The Denver Nuggets have acquired 35-year old point guard Andre Miller, the #26 overall pick last night (forward Jordan Hamilton) and a future 2nd round pick in either 2013 or 2014 from the Blazers for 26-year old point guard Raymond Felton. Miller played in 81 games (all starts) for the Blazers last year and he averaged 32.7 minutes, 12.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He has now played in 978 games (915 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 34.4 minutes, 15.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Miller has already played four years in Denver. He has played in 269 games (all starts) for the Nuggets and he averaged 35.1 minutes, 14.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. It will be interesting to see how head coach George Karl decides to split up the minutes at the point between Miller and Ty Lawson. Rookie forward Jordan Hamilton might get on the court right away for the Nuggets in 2011-12. Raymond Felton played in 21 games (0 starts) for the Nuggets after coming over in the Carmelo Anthony deal and he averaged 31.6 minutes, 11.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game. This was a good deal for the Nuggets as Felton wasn’t going to be happy coming off the bench. The other parts of this deal were the Blazers sending guards Rudy Fernandez and Petteri Koponen to the Mavericks with the #57 overall pick (F Tanguy Ngombo) heading from Dallas to Portland.

The Denver Nuggets have 3 restricted free agents and 4 unrestricted free agents heading into this off-season and six of them are key players. The Nuggets likely want all of their restricted free agents back, but, only SG/SF Gary Forbes will likely come back at a nice price. SG Arron Afflalo and SG/SF Wilson Chandler are going to probably get nice offers from other teams, so it will be interesting to see how far the Nuggets are willing to go to bring them back. The biggest free agent could be Nene Hilario as he has a early termination option in his contract. He would be the best center available in free agency, so the Nuggets will have to pay top dollar to keep him and they also will need to convince him that the grass isn’t any greener in another city. PF Kenyon Martin will likely be allowed to leave due to his injury history. SG J.R. Smith will also likely leave unless he comes back at the Nuggets’ price and I don’t think that will happen. PF Melvin Ely didn’t do much last year, so I see him walking away to another city.

The Nuggets will be without backup center Timofey Mozgov for the next 10-14 days due to a sprained ankle and knee. Mozgov played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Nuggets since coming over in the big Carmelo Anthony trade with the Knicks and he is averaging 6.0 minutes, 2.5 points and 1.5 assists per game. The Nuggets should be able to survive O.K. without Mozgov as he hasn’t done much for them since coming over to them in the big deal.

The Nuggets will be without starting small forward Danilo Gallinari for the next 7-10 days due to a fractured big toe. Gallinari has played in 2 games (both starts) for the Nuggets so far and he is averaging 30.5 minutes, 16.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 1.0 steal and 2.0 blocked shots per game. Wilson Chandler will slide into the starting small forward role until Gallinari returns to action and they shouldn’t miss a beat. Chandler has played in 3 games (2 starts) for the Nuggets so far and he is averaging 31.7 minutes, 17.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game. The Nuggets should be o.k. going forward. The one thing the Carmelo Anthony trade did for the Nuggets was that it really improved the depth of the team.

The Denver Nuggets have dealt Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman to the Knicks for Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks first round pick in 2014, the Warriors second round picks in both 2012 and 2013 and $3 million bucks. 26-year old Carmelo Anthony played in 50 games (all starts) for the Nuggets this season and he averaged 35.5 minutes, 25.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He played in 564 games (all starts) in his 8 years in Denver and he averaged 36.4 minutes, 24.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game. 34-year old point guard Chauncey Billups played in 51 games (all starts) for the Nuggets this season and he was averaging 32.3 minutes, 16.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game. 27-year old forward Shelden Williams played in 42 games (32 starts) for the Nuggets this year and he averaged 17.0 minutes, 4.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. 35-year old point guard Anthony Carter only played in 14 games (0 starts) for the Nuggets this season and he averaged 10.9 minutes, 1.9 points, 0.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. 26-year old forward Renaldo Balkman played in 5 games (0 starts) for the Nuggets and he averaged 8.8 minutes, 2.6 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. I think that in reality, the Nuggets are only going to miss Carmelo Anthony out of the players they have dealt in this trade.

All four of the players the Nuggets got from the Knicks in this deal are 26-years old or younger. 26-year old point guard Raymond Felton was having the best season of his NBA career this year. He played in 54 games (all starts) for the Knicks this season and he averaged 38.4 minutes, 17.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 9.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game. Felton has now played in 453 games (422 starts) in his first six years in the NBA and he is averaging 35.3 minutes, 13.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Felton will replace Chauncey Billups as the Nuggets’ new starting point guard unless they deal him before Thursday. 23-year old SG/SF Wilson Chandler played in 51 games (30 starts) for the Knicks this season and he averaged 34.5 minutes, 16.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game. He has now played in 233 games (180 starts) in his first four years in the NBA and he is averaging 32.2 minutes, 14.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Chandler will likely play 30+ minutes a night between shooting guard and small forward the rest of the season for the Nuggets. 22-year old small forward Danilo Gallinari will likely replace Carmelo Anthony in the starting lineup unless he’s dealt to another team by Thursday. Gallinari played in 48 games (all starts) for the Knicks this season and he averaged 34.8 minutes, 15.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. He has now played in 157 games (124 starts) in his first three years in the NBA and he is averaging 30.8 minutes, 13.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists game. 24-year old center Timofey Mozgov played in 34 games (14 starts) for the Knicks this season and he was averaging 13.5 minutes, 4.0 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. Mozgov will back up Nene’ unless one of them is dealt by the trade deadline this Thursday.

I think the Nuggets did the right thing by dealing Anthony who wasn’t going to re-sign with them anyway. The Nuggets got a nice haul in this deal.

UPDATE: The Nuggets have also acquired 22-year old center Kosta Koufos in this deal for a second round pick. Koufos played in 39 games (1 start) for the Timberwolves this season and he averaged 8.6 minutes, 2.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. He has now played in 123 games (8 starts) in his first three years in the NBA and he is averaging 8.7 minutes, 3.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game.