Rich and desperate is no way to go through life, unless your lifelong dream is to be poor and look stupid. Does Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe appear as if he has "sucker" painted on his forehead? The NBA does not suffer fools. It fleeces them.

The Nuggets are desperate for two new starters in the backcourt. The team has $18 million to spend on free agents. From Jason Kidd to Gary Payton, any superstar guard who wants to win big now has better options than crossing over to Denver, which leaves Vandeweghe an easy target for money-grubbers who want to score big at his expense.

"It's not like I've got money burning a hole in my pocket," Vandeweghe said. "If we don't get the players we want, we aren't going to spend the money just to spend it."

There are three free-agent guards who would accept the Nuggets' cash, and Denver needs to sign two from the list: Golden State wunderkind Gilbert Arenas, Andre Miller and Corey Maggette, the latter two looking to escape the basketball insane asylum poorly disguised as the Los Angeles Clippers.

Before offering any of these guards a contract, the trick for the Nuggets is to look squarely in the eyes of each of these three guards, then somehow determine whether that gleam is a genuine desire for greatness or just plain greed.

"The worst that can happen is I get paid more than I can right now," Arenas told The Denver Post in a recent interview, trying not to sound smug. "I'm not afraid of anything."