errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, being the 6th Best team in the league happens.

Or Denver, where beating the Lakers or the Cavs one night, and losing to the BUCKS, CLIPPERS, TIMBERWOLVES, PISTONS, HORNETS, 76ers, KINGS, WIZARDS, Happens!

Let’s face it, these bad losses are really starting to add up. If this "WANNA BE"  Championship team wants to actually have a shot at the title, home court advantage throughout the playoffs is crucial! If it were to come down to a game 7 in the 2nd round against the Mavericks, or a game 7 in the WCF's vs. the Lake Show, we need that game to be at The Can. Currently, Denver is 5.5 games behind LA. If the Nuggets, for instance would have went 6-2 in those 8 disgusting, and unforgiveable games, that would have put us at 42-13 and percentage points ahead of LA for the number 1 seed in the West.

That's all in the past though and there is nothing they can do to change it now, but for a veteran team that should have its eye on the prize and know how important playoff seeding is, it is inexcusable to be losing to these lowly teams. So since the Nugs can't take care of business vs. the JV squads, we will probably be in a dog fight with Dallas and Utah for 2, 3, & 4, for the rest of the season. That pretty much sums up some of the matters on the court, now for what I really came here for and that is to put Silent Stan and the front office on notice.

Earlier, I stated that the Nuggets are the 6th best team in the league. This is based on if we were to play each team in a 7 game series. I feel that there are 5 teams that are better than us in this situation. Obviously they can beat and also lose to anyone on any given night, but here's where we stand. (You HOMERS are going to love this)

1.    Cavs

1A.  Lakers (They are on Champion coast mode until playoffs)

3.    Magic

4.    Celtics (Vets just waiting for the playoffs)

5.    Mavs (This one really hurts, but I love their additions of Butler and Haywood. Dirk now has a legit 5 and another all star caliber player that can also play a little D in Caron. If they can figure out their rotation, roles and get their chemistry right in time for the playoffs, they will be tough.

6.   Nuggets

So this is where my anger sets in! Mark Warkentien, Rex Chapman and Bret Bearup, have been sitting at their desks, with their feet up, patting themselves on the back, all off season which has carried right on over into the 09-10 season, and continues, after once again not doing anything to make this team better at the trade deadline. The first disaster was when they didn't use the 9 Million dollar TPE from the Iverson/Billups deal that expired on Nov. 3rd. This most likely had a lot to do with Silent Stan going cheap skate on us and not wanting to pay the luxury tax. Listen, Stan if this is just a business for you and all you care about is the bottom line, then to me, as a fan you are in the wrong business. Maybe it’s time for you to go back to developing strip malls anchored by Wal-Marts! When I hear you crying about a couple million dollars to sign a player that could potentially make this team better it makes me sick. The NBA is monopoly money, especially for successful winning franchises. If we were a cellar dweller, with no shot at the playoffs, I could understand the fiscal responsibility, but when you are filling the arena on a nightly basis, selling over priced food and beverages, in addition to selling tons of merchandise and you are on the brink of a championship, it is absolute Bull$*&%!!!  Both you and your wife are Billion, yeah with a B, Billionaires!  I don’t think a mil here or there is going to hurt you. You aren’t Sprewell, and you will still be able to feed your kids, and the revenue from the extra playoff games will more than cover the money spent. Give us an owner like Mark Cuban, who may at times be a jerk off, and sometimes makes poor player personnel decisions, but when push comes to shove he is as passionate as they come and all he cares about is WINNING and will SPEND whatever it takes to try and make his team better. Do you ever hear Jerry Buss say, well let’s not bring in that guy, because that will put us over the luxury tax? Aaaaah, let me think about that for a second........ NO! Because he will do whatever it takes to win! We as fans, that pay several hundred dollars each time we go to a game, deserve better and should be offended!

So as all of the other contenders have made moves to get closer to the coveted Larry O’Brien trophy, The Three-Headed Remedial Monster (3HRM) continues to sit and do nothing! The Lakers win the title and go out and get Ron Artest. The Magic made it to the Finals and then went out and signed Matt Barnes, Brandon Bass, they retained Gortat, they traded for VC, they made moves to try and position themselves to better compete for a championship. The Cavs, got Shaq, and  Jamison, The Celtics signed RaSheed, and traded for Nate Robinson. The Mavs, traded for Shawn Marion, Caron Butler, Stevenson and Haywood. These teams all made moves and took chances to do what they felt could make their teams better and not once was money ever an issue. Whether their personnel moves were right or wrong, winning was the key factor, and a championship come this June was the core element.

What did our Nugs do??? Okay in fairness, we made some decent offseason transactions. We traded for Afflalo, who I really like. He is a much better overall basketball player than Dahntey Ones (No J). We signed Joey Graham who is a very nice role player, that deserves more playing time, resigned Bird(5 years was about 2 or 3 years too many for him), and made a great draft day trade to get Ty Lawson, but we also completely missed on DaJuan Blair, the big body and quality rebounder that we so desperately need. All in all, we made some excellent moves when it comes to filling the roster at some key positions and added some solid role players, but completely dropped the ball when it came to giving us that one extra player that puts us over the edge and allows us to dethrone the Lakers!

This is something that has to be done soon, and by soon I mean last week, because at age 33, Chauncey has the rest of this season, next season and maybe one more to play at an extremely high All Star level. He is in his 13th season, and at some point, age, wear and tear, and possibly injuries are going to slow down our beloved King of Park Hill. We have realistically a 2, maybe 3 year window to try and accomplish this, because let’s face it, once Smooth is gone from this team or no longer playing at a high level, all bets are off with this cast of characters. Not to mention, Kenyon entering the last year of his contract. So when management lets all of these TPE’s expire without using them, and the trade deadline comes and goes with nothing, you have to ask yourself if the front office is asleep at the wheel, if Stan has tied their hands with his frugalness, or if they really believe that they have what it takes to win a title? I would say it’s a mix of all three, which as a fan is causing pre-mature graying.

I swear the front office guys act like we are going for a 3-peat or something and don’t want to break up a dynasty. Warkentien, you’re not  "Crumbs" that’s Jerry Krause for you younger fellas. When guys like Chris Bosh and Amar’e are available, you have to do whatever it takes and ask yourself, can we send Nene and some guys from the end of the bench to make the contracts match to Toronto for CB4, or the same thing for Amar’e(though he’s a lot more riskier for locker room cancer and team chemistry reasons) . At what point do you guys realize that Nene is "who we thought he was! Now if you want to crown him, then crown him, but he is who we thought he was!" If you can bring in an All Star, you have to do whatever it take to make it happen! Like I said before, it’s not like you are breaking up a dynasty Wark! We got extremely lucky last year with the matchups and all the basketball God’s were aligned for the Nuggets because Dallas and New Orleans were HORRIBLE! We breezed through to the WCF. Who knows what would have happened if we faced, SA, Houston, or the Blazers in the early rounds? Maybe the 3HRM wouldn’t be sitting on their high horse and you would have done something to improve this team! Back in the summer when David Lee was being dangled all over the league, it seems like somehow that 9 mil TPE could have put him in Nuggets blue. We have to at least take a chance, take a risk, do whatever you have to do to make this a championship team, because as currently assembled, it’s just not going to happen and with our leader getting older, time is of the essence!!!

So I guess in the end, its just going to be more Mile High Heartbreak. I'm sure we can all look forward to another quality run in the playoffs, but is that what it's all about? Winning a round or two and then getting thumped, or do you want to win a title? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I’m a realist, I know my hoops and I know lots of pain from being a fan of this team for so long.

So Mr. Kroenke, if you’re not in it to win it, take a hike! I’m sure there’s some small town in Montana that needs a Wal-Mart. I for one am not spending any more money at the Pepsi Center this year. I don't condone your actions. I will still go when pops invites me with the season tix though. :-) But I will consume pregame bevies at Brooklyn's and not support your over priced suds until you man up and give us what we want and deserve.

BTW………

I know some of you are going to be all up in arms about this, and say that we should be happy that we are as good as we are after all of these futile years, but that is just a loser mentality that most of us have come to accept around here. Well yeah, I agree, we should be happy that these aren’t the Paul Westhead Nuggets, but at the same time after being the laughing stock of the NBA  and sticking by the Nugs for all these years and knowing how close we are, I think that we all deserve a lot more than what Stan and the Management are giving us. My true, passionate Nuggets fans that actually know a thing or two about basketball, I’m sure will feel my pain.

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