Afflalo to Denver for Cap Space to Get Big Baby Davis

From MLive.com Full Court Press:

Report: Arron Afflalo could be headed to Denver
Posted by Dave Dial July 10, 2009 15:15PM



The Denver Post is reporting that Detroit Piston shooting guard, Arron Afflalo, could be traded to the Denver Nuggets to join his former teammate Chauncey Billups.

July 10, Denver Post: The Detroit Pistons are likely looking to trade guard Arron Afflalo to clear cap space to sign another big man and my colleague, Benjamin Hochman, has learned that the Nuggets could be Afflalo's next stop.

Afflalo averaged 6.3 points per game on 47 percent shooting for the Pistons last season, his second season in the NBA out of UCLA. The 6-5 guard was in-and-out of the lineup as Detroit tried multiple lineups throughout the season.

Those fits the rumors that Joe Dumars may be looking to trade Afflalo and Walter Sharpe to clear extra cap space in order to sign a big man free agent. With Brandon Bass signing with the Orlando Magic, the next big man on Joe's list may be Glen 'Big Baby' Davis. This could also explain why Sharpe hasn't shown up to practice with the Detroit Piston summer league team. Stay tuned...

From the True Blue Pistons blog:

Reports in Denver have the Pistons and Nuggets talking about a trade that would send Arron Afflalo to Denver. The Nuggets have a trade exception that would allow them to take a player without sending anything back in return. The deal would give the Pistons roughly $3.5 million under the cap. It’s possible Joe Dumars would attempt to sign Boston’s Glen Davis to an offer sheet, but it’s questionable whether that would be enough to dissuade the Celtics from matching the offer for Davis, a restricted free agent. One other Pistons target, Brandon Bass, got away Friday by agreeing to a four-year deal with Orlando for a reported $18 million.

Afflalo is talented and has a budding locker room presence. I like him, but with Ben Gordon on board, the Pistons are overloaded in the backcourt, so he is a valuable trade commodity.

Denver could certainly use a guard/forward who can shoot and defend multiple positions on the perimeter.

And rumors that last year's second round pick Walter Sharpe could be traded explain why he's not playing on the Pistons summer league team, which won its first game against the Kings' youngsters handily.

Dumping Afflalo's and Sharpe's salaries to get Glen "Baby Baby" Davis would be an awesome move.

Go for it Joe.

But if the Celts do match an offer, they will be way over the luxury tax line.

In that case, the Pistons will just have to wait for a chance at another big man. And it will come.