Turmoil to follow

You all know that I believe the Nuggets are not going to fall off the face of the earth this season as the media wants everyone to believe. After being written off by so much of the media I cannot wait to read what their excuses are for when Denver is one of the top eight teams in the west after the first couple of months of the season.

I also thought the Andre Miller line was silly. The Nuggets knew exactly what they were giving up, a solid point guard who cannot shoot and tended to be a little too selfish in crunch time. Miller is a nice player, but they make that trade 100 times out of 100.

The J.R. comment does have some validity, but I find it unlikely that J.R. takes a step backward this season. He knows he will only get a truly big payday if his game continues to mature. Karl has done a pretty good job handling him and I think they both respect each other enough that contract statuses have no bearing on their relationship.

Thanks for the post joshhopp!

The Nuggets won six more regular season games with AI than they did with Andre Miller.

And they still haven’t advanced out of the first round of the playoffs.

Due in large part to Iverson’s $20 million dollar contract, the Nuggets have also been forced to part ways with Steve Blake, Marcus Camby, and Eduardo Najera for financial reasons.

I agree. The Nuggets making the playoffs was much more impressive than the 76ers accomplishing the same feat.

But was that the goal when you dealt for Iverson?

Iverson was brought in to compete for NBA championships, which hasn’t happened.

I used to love Iverson’s game. But I think Denver made a mistake by trading Miller and their financial flexibility in exchange for a one-dimensional player. Especially since the Nuggets already possessed one of the league’s best offensive weapons.

AI has already carried a scrappy 76rs team to the NBA finals; in hindsight its so easy to say “We didn’t win a championship with AI so it was a mistake.” I’d counter that we do better with him than without him and it would have been at least equally as silly to trudge along with A.Mill running the show hoping to win it all. But I see your point. What I’d like to see is AI playing some serious minutes at the point and giving JR a start at the 2, at least a trial of a few games with that backcourt would be interesting. Heck, we are going to lose our first game (@ energy solutions) no matter what we do.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/The-Blog-Association-Denver-Nuggets?urn=nba,108219

Great blog Jeremy.

You guys are really upset about that article? I have yet to see an argument in there that is stupid. Let’s look at what they said….

• Nuggets are regretting letting go of Andre Miller because look at how well the 76rs did without AI last year.

First off, full disclosure — I’m a huge Andre Miller fan. He’s one of my favorite players. Let’s be honest, the AI trade hasn’t worked out as well as we hoped. That said, I don’t blame the front office for making the move, it’s a move you have to make. But you do have to consider if the Nugs might not be better with Dre out there. He’s limited offensively when it comes to shooting, but (IMO) the offense moved a little smoother with him out there. Once again, I’d still do the deal today, but it is a legit question to wonder about.

• Allen Iverson didn’t get his extension, which at his age and contract demands was understandable but may not exactly have him thinking team-first right now.

I disagree with the team-first mentality coming to the front there, but you do have to wonder if this is the year that age catches up to him. Do I think it’ll happen this year? No. But eventually he’s going to break down. Which is why the Nugs haven’t given him a long extension so far.

• J.R. Smith now has more years on his contract than George Karl, which makes you wonder how that relationship will continue to fester.

I’m sorry Josh, but Karl does NOT love JR. Karl has repeatedly tried to campaign to get the front office to trade him. Karl has campaigned to get the front office to let him go. Karl hates JR and in the playoffs two years ago called him an “insult to the game of basketball”. Thank merciful God the front office ignored Karl on this one. Tension will still be tight between the two, but it won’t be because of the contract.

• The Camby Loss

Everyone who’s ever talked to me knows that I can not stand Marcus Camby. He was the most overrated player in the NBA the last few seasons, and our defense will not suffer because of his absence (it might actually improve). Jeremy has pointed the numbers out on this one, and he’s right. That said, ESPN did bring up a valid concern — the chemistry problem. Camby was well liked by his teammates. He was a captain. As much as he sucked, he was popular. Hopefully the players get over the loss of him and get their act together. Nene removing his head from his ass would go a long way in doing that.

I’m actually kind of surprised by the optimism for the season on this blog. I hope you guys are right and that I’m wrong, but I don’t see us in the playoffs.

1. A Mil is definitely a solid floor general, but as you said he is severely limited offensively. Yes, it would be wonderful to have him in our backcourt still but I support the trade because a) It was a confident move that demonstrated Nuggets head office was not satisfied with just making the playoffs and b) we have one more games with AI that we did with AM. You’ve said the offense ran smoother, well, fair enough, but how many games did he win for us?

2. I don’t think AI is going to break down this year either; how many players go from averaging 25ppg and 6apg in one year to failing miserably the next? Sure it could happen if he gets injured, but the same could be said for any player. The amazing thing about AI is his durability; he is one of the smallest guys in the leugue but he is prepared to take huge hits to get to the free throw line consistently and free throws are the bread and butter of a team’s offense.

3. It’s no secret that Karl was furious with JR after the 06-07 playoffs, but since the 07-08 All star break JR has emerged as one of the most coveted offensive assets in the leugue. He played better than Melo in the playoffs this year and Karl loved him for it. No ways Karl feels anything like he did about JR now! He has developed exponentially since that catastophic series. He avereged 18 points, shooting 50% from the field and did enough to impress Kobe Bryant. You think George Karl is so bitter he is going to ignore JR’s recent success and harbour a grudge? Come on.

4. I’ve already mentioned I’m a big Camby fan. In addition to his stats and locker-room qualities, there is now pretty good evidence he was our MVP last season. I don’t have a problem with making Nene our man in the middle, but to at least keep Camby as a solid backup is a better option than to donate him to the Clips and in the process create another legitiate 8th seed contender. And yes I know we needed the cap space. But I’m a basketball fan, I don’t put stock in the team’s financial health.

I think that we are in the running for the 8th spot. Dallas, Phoenix and San Antonio are unlikely to improve this season and may slip a few games, whilst Portland and possibly the Clippers will probably enter the contention. I don’t know about the Warriors, I have a feeling that Andris Bedrins will come up big next season and put them back in the 45-50 win area, and I’ve always thought Baron took too many bad shots so it may all even out for them. As for us, well, a healthy Nene and a bit of improved perimeter defence should put us in the picture, but as I’ve said I am a big Camby fan and hence believe we will slip a few games. All in all I definitely can’t wait for the regular season to start.

With regards to Camby as the Nuggets’ 07-08 MVP: http://www.wagesofwins.com/Denver0708.html

I’ve also often wondered about blocks and steals as being poorly representative of good basketball. It was different in the old days with guys like Bill and Kareem who seemed to retain possesion and often spark a fast-break offense after a block. I’ve never been a fan of the whole “Put it the third row” thing.