Here's a haphazard trade proposal.

FROM DENVER

C/PF Steven Hunter ($3,862,600)

PG Chucky Atkins ($3,240,000)

FROM INDIANA

C Rasho Nesterovic ($8,400,000)

PG Jamaal Tinsley ($6,750,000)

FROM PORTLAND

C/PF Raef LaFrentz ($12,722,500)

PF Joel Freeland (Draft Rights)

PG Petteri Koponen (Draft Rights)

TO DENVER

PG Jamaal Tinsley ($6,750,000)

PF Joel Freeland (Draft Rights)

PG Petteri Koponen (Draft Rights)

TO INDIANA

C/PF Raef LaFrentz ($12,722,500)

C/PF Steven Hunter ($3,862,600)

TO PORTLAND

C Rasho Nesterovic ($8,400,000)

PG Chucky Atkins ($3,240,000)

http://www.realgm.com/src_checktrade.php?tradeid=4791693

Prior to the trade, the Portland Trail Blazers would waive Shavlik Randolph to create roster space.

For the Denver Nuggets, George Karl would finally have a starting caliber point guard in Jamaal Tinsley. While Tinsley is no great shakes by any stretch of the imagination, he's nevertheless an upgrade over journyman Anthony Carter. Yet, despite Tinsley's superb handles and skills as a distributor, he's a terribly inefficient shooter -- especially from beyond the arc -- and flat-out sucks on defense. Tinsley has a heavily overpriced contract, too, but that doesn't negate the possible benefits that he'd bring to the Nuggets. The Nuggets would also obtain the draft rights to two foreigners with so-so potential, Joel Freeland and Petteri Koponen, which'd be an added bonus.

For the Indiana Pacers, Hoosier State veteran Jeff Foster and enormous rookie Roy Hibbert are entrenched at center; thus, there's no future for Rasho Nesterovic in that organization. In addition, Nesterovic's expiring contract is of major trade value; therefore, the plan of packaging him and the seemingly cancerous Tinsley for someone with a larger expiring contract (e.g., Raef LaFrentz) and a decent replacement as the third-string center (e.g., Steven Hunter) isn't a bad proposition.

For the Portland Trail Blazers, a third-string center is a much-needed addition -- especially in light of Greg Oden's apparent propensity to hurt himself -- that Kevin Pritchard foolishly hasn't dealt with for damn near two years. Last season, it was an absolute joke to watch Channing Frye play out of position at the pivot. This time around, however, I expect that this so-called genius (i.e., Pritchard) will quickly fix this glaring problem. As a result, I advocate shipping off LaFrentz's expiring contract for Nesterovic's expiring contract -- even though it's the smaller of the two and, moreover, would be acquired at the cost of a couple minor assets -- otherwise, the Blazers will once again be stuck playing natural power forwards out of position at center.

Despite having a lofty resume, Pritchard has yet to understand the importance of a balanced roster. Alas, let's hope that he's learned his lesson on this occasion.