Golden Nuggets: What we've learned since the Carmelo trade...

“He’s the most versatile player in the NBA, he can nail shots from everywhere and when the jumper’s flowing nobody can stop him” “So quick, is everywhere and evades double teams”

It seems like the ESPN announcers love giving the Knicks auditory fellatio.

Rather than Stephon Marbury, Melo reminds me mostly of Allen Iverson. Coincidence?

I could sit down w/ CB and see how he really feels about playing w/ MElo. He’s a pro’s pro and says all the right things…..I just wonder though

Why mention he is Mormon when complaining about Reilly’s treatment of him? Would the treatment be more acceptable if he were Jewish, Catholic, or Muslim? Does being a member of the church that funded the law making gay marriage illegal in California somehow shield him from criticism?

and accidentally clicked on the MLB standings. Rockies have the best record in something called the cactus league.

Is that that while their title might designate them “anyalyst,” “sportswriter,” “columnist,” whatever, their real job is “professional asshole” – a paid version of the dinner party guest who rips the food, the wine & fellow guests, but still hangs around long after every one else has gone home. Unlike the amateur who simply stumbles into it, it is truly a life’s work for the professional, with most honing their dickish craft from a very early age in the hopes of one day joining the asshole elite.

They are using Mad-Libs for their game write-us:

Last (time of day), the Knicks blew another one. Though they played reasonably competent basketball for most of the game, a terrible (ordinal number from one to four, probably one or four. Maybe both.) quarter doomed their chances of beating (group of less talented individuals). New York’s guards struggled to contain (human being) off the dribble, while the bigs were helpless against the pick-and-roll. This led to the usual switching, mis-switching, and open shots inside and out. New York made a comeback, in part because of better ball movement and defense by the bench unit, and the deficit to as little as (single-digit number) before team play completely evaporated in the closing minutes. The Knicks stopped moving the ball, resorted to contested jumpers, and couldn’t get stops on the other end. Seth tearfully shoveled (snacks) into his face, then took a scalding hot shower once the game ended.

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to Orlando for Dwight Howard next year…

I know they need the rest, but this layoff is killing me!

The Knicks got lucky last night and eeked out a win against a good team with only 16 assists in an overtime game. Chauncey led the knicks with 6 assists, Melo has 2. With 16 assists your offense is not dynamic. Your lucky to win.

   Lawson and Felton have been getting 6 assists in a quarter regularly The new Nuggets have been getting 25-32 assists a game. Anytime you get 25+ a gane your likely to win. Our offense is moving the ball so well because we have two fast passing point guards. That’s why we should keep both Lawson and Felton. Assists equals Wins.

i indulged a little schadenfreud at ny’s woes after the trade, but it became apparent that any team that trades four of its starters for one guy is bound to lose. i’m a sap, so i feel for knicks fans who think melo was a bust. i trust that in a few years, when they’ve assembled some better role players, they’ll be decent by eastern conference standards. not great, but not as godawful as this.

Wins are what make a team relevant. Things got good here when GK and Andre Miller got us going. Melo was a big part of that. The reason why people hate on Melo is because in a 5 year contract, he demanded to leave in his 3rd year because his ego was too big for Denver. Only New York was big enough for his need for fame.

http://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/Multiproduct/lp5558.html?campaignid=37XQH

They want you to pay $15 a month for access to their website. First 20 articles are free. If you click on a link provided by google or facebook, there is no limit.

Just to be clear – my options are:

1) Pay $15 a month
2) Read 20 articles or less a month on NYtimes.com
3) Google the articles I want to read if I go over 20.
4) Not read NYtimes.com

Hello, NY geniuses. How many people do you think are going to choose option 1? How did it go a few years ago when you tried charging for articles? You’ve got one of the most recognizable brands in news, and you are going to shoot yourself in the foot like this?

the jazz got the worse deal, if the nuggets can’t hold on to 3/4ths of the new players next season, and the jazz get some really good draft picks, I’d say they got the better deal and that scenario is possible.

Is that the existing supporting cast we had in place is actually pretty good.

but we’re up to #2 in hollinger’s rankings. Over the scorching-hot, defending champion lakers-crazy.

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerrankings

He says their advantage will decrease in the playoffs when teams like Miami shorten their lineups and their stars play more minutes, basically increasing the quality across the lineup.

It works because, traditionally, every other team does the same thing because NBA teams aren’t 10 deep. I’m curious what happens when a team is able to dictate the pace and force aging stars to play hard and get up and down the court. What happens when our starting lineup has tired out LeBron when he not only has to play 42 minutes, but he has to run up and down the court against our starters, and instead of getting a break when our backups come in, he has to run up and down the court with them too? Remember how he got cramps against Orlando?

I want to see Fisher guard Ty, then when Ty is out he has to guard Felton. I want to see Kobe, on his sore shoulder and hurt knees have to run up and down the court. I want to see LeBron with cramps like in the Orlando series because he’s forced to play with high intensity for 40+ minutes.

they should have a an nation tournament and each teams blog has to Pick 10 bloggers from each blog to represent their team.

Big test for our boys

Always enjoy your perspective. Here’s a few of my responses though:

…we underestimated how negatively the Melodrama affected the Knicks

We also underestimated how negatively the Melodrama affected us. Even when we started the year out and all feared the worse, I don’t think anybody has us on pace to win 45 games. You could argue — and many did — that the Nuggets roster with Melo and Chauncey this year was the best we’d ever assembled. Without all the Drama, I think we could have won 55 games or more and broke the franchise record in the process. What else we underestimated was how talented Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari and Raymond Felton really were. I’m not trying to toot my own horn, but I knew those guys were talented players and that we wouldn’t be near as bad as people had pegged us to be following the trade… but some certainly didn’t.

…George Karl can coach circles around Mike D’Antoni.

You certainly love you some Boy George these days Andy. Oh, how the firegeorgekarl years are a distant memory. I admit, George is a good coach. He’s proven this to me several times in the face of doubt. But to say he could “coach circles around Mike D’Antoni” is a bit much in my estimation. What you don’t acknowledge is that George’s very strengths are the things he’s less hands-on about. His easy-going approach (some would say too easy at times) rubs off on his players, and allows them to operate at level of freedom that’s rare to see. Because George is who he is, and has the track record he does, I think this gets viewed often times as a sort of “genius,” when in fact, it’s more along the lines of apathy from experience.

D’Antoni’s offense, when executed correctly with the right players, makes George’s look like a pickup game at the YMCA. Sadly, D’Antoni’s incredible ignorance towards defense is a huge downfall, and I mean huge. If it weren’t for that — if for example he took George’s mentality on the subject — then we wouldn’t be having this discussion right now. Point being: D’Antoni’s had just as much success as George in recent memory, if not more, so let’s hold the “can coach circles around” argument for now.

Plus, at no time in your praise for Karl as Coach of the Year did you acknowledge that in both situations, the Nuggets always had the better roster (by far) even with Melo. So, that argument doesn’t hold that much water in my book either.

Otherwise…

— The Knicks trade was better for us now, but it’s still too hard to say until we’ve had a couple years. What if Chandler leaves in the off-season? What if Felton leaves in the off-season? What if Favors turns into a monster? What if Harris regains his All-Star form? What if the Jazz absolutely nail those first-round picks? Yes, the trade was better for us this year, but the jury is still out on the long run.

— Totally agree about Reilly. What is that dude’s deal? I know the media gets a terrible wrap for being negative, biased, obnoxious, and so on (most of it being warranted), but Reilly truly optimizes that in my eyes. Jimmer is a great kid who had one hell of a year, going against all odds, and couldn’t be more of a joy to watch play, yet Reilly’s gonna dawg on him. Man.