Denver moved $44M in dead money this off-season in an incredibly tight cap market. I can think of a few other teams that should have been moving $.
While I didn't love the quick trigger Barton deal, getting a healthier IT4 a year removed from a top 5 MVP finish for $2M is a no-brainer. Malone has coached IT before so he knows the kid. Maybe occasionally uses a zone to hide ITs defensive deficiencies, like the Mavs would do with Barrea on the floor.
I have no problem with the IT deal (that goes in the good column).
Moving Chandler for a seconded rounder is not ideal from a winning perspective but understandable in the context of their tax situation and the relatively low cost.
The bad column includes, dealing Nurkic for Plumlee, then signing Plumlee to 3 year 41M deal when he was an RFA with no other suitors (Bartelstein is amazing), which along with signing Will Barton to a market/slight above market deal means they have to give up a 1st so their billionaire owner can avoid paying a modest tax bill for one year.
Not sure how we get to 44M in dead money. Chandler can still play. Faried and Arthur are due 21M this year and then expire.
Finally, the cap market is not actually all that tight for dumping purposes. Chicago, Atlanta, NJ have been open for business (the Kings should be as well). The market is really tight for free agents because a majority of the teams with actual space, don't have any interest in signing guys, precisely because they want to keep it open and get an asset for taking on bad money.