It's times like these that basketball analysts make foolish over the top statements about a team like the Denver Nuggets. The A.P. report on this game featured a writer who said that J.R. Smith's role is to "hide the Nugget's flaws," and Charles Barkley on the cable network said the other night that the Nuggets "could never win without several new players" (at least two) who "don't care about scoring but who will do the dirty work of getting alot of rebounds and defensive stops." He called Najera unqualified for this job. While I may agree about Najera, Barkley is totally overlooking Nene, Reggie Evans, Camby, and, for that matter, Kenyon Martin. Nene is getting stronger in the post and defensively in the paint by the week. Evans is a rebounding machine. Camby is currently 4th in the NBA in rebounds per game, and has moved ahead of Jermaine O'Neill to lead the League in blocks. And if KMart recovers adequately from knee surgery, he's going to resume being an above average rebounder and at least decent on defense. Maybe Barkley only likes players who have a certain cynical attitude about basketball and life in general, such as Ben Wallace and Shaquille O'Neill. Whether someone has a cynical attitude, though, does not determine how many defensive stops and offensive rebounds they get. I, being a mature and well-balanced observer who has seen it all at one time or another, am not going to stoop to name calling or to gross generalizations and exaggerations. I am going to continue to point out the flaws in the Nuggets, which are now playing themselves out over and over in almost every game, like a broken record. And I am going to continue to point out that the Nuggets are actually very close to being one of the best teams in the League and will, if necessary, use the off season to make the small number of playing style, roster and coaching changes that will be needed to correct the real problems. Fortunately, the real execs in the Denver front office see the real problems, not the over dramatized, exaggerated problems that people like Barkley put out to keep the ratings up, or the unspoken, really nasty, impossible to deal with problems that those like the A.P. writer hint at. His scheme is to have the reader think of what he or she thinks is the worst problem in the world for a basketball team to have and assume that the Nuggets have that problem. It's kind of funny when you think about it. And for all the Nuggets fans who are in anguish, I say to you simply "Get a grip". The Nuggets, unlike half the teams in the NBA, do not have any problems that can not be fixed quickly, though, as I already have said, it is beginning to look like it may take the off-season to fix them and possibly the replacement of the head coach. If the growing crowd that is saying that the Nuggets will never be a contender after the Iverson trade is correct, then the Nuggets will not be a winning team next year, and if you want to believe that, then I have some swamp land in Colorado that I would like to sell to you. So let's once again, for the umpteenth time, go over the real Nuggets flaws. First, they have too many defensive lapses; they don't play tough defense consistently, though they have improved somewhat lately, with Nene's improving performance being the biggest defensive improvement. Second, they do not have offensive balance between their ace scorers and the rest of the roster. Most of the Nugget's off the bench players are not taking enough shots, partly due to not getting the ball enough and partly due to not being aggressive enough to take good shots. Incredibly, tonight the Jazz bench outscored the Nuggets bench 70-21. The third Nuggets problem is too many turnovers. The Nuggets keep finding new combinations of turnovers in their bizarre quest to lead the league in the category. I'm pretty sure the Nuggets are leading the League in travels. The time may have come to add a fourth flaw with the Nuggets: game management by George Karl is falling short of the mark. Although he finally started A.I. at the point, a move that most top fans of the Nuggets called for weeks ago, he failed to respond to J.R. Smith's injury and surgery, because he refused to play the one roughly similar player on the roster who has the potential of replacing some of the lost scoring, especially 3-point scoring, namely, DerMarr Johnson. Both myself and the Denver Postsports writer who covers the Nuggets noted that Johnson, if the Nuggets get lucky, could replace a substantial chunk of the lost scoring. Unlike the newspaper writer, who can not be very cynical or judgmental in his columns, I worried in one of my writings here that Karl has been severely limiting Johnson's playing time all season and might make the stupid mistake of continuing to do so even in the wake of the Smith injury. Even though I worried that it could happen, I must admit that I am still surprised that it did in fact happen. DerMarr Johnson played all of 0 minutes and, unless he was injured or about to be arrested for something (maybe a nightclub fight?) that, my friends, is about as big an error a head coach can make. Teams like the Jazz play 10 or 11 players and get output from most of them every game, whereas the Nuggets are playing just 8 or 9 players and getting almost no output from 2-4 of them on a regular basis. That is no way to run a basketball team. Why should the owner of the Nuggets be paying DerMarr Johnson big bucks to sit on the bench night after night? And why should be be paying players who only take 1, 2, or 3 shots each game? As for the game, the Nuggets showed all the four problems that I have gone over and lost to the Jazz 114-104. Carlos Boozer, Utah's leading scorer and rebounder, returned after missing eight games with a hairline fracture in his left leg, but played only 12 minutes and had 10 points on 5/8 shooting. G-F Matt Harpring had 22 points on 8/13 shooting. But none of the Jazz had outstanding games; you don't have to do much when the Nuggets are stuck in the rut of their 4 problems. The Jazz had just 15 turnovers versus the Nugget's 24. The Jazz doubled up the Nuggets on offensive rebounding 14-7 and had 83 shots on goal versus only 67 for the Nuggets. The Jazz had 10 steals and the Nuggets had 7. And on 3-point shooting, which the best Western Conference teams live on, the Jazz were 6/17 but the Nuggets were only 3/9. With Johnson on the bench all night, the Nuggets were starved of 3-point opportunities. Najera played 16 minutes and was 2/2 for 4 points, and he had 4 rebounds and a steal. Kleiza played 20 minutes and was 0/3 and 0/1 on 3's for 0 points, and he had 2 rebounds and an assist. Diawara played 20 minutes and was 1/2, 1/1 on 3's, and 2/2 from the line for 5 points. Nene played 30 minutes and was 1/7 and 6/8 from the line for 8 points, and he added 9 rebounds and a steal. Blake played 30 minutes and was 4/10 and 0/3 on 3's for 8 points, and he had 3 assists and a steal. Camby played 32 minutes and was 3/6 and 0/2 from the line for 6 points, and he also had 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks. A.I. played 44 minutes and was 11/18, 1/2 on 3's, and 10/15 from the line for 33 points, and he also had 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. The Jazz usually foul intentionally to prevent layups by top scorers like A.I., so most of A.I.'s shots were the harder to make jumpers. So this was truly an outstanding game for A.I. and a great recovery from the off game in San Antonio. Melo played for 37 minutes and was 12/18, 1/2 on 3's, and 11/13 from the line for 36 points, and he had 6 assists, 4 rebounds, a steal, and a block. The Jazz foul first and ask questions later with players like Anthony, and they shut down his layups and dunks by fouling him more or less on purpose. So Melo's game was even more outstanding than the statistics show, because most of his shots were jumpers and, as you can see, most of those jumpers went in. It was actually one of Melo's best games of the season. The next game will be tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 24, in Dallas to play the Mavs at 7 pm mountain time. "OH MY GOD, I FORGOT TO PUT DERMARR JOHNSON IN" http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20070224/capt.dxa11202240653.jazz_nuggets_basketball_dxa112.jpg"> IMELO FOR NOT KNOWING HOW TO COACH THE NUGGETS
Denver really starts to suck, they lose so many games. I was excited when AI joined the team but now they are struggling and AI hasn't stepped up. I thought this duo will work out but they haven't done anything yet.
After watching the Nuggets/Jazz game yesterday on ESPN, the Nuggets are more flawed than I originally thought. I never bought into the AI hoopla. As you saw in the game, both AI and Melo scored 33 and 36 points respectively shooting excellently from the field at around 60%. Despite that, they still got blown out. Anyone who saw the game knew the game was over at the end of the third quarter, even though the box score only says they lost by 10. Jerry Sloan truly is a basketball mastermind. His only strategy was containing the rest of the team while he let AI and Melo dominate offensively. The Nuggets were also pathetic on the boards yesterday. They were simply outhustled by Milsap and Hoffa (of all people). They only had 36 rebounds the entire game which is pretty bad since they start two players who are an inch away from 7-feet. I’m also not sold on Mr. Maybyner Hillario. Why is he making $60-million again? Firstly, kudos to his agent who straight up hustled the Nuggets organization. Last year he suffered an extremely serious injury and missed the entire season and still got a hefty pay day. And for all of that money, he’s only playing 23 minutes a game. Kenyon Martin – who is almost 30 years old and sidelined with a serious season-ending injury – is due something like $70 million! That’s $130 designated to two players who play the same position. That’s a whole lot of money and not much production. Both players aren’t exactly easy to move since they make all that money, and haven’t been able to stay healthy. The Nuggets ruled out their chances landing a premier free agent since their cap will be around 80 million at the end of the season. So I don’t think this is necessarily an “easy” problem to solve. And George Karl doesn’t seem to be the problem, since the Nuggets were doing well with him prior to the AI and Boykins deal. Another problem I see for this team is they have nothing to fall back on if AI and Melo have a bad game scoring. Take the San Antonio game, for instance. The Spurs held AI and Melo to a combined 21 points, which is below both of their season averages and the game was pretty much over. J.R. Smith can become that third option, but he’s very streaky at times and does nothing else when he’s scoring: no rebounding, no assists, and no defense. Another problem I noticed from the Nuggets offense is their lack of ball movement, which is something George Karl preaches. Their offense is pretty stagnant as AI and Melo take turns isolating. This will be a problem since come playoff time, teams will clamp down on them and their teammates, who are, as the Jazz game showed us, offensively deficient. With two pretty good defenders holding down the paint in Nene and Camby, their defense is still horrible as they give up about 104 points a game. Again, come playoff time teams will put pressure on AI and Melo and if they have trouble scoring, they certainly can’t rely on their defense to carry them to a victory. At 26-27, I won’t be surprised if the Nuggets just missed the playoffs. Their schedule is pretty tough for the rest of the season and teams like the Warriors, Hornets, and the Clippers looking not far behind, the Nuggets will have to step it up here. And if they do manage to get into the playoffs they will face a team like Dallas, San Antonio, or Phoenix, which will likely result in a first round exit. If they don’t make the playoffs, a very possible scenario, I don’t think their first rounder is protected, which means they will be giving a lottery pick to Philadelphia.
Nice post tremaine. Keep in mind Barkley is more often right than wrong. He knows what he's talking about.
@MrJ The offensive rebounding was pathetic, the Nuggets rely on it to win games. Camby had none. Camby is great at defensive rebounding but only good or average in offensive rebounding. His blocks and defending in general are usually great. Overall, he is a major asset. As for Nene: Nene Numbers for February MIN..... FG... FG%..... FT... FT& STL BLK TO PF OFF DEF TOT AST PTS 32.9 6.5/11.3 .575 4.2/7.1 .592 1.0.. 1.0 2.1 3.9 2.5 4.5.. 7.0. 1.6 17.2 Nene Career Numbers MIN... FG..... FG% FT...... FT% STL BLK TO. PF OFF DEF TOT AST PTS 27.7 4.0/7.7 .519 2.7/4.2 .638. 1.3 0.8. 2.1 3.4 2.2. 4.0.. 6.1 1.8 10.7 Almost everything is up, especially points. In summary, he's now getting 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 1 1/2 assists per game for 33 minutes a game. He's not Nowitzki, but he's playing about as good as Rasheed Wallace, except that Nene can not hit 3-point shots and doesn't even take any. And let KMart heal up and return next year before writing him off. Injuries and recoveries from them are a way of life in the NBA and most players come back to 85% or more of their previous level. Trainers nowadays are equipped with all the knowledge and techniques they need to return a recovered player to the court in good condition. The Nuggets are not supposed to need a "premier free agent". They have already remade their team and are supposed to be competive with what they have. Except that they have too many forwards and will probably make a tweak trade in the off season to get someone who Barkley will downplay but will actually be doing what Barkley has in mind. For example, they might trade Evans for a defensive oriented G-F who can shoot 3's. If Barkley is right and the Nuggets can not be a winning team either this year or next, then the Nuggets will have to trade players like Camby, Najera, Nene, and A.I., and start all over. It's way to early to start thinking that way. The Nuggets do fine when they keep their turnovers down, have players other than A.I. and Melo take some shots, and play some defense. Why they don't do that every game remains largely a mystery, but problems that disappear from time to time can not be that difficult to fix or at least minimize, can they? I consider replacing the head coach an easy fix, and there is now alot of talk in Denver about the faults of George Karl, that all of a sudden seem to be increasing and becoming more apparent to everyone. There is talk about how nice it would be for Rick Adelman to coach the Nuggets next year. Last night Karl left the only Nugget who has any kind of 3-point shooting history on the bench for the whole game. Karl's rotations and minute allocations are being recognized as mistakes more and more. He seems to be unable to direct offensive set plays. He seems more often than not unable to manage game closing situations. And more generally, he is being considered more and more to be too mellow and unable to connect with the team during games to fire them up. Compared with problems you can have with a basketball team, the Nuggets problems are relatively small. If they do little or nothing about their problems, of course, the problems they have will prevent them from contending. A bunch of smaller problems not handled become a big problem.
i can put money on them gettin things together gettin to the playoffs and bein a major threat to anyone they play i guarntee you by playoff time every one of the top western teams are gonna hope they dont have to play the nuggets
<div class="quote_poster">elevate Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">i can put money on them gettin things together gettin to the playoffs and bein a major threat to anyone they play i guarntee you by playoff time every one of the top western teams are gonna hope they dont have to play the nuggets</div> So the Nuggets will be just like the Lakers this year. MrJ: Even though I disagreed with you a little bit, your post was great and gives all Nuggets fans alot to think about.
@MrJ: Your post was great and I wanted to add that I agree with you on the playoffs. It is beginning to look like the Nuggets will not even make the playoffs or get bounced in 4 or 5 games in the first round. If so, I think that George Karl might be looking for a new job. He might end up being the coach of the Grizzlies or the Wolves next year. And I agree with you regarding last night's rebounding, on Sloan, and on how a team can shut down the Nuggets in the playoffs. So I'm just saying I didn't disagree with everything you said, which is the way it sounded in my previous post.
Pure quailty as always Tremaine. It's clear you spend alot of effort on these game reports. They don't go unnoticed. Keep them coming.
