Oh, wait, that would be me.
But at least I didn't bench him in a real game with 1:17 left after he put up 29 points (eventually 32 total), five rebounds, four assists and two steals one game removed from being DNP-CD'd for being late to practice.
Nuggets coach George Karl's substitution of Anthony Carter for J.R. Smith at the 1:17 mark - after J.R. had carried the Nuggets all night - was not the main reason why the Nuggets lost tonight's game against the Hornets. But it certainly didn't help and it was, at best, a very curious decision. Not only was J.R. lighting up the Hornets on offense, but he came up with two big steals and several big rebounds on defense, as well. Moreover, the Nuggets had a nice rhythm going throughout the tail end of the fourth quarter prior to the A.C.-for-J.R. substitution...why disrupt it?
Unlike a lot of this blog's readers, I'm not insistent on J.R. starting (although I'd absolutely prefer it if he did). What I am insistent on, however, is that the Nuggets settle on a set rotation already. If you look at the elite teams in the league like the Lakers and Celtics, they rotate their starters and reserves like clockwork to build up consistency and set expectations with their players. Karl's substitution patterns on the other hand, are totally erratic. Why does Carmelo Anthony sit up until five minutes left in the fourth quarter? Why does Renaldo Balkman get meaningful minutes one night and a DNP-CD the next? The rotation questions are endless.
I understand that Karl has to tinker with the lineup now that Chauncey Billups has joined the team and more adjustments will be necessary. But 12 games into the ACB Era (during which the Nuggets are 9-3 thanks to Billups and Karl), isn't it about time that our Nuggets players knew what to expect minutes-wise each night?
Once the Nuggets settle into a set rotation, my hunch is they'll stop blowing games whenever J.R. Smith has an electrifying performance.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
So who's the moron who benched J.R. Smith on his fantasy team?...
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13 comments:
Wow. Even the tnt announcers were confused about what karl was doing putting jr on bench because AC is obviously so much more gifted as an athlete.
I have JR on my fantasy team and I benched him tonight as well. BIG MISTAKE. I've been waiting for him to have a break out game this season, but am in a H2H league and was concerned about maxing out my games. Since JR hasn't been very productive the past few games (and didn't even play yesterday) I figured no big loss. But he lit it up tonight! I was pissed I didn't have him playing but I was psyched that he played so well but I was pissed that the Nuggz lost. I think this game was huge for JR's confidence and I expect good games from him to come.
Yep. Another simply great George Karl coaching decision which pretty much cost us the game. Thanks George. You're really working your way back into the fans good books with this sh!t. Idiot. For god sakes Kroenke will you please fire this motherf***er! He is not fit to coach a grade 5 girl's team! Sheesh!
i hate that fatass he thinks ac is the best player in world he matched him up with kobe lebron chirs paul ray allen even d west this is not ac problem that's our asshole mr karl who took jr out of the game to get his not our favorite i don't know what to say here maybe best defensive stopper what the hell we brought cb to play SG didn't you guys saw it in not just tonight game tha when ac in the game with cb the ball was in ac hand most of the time hhhhhhh that is not a joke it's real fire that jerk he has cost us a lot of games already
HAHAHA yall got played bad. I started JR. my faith in him finally paid off. So glad. this sweetens up the loss a little bit.
don't hate on AC's lack of height which makes him a defensive liability. hate on GK. wtf was he thinking. i wana see his comments after the game on why the team lost.
Was it me, or was anyone else baffled by the horrible telecast on TNT? Craig Sager aside, the awful camera angles, jittery feeds, and terrible commentary by Doug Collins. I thought we had it bad when we had to listen to Tony Gwynn talk about the Rockies. I hope I never have to watch a Nuggets game on TNT again. Thoughts?
this one was prett inexcusable, how can you bench your hottest player for a journeyman short pg with that little time left. Sometimes i wonder
Also wondered the same thing! Why would you run a set for a K-Mart jumper, during a tied game? Don't get me wrong, KMart played well, as did CB, Nene, & the bench. Melo is becoming a more steady all-around player- the one we've been waiting for, & looking forward to. Great defense all game by him. The AC for JR switch was simply mind-boggling! WTF was GK thinking? It always seems that just when the team is rolling, both defensively & offensively, Karl decides to "tinker" & it throws everything off! This was a win for the Nuggs, but that switch & some BAD coaching screwed things up, IMHO!!!
This loose yesterday really has me disappointed, I'm very sad with that lost... I'm starting to think about they are the same Nuggets, that are going to do the same damn thing year and year.
I still don't understand how can Posey shot open when you tied that game... how can you allow that? the same as Stojakovic, you cannot let him shoot, for the love of god!!!
oh, i'm so frustrated...
Too much Birdman - though he played well enough, especially for a comeback game - and not enough Balkman.
I heard that Balkman had a sprained ankle. Would have been nice to have him though. I am curious, when was the last time a bench player scored 30 in a game? Really, has it happened this year? I thought that was a jive of a game. Even though New Orleans led most of the game it seemed clear that the Nuggets were the better team. CP3 had one hell of a shot, if he meant to make it, I wasn't sure. All I know is when he hoisted it up I was thinking "Great, we will get the rebound take the ball down hit a shot and wrap this thing up". But I thought the real reason we lost last night was our defense down the stretch, specifically our perimeter defense. It is just kind of a bummer because that was what our team had took pride in the last 10 games or so was playing hard defense down the streach in order to win. I again blame Karl and will until I have a reason not to. I mean when you have a bench player that drops 30 and practically keeps your team in the game with his phenomenal 3s, you have no excuses. All Karl had to say was make sure they don't get the outside shot. I mean come on, was Melvin Ely going to beat us inside? I don't think so. All I know is that was a win that we should have had.
"I am curious, when was the last time a bench player scored 30 in a game?"
What immediately came to my mind was LK scoring 41 points against the Jazz during January of last season.
I feel like we are putting ourselves in a hole in some of these games because of Karl's choice in a starting lineup. Our starting lineup gets far more minutes than any other lineup combination and yet has been outscored over the course of the season (275-285). The starting lineup I would prefer (J.R. in instead of Jones) has outscored opponents by 16 points in almost 1/3 of the number of minutes played.
I would think that a good coach would know these things. I guess I should expect this by now because he did the same thing last year (played a starting lineup that was significantly worse than other lineups). This is the same coach that thought the Nuggets had an unstoppable offense last year when they were like 14th in offensive efficiency or something.
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