Best Athlete Available

This past off season was arguably the most anticipated signing period that the Nuggets organization had ever seen. They had big money to spend on free agents and as many draft picks as just about any team in the league. They were set to build on an unexpectedly solid ’03-’04 campaign that gave them surprising 8th seed in the playoffs. It also gave the organization some much needed credibility- in the event that they were going to try to lure a player that was going to look for the best opportunity, instead of the most money. In the previous season, they improved their win total from 17 to 43 games – the greatest single-season improvement since the ABA and the NBA merged- whenever that was.

With all of this in mind, Kiki was in the driver’s seat. He had a solid collection of returning players, a monster rookie, big time fan support and money and picks to burn.

Unfortunately for Stan and the rest of us fans, he decided to take the Best Athlete Available Approach to the off season. Whether or not he took this stance because he thought it was wise – or because he was obviously spurned by some top free agents (Ginobili, Richardson, Kobe, etc.) – is unknown. He didn’t announce that this was his strategy until he completed the sign and trade for Kenyon Martin.

In one way, he was right. He did land the best athlete on the market. Kenyon is a super freak and just about the only NBA player that could be called the Best Athlete Available while standing in the company of free agents folks like Kobe, Rashweed, Richardson and Boozer.

In every other way he was wrong. I’ll use an overused analogy. If I owned a restaurant, I’d make an effort to fill my staff by need. If I needed a cook, I’d hire one. I wouldn’t hire a server, just because he or she was the best food services person available at the time. An absurd analogy, but it makes my point. This past summer the Nuggets needed a two guard and they got bought another top-tier four to back up Nene. This was a terrible idea. Sure, in order to make a legit run in the post season, they’ll need to have solid bench guys in every position. But they’ll never make it there unless they have all spots fill with solid NBA starters. Now, they’re stuck with a solid back up in Greg Buckner (is he not a poor man’s Bryant Stith?). Don’t even bring up Voshon.

If Kiki had taken a needs approach to the off season, the Nuggets would have fewer holes- and certainly not the exact same hole the team had last season- not to mention the same record.