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(Denver-CO) Dahntay Jones is now an Indiana Pacer. Chris Dempsey reports for the Denver Post that Jones has signed a four-year, $11 million dollar deal with Indiana making him the first loss of Denver's unrestricted free-agents.
This is not a surprise to me. While the "Hound Dog" was a tremendous defensive asset to have, the Nuggets have an even more valuable offensive asset to showcase in J.R. Smith. "The Prodigy" will now almost undoubtedly start for the Nuggets in the 2009-10 and will see even more minutes with his back-up now being second year pro, Sonny Weems.
And while I do not want to make this an article about J.R. Smith, it is now time for "The Prodigy" to become "The Proof".
Jones' agent, Mark Bartelstein, adds some insight on how Dahntay's situation was tied to that of fellow Denver free-agent, Chris Andersen.
Bartelstein said, "For him (Dahntay Jones) and Andersen they basically had to split up the mid-level exception and most of it went to Andersen, which made it really difficult to get Dahntay signed. So, it was a difficult set of circumstances. But that's the rules and you have to live with it."
In this case, Denver made the right decision. The Nuggets are small by comparison to other franchises in the Western Conference and securing Andersen's size and shot blocking was more pressing than Dahntay's perimeter defense. Best of luck to the "Hound Dog" in Indiana.
Go Nuggets!

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Any inside info on possible moves to come, Doc?