http://www.eventimagecenter.com/300x180/denver_nuggets300.jpg

2008-2009 Active Roster
PG – Chucky Atkins, $3,000,000
SG – Allen Iverson, $19,012,500
SF – Carmelo Anthony, $13,041,250
SF – Linas Kleiza, $1,011,360
PF – Kenyon Martin, $13,250,000
PF/C – Nene, $8,840,000
C – Marcus Camby, $10,000,000
C – Steven Hunter, $3,638,600

Free Agents
Restricted: Yakhouba Diawara, J.R. Smith
Unrestricted: Anthony Carter, Eduardo Najera
Limited Salary Protection: Bobby Jones, Taurean Green

Team Salary
$53 million

Strengths
• This team can flat-out score.
• The roster is not hurting for talent.

Weaknesses
• This team can flat-out get scored on.
• A lot of money is being spent to field a team not among the league’s elite
• Who is their leader when the game’s on the line?

Denver selects Mario Chalmers, PG, Kansas

Not the sexiest pick, but Denver needs a PG, and I was able to move down several spots to still grab him, plus picked up an early 2nd to grab another quality guy.

I see that a lot of experts have him going much higher, so not a bad pick at all.

I think it's good too. He plays defense too, something AI does not.

With the 32nd pick, Denver selects J.J. Hickson.

This one was tough. There was no perfect fit here, so I went with BPA, who fortunately fits on the roster pretty well. For a team so close to competing among the elite, it would have been great to find a lockdown defender who could immediately step in and contribute, but I thought I'd be reaching on a few guys if I went strictly that route. So I decided on Hickson, a nice young big who could be a great piece to put alongside Melo for years to come. You can never have too much depth when the 4s you're relying on are Kenyon Martin and Nene.

In the end, I traded Pick #20 for Mario Chalmers (#25) and Hickson (#32). I ain't mad at that.

I was looking at Hickson possibly for the Clippers. Good pick.