Last week my buddy took me to the Golden State game and we sat in the second row below the basket. Killer seats, bad game!

The one major issue that I came out of that game with was we have NO half court game and if were not running were not wining. I think this is a big problem with Karl coached teams especially in the playoffs where every game becomes a half court game.

We do not have a player that can create his own shot. Gallo is probably the closest but he needs to learn to play with his back to the basket. With Gallo out all the guys just stood around waiting for something to happen and then when the clock would wind down we would chuck up a 3 pointer.

Is it time for the nuggets to make a move for a true scorer or a guy that can create his own shot? I think so.

A couple of moves that could help improve the nuggets:

Trade 1: with Atlanta

Mozgov + 7 million trade exception from Felton plus a 1st round pick for Josh Smith

or

Nene for Josh Smith

Trade 2: Golden State

Miller/Bird plus a pick for Monta Ellis

or

AAA + trade exception for Monta Ellis

or any other mix for Ellis.

Trade 3: Memphis

Hamilton/Bird for OJ Mayo

or

AAA for Mayo

Trade 4: Minnesota

Hamilton/Bird for Beasley

or

Some other mix for Beasley

I would like to get either Mayo, Smith, Ellis or Beasley as long as we keep TY, Gallo and Nene.

Thoughts?

In case you havent noticed, I really blow my stack when I hear/read that we have no closers and that other teams do. Then of course people love to go into list of great closers.

I know its B.S. and that 1) we close out games just fine and 2) other teams great closers arent so great. I just know it.

But I needed a rough and ready group of stats, so that I could be corrected. I found a pretty good site - 82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm

It only goes up to 09 but we get a pretty good sample.

So without any further ado here are the list of closers that we have to have to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Well I would love to have Ray Allen for that last second shot, wouldnt you? But at 15 for 39 for a .385 pct, that isnt a very good choice. Knockdown FT shooter only makes 4 out of 6 with 1 assist and 2 turnovers. Stinks, no?

His team mate Paul Pierce would be much better, no? Well, no, not really. At 11 for 32 this all time closer only connects on .344 of his shots. He does a good job of going to the line, making 15 of 17 FTs and dishing out 9 assists though he undoes some of that with 3 turnovers.

How about that tremendous offensive player, in his prime years, Tracy McGrady? Wouldnt he be great as a closer? Well he has hit for 9 FGs. Unfortunately he's had 32 attempts for a % of .281. He has drawn enough fouls to take 8 FTs and making all 8. Then he added an unremarkable 3 assists and 1 turnover.

On Miami, hey we all know that LBJ is not a very good clutch player but Wade, well, there we really have a Jerry West like talent who is unstoppable on that last shot. Surely Wade would show us what a closer does, right? Well, no, not really. Wade hits on 11 for 40 for a pretty crappy % of .275. He has gotten to the line pretty often making 13 but he has missed 4 times. He also has a pretty ordinary 3 assists and 2 turnovers. Not that good overall.

Why not move to the cream of the crop? How about last years hero, Dirk Nowitzki? Well, at 12 for 37 for a .324 success rate, Dirk doesnt look to be that all world. He has drawn some fouls hitting 13 but he's also missed 5 shots in that last 10 seconds for a pretty average FT rate. The 1 assist doesnt impress especially when you factor in 3 turnovers.

So maybe we have to move up a notch to the player I consider the greatest PF of all time. Tim Duncan has 9 FGs but in 23 attempts he only sports a .391. His 6 for 7 at the line is OK and, just like Timmee, he would have more assists (3) than turnovers (1). But really nothing special.

How about going to a former fave here in Denver. How about Melo? Well Melo does impress by making 13 out of 27 for a .481. But really thats only a little above his lifetime % and above the league wide %. He's also only made 7 out of 11 FTs with 1 assist and 4 turnovers. It seems like its about 50% success rate, maybe less. Is that anything to lust after?

I got it. Why dont we bring in Mr Big Shot himself? Chauncey Billups we all know is a cinch in these situations. Unfortunately the ghastly 6 for 37 gives him a frightening .162 rate that is only leavened by the very good 18 for 19 at the line. No surprise he would tally more assists (6) than turnovers (2). Success rate seems to be at about 33%, nothing to really to brag about.

But if we only had the Michael Jordan of this era, the great Kobe Bryant. How could you miss? Well maybe you couldnt miss but he did, plenty of times as his 14 for 56 shows. Any math genius could see that that is a 25% FG% barely aided by the 12 FTs in 15 attempts which are somewhat messed up by the 1 assist (a shock, really) and 5 turnovers.

But still for years to come, you'll have to read and hear how small market teams without "superstars" cannot hope to compete because they, we, dont have closers. Just grin and bear it. Me, I just throw darts at the TV because, unlike Elvis, I dont own a pistol.

Its clear by the number of injuries and lethargic play that something is happening to the Nuggets this season. My theory is that basically their bodies are breaking down because it can't handle the strain of their tempo night after night.

As a past nearly elite-level long-distace runner, during my training I can recall a similar issue happen to me. When I continually did maximum training for long periods (4 to 6 months of varied runs of 50 to 80 mile/week), eventually my body would shut down at certain points as it couldn't produce enough reserves to keep up with the energy and vitamin requirements it needed to sustain that level. Usually this would happen after 4 to 6 months of serious training, at which point, my overall performance would decrease or be flat for quite a time (four to six weeks). I would find that after I overcame these lags, my body would eventually recalibrate my energy requirements, and began to modify its physiology to allow me to use and expend energy more efficiently than before. This would eventually lead to a sudden and unexpected surge in performance that would allow me to push my performance for 3 to 4 month. Then I'd stay at this higher plateau for about a year, before hitting another lull. I recall these cycles happening about five times over the course of 8 years.

I think this is likely the problem Karl is having now pushing his team to keep up the torrid pace, both on offense and defense, which is not sustainable, especially given the concentrated training cycles. My assumption is that the team is at a critical juncture in terms of performance, given their style of play, and may have peaked for this period. Perhaps in about four weeks, their bodies will have adapted to their current workload and they can have a surge in performance that can carry them for the season. My assumption is that if they kept their core team intact, with a lighter schedule next year, they could probably produce better results that could carry on for the whole year.

My biggest concern is Lawson, who I'm not sure can continue at the same pace indefinitely, without a severe physical letdown. I notice that he is definitely not the same player on back to backs as during the initial night. I think its important that we recognize that players are humans (albeit very talented) and plan accordingly.

I fell asleep Saturday afternoon and missed most of the first half of the game at Indiana. I felt as if the guys who wore those old uniforms, I think they were the first ones that were Nuggets uniforms (discounting the 1949 team) instead of Rockets uniforms, those guys (Dan Issel, David Thompson, Bobby Jones, Ralph Simpson, The late Marvin Webster, Byron Beck, Claude Terry, Gus Gerard et al.)would have blown out the current Indiana team. I didn't clue in right away that the Indiana team was wearing their throwback uniforms too. The thing that clued me in was the thought "hey I didn't know they still used the 'hand on the ball P' logo". Then I realized they were having throwback night too. I remember the Pacers that used to wear those uniforms; Mel Daniels (built kind of like Elton Brand but far better skills, would have been an NBA all-star, one of the most underrated players ever), George McGinnis (a great scorer before he got to the Nuggets), Bob Netolicky, Don Buse (didn't look at all like a basketball player but could handle the ball and shoot, sort of like Steve Nash only a way better shooter) and Darnell Hillman (the undisputed king of the afro hairstyle). Later on they show some old guy standing on the court and lo and behold it's Darnell Hillman! Who would have ever recognized him? He was the leapingest 6' 9" guy you ever saw (Well maybe Blake Griffin jumps better but that's it) and he actually played for the Nuggets a little bit on the downside of his career. It's a shame that they couldn't have broken out the red, white and blue basketballs for the night. In fact I think they should adopt a rule that the Nuggets, Spurs, Pacers and Nets are allowed the option of playing their home court pre-season games with the red, white and blue ball. Then when fans demand more they would be allowed to play their regular season games with it and before you know it the whole league would be using it. If you ever saw a game with the red,white and blue ball you'd wish they were all played with that ball. You can see the spin on the ball and you can tell where the ball is coming off on rebounds. Back in the ABA days, the Pacers were a team that you wanted to go see; them and the Colnels and the Nets/Squires (whichever Dr. J was playing for). It was the biggets heartbreak ever when those Nuggets lost the ABA championship series to the Nets. Nowdays they try to credit Dr. J for that championship but it was really a guy named Jon Williamson that won that final game for the Nets. We've never been to a championship series since. Saturday was quite the trip down memory lane But it was disappointing that Darnell Hillman was the only ABA guy we saw that night. I hope when the Nuggets have their home throwback night they can show more of the guys I mentioned.

Please take this as you like... I am just trying to understand what a Coach does. I think i posted something similar last year... but we are at the same spot again.

-Offense? we don't have an offense... we don't run plays or attack anyones weekness... we just go with the flow and hope the other team is tired or we are on fire. We play FAST and we know our timeouts go PLAY FASTER... We expend so much energy here instead of running simple plays over and over where we have a sense or comfort. and this becomes important in crunch time. how can we expect denver to do anything in crunch time when for 47 min we have just been running wild... this worked when we had two of the best clossers and one on one players Melo and CB... but now when we need to have a system we struggle. and lets not forget CB's comment when he came here the first year... how do we not have an out of bounce play?

Defense:? Turnovers!!! smaller players on bigger players... this works great... only joking... if we don't' get turnovers and you won't against good teams... our defense is none existing and hurts our offense because a lot of our offense depends on it. We constantly get abused by the opposition avg players because we have the wrong match ups on them...( small ball so we can play fast (not have to call an offense).

Game managment/ adjustments? well i dont' have to bring up calling time outs and making adjustments... we have all seen too many times karl standing outside of the hudle...

Player development? um rookies suck and are not worth GK's time.... lets talk about TY... after CB left what is TY going to get better at under Karl? being faster? pushing harder? TY is going to slow down soon enough just like CP3 but not having developed any sense of running a normal offense will make him useless... what happens when he's slower? How about Nene ... JR? Karl stunted his development for years...

Player decision? Massai and josh have been killing it in this department.

So can someone please tell me what part of the normal coaches job GK actually does? doesnt' teach offense, defense, develop players OR manage games (properly)

yes we win a lot of games but that's mostly due to our talent, the playoffs is where we hit a snag when people are as talented as us but their coaching just pushes them over... all except for one year when we had player coach CB.

As of this writing, the Nuggets have lost 7 of their last 8 games, and are preparing to face the pacers this afternoon.

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I think that the nuggets have the worst play by play man in the NBA. Seriously this guy needs to back to calling volleyball. The Nuggets and the fans deserve more. Just heard old Al Albert has returned to Denver. Got me thinking maybe he would be a good fit for the Nuggs again
I hope this means we can dump Marlow....Hastings is great, Drew Goodman is great at b-ball 2... so Goodman or Albert.. lose Marlow Please.

I was happy to hear a limited price drop for NBA JAM on the Xbox market place. I jumped on this opertunity to get this game for only 800 MP. As I select out Nuggets I get to pick between Gallo, Harrington, JR and Kenyon. Keep in mind this game came out during this last off season. So i was like oh ok I will update my roster and atleast get Nene. NO, not only to they not have Nene they take off JR and Kenyon (as they should) but they don't add anyone. The nuggets team is Gallo and Buckets....thats it. than you go to a team like the clippers and they have half the roster! they added cp3, billups, and martin to them. I'm one of those guys that it pains me to play other teams in video games. Gallo and Buckets has pretty good stats so no big. I than unlock a mystery player..................Rocky. The big add for the nuggets is Rocky. Now I have had to play against Mutumbo and i'm sure I can unlock him later but still. The fact they only give us 2 current players is crap........Angry Video Game Rant OVAH.......Go Nugs

A look ahead at the rest of February and the rest of the season for the Nuggets

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Execution- The carrying out or putting into effect of a plan, order, or course of action. Crunch Time- A critical period of time during which it is necessary to work hard and fast Playoffs- any final competition to determine a championship. The Denver Nuggets- A proffesional basketball franchise in the National Basketball Association, that lacks execution in crunch time, and will lose in the playoffs because of it.

Lets be honest, this response isn't due to the Houston game, it is due to all the games the nuggets lost (except Portland). There is no way the team is going to blowout every opponent in the playoffs. You can bet that every game will be close. The defensive strategy seems to be just as potent as the offensive strategy down the stretch- below par. Double teams have killed the Nuggets down the stretch, the rotations are late and easy shot fall as a result. Case and Point Budinger 16 points 2 key 3 pointers in the 4th. Kyle Lowry (Aka the second floppiest non Euro player) 2 key 3 pointers in the 4th finishing with 20. Even when we were close in the Portland game, the double team freed Batum to get loose on the edge and he in turn he destroyed us. The 1st Portland game arguably was Matthews best game, he was freed due to doubling Aldridge. Every team we lost to (except NOLA) had a closer. San Antonio has two, the Lakers have the one of the greatest, Portland has developed Aldridge into that role, the clippers have one (THE floppiest non Euro), Houston has its MIP candidate, Memphis will only get tougher to beat once Randolph returns. Its all good and great that Karl believes we do not need a closer but a strategy. The fact remains, every team that we will face in the playoffs will have a closer its time we find out who ours is, and if we don't have one, that is indeed troubling news. (It is also imperative that we sign Chandler now that Gallo is down, and no Chandler is not the closer we need, but he is an undeniable talent)