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Start flapping those wings, Denver Nuggets fans: Chris “Birdman” Andersen will stay with the team, according to The Denver Post. Andersen, 31, agreed to a five-year deal that could pay up to $26 million–a big haul for a guy just one season past a two-year ban from the National Basketball Association for drug use. Re-signing Birdman was the No. 1 priority for the Nuggets this off-season, but they’re going to have to do more to compete with the NBA’s elite teams.
To wit: The Los Angeles Lakers, fresh off a dominant championship win, signed troubled star Ron Artest, who will bring enough fire to the Lakers to make a 2010 championship a safe bet. The Cleveland Cavaliers, already loaded with the NBA’s best young player, LeBron James, signed Shaquille O’Neal. Although he’s older and a bit slower, he’ll still have to be accounted for on the floor and will free up space for LeBron to hit shots from practically anywhere.
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The Boston Celtics will get Kevin Garnett back from injury and are signing Rasheed Wallace, a gifted three-point shooter. The San Antonio Spurs, a team that has always given the Nuggets problems, signed star small forward Richard Jefferson and will likely re-emerge as a top-flight team in the Western Conference.
As one Fox Sports columnist puts it, the elite teams’ off-season acquisitions are a case of the rich getting richer. The Nuggets are a borderline-great team, and signing Birdman is a huge deal, but they may not have enough to compete with L.A, Cleveland, Boston, and San Antonio.