NBA denver Nuggets

Not everyone is waiting for 2010 – the mother of all free agent summers – to try to improve their team by throwing big money at the seasoned veterans.

Even in hard economic times, the top players like Carlos Boozer, Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Kidd will leave teams and get their financial reward in other places. The squeeze will be on the lower-level free agents who must settle for minimum or various exceptions.

What hurts this class is that only seven teams really have major room under the salary cap to make something happen, and they usually aren't the NBA's biggest spenders. Unless the free agents stay with their current teams, only Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Atlanta, Portland, Toronto and Detroit have major room.

Although there has been plenty of dancing and unofficial talks the last few days, the real dealings can't start until 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Here is a breakdown by position of the five most intriguing – and unrestricted – free agents.

The NBA Draft started with a no-brainer -- Blake Griffin going No. 1 overall to the Los Angeles Clippers. Then, the fun happened, with Memphis taking Hasheem Thabeet and the Timberwolves' vexing decision to horde as many point guards as they could. A few other teams lucked out when players dropped down the board and into their laps. Check out the grades for the Western Conference after the jump.

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The Minnesota Timberwolves might not have had the best regular season in 2008-09, but they're sure going to be a factor come the NBA Draft on Thursday.

New president of basketball operations David Kahn has five picks to use, including three in the first round. Minnesota has the Nos. 6, 18, and 28 picks in Round 1, and two more in the second round.

Will Kahn use all of those picks to drastically remake the T-Wolves' roster, or might he package a couple of picks or three in order to land a veteran difference-maker? More on the Northwest Division after the jump.

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The ever-expanding map for David Stern's NBA will mark another conquest next October, as the league has announced the Pacers and Nuggets will meet up for a preseason game in Taipei, Taiwan, on October 8 (via Indy Cornrows). Preseason tours of Europe and China have become somewhat commonplace, but the NBA has never played a game on the island. (And yes, the Indiana Pacemates will be making the trip too.)

The Pacers press release notes that basketball is the top sport on Taiwan. China has certainly taken a liking to the NBA, and Pacers star Danny Granger is revered as the Saint of Transition Threes in Indonesia. NBA squads including the Bulls (with or without London-born Ben Gordon) will tour Europe this preseason as well.

It has not been a stellar year of headlines for Calvin Andrews of BDA. Earlier this year, after the O.J. Mayo-USC-Ronald Guillory story blew up, Andrews -- who allegedly paid Guillory to deliver Mayo to his client list -- was dropped by the Memphis guard and then suspended from agenting activities for a year by the NBA Players Association. This suspension is more of public slap on the wrist than anything -- rumors abound that Andrews is the real agent for top prospects including Hasheem Thabeet, who is listed as a BDA client. (The policing of the agents is a complete joke, in other words.)

But here's a karmic punishment that works: Carmelo Anthony, Andrews' top client by far, has reportedly dropped BDA to move over to CAA, the agency led by Leon Rose and attached to William Wesley.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony had an amazing season, leading the Denver Nuggets to the Western Conference finals, where they fell to the Lakers in six games. We caught up with 'Melo during the Nuggets-Lakers series, and he offered some insight about Kobe Bryant that the Magic might want to pay attention to as they prepare for Thursday night's first game of the NBA Finals. He also discusses movie stars he's met at the games, and what he thinks of boxing stars Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.

Check out the video after the jump.

As you may have heard by now, the Lakers have earned themselves a trip back to the Finals by eliminating the Denver Nuggets to become the Western Conference Champions. And with this great honor comes a great prize: the aptly named Western Conference Champions ... trophy.

Yeah, it's a bit awkward. But not as awkward as the presentation of the award itself, which took place somewhere in the bowels of the Pepsi Center in front of no one but Doris Burke, James Worthy, and an ESPN camera crew. Let's watch together, shall we?

The Nuggets far exceeded expectations this season. The team ranked not as the squad most likely to scare the snot out of the Lakers, but as the old guard least likely to return to the postseason in the New World.

Chauncey Billups, Nene, Kenyon Martin, Carmelo Anthony, George Karl, Chris Andersen, J.R. Smith and Joe Dumars changed that. The opening week trade for Mr. Big Shot completely transformed the spirit of the team, as did Karl's summer decision to focus on defense, even at the expense of his stars' allegiance. Everything else went right, for the most part.

But the franchise sit has payroll cuts to consummate, and little in the way of burgeoning youth to fill the holes. By trading the promise of cap space (in the convenient form of Allen Iverson) for Billups, the Nuggets trade a minor rebuild for contention. It worked -- the Nuggets were legit contenders. But what now? How can they possibly get better?

The cynical would joke that a Denver Nuggets season wouldn't be complete without a catastrophic injury to Nene, the Brazilian big man who this year -- a superb campaign, really -- played in at least 65 games for the first time since 2004. But there you go: in the Nuggets' final game of the 2008-09 season, Nene suffered a fractured arm in the fourth quarter, according to the Denver Post. He left the gym wearing a cast.

There's no word on how long rehab will take. One would assume the injury may affect Nene's reported plans to play for Brazil in this summer's Copa America. Brazil needs to finish top five in the Copa (assuming already World-qualified Team USA also finished top five) to automatically qualify for the 2010 World Championships in Istanbul. Brazil's coach said Anderson Varejao has tentatively committed, but the Cavalier will likely enter free agency in July. Missing its two top big men could be trouble for the Brazilians.

Bloggers knee-jerking on the phone + roundtable style = RoundCast.

The Lakers advanced to the NBA Finals on Friday, by eliminating the Nuggets in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals.

Matt Moore and I welcomed Josh Tucker of Silver Screen and Roll to the RoundCast, to discuss L.A.'s big win, as well as what might lie ahead for the Lakers on their road to redemption in this year's Finals.

Are the Cavs or the Magic the better matchup? Can Lamar Odom continue to play to his potential? Will Derek Fisher ever stop shooting the PUJIT?

We have no idea. But we'll discuss it all, as well as give you our Finals preview, without even knowing who the Lakers will face once the championship round begins. Yes my friends, sometimes, it's that easy.