Woody Paige's Crazy Ideas

Discussion in 'Denver Nuggets' started by Shapecity, May 17, 2008.

  1. Shapecity

    Shapecity S2/JBB Teamster Staff Member Administrator

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>1. Melo & Marcus for Dirk.

    2. Move The Answer and sign The Question. This is a test, an Artest.

    3. Who shot? J.R. Let J.R. shoot and A.I. pass.

    4. Duhon and Diop . . . Duo Doo-Wop.

    5. Nugs and Nets deal.

    6. Vive la France.

    7. Stand pat, stand a chance.

    Now that I have your total attention, those are seven plausible plot outlines for the Nuggets.

    Two weeks ago tonight, the Nuggets went gently and quietly. They had won 50 games and no more.

    It was quitting time, the star told us.

    It has become looking forward, or looking for a forward, time, we tell him.

    The Lakers play on; the Nuggets played out.

    In the NBA, as in poker, winners smile, and the losers say deal.

    Pick one number, and a No. 1. 1. The Nuggets send Carmelo Anthony and Marcus Camby to the Mavericks for Dirk Nowitzki. In order for the trade to work under the cap, other players would have to be involved, but those three would be the major pieces.

    In this scenario, Carmelo must go, and take Camby's salary with him. They're swapping postseason underachievers, but the change of landscape, from one "D" to the other "D," but no "D" likely would benefit both Anthony and Nowitzki. Then Nene would take over at center. With Eduardo Najera and Chucky Atkins also gone, the Nuggets could trim about $15 million from the payroll.

    2. Persuade Allen Iverson to opt out of his contract this summer, or threaten to trade him to a team well under the salary cap — for whatever. He would be free (or World B. Free), and so would the Nuggets, from $21 million. They could bring in free agent Ron Artest ($7.8 million this season), which they should have done at the trading deadline. He provides defense and toughness and questions. Melo's scoring goes up to 31, and Artest adds 21 — same totals as Anthony and Iverson.

    3. Tell Iverson he is the Nuggets' full-time point guard, expected to average a dozen assists a game and a dozen fewer shots a game, and elevate J.R. Smith to starting shooting guard. Smith was the leading scorer in the last game. Camby, who will be 35 next season and is beginning to decline, will have to be jettisoned, and with the loss of free agent Najera, the Nuggets could add a big body.

    4. Sign unrestricted free agents Chris Duhon (Chicago) and DeSagana Diop (New Jersey), and trade Camby and Atkins for a future first-round draft choice. Duhon can play the point and can shoot the 3-ball and can play defense, and Diop, at 26, can run the floor and can improve and can be a 280-pound, 7-foot shot-blocker and rebounder.

    5. The Nets just named Kiki Vandeweghe general manager. The former Nuggets general manager knows the team. Make a deal with him. Vande- weghe drafted Anthony third overall. Let Kiki have him again. The Nets are trying to rebuild as they build a new arena. Carmelo Grows in Brooklyn. The Nuggets trade Anthony and Camby and Linas Kleiza for center Nenad Krstic (a sign-and-trade). They then sign unrestricted free-agent small forward Bostjan Nachbar, late of the Nets. Would the Nets want Kenyon Martin back? Too much to hope for. Nevertheless, the Nuggets would be under the cap and able to sign another free agent (Duhon).

    6. The Nuggets will have the 20th pick in the first round of the draft. If they get rid of good man Camby, as anticipated, they probably can choose Georgetown's Roy Hibbert, a 7-2 center I've fancied since he was in high school. He would have been a lottery pick last year, but wanted to stay and graduate. The real steal could be 6-8 Nicolas Batum of France, who will run and score.

    7. The least popular plan for the public and the press is for the Nuggets to hold on to what they got. George Karl is coming back, and should. He has won just under 60 percent of his regular-season games since assuming control (although losing control to the players sometimes, and losing every playoff series) 3 1/2 seasons ago. He has promised to be tougher on the players — and should promise to be tougher on the referees.

    If Nene can stay healthy, and Atkins can contribute, and the Nuggets play some defense, and Anthony gets rid of his posse and acts mature on and off the court while playing in the Summer Games (unlike at the 2004 Olympics, when he was a waste), and Iverson and Anthony occasionally give up the ball, and the others move without the ball, and owner Stan Kroenke commits to a luxury tax again, maybe the Nuggets will win 55 games — and advance past the first round.

    My picks are 5 and 6. What's your pick — and, lest we forget, Kroenke's?</div>

    Source: Denver Post
     
  2. NJNetz

    NJNetz BBW Banned

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    The Mavs are looking to move Howard; not Dirk.

    I still think it's crazy that Denver is considering trading Carmelo. But I'm pretty sure the management will snap out of it soon, and instead try to work it out with Anthony.
     
  3. tremaine

    tremaine To Win, Be Like Fitz

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    <div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'>3. Tell Iverson he is the Nuggets' full-time point guard, expected to average a dozen assists a game and a dozen fewer shots a game, and elevate J.R. Smith to starting shooting guard. Smith was the leading scorer in the last game. Camby, who will be 35 next season and is beginning to decline, will have to be jettisoned, and with the loss of free agent Najera, the Nuggets could add a big body.</div>

    Wow, finally, 2 weeks after the Nuggets are exposed as an overrated, disfunctional winning is just a fantasy type of team, one lonely, solitary Denver sportswriter recommends this. I guess it's better than never, but not by a whole lot, really.

    The 50 game win regular season was very deceptive because the Nuggets were at least +3 games in lucky wins over unclucky losses, meaining their true regular season after that adjustment was 47-35. Furthermore, they had a net of about +6 games where the opponent was back to back on the road in Denver over games where the Nuggets were back to back on the road. Those games are extremely difficult for the road team to win. Only roughly 1 in 8 of those games are won by the road team. If you take away, say, 3 of those, the Nuggets were actually 44-38 this season. Let's face it, that's what the average NBA fan really thinks that the Nuggets were this year, a 44-38 team. Denver fans and sportswriters are largely living in a dream world if they think that the Nuggets had a truly great regular season.

    Denver needs real basketball fans who are not satisfied with mediocrity or failure dressed up as moderate success. If they ever got enough of them, then I assume some real basketball writers would eventually follow. Most importantly, sooner or later a real coaching staff would arrive as well.
     
  4. tremaine

    tremaine To Win, Be Like Fitz

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    (Deleting duplicate post.)
     
  5. tremaine

    tremaine To Win, Be Like Fitz

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (The Joker @ May 17 2008, 01:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The Mavs are looking to move Howard; not Dirk.

    I still think it's crazy that Denver is considering trading Carmelo. But I'm pretty sure the management will snap out of it soon, and instead try to work it out with Anthony.</div>

    Well they won't snap out of it unless they stop worshipping George Karl or unless C. Anthony says something, anything in public regarding changing the management of the Nuggets, even if it's not to the extent of demanding new coaches. Melo is too mellow about the situation, and, even worse, it appears that he doesn't understand that Karl heavily favors AI over himself, meaning that he is NOT officially even the co-captain of the Nuggets, let alone the captain.

    When Anthony is silent, it creates the impression that he doesn't think anything is wrong with the management of the team or with Iverson being the sole captain. Then that raises a conspiracy theory that Anthony has asked to be traded or at least is secretly hoping to be traded, which in turn would explain his relatively poor Lakers playoff series.
     

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