why the hell has this team not gotten rid of chucky atkins already? even if he was healthy he wouldn't get any playing time. he's always hurt AND he sucks.

glad to see balkman got good minutes again

George McCloud went bananas several times, so I will cut him some slack, but the rest of your list is spot on. And you're right, John Lithgow should absolutely be starting Smith. His running grudge against J.R. is so fucking ridiculous and only adds to the notion that he is a moron.

Danhtay is a good player; off the bench. He's active and athletic and runs the break. Can play defense and has shown he can hit an outside shot when he's open (sometimes). Needs to work on shot selection and ball handling though.

JR should be starting. It's completely insane that both he and Kleiza come off the bench. It's like having two solid sixth men. And they both aren't going to contribute off the bench consistently. Start JR already!

AC coming off the bench is great. I hope people get off his back. He is solid. Name another back up point guard more solid than AC? Jordan Farmar is the only one i can think of right now. AC can hit an outside shot (yes, check out his stats), pass the ball great, play defense. What more do you want? Seriously. I don't think Karl is THAT stupid to put someone so crap into the starting lineup for a year. AC has something.

Birdman, Balkman, Kleiza and AC coming off the bench is dependable.

Man, imagine if we could add Antonio McDyess to that list!

Let's hope it's a healthy year for us! Nothing more serious than K-Mart's wrist would be good.

Where is Sonny Weems?

From the RMN --

"The Nuggets are now about $900,000 over the $71.15 million tax line. So adamant is Kroenke apparently about avoiding the dollar-for-dollar tax that he nixed the Nuggets re-signing forward Juwan Howard, waived Nov. 3"

Priorities are now

1) get under salary cap
2) make playoffs

in that order

Andy, thanks for not including Stith on the list.

James

Dave,

Sonny Weems is still nursing that groin injury he's had over the last couple of months. He won't be ready for another month, and if he did, Karl is going to bury him on the bench.

"Let's hope J.R. gets his act together soon and for the first time since...well...errr...David Thompson maybe?...the Nuggets will have themselves a decent starting "shooting" guard."

How about Fat Lever? And he was not the point guard, Michael Adams was. At least in the most successful Nuggets season ever: 1987-88.

"But while watching tonight's respectable win over the Charlotte Bobcats, I couldn't help but notice that not only can starting "shooting" guard Dahntay Jones not shoot worth a damn, but he has officially been added to my list of Nuggets I've NEVER seen make a shot. I don't mean dunks or free throws. I mean open jumpers from somewhere outside the painted area."

Interestingly, Corey Maggette has NEVER made a shot outside of layups and free throws in his entire NBA career.

Yet, Maggette is a highly prolific and highly efficient NBA scorer.

Dahntay Jones reminds me a bit of Maggette, though he obviously has a long way to go before we can start making comparisons.

Sorry nostithnobeatingsonics94 but...
Let's not forget Bryant Stith couldn't make a shot unless he took the time to set his feet and actually look at them first. But in respect to above, BStith was a very valuable defender, and he could make his free throws because he could take the time to set his feet. ALL GUARDS should make +80% of their free throws. The '94 guards could defintely make their free throws. But back to the main point, BStith could not shoot as a 2 guard.

Not only can Dahntay not shoot, I've yet to see him make a pass this season. His two optiosn when he gets the ball seem to be go try to dunk (leading to a foul, turnover or missed layup) and go try to dunk (leading to an actual dunk on a fast break).
Chucky Atkins can shoot, he just hasn't done it in Denver yet - he shot decently in LA, Washington and Memphis.
I have two problems with Karl starting Jones. First, the Nuggets defense hasn't been their problem this year, their offense has (again, this is hidden from the national media by the fact that the Nuggets play fast and therefore score a lot of points and give up a lot of points). I think this means we should get more offense on the floor for more of the game. This means not starting Jones and starting JR. I think a lot of JR's problem so far this year has been a result of Karl refusing to start him and just killing his confidence. The guy is as good a pure shooter as almost anyone and he put up 2 airballs last night - that isn't a physical issue, he's inside his own head and seems like he could use some support from his coach.
That all said, if GK really thinks and is right that the nuggets are better off bringing offense and JR off the bench then the real question is WHY IS DAHNTAY JONES the choice to start. This reeks of Diawara starting games when he offered nothing. And don't get started on the Jones is a great defender angle because he's gotten torched so far this year by the likes of OJ Mayo among others. Why not start Balkman? He's more active, he understands not to shoot the ball from farther than 4 feet from the basket. He moves wonderfully on offense which Melo and Billups have been taking advantage of all season and it makes the nuggets a big, long and active defensive team even when Kenyon is hurt and LK starts.

On a somewhat related note, I think JR is baffled by the idea of running normal offense where people move without the ball and are rewarded for that. He's never gotten any playing time on a team with a point guard. His best offensive skills are stand 25 feet from the bucket and shoot which worked nicely when AI and Melo dominated the ball; and make 1-on-1 moves which isn't necessary if you run real offense (see Kobe in the triangle where he goes 1-on-1 rarely and only from specific spots on the floor). Billups' ability as a real PG along with other players (Nene, Balkman especially) moving without the ball have relegated Smith to a bystander who is just confused and has lost all confidence in his ability. I think he'll be fine, but he needs time with Billups, Melo etc... on the court to figure it out. It's a long season, if the Nuggets lose a game or two getting JRs confidence back and head on straight, it helps in the long run (again, see the Lakers and Phil making the bench players play during the season to make them better in the playoffs).

sorry for the rant

forgotten Iverson already? he was a shooting guard

As long at the Chauncey-era W's keep piling up, I'm not going to soap-box too hard on the lineups... but I agree that JR is getting inside his own head on the notion that "goddammit, I have seniority over this sonofabitch Jones and he doesn't even shoot well, why is Karl doin' me like this?" You can't blame the guy for having those thoughts and pressing when he does get in the game... but let's not also forget, I have been looking and on more than one occasion JR has wound up with more minutes than Dahntay overall.

Karl is clearly trying to make JR his Manu in the sense that "it's not who starts but who finishes", which I'm fine with, but JR is obviously struggling to grasp.

Keep getting W's and let's let this rest until the formula currently in place possibly shows weaknesses.

PS, I absolutely love how Chauncey has morphed this team. You see him D'ing up PG's on the perimeter and punishing them on the block?

Makes me moist! LOL

PPSS, it's interesting to note that following the home opener loss to the Lakers (why I haven't posted this yet here, I don't know), I went to the Capital Grille with my ol lady and we ran into not one, not two, but 3 Nuggets dining there as well! I've also seen Joe Smith at Ruth's Chris after a home game, so if you want to find a Nugget in public, just patronize a high-end steak joint immediately after a game for a good chance to see someone.

Nene, the now departed Juwan Howard (who walked in immediately behind us and I'm glad he showered because when I turned around and noticed him his junk was damn near directly in my face, LOL) and Dahntay Jones all went to the Cap... and they all ate at seperate tables! But I hope the fact they all dined seperately doesn't speak to "team unity" because Nene and Dahntay were both there with family and Juwan was solo it seemed.

FYI, Dahntay seemed to be there with his mother, possibly a brother of his (dude looked very similar in the face and height), and a small child he was carrying. Single dad? Admirable if so...

I think Juwan was driving a red Ferrari parked out front (the bell hop wouldn't confirm or deny) but I did confirm Nene rolls a murdered out (meaning all-black for those white folk of you out there who don't know what that means... lol, I'm white too) V12 BMW 760i with huge ass black rims that was also parked out front. Nene also looks very skinny in person wearing a button down shirt... not like the beast he looks like on the court compared to other bigs. I think he was there with his wives family as they all looked like light skinned people aside from him. I couldn't gather what Dahntay drove since they came in after us, and left before us.

But my GF was about to up and leave me for Dahntay because she said he's super hot and is easily swayed by hot rich men apparently, single or not! I gather that the Ferrari was Juwan's because my buddy texted me to tell me he saw him at Suite 200 about an hour later, which is directly across the street and I saw Juwan leave before us, yet the Ferrari was still out front when we left... thus my Sherlock skills deduct it was his. Funny side note, I also saw Juwan at Cherry Creek mall a year or so ago when he was in town with as a Rocket and he was wearing one of those Bill Cosby cable-knit multi-color sweaters walking with his dad. It was extremely funny looking considering it was about a 5XL to fit his tall ass.

I know this is all pretty worthless info, but I thought it might provide some insight to our Australian and Euro bretheren at a minimum... and let the locals know where these guys go for dinner too, not that it's NOT obvious they go to super expensive places to eat. They're not just reclusive people.

And PS, I didn't stalk or approach these guys... we just happened to be very centrally located to all their tables and you could see all 3 looking in 3 different directions. I've also ran into Camby on 16th street by Maggianos and K-Mart at the circus (both of us had our small kids) and not once have I asked for an autograph. Actually shaking K-Marts and Juwan's hand due to extreme close proximity was the only times I've ever even bothered any them.

And if you want to meet Broncos, go park in the VIP lot at Nuggets games... you're bound to run into the likes of Champ Bailey (I have about 3 times) and Rod Smith as well as others... you'll also be privledge to viewing some of the best hockey mullets you'll ever see (but I have no idea who the hockey dudes are).

Would you all shut the hell up. Does it really matter how JR gets his minutes? I actually like his spark off the bench, but as long as he gets 35 minutes who cares how he gets them. Kleiza will eventually be starting once he gets his stuff together, why not start Balkman now?

There are going to be contagious off-games and it's absolutely beyond retardation to have all your offensive weapons out there at once going cold. Get a clue.

Ok, so answer me this. Karl still chooses to do things "his way" which means sitting our long time athletic freak of nature teamate JR Smith who is oozing with potential because he claims his shot selection is questionalbe as well as his maturity and attitude yet Carmelo Anthony is out there every night getting the start and quite possibly has a worse one of each of the above mentioned. So WTF? How can he justify that! I hate George Karl. With that said, I am loving how things are going so far. No longer are we a complete chaotic mess but rather a fairly poised team. Nene is far exceeding my expectations and I am loving how our bench is playing. But the biggest thing I have noticed so far is that we have now won 3 games in a row down the streach all because of our defense! We are playing great defense! Thats right, it's hard to say but it's true. I am loving it too. We have a real big test tomorrow against Cleavland though.

"Nene is far exceeding my expectations"

Nene should be an all-star sometime in the next 18 months.

His ceiling is sky high. Only Amare is better at what Nene does than Nene in their age bracket.

I kind of agree with Eric B. If we want D in the starting line up, why not Balkman? GK said Jones will start on LBJ, but I'd be really tempted to give Balkman first crack.

Also, if Martin plays could he get a run on James? He probably would be a little slow, but who isn't? And even Melo could easily cover Wallace.

Melo's gonna have to cover Big Ben. Even if he can't rebound with him, Melo's always good at flopping and drawing weak push-off or over the back fouls on rebounders lol.

We're playing small with or without Kenyon. Cleveland is a solid rebounding team. And with (most likely) K-Mart or Melo doubling up on LeBron, that's gonna leave one less body to box out on the boards. Look to be severely out-rebounded tomorrow night. Cleveland have no other options outside LeBron so the game wont be totally out of reach!

Can't wait! Go Nuggets!

hey Demarr could hit it from the corner...though no where else