The Nuggets, Rockets and 76ers agreed to a three-way trade Wednesday that sends James Posey to Houston, Kenny Thomas to Philadelphia and Mark Bryant and Art Long to Denver.

	Posey

	Thomas

Denver also gets a future first-round draft choice from Philadelphia and a second-round pick from the Rockets.

Posey was second on the Nuggets in scoring, averaging 14.1 points. He will give the Rockets another offensive player to complement Steve Francis, Cuttino Motley and Yao Ming.

The 76ers upgraded their talent at power forward, where Bryant and Long were receiving little playing time behind Keith Van Horn and Brian Skinner.

"He brings toughness, scoring and that Philly-style basketball that Larry (Brown) likes," Sixers general manager Billy King said. "He be a great complement to Keith (Van Horn) and Derrick (Coleman). He can play some (small forward), and it allows Monty (Williams) to recover at a slower pace."

For the Nuggets, the benefit is adding two draft picks to use after this season, when the team is expected to have about $20 million in salary cap room to put toward rebuilding.

In the short term, however, the loss of Posey should make the Nuggets -- with a record of 6-19 entering Wednesday night's game against Dallas -- even worse this season than they've already been.

Posey, a 6-foot-8 swingman, also averaged 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists for Denver, the lowest-scoring team in the NBA. Posey's two biggest negatives were his 37 percent shooting from the field and his team-high 66 turnovers. The three-year veteran was the 18th overall pick in the 1999 draft.

"James was a free agent at the end of the year and was going to explore the free agent market again," Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said. "We would had a great difficulty re-signing him, so I felt it was necessary that we not lose him for nothing."

Thomas, a 6-7 forward, was chosen four spots behind Posey in the '99 draft. He was averaging 9.9 points and 6.9 rebounds for Houston after putting up career-best numbers of 14.1 points and 7.2 rebounds last season.

"Posey works out here over the summer. We know him well, and our players know him well. He's worn out a lot of basketballs at Westside (the Rockets' practice facility)," said Houston general manager Carroll Dawson, who described Posey as a "tenacious defender."

Bryant, in his 15th season, will be joining his ninth NBA team. He appeared in 11 games for Philadelphia, averaging 1.1 points and 1.5 rebounds.

Long averaged 2.1 points and 2.1 rebounds in 19 games for the 76ers. The two-year veteran signed with Philadelphia as a free agent after spending last season with Seattle.

Denver won't be able to use the 76ers' first-round pick until 2005 at the earliest. Philadelphia already owes Boston a lottery-protected first-round pick in 2003, and league rules prohibit the 76ers from trading away first-round picks in consecutive years.