Back on July 26th I wrote about a podcast, The Lowe Post, where Zach Lowe was chatting casually about the Cleveland Cavaliers needing a rim protector and perhaps Denver being a team that the Cavs could contact for a big man. Here is my summary of Lowe’s, again, casual hoops conversation on his podcast:
Things got really interesting when Lowe started pondering Cleveland's need for a true rim protector. He discussed the slight decline of (and oft injured) Anderson Varejao, the trading away of Tyler Zeller, and how the Cavs could use some help in the paint to anchor their defense … enter Denver. Now, this is just Lowe shooting the breeze on his podcast, but he mentioned the possibility of the Nuggets getting in the mix if a deal for Kevin Love and the Cavs comes to fruition.
Lowe mentioned Timofey Mozgov, JaVale McGee, and J.J. Hickson being possibilities the Cavs might consider in some type deal involving the Timberwolves or perhaps separate. Denver could consider moving one of their big men to clear playing time and salary from their roster, while getting some type of asset(s) in return.
Well, Lowe might want to buy a lottery ticket. An interesting Tweet from Sports.ru's Alexander Chernykh has been making the rounds around the web (Sports Illustrated has a small story on it):
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Cavs tried to trade for Timofey Mozgov, David Blatt told ITAR-TASS. Added that he would love to add Shved, though neither trade will happen.</p>— Alexander Chernykh (@chernykh) <a href="https://twitter.com/chernykh/statuses/497829391494561792">August 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Did the Cavaliers new head coach really reveal a couple targets the team was inquiring about? Were the Cavs really in pursuit of Mozgov? Blatt coached Mozgov on the Russian National Team and it could be assumed a no-brainer that he would like his new team to acquire a guy he's familiar with in Timo.
Again, I don’t see the Nuggets wanting to part with Mozgov, especially not for what the Cavs would likely be offering. Players? The ones that will be headed to Minnesota in the Kevin Love trade (when Andrew Wiggins is able to be traded on Aug. 23rd) are some of the few desirable pieces the team has that the Nuggets could use … see Wiggins, Andrew. Draft picks? A likely late first-rounder at some point in the future isn’t too appealing.
If the Cavs did come calling for Mozgov, you have to wonder if the Nuggets even seriously considered a deal.
Nuggets Notes:
Kenneth Faried made the cut of 16 with Team USA, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.
Still remaining in the U.S. pool of players are guards Derrick Rose, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving,Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan, James Harden, Kyle Korver, Damian Lillard; forwards Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Chandler Parsons, Gordon Hayward, Kenneth Faried; and centers DeMarcus Cousins, Mason Plumlee and Andre Drummond.
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