Quietly, a lot of teams were coveting restricted free agent Arron Afflalo — a shooting guard who plays good defense, can knock down the open three (42 percent last year) and plays smart and within himself. I say quietly because they realized that they were not going to land him — he wanted to stay in Denver and the team was going match any reasonable offer anyway.
In the end, the Nuggets and Afflalo worked out a deal — five years, $43 million, reports Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated.
Last week the Nuggets signed Nene to keep another key asset from the team that played surprisingly well — and fantastic team basketball — last year after the Carmelo Anthony trade. The problem is that three other key members of that team — J.R. Smith, Wilson Chandler and Kenyon Martin — are still all playing in China. And even when they come back to the NBA from there they will be free agents who could land a lot of places.
There are plenty of questions about Denver, this season and going forward. But inking Afflalo makes them better, whatever the answers.