I read this @ Realgm.com today and though maybe Layden should look at it, here's what the article was.

"During the 1997 NBA season, as Phil, Michael and Scottie were dominating the NBA world yet again, Chicago Bulls' GM Jerry Krause announced he had a plan. The Bulls would not let their championship run expire like the Boston Celtics had done before them. Kraused planned on trading some key personnel for high draft picks, and with a blend of a superstar veteran and some extremely talented youth there should not be too much of a dropoff between the 1998 Bulls and the BAM (Bulls After Michael).

That plan quickly backfired when Michael Jordan caught wind that Krause was planning on trading his sidekick Scottie Pippen to the Boston Celtics for their two top 10 picks, with Krause planning to take Ron Mercer with the first and high schooler Tracy McGrady with the second. Jordan threatened to retire, Krause pulled the pin, the Bulls won title #6, and the rest is history.

Four years later and we have Kiki Vandeweghe holding onto a similar plan. It was no good being a middle of the ground team said Vandeweghe, just like Krause did before him. The ultimate goal is to win a championship, and simply making the playoffs each year without being a bona fide championship threat means you are stuck in no mans land; no lottery pick means less room for improvement which means no next step to go to that championship level.

"When I interviewed for the job, I told (Nuggets owner) Mr. (Stan) Kroenke, if you're going to be happy with a middle-of-the-road team and the goal is just to make the playoffs, then I'm totally the wrong guy," Vandeweghe said. "I really, in some ways, was surprised I got the job. I was fairly adamant about it, that I could be the wrong guy because I was talking championship. At the time, the focus was, "Let's just try to make the playoffs." I didn't see that as a worthwhile goal, sacrificing your long-term ability to compete at the championship level for a short-term goal."

He and his Nuggets have been mocked by the trade that sent Nick Van Exel, Raef LaFrentz, Avery Johnson and Tariq Abdur Wahad to the Mavericks for Juwan Howard, Tim Hardaway and Donnell Harvey, but the truth is the only one who the Nuggets thought twice about trading was LaFrentz.

As Sam Adams of the Rocky Mountain News reports LaFrentz will be a free agent this offseason, meaning that Vandeweghe had two questions he needed to answer. Those questions were:

1. Does Raef LaFrentz deserve a maximum contract worth in excess of $10 million per season?

2. Can Raef LaFrentz carry the Denver Nuggets to a championship?

"The safest thing for me to do would have been to stay with the guys I had," Vandeweghe said. "But that's not me. I've told people, 'You'll have plenty of chances to criticize me. I'm not afraid to try something.' It may not be the exact thing people want me to do, but I'm going to give it a shot."

Sure the Nuggets could have stuck with what they have and worked towards making the playoffs, but there is no doubting Vandeweghe has his eye on the big prize.

"I want to make the playoffs, too. But I want to make it in the process of us getting to the next level, not making the playoffs and thinking we've accomplished something. I was clear about that, and clear about that with our players." "

If Layden saw that he would realize that Spree and Camby aren't getting us any championships and after our tanked season next year to get LeBron, we should trade them both.