The recent trade talks between the Knicks and Nuggets, according to NBA front-office sources, stalled because New York insisted on receiving forward Linas Kleiza (right) in a deal for David Lee, only for the Nuggets to decide, at least for now, to hang onto Kleiza.

The Nuggets, sources said, did not have enough to get Lee after withdrawing Kleiza and offering a package built around guard Chucky Atkins (who makes $3.2 million this season and $3.5 million next season) and two first-round picks.

Yet it seems safe to presume that Atkins will be offered up to the Knicks again between now and the Feb. 19 trading deadline, in one trade scenario or another, given his perpetual readiness to hoist a shot -- never discouraged in Mike D'Antoni's offense -- and the Nuggets' well-known desire to shed at least one more salary to get under the luxury-tax line.

Does anybody believe this?

Yeah, they are trying to Steal Lee from us. Denver is playoff bound and Lee would be great off the bench for them. But two first round picks which will amount to late teens is not worth Lee. (Now are there any playoff teams who have, via trades, a potential lotto pick? - I'd rather look there.) Watch better offers come...

That would have been a pretty damn good deal with Kleiza involved. I would've thrown in Curry and ask for Steven Hunter and some other crap in return.

[Edited by - gkfv2 on 01-03-2009 07:55 AM]

If they want Lee it'll cost Kleiza and a 1st rounder & 2nd rounder MINIMUM. If they don't like those terms then George Karl and his team can go scratch... Not really interested in anything else they have. I can't see how we'd get Atkins or Hunter anyway - we don't have a salary match unless we'd include Nate, Chandler or Gallo along with Lee and they're not getting that. Or unless we add Malik's expiring to the equation for Atkins & Hunter, maybe that would work... Tell you what though, neither guy would make that much of a difference anyway IMO - we don't suddenly become world beaters if we got Chucky Atkins or Steven Hunter... I like where we are right now to be honest. Losing games is never any fun but guys are playing hard and every young player right now except Gallo is getting enough minutes to develop. Tank it out the rest of the way, capitalize on a good lottery pick this summer and go from there.

But yeah, I would think Kleiza AND a 1st & 2nd (at the very least) OR 2 1sts is adequate value for Lee. And I'm not even crazy about that - Kleiza's basically a SF in a PF's body - the guy plays less defense that Lee, he just hangs out on the perimeter and shoots 3s - he's averaging 8 pts, 3 rebs and .2 blocks a game for his career so far. You think this guy comes here and gives us 15 & 11 every night?? I like him but he's no David Lee. Come on, get real Denver - either ante up or go to war with what you have...


[Edited by - finestrg on 01-03-2009 11:27 AM]

Posted by martin:

Posted by Finestrg:

If they want Lee it'll cost Kleiza and a 1st rounder & 2nd rounder MINIMUM. If they don't like those terms then George Karl and his team can go scratch... Not really interested in anything else they have. I can't see how we'd get Atkins or Hunter anyway - we don't have a salary match unless we'd include Nate, Chandler or Gallo along with Lee and they're not getting that. Neither guy would make that much of a difference anyway IMO - we don't suddenly become world beaters if we got Chucky Atkins... I like where we are to be honest. Guys are playing hard and every young player right now except Gallo is getting enough minutes to develop. Tank it out the rest of the way, capitalize on a good lottery pick this summer and go from there.

But yeah, I would think Kleiza AND a 1st & 2nd (at the very least) OR 2 1sts is adequate value for Lee. And I'm not even crazy about that - Kleiza's basically a SF in a PF's body - the guy plays less defense that Lee, he just hangs out on the perimeter and shoot 3s - he's averaging 8 pts and 3 rebs a game for his career so far. I like him but he's no David Lee. Come on, get real Denver...

[Edited by - finestrg on 01-03-2009 11:19 AM]

the one thing on the stats behind Kleiza... he is playing behind Melo. Not an excuse, just that he is.

I hear ya Marty, but if he was really big-time, he'd be starting over there. There's a reason K-Mart, a shell of what he used to be btw, is still starting at the 4 no? The question is, if Kleiza came here to fill Lee's role (which is what we'll need, not another wing hoisting up 3s), with the same amount of minutes, does he give us 15 & 11? I'm not sure about that. He's not as valuable as Lee - Lee's earned himself a raise in the $10 mil. dollar a year range - Kleiza's lucky he gets offers or reuped by Denver for half that, probably not even... If Denver doesn't want to ante up they can go get ousted in the playoffs yet another year in a row for all I care...

[Edited by - finestrg on 01-03-2009 11:41 AM]

They wouldnt give up Klezia to get Lee, who is a borderline all-star in his prime????? BTW, Lee fits in almost perfectly with exactly what they're trying to do. They are going away from the chucker at every position approach.

Chucky Atkins? First round picks for a team thats challenging for their division? SMH. Laughably lopsided.

To think we could have had Mayo for Lee.

Posted by GKFv2:

Borderline all-star? What **** you smoking?

I'm smoking a lot, but that's besides the point.


The kid is averaging 15 pts. & 11 boards a game, son. What am I missing?

Posted by GallOfFame:

The recent trade talks between the Knicks and Nuggets, according to NBA front-office sources, stalled because New York insisted on receiving forward Linas Kleiza (right) in a deal for David Lee, only for the Nuggets to decide, at least for now, to hang onto Kleiza.

The Nuggets, sources said, did not have enough to get Lee after withdrawing Kleiza and offering a package built around guard Chucky Atkins (who makes $3.2 million this season and $3.5 million next season) and two first-round picks.

Yet it seems safe to presume that Atkins will be offered up to the Knicks again between now and the Feb. 19 trading deadline, in one trade scenario or another, given his perpetual readiness to hoist a shot -- never discouraged in Mike D'Antoni's offense -- and the Nuggets' well-known desire to shed at least one more salary to get under the luxury-tax line.

Does anybody believe this?

Well before we heard recently that Denver rejected a Kleiza for Lee deal and that Karl didn't want to part with Kleiza we heard a couple of weeks earlier that it was actually Walsh who rejected the straight up one for one proposal. I remember reading that in Newsday...

kleiza is an SF. this team has 55 SF's. trade lee for a nice young guard or to dump a contract. trading him for another RFA and a SF to boot would be dumb.

Posted by VDesai:

Kleiza plus 2 first rounders for Lee would be fair.

i'd hold out to get a higher 1st rounder or a talented young player under contract at rookie salary for a few more years for Lee... Kleiza's a RFA anyway so we'd be looking at a similar situation contract wise at the end of the season.

Posted by sebstar:

Posted by TMS:

Posted by VDesai:

Kleiza plus 2 first rounders for Lee would be fair.

i'd hold out to get a higher 1st rounder or a talented young player under contract at rookie salary for a few more years for Lee... Kleiza's a RFA anyway so we'd be looking at a similar situation contract wise at the end of the season.

I'm not that pumped off Klezia. I'm not a fan of his game. I think its a bad deal considering the first rounders would be in the high 20s

i agree... at the very least u should be able to get a pick in the low teens for a player like David Lee... i wouldn't settle for anything less than a lottery pick personally.

[Edited by - TMS on 01-04-2009 5:12 PM]