INTERESTING NUGGET: Randolph for Najera, Smith, Kleiza and Hunter?

By MARC BERMAN
INTERESTING NUGGET: There is talk that Zach Randolph and another Knick could be shipped to Denver for Eduardo Najera, J.R. Smith, Linas Kleiza and Steven Hunter.

February 15, 2008 -- The success of the Blazers has hurt Zach Randolph's trade value, but there are rumblings the Nuggets and the Knicks New York Knicks have discussed a multi-player trade involving the disgruntled power forward.

Nuggets general manager Mark Warkentien was the former Blazers director of scouting when Portland tabbed Randolph in the NBA Draft. It is believed names discussed in a potential deal included Linas Kleiza, Eduardo Najera, Steven Hunter and J.R. Smith for Randolph and another Knick. The Knicks appear most interested in up-and-comer Kleiza.

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This would be a great deal. Najera, Kleiza and Hunter will provide solid defense, JR Smith has "potential", he's been a personal favorite of mines.

Getting rid of Randolph would be OPTIMAL. Next is Curry, then Crawford, and we'll be on our way to improvement.

Nuggets
PG - Carter
SG - Iverson
SF - Anthony
PF - Randolph
C - Camby

Knicks
PG - Robinson
SG - Smith
SF - Balkman
PF - Lee
C - Hunter

metrocard said:

This would be a great deal. Najera, Kleiza and Hunter will provide solid defense, JR Smith has "potential", he's been a personal favorite of mines.

Getting rid of Randolph would be OPTIMAL. Next is Curry, then Crawford, and we'll be on our way to improvement.

Nuggets
PG - Carter
SG - Iverson
SF - Anthony
PF - Randolph
C - Camby

Knicks
PG - Robinson
SG - Smith
SF - Balkman
PF - Lee
C - Hunter

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This would be Isiah's first good trade. Getting rid of Randolph's huge contract for Najera's expiring contract, J.R. Smith's expiring contract and a promising small forward in Linas Kleiza would be great. I hope this deal gets done. Like you said, next would be Curry. If we could get rid of him for the same kind of deal (i.e. expiring contacts and promising talent) then we will be heading in the right direction.

I'm really surprised Isiah is considering a trade like this. This means he is accepting that he f*cked up and we need to rebuild. Is it possible Isiah may actually do this? I won't believe it until it actually happens.

Does anyone know Steven Hunter's contract? That's the only thing reserving me from giving the green light on this trade.

Isiah's too much of an idiot to make a great trade like this....but I have to say - I really like the pieces we get.

Kleiza - is a scoring SF - a position that we suck at 24/7
Hunter can blk shots and could be the defensive guy that would pair up well with Curry's defensive shortcomings
Najera - I like his hustle and he can stroke the 3
J.R smith - he's got game, might have some issues but shouldn't be too much of a risk

KnicksFan112 said:

Does anyone know Steven Hunter's contract? That's the only thing reserving me from giving the green light on this trade.

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He makes 3.5mil a year til the 2009/2010 season

KnicksFan112 said:

Does anyone know Steven Hunter's contract? That's the only thing reserving me from giving the green light on this trade.

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Realgm.net has Stephen Hunter's contract at 2 years remaining for a total of $14 mil. That's a lot better than Randolph's at 3 years remaining totalling $51.5 mil.

This really is the best trade rumor that I've heard in a while. That means there is now way it's going down. I just don't have faith in Isiah to pull the trigger on something that makes sense.

LJ4ptplay said:

Realgm.net has Stephen Hunter's contract at 2 years remaining for a total of $14 mil. That's a lot better than Randolph's at 3 years remaining totalling $51.5 mil.

This really is the best trade rumor that I've heard in a while. That means there is now way it's going down. I just don't have faith in Isiah to pull the trigger on something that makes sense.

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That's incorrect

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/denver.htm

LJ4ptplay said:

Realgm.net has Stephen Hunter's contract at 2 years remaining for a total of $14 mil. That's a lot better than Randolph's at 3 years remaining totalling $51.5 mil.

This really is the best trade rumor that I've heard in a while. That means there is now way it's going down. I just don't have faith in Isiah to pull the trigger on something that makes sense.

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According to SI.com, Steven Hunter will have 2 years remaining totaling $7.2 million after this season. Yea, this trade sounds too good to be true. It seems like for the first time Isiah may be a winner of a trade.

Trin_Starr said:

That's incorrect

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/denver.htm

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Thanks. Yeah, Realgm.net's salaries always seem too high. I'm not sure why. I think they include this years salary, plus bonuses or something. Anyway, thanks for the correction. I'll use Hoopshype from now on.

My bad - it's not Isiah organizing these trades - it's Glen Grunwald - finally someone with sense.

I hope the Nuggets are interested in this trade even though I don't see why they would do it. They take on more long term salary and get a player that needs to take 10-15 shots/gm to be effective. Anthony and Iverson are the primary players on that team. Why would you add Zach to take away touches from either of those explosive guys? Good trade for NY, bad for Denver. Let's hope they go for it.

I like the sound of this trade. Najera is a grinder and a great hustle player and Kleiza has great offensive skills. I have been watching Kleiza since college ( I follow MIZZOU hoops) and even though he is a bit streaky, Kleiza has great offensive skills for a forward. He can shoot 3's when set, runs the floor well and has nice touch around the basket. I'm in.

No doubt this trade would be great for the Knicks. I'm just not sure what the Nuggets are doing? It seems like much of the wester conference has lost their minds. First Shaq to the Suns in an attempt to keep up with the Lakers, then Dallas talked of getting a big man (fortunately they smarted up and went after Kid) and now Denver wants to add on more salary. This will leave them with three power forwards with bulky long term contracts. (K. Martin, Nene and Randolph) Again, as a Knicks fan I'm excited about this trade but it will prove that there is a GM out there dumber than Thomas.

I wonder who the 2nd Knick is? It must be a player with a small contract, because Randolph's contract almost equals the 4 Nuggets' players.

Also, how will this work? 2 Knicks for 4 Nuggets. Will we have to buy somebody out because we will be over the maximum number of players?

the Nuggets would be stupid to make this trade, why would they want to add a selfish player like Zach. Their better off with bum Kenyon Martin. At least he plays some defense.

would be interesting to see J.R. smith and Nate playing side by side

this trade has many levels of why itll work for us. not only do we get solid young players and a shotblocker in hunter but we get rid of randolph AND.. get artest. hear me out. this will probably cant put a 100% guarantee on it though end up Najera and either Balman or Kleiza going to Sacramento in return. thats not a definite but dont be surprised to see that. another knicks player will be going to the Nuggets and i actually think that will be Balkman or Chandler sadly.

itll be interesting to see JR and Nate together like you said YEAR. JR should know his place seeing Nate can probably kick his ass.

and back on subject, i think the reason another trade will come of this is because the roster will stand at 16 someone must go.. that should be an interesting after effect.

I think it's a good trade. We wouldn't be getting equal value as far as talent, but it would help our salary cap. I still say the Knicks should keep Randolph, but if the Nuggets were to agree to this deal, it would be too good to turn down. The people I think Isiah needs to get rid of the most is Curry, Jeffries, and Quentin Richardson.Curry is a liability on defense and rebounding, and Jeffries and Richardson are liabilities on offense.I think Randolph and Crawford could make good role players for the Knicks.The main problem with these two players is that people have gassed their heads up for most of their careers, so they think they're the sh*t, when they're really 4th,5th, and 6th option role players. They just need to get their playing time cut to 30 minutes, and Crawford and Randolph should only get the last second shot sometimes. However, if some team is stupid enough to give us an expiring contract for Randolph, or draft picks for Crawford, then I'd do it.The Nuggets deal sounds great.

But the article just suggested that these were talks, I personally would like any trade that would rid us of Zach's contract with expiring contracts in return. But not to be the pesimist here.....but why would Denver want Zach? The deal would give them low post scoring and rebounding, but do they think that he could be effective on that team as much as he needs the ball? I mean there is no low post presence on this team so that wont be the issue, but AI and Melo are the gunners on that roster so that would be a strange fit.

PLEASE ISIAH DO THE TRADE!!!!!!! JR. SMITH!!!!!!!!! !!!!! !!!!!! ! ! !!! ! Sorry I would be so excited if that trade would go through!!!!!

Just the problem is we got the max 15 players on our team....