Dissecting the Andre Iguodala Trade
Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 3:39 PM
The Denver Nuggets were involved in the 4-team trade that finally delivered Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers, ending the 8-month long Dwightmare for Orlando. The details of the deal for Denver are as follows:
Denver acquires Andre Iguodala from the Philadelphia 76ers and sends Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, a 2013 second round pick (from Golden State) and a 2014 first round draft pick to the Orlando Magic. The lesser of the Nuggets own pick or the pick acquired from the New York Knicks in the Carmelo Anthony trade, will be sent to Orlando.
I think this is a great deal for the Nuggets and solves a few issues surrounding this team. First, Al Harrington had to be moved. He has had three knee surgeries this offseason and was not expected to be ready for the start of the season.. While I enjoyed watching Al play for us this last season and appreciate everything he did for the team, I think it was in the team’s best interest to deal him at this time. I do not believe that he will be as effective this season as he was last year. Add in the fact that he is coming off of the surgeries and he’s not getting any younger, look for him to be closer to the Al Harrington we saw in the 2010-11 campaign. His trade value was never going to be any higher for the Nuggets than it was this offseason. Yes his contract was favorable at only being partially guaranteed in the next few seasons. However, we all know that Kroenke Sports has a reputation of not paying players to play for another team. Can we really blame them for that?
Let us also take into account the basketball reasons for making this deal. George Karl was playing Big Al (only 6’9) as a Center quite often this past season and playoffs despite having three 7 footers on the roster. Going small against a team like the Lakers, that has two 7 footers on their front line, may be the reason that the Nuggets did not close out that series. Also, factor in that Harrington was playing injured and couldn’t be as effective on the defensive end against a 7 footer. Our size should be used as the advantage it can be, especially when playing a team with equal or more size.
Harrington averaged 28 minutes per game this season. That seems like way too many minutes for what he brings to the table. We know that Coach Karl only plays guys that he trusts, despite having so much talent sitting on the bench. I think this is some form of forcing Karl to utilize his deep, talented bench by Nuggets General Manager, Masai Ujiri. He did this before by dealing Nene so that Karl had no choice but to play Kenneth Faried after he had proved that he was already better for the team than Nene. What was going to happen this season with a healthy Wilson Chandler returning to the lineup? Where was the recently signed Anthony Randolph going to get minutes? Faried will also need more minutes to continue his development. Masai really wanted to keep second round pick Quincy Miller. They needed to open a roster spot somewhere to make that happen. So who was the odd man out? I say it was Al for all of the reasons above. With Arron Afflalo, it is a bit more difficult to process. He has gotten better each year with the Nuggets and he is the type of player you love to have on your team. He also is a fan favorite. It is always difficult to lose guys that the fans love to root for. The Nuggets have lost two of these guys this offseason, the other being Chris “Birdman” Andersen.
But I think the question needs to be asked, what is really the ceiling as far as the player Afflalo can become? He will turn 27 before this season begins so he is older than most of the Nuggets young core and only slightly younger than the incoming Andre Iguodala.
Afflalo was very inconsistent to start the season due to not being in shape since he did not want to risk an injury while not having a contract during the lockout. It seemed to be during the first half of the season that he was one of those players that performed beyond expectations in a contract year and had regressed now that he got paid. But then, after the All-Star break he averaged 18ppg. It was a return to the Afflalo we all knew and loved.
Afflalo has a reputation of being a defensive minded player however the numbers show that he is not as good of a defender as his reputation. According to ESPN , of the 113 players to defend at least 50 perimeter plays, Afflalo ranked 113th at points given up. Iguodala ranked 10th. Also from ESPN, of the 235 players who were the on-ball defender for at least 300 plays last season, Arron Afflalo allowed the third-worst point per play average. Andre Iguodala, on the other hand, was tied for 25th and ranked fourth among shooting guards. Iguodala is considered an elite defender in the NBA, while Afflalo does not have this same reputation.
I would say that is a clear upgrade at the position and is one reason I think this was a great trade. If you think about what the Nuggets did with the progression of Afflalo, this was a brilliant series of moves. They sent a second round pick to Detroit to acquire him in the summer of 2009. The “experts” complained about how he was a lesser player than the (at that time) recently departed, Dahntay Jones. However, for the cost of a second round pick, it was certainly worth the risk for the Nuggets. Denver’s coaching staff turned Afflalo into a player that is coveted league-wide and have flipped him for one of the best perimeter defenders in the entire league. I say it quite often, Masai Ujiri plays chess while other NBA GM’s play checkers.
I have seen complaints on Twitter and in the local media, that we still do not have a “Star” and that the Nuggets helped a conference rival improve while not improving their own team enough. I disagree with that on all fronts. The Lakers were going to get Howard eventually, with or without the Nuggets and Iguodala could have ended up with another rival such as the Spurs, Thunder, etc. Masai saw a chance to upgrade the position of shooting guard and did so. It was a very opportunistic move on Masai’s part, as most of the transactions under his regime have been. Iguodala is a star, just not a superstar. This is the type of player that is sort of a quiet star in the NBA. He is not flashy, he does not have a huge ego, he is not a selfish player. Iguodala is the type of star that we want for our team. Not the “me first” type of superstars in the mold of Carmelo. He actually makes his teammates better which is something that has been missing from this team for a while. Iguodala will be a player that Karl will love. He “plays the right way,” as they say and will fit in perfectly with the style of basketball the Nuggets play. I do not think that we need a superstar with the team first mentality that has been assembled here. Andre Iguodala is an All-Star and Olympian. Can we say the same for either of the players that were sent out in this trade? I think not.
Assess the situation league-wide, look at where all of the superstars are playing. New York, LA, Miami and OKC. Who could the Nuggets possibly pry from these teams while giving up only Afflalo and Harrington? Exactly.
I think that the future is very, very bright for the team that Masai has assembled. Ty Lawson is going to continue to develop into a top tier point guard in the NBA. This will be his first full 82-game season as the Nuggets’ starting point guard. Iguodala is a clear upgrade at shooting guard and makes this team even more athletic than they already were. Danilo Gallinari will be healthier this year and that should make a world of difference in his play as he looked fantastic before he went down with an ankle injury and was never really the same last season after that injury. Faried will continue to develop and is supposed to be joining JaVale McGee in working out with Hakeem Olajuwon in Houston. Our starting lineup will be better than the one that was on the floor last season. They are young and will only get better with a real training camp and a full 82 game season together.
Our bench is deep and talented. Timofey Mozgov performed well in the Olympics this summer. Veteran Andre Miller is back with a freshly inked 3 year contract. Jordan Hamilton will likely crack the rotation this season and showed some flashes of being a competent scorer and legitimate 3-point threat in limited playing time last season. Corey Brewer is back and is a versatile player. Wilson Chandler will be with the team for his first training camp and this will also be his first full season with the Nuggets. He also looks to be healthier than he was last season. Kosta Koufos will likely be in the rotation more consistently with Al out of the picture. Hopefully, we will see more big lineups with Koufos playing power forward at times. Anthony Randolph is an intriguing addition, surely this coaching staff will get something out of him at the power forward position. Evan Fournier and Quincy Miller will likely not crack the rotation as rookies and will probably spend most of their time in the D-League. Julyan Stone proved he could be a serviceable backup point guard when given minutes. So we will see if the Nuggets choose to retain him since he has a non-guaranteed contract. With the addition of Iguodala to the Nuggets, we could see a lockdown defensive lineup of Iguodala, Brewer and Chandler at times. It will be interesting to see the different looks that are thrown out there.
I would not be surprised if we see additional moves by Masai, Josh Kroenke and their cap guru Pete D’Alessandro (I truly believe he is their secret weapon). I think that at some point they will choose between Gallo and Chandler depending on who is most productive for this team. There were whispers around the draft of Chandler being dealt and I tend to believe that in the NBA it has been proven that where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.
Be sure to check back with Rerun Sportscast for all of your Denver Nuggets news and analysis this season. “Like” us on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter: @iWriteNuggets
Peter Sherwill is an NBA junkie and blogger, never short on opinions. Has appeared as a guest on Denver sports talk radio.
