to make an offer in the summer.

How many of you predicted he would get a $60M offer from the Nuggets? How many of you? Better yet, how many of you pointed at that deal and said it was a horrible deal? How many of you? (If you'll go back and look, it was me who told you it had a lot of incentives in it).

The truth is, 90% of this board operates on revisionist logic. Knight made the right decision. The chances of Nene signing back with Denver were perceived as slim by many GM's in the NBA. If you'll look hard enough, you'll find articles stating as such from Denver's own beat writer(s).

The truth is, there were over a half dozen teams who were interested in a S&T for Nene. Nene chose to stay in Denver. Had the Hawks traded for Nene, you can bet your bottom dollar that another team, seeing the ownership fiasco as the major weakness that it was, would have compelled Nene to demand a S&T. (He would have waited it out just like Harrington did). Nene would have gotten a six-year deal, even if the Hawks couldn't.

Criticize Knight for trading Diaw, not drafting Chris Paul, missing out on Iggy, etc. all you want. But he made the right decision about Nene (who still has to prove he's worth that contract).

Also, I'm pretty sure the Nuggets would consider trading Nene to Atlanta. They were trying to do that before they completed the AI deal.