Friday I kept checking the Post and News’ websites for confirmation that Linas Kleiza had been signed to a four year $25 million contract extension.

I checked and I checked.  Even after it became apparent that no news was coming, I checked some more.

Four years and $25 million seemed to be reasonable for both the Nuggets and Kleiza.  It may have been a tad higher than the Nuggets might have been able to get away with should they take a hard line and get lucky with him as a restricted free agent next summer, but why take the chance of Kleiza either having a monster year and being in the position to demand much more or alienating a player you want to keep around for the long term?

On Saturday news filtered out that the contract was a done deal until Stan Kronke himself stepped in and squashed it.  The question became why.  Why did Kronke shoot down what would appear to be a very reasonable deal?  The Rocky Mountain News blog post by Chris Tomasson linked to above assumes it is the economy, but I think there is something else afoot.

There did not seem to be an obvious answer until some news filtered out that the Nuggets were still in negotiations with the Pacers for Jamaal Tinsley.  According to reports if the Pacers were to step up their offer, the Nuggets would bite.

The source for the reports is once again coming from Peter Vescy, the NBA’s equivalent of a gossip columnist, but when combined with the Nuggets reneging from the Kleiza deal I am afraid that Vescey may be barking up the right tree for once.

The key is the salaries.  The Nuggets have committed salaries of about $53 or $54 million to six players for next season.  They are going to be in a position to pay at least one player five to seven million dollars while still being able to fill in the rest of the roster and stay under the luxury tax.  If the Nuggets sign Kleiza to that extension, then he is the player to receive that five to seven million in salary.  Why would the Nuggets do a 180 and decide to wait on Kleiza.  The only reason that makes sense is if they have another option for spending that money.

Enter Jamaal Tinsley. 

Tinsley makes just under seven million dollars this season and will make a hair more than seven million next year.  Could it be Denver realized that they could not extend Kleiza and bring in Tinsley?  Right now that is the only logical explanation.  Even if the Tinsley deal falls through they can still sign Kleiza to the same deal after this season that is assuming he does not explode and has a huge year.  However, the opposite would appear to be happening as Kleiza has been atrocious save the two free throws to send the Clipper game into overtime.  If he keeps playing this way the Nuggets will be able to sign him for four years and ten million bucks.

The Tinsley deal may or may not be a certainty at this point in time, but we can be sure that discussions are ongoing about bringing the black sheep point guard to Denver.

There are some people in my life who I trust completely and I know I can believe anything they say.  Then there are others who I am a little wary of.  Peter Vecsey definitely fits in the latter category.  Well, Tom over at Indy Cornrows alerted me to the fact that Vecsey was on the radio in Indianapolis today and he had a little trade rumor surrounding the Denver Nuggets and Jamaal Tinsley. 

According to Vecsey the Nuggets and Pacers had a deal in place to trade Tinsley to the Nuggets in exchange for Chucky Atkins and Steven Hunter, but Rex Chapman used his veto power to reject the deal.

I believe Tinsley is a solid point guard and he was having a very good year in Jim O’Briens’ fast paced system.  He experienced a fallout with the coach and some injuries last year.  Then in the offseason the Pacers made the blockbuster Jermaine O’Neal/T.J. Ford deal and also brought Jarrett Jack in from Portland.  Tinsley suddenly became superfluous and the Pacers announced that Tinsley would be traded.

Heading into this offseason I listed the need to find a point guard as the second most important goal for the Nuggets this summer (the first being to resign J.R. Smith).  Heading into training camp the point guard situation is pretty much the way it was last season.  Atkins is hurt and Anthony Carter is set up to play more minutes than he is suited for.

Would Tinsley be the solution for the Nuggets at point guard? 

The blueprint for the perfect point guard for the Nuggets is a player with decent size who can penetrate, play defense and he has to be able to hit three pointers.  Tinsley has decent size and he can penetrate and score.  However, he is a below average defender and is a horrible three point shooter.  Actually, he is just an all around poor shooter with a career mark of 39.5%.  Another black mark on Tinsley’s record that bears mentioning is his propensity to stay out late and stumble upon trouble (an area in which the Nuggets require no additional assistance). 

However, the primary reason in my mind why I am glad the Nuggets passed on acquiring Tinsley is financial.  I am not an Atkins fan at all, but he is an expiring contract that will come off the books after this season.  Steven Hunter did not play much last season and might not play much this season, but with the departure of Marcus Camby, Hunter is a vital insurance policy for the Nuggets against Nene or Kenyon Martin missing time.  Hunter’s contract does have two years at about seven million dollars on it, but his deal will not have a negative effect on the Nuggets ability to add salary next season.

Tinsley has three years and over $21 million left on his deal.  After this season the Nuggets will only have one really bad contract on the books, that of Kenyon Martin.  They are close to getting their salary structure under control.  Tinsley does not have an awful contract, but it is significant enough that it would prevent them from being able to utilize the trade exception from the Marcus Camby deal.

Tinsley would certainly be an upgrade over the Carter and Atkins duo, but he is not the point guard the Nuggets need.  Pacer fans are hoping that we will bombard Rex Chapman’s voice mail with pleas to change his mind.  Somehow I do not think that is going to happen.

Of course, keep in mind the source for all of this.  Who knows if the Nuggets were ever really interested in the first place?

Aside from the trade rumor itself, there is another potential story here and that is the issue of how the Nuggets front office functions.  You would like to think there is an established hierarchy where some competent individual is in charge and is the final decision maker instead of having a plethora of individuals who can all put the kibosh on anything (picture the UN Security Council).

If everyone has to agree before a deal is done, hopefully that will protect you from making horrible decisions, but if one person can scuttle any given transaction, they could easily miss the boat on a very good deal due to one objector.

I do not know for sure how the front office functions, but if you cannot stand the heat, there may be too many cooks in the kitchen.  Or something like that.