I was at the Mall earlier this evening with my wife and as we were walking we saw two really tall guys walking our way.  I didn't recognize one of them but the other absolutely looked like Kenyon Martin.  I nudged my wife, who is nearly as big a Nuggets fan as I am, and said, "I think that's KMart!"

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I know he is not really a big, but he is like a KMart Ariza combination type player... hes a young athletic PF who can D up well and can really dunk... he also did great in the playoffs, apparently the Bulls are sick of him and dont want him anymore so they are saying that no teams have made offers... so why dont we just offer Balkman, plus 2 min guys with a 2nd rounder. it works in the trade machine... Its not like we are giving up any rotation players.... Tyrus Thomas could be consider a rich man's Renaldo Balkman but, he is a lot younger and has much better offense.... So lets see if denver takes advantage of Chicago's situation 

Recently I did some extensive research and have come to the conclusion that the nuggets should wear the Skyline jerseys. By extensive research i mean that ive played a lot of NBA2k10 (which by the way allows lawson to dunk from just about any place near the paint) and only put the Nuggets in the skyline jerseys. I dont have anything against the jerseys we have now i love them, hell anything is better than the maroon and gold of the van exel days, but once or twice a year why not throw these in. Because no matter what we do at least we wont look like this
http://www.hornets247.com/images/uploads/2009/11/331-new-orleans-hornets-mardi-gras-uniforms.jpg

Now im not trying to dwell on the past or say what could have been, but Karl said the Nuggets came very close to getting the #2 pick from in ATL in the 2005 Draft.... He said the plan was to draft Williams. Idk why this trade didn't go through, but im curious to what the trade would have been.... personally I dont regret anything b/c if we got Dwil we would have never gotten Billups so, its not bad, but its weird thinking we almost had Deron Williams.

source:http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14350569

This post is purely about stats. It's not about my personal opinion, or what I think everybody else's personal opinion is. You guys probably already know my opinion about Melo's injury from my comments. However, since I see a lot of comments regarding Melo's on-court impact, I decided to head over to 82games.com and see exactly what the splits are. Since I was there already, I'll add in some other related stats too.

Here's the table, directly copied form 82games.com:

On Court / Off Court stats

Many stats are shown on a 'per 48 minute' basis

The part we've mainly concerned about is the top part. The Nuggets are 4.8 points per possession better offensively when Melo is on the court, but also 1.5 points per possession worse defensively. The latter can be contributed to the fact that he usually plays against the opposing team's starters, which generally generates more offense for the other team. Do a bit of math, and that comes out to being 3.3 points per possession better when on the court as opposed to being off the court. Only Nene and Birdman have a better points per possession difference (by the way, Birdman's is a whopping +11.6 points per possession better. I might do a post about that). Take whatever you want out of these stats.

via c2.api.ning.com

Some other Melo tidbits from 82games: Melo's foul-drawing rate of 15.5% is very average, despite the fact that his FTA per game is one of the top ones in the league. This is probably attributed to his very high usage rate, which I have no problem with since he's the best player on the team. Melo's Win% is 70.3%, which is slightly better than the team's record of 34-16 (68% of the games played were won). Now, I have no clue what Win% is, but I'm assuming that it would be the team's winning percentage if the player played all 48 minutes. Melo's eFG% decreases by 10% on jumpers and nearly 20% on "close shots" during clutch time. However, his per-48 minutes scoring average is at 42.4, and I have always thought that Melo is one of the league's best performers in the clutch. Sometimes, stats are really weird.

I just love how the ref is in the background ready to call some stupid foul (via www.sneakerfiles.com)

Steven Hunter Sighting!!!!! (via americansportsblog.files.wordpress.com)

OK, I'm having some MAJOR formatting issues putting that chart on here.

John Elway, Todd Helton, Joe Sakic these are all of your standard heroes in Denver and I'd be lying to you if I said that I didnt love each one of them. But recently i started to look back on my life realize that i haven't really reached the apex of any sports that I've played. After a couple hours of crying in the dark and watching Bruce Lee montages to build my self esteem back I decided that i needed to adjust my heroes to people that relate to me. I was a J.V. player and a varsity full time benchwarmer, inserted into practices to get dunked on by the allstars on varsity who could i possibly bond with and look up to WHO ???? And than it hit me Renaldo freaking Balkman. I love this guy not for whatever it is that he apparently does to stay on the team but for who he is. I swear to god i think i saw him eating popcorn on the sidelines during games. I think the best thing for us to do with him since were paying him is to have him update the fans via twitter on whats really going on during the game, give us the inside scoop on what was said during the timeout, the activities on the court etc. This sounds crazy but why not at least he would get to do something on game nights besides layup lines and sitting court side.

In all seriousness i do like the potential he looks like he has, when i see him in games for more than 3 minutes he brings a good level of energy, will grab some boards and it looks like his teammates love him. From one benchwarmer to another I feel your pain but i believe in you !!

I know we are all itching for the Nuggs to add a 4th Big that can play a little in the post, but where do you think Nene, Kmart and Birdman rank right now in terms of the other Center-PF rotations in the League right now?  Despite last night's win over the Lake Show, I still give the immensely talented and LARGE combo of Gasol, Bynum and Odom an edge over the Nuggets Bigs, but it is actually pretty close.  I would probably put the Nuggets Three Headed Monster as the second best C-PF rotation in the NBA.    Boston (Garnett, Wallace and Perkins), Cleveland (Shaq, Ilgauskas, Varejao), Atlanta (Horford, Smith and Pachulia) and maybe Memphis (Randolph, Gasol and Haddidi) could be in the discussion, but I would put the Nuggets combo as the #2 Big Man rotation in the League in terms of who is playing best right now.  What say you?

For all you Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (Chris Jackson) fans there is a great Q&A with him and Jorge Sierra on HoopsHype. Rauf is still playing ball and is over in Japan right now. Go check it out ...

You’re 40 already. Do you have any plans to stop in the near future?

MAR: As long as God gives me the ability to play and I have the desire to play – whichever goes first – I’m going to play.

You still have the passion.

MAR: I still have it. I still love to compete. And I know when to say, “Enough.” I still have the ability to play on the top level. So I’m going to enjoy it as long as I can. And then, after that, go into some type of coaching.

Full story here.

According to an interview with Melo he stated he likely won't be playing for another couple of games!

Ok I know what you're thinking, "How is it possible Melo's sprained ankle is THAT bad??" I know this same sentiment was apparent in a recent front page article.  I've had sprained ankles myself and they do take some time to heal. However, I haven't ever, and will never be a scoring machine like Carmelo Anthony. So why isn't he playing ball when his ankle sprain perhaps isn't THAT bad? Heres my theory, he doesn't want to hurt his numbers. Thats right I said it, instead of playing in games that his team really needs him in, even if you're not gonna get the 110% Melo, he has opted to not play so that his overall scoring numbers are effected.  If he plays anyway and he isn't putting up insane numbers he probably assumes, and maybe rightfully so, that his chances for MVP go out the window. 

I'm not sure if that's really what's happening, I'm not in the lockeroo..... well you get the picture.

source via hoophype = Anthony told Yahoo! Sports late Wednesday that his sprained left ankle will likely force him to miss at least the next two games...

Lots of buzz surrounding Melo's ankle today. Found the following story by Aaron Lopez talking all about Melo's ankle and some quotes from #15 as well.

Anthony was selected by fans to start for the Western Conference during the Feb. 14 NBA All-Star Game in Dallas, but he said he will not participate if he can’t play in at least one of the next four games leading into the break.

“I wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t have people talking bad about me like that,” Anthony said. “I care about the All-Star game, but I really care about my team.”

Full article here.

Lopez covers the team for the the Nuggets website on NBA.com.