Let the Demolition of NBA Teams Begin

This off-season is going to be a blast. Usually it's just "what pretty good player will go to what pretty good team," or "can my hometown crew nab a keeper in the second round"? But after these extremely high-profile playoff exits, we might be seeing some serious demolition about to go down.

Dallas already dumped Avery, and Josh Howard now has the mark of the beast upon him, making his future uncertain. And then there's Denver, who pay like seven very good players tens of millions of dollars to quit in crucial games.

The Rocky Mountain News has a detailed breakdown on what the Nuggets can and can't do. The only logical conclusion? Trade Camby, the team's best defensive player and a presence any contender would be glad to pick up. Which, of course, seems like a step in exactly the wrogn direction: It makes them even weaker at that end of the court, and hands this underrated force to someone else.

My question: Why exactly would it have killed them to trade for Artest in a "now or never" bid? I know that Kleiza is cute and all, and beloved by the owners, but Ron Ron could've made that Lakers mess into a series. And perhaps energized the whole team going forward. Yes, his contract was up this summer, but is that inconvenience really preferable to the uninspiring morass Denver's now in?

Instead of making their best shot better, they blew it altogether.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.