#2008 nba draft

As the Denver Nuggets finished up the 2007-08 season with a 50-win season and a first round sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers, the cost-cutting process was underway. Denver came into the 2008 offseason with a payroll around $81 million and was $13 million over the luxury tax threshold. 

Denver would need to shed salary and one method would be dealing their first round draft pick to eliminate a guaranteed salary from their payroll. This led to the Nuggets dealing the 20th selection in the 2008 draft to the Charlotte Bobcats for a future first round pick.

Charlotte selected French center Alexis Ajinca in the first round. Ajinca spent much of his rookie season on the bench or in the D-League (11.9 PPG, 6.8 RPG and 1.8 BPG with Sioux Falls). He did play in 31 games (4 starts) and averaged 2.3 PPG and 1.0 RPG in 5.9 MPG. Charlotte finished that season 35-47 and out of the postseason picture.

During the 2009-10 season, Ajinca only saw action in 6 games with the ‘Cats. He played in the D-League for a solid portion of the year. Ajinca made the D-League All-Star team after producing 14.5 PPG, 7.6 RPG and 3.1 BPG. The Bobcats made the postseason that year with a 44-38 record and were swept in the first round of the postseason by the Orlando Magic.

After two years in Charlotte, Ajinca was dealt with Tyson Chandler to the Dallas Mavericks for Eduardo Najera, Matt Carroll, Erick Dampier, and cash. Ajinca departed Charlotte with 2.2 PPG and 0.9 RPG in 37 games. He shot 38% on FGs and 69% on FTs in that time.

The 2010 draft pick that the Nuggets acquired featured many draft protections. The pick was lottery protected in 2009, protected from 1-12 in 2010, 1-10 in 2011, 1-8 in 2012 and 1-3 in 2013. If the pick had not been conveyed to Denver by 2014, it would be completely unprotected for the 2014 NBA Draft.

Since the Bobcats finished out of the postseason picture (35-47) for the 2008-09 season, the pick was kept by the Bobcats for the 2009 NBA Draft. The rights to the draft pick were traded by the Nuggets exactly one year later to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the draft rights to point guard Ty Lawson.

Charlotte's appearance in the 2010 postseason allowed the pick to be conveyed in 2010 to the Timberwolves. Minnesota eventually selected forward Luke Babbitt from the University of Nevada with the 16th pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. The Wolves subsequently traded Babbitt’s draft rights with Ryan Gomes to the Portland Trail Blazers for Martell Webster.

Denver Nuggets vice president of basketball operations Mark Warkentien on the lack of opportunity available for a potential draft pick if they had kept their selection (via USA Today):

“Tough roster to make. You look at a young guy coming in, where does he go? Again, you look at the positions and it's tough finding minutes for young guys.”

How the future draft pick gives Denver another future asset in trade talks:

“There is a myriad of possibilities of what you can do with this. We love the flexibility. Good businesses remain flexible and we have a lot of flexibility now.”

On the Nuggets gameplan (via Denver Post):