If a Tree Falls in the Woods

I’ve gotten into bad habits… like spending days upon days without keeping in touch with my Twitter. However, I still dedicate the 2-3 minutes a day needed to jump on Facebook and check in (for some reason, the lack of pursuit from the porn industry on FB leaves me without a Monk-like need for a shower) and caught this update from my good friend Jeremy at the Colorado Sports Desk.

And kudos to Jeremy as it’s not even up on the big-dog sites yet… well played my friend.

(Forgive me Jeremy but I’m going to steal your video ’cause it’s too damn late and I’m lazy! I owe you one, and you know I’m good for it.)

The Denver Nuggets have, according to various sources on Twitter as well as the updates from the Houston Chronicle, obtained guard James White from the Rockets. The Desk has a full report including tweets from White himself. The Rockets will receive the draft rights to Axel Hervelle, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Belgium selected in the second round (52nd overall) of the ‘05 Draft by the Nuggies.

As always, I hit up John Hollinger (renowned NBA scouting guru employed at ESPN) for his take on White. One problem… he has nothing. That’s never a good sign as Hollinger covers EVERYONE of worth in the NBA, so let’s hit Google and see what’s up.

First hit… they have the story as reported by the Canadian Press – you have to love our neighbors to the north. They have their priorities in order. Second… the NBA.com information page on White. If you want you can get the official NBA.com James White widget. I’m going to take a pass since it appears this will be the first time it has seen action in, well, ever. They do offer a nice bio.

Homey came up under the academic constraints of the Cincinnati program, also responsible for Kenyon (which should tell you all you need to know… Kenyon seems like a decent dude, but I’m confident in suggesting he was given every opportunity to concentrate all of his time to the court rather than the books). He spent his freshman year at Florida. Apparently he couldn’t get the minutes he wanted in the Billy Donovan system (and again, I might wonder if academics played a role… nothing against Cincinnati, but you employed Bobby Huggins and all that came with him for a long time).

We could keep pouring over it but it’s all college and high school work. My man has yet to do anything of note in the show.

He’s got at least one strong fan as his Wikipedia is already updated to show himas a member of the Nuggets.

The overriding theme in these offerings appears to be (a) tremendous athletic ability, and (b) raw and unrefined talent. At 6-foot-7 he can play the 2 or the 3 but he is skinny (just 200 lbs.). He’s bounced around a ton, including his first stop with the Blazers, then to Indiana. The Spurs brought him in for two years before the Rockets dug their claws into him… and now he’s in the Mile High. Those last two notes may be the alluring of the bunch. The Spurs and Rockets are known for having an eye for talent and often mold players like this into positive role-playing ballers. It appears the Rockets cut him loose after Carl Landry returned to the squad, so it may be fair to wonder if he isn’t being moved for convenience and necessity as opposed to a lack of progress.

He spent some time in Europe, including…

… some time in the Euroleague Dunk Competition.

Here’s the thing. In this particular situation, on a team lacking depth at the shooting guard position as they look to a list of prospective contributors to fill shoes left by Dahntay Jones. That could give White an opportunity to finally make some noise in NBA events that matter.

As of today the depth chart at shooting guard looks like this…

J.R. Smith, Arron Afflalo

Smith will be missing early action due to suspension for his Johnny Cash impersonation. Rookie Ty Lawson doesn’t have the size to move over the fill that space if needed and, while he has the size and gifts to do the job well, moving Chauncey over isn’t a pleasurable option (we pay him $12 million to run the show, and to be honest, he’s the only man on the roster capable filling those duties today). That leaves Afflalo and his 149 career NBA games at 14.8 minutes per as the only option at the 2.

And he’ll be all alone while Smitty serves his penance.

Getting White on the roster gives the Nuggets an option. It is not a supreme option but it is a cheap option, and more importantly, it’s an option with a bit of experience and a level of upside that pulled interest from two of the best franchises in the business. It is clear the Nuggets are holding tight to their negotiating lines (and their checkbook) as they battle to identify value in the late reaches of the free-agent market and it may be that Desmond Mason and Wally Szczerbiak simply won’t sign for the terms this team has offered.

Afflalo is the clear leader in the clubhouse. He’s put in minutes and he has defensive skills that fit the evolving George Karl system rather well. White is an option that could be used to eat minutes without eating into the team’s salary cap and luxury tax plans. I want to believe the Nuggets are still holding hopes of finding a veteran before the season starts to add to that mix… but they are not going to bend on their financial goals to get it done.

They’ll wait and see if someone falls in their lap (and that still could be Wally, sitting at home without an offer as of today).

Worst case scenario, we have another body on the roster that can throw it down. We are nothing if not entertaining.

And let’s be honest… doesn’t it feel good to see the Nuggets do something?

(Especially since we missed out on Mason.)

Thanks for stopping in.

Tags: Arron Afflalo, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, J.R. Smith, James White