Who's Going to Bug Kobe?

Shapecity · Jul 11, 2009

So long, Dahntay Jones.

Judging by the complaint box, you were the single most annoying member of the Nuggets between the lines. More annoying than Kenyon Martin, amazingly enough. Except to Mark Cuban, of course. K-Mart still had you beat there.

You always said you weren't trying to be annoying; you were just doing your job. I have often said the same thing myself.

Personally, I will miss your adroit use of the English language. That Duke education definitely paid off.

"I would have an explanation if I planned it, but I don't," you said when I asked you about tripping Kobe Bryant in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. "Every movement that I have out there is not something that I can explain. I'm just playing basketball."

OK, sure, but how about that leg stretched waaaaay out there in front of Bryant, as the replay must have showed at least a thousand times?

"Just reacting," you said, raising your eyebrows as if this was too obvious for words. "I think he cut, so I guess I was trying to get my upper body position back there, and we got tangled up."

Like the Hornets before them, the Lakers suggested you were a dirty player.

"If I let Kobe score or I let the opposing team score, they would think that would be good and they wouldn't be talking about me at all," you pointed out. "I'm going to play hard, and I'm going to scrap, and I'm going to try to help my team win. So whatever you want to call it. I call it playing hard."

Me too. You have a chance to be the next Bruce Bowen. I asked you once for basketball role models, and you mentioned Doug Christie, Bowen and James Posey, perimeter stoppers all.

All you need to do is take about a thousand shots a day this summer. When you're open, which, as you know, you will be, you need to hit that jumper, particularly the 3, consistently.

Otherwise, you're a younger, more athletic version of Bowen already. The way the Hornets and Lakers complained about you was reminiscent of the Nuggets complaining about Bowen as the Spurs eliminated the Nuggets every year. Ah, memories.

It is a mystery to me why a contender would let its best on-the-ball defender walk as a free agent. The deal the Nuggets made with Chris Ander- sen, your free-agent companion, left enough room in the available salary cap exception to sign you to roughly the deal you got in Indiana. Congratulations on that, by the way.

For the Nuggets, either it was purely a money thing, or they have another move in mind and will be using your money for that. I hope it's the latter, only because the former would mean that owner E. Stanley Kroenke cares more about red ink on the balance sheet than winning a championship, which is not his reputation.

It's still hard for me to imagine another move that will make this one a good idea. No offense, but you came cheap. Will J.R. Smith defend tenaciously as a starter without you around making him look bad if he doesn't?

As you know, this isn't the first time the Nuggets have cut corners in their alleged pursuit of a title. They bought out Antonio McDyess rather than paying him to provide invaluable frontcourt insurance. Remember when they said McDyess would retire if he couldn't stay in Detroit? Now he's headed to San Antonio as a free agent.

While the Nuggets retrench, their rivals have been busy. In Dallas, Cuban acquired Shawn Marion and is likely to end up with restricted free agent Marcin Gortat, thanks to a generous offer sheet.

He also added Quinton Ross, a player a little like you, Dahntay. Any team that hopes to take the West away from Bryant and the Lakers will need at least one dedicated perimeter defender.

Then there's San Antonio, which added not only Richard Jefferson, but now, painfully, McDyess. The Nuggets will pay him $3 million to play for the Spurs rather than $7 million to play for them.

The current roster, plus McDyess, plus you, Dahntay, would be pretty fearsome. Even if K-Mart and Nene were unable to play as many games as they did last season, McDyess and Andersen would be there to spell them.

And you would be there to get on Chris Paul's nerves or Kobe's nerves. Not the most important job, maybe, but you did it so well. Next spring sometime, I'm betting we'll miss that.
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Source: Denver Post

esperanzafleet6969 · Jul 11, 2009

his name is carmelo anthony...

Shapecity · Jul 14, 2009

I think it's Arron Afflalo.

J_Ray · Jul 23, 2009

esperanzafleet6969 said: ↑

his name is carmelo anthony...
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Who's Going to Bug Kobe?

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