The Nuggets seem to be getting better and better with Chauncey Billups running the point and making Carmelo Anthony the main focus of the offense. And as an added bonus to all the Anthony Carter haters out there, he seems to be thriving off the bench and playing quite effectively as Chauncey's backup, no? I think it's time to cut AC and his $1 million, non-guaranteed contract some slack.But while watching tonight's respectable win over the Charlotte Bobcats, I couldn't help but notice that not only can starting "shooting" guard Dahntay Jones not shoot worth a damn, but he has officially been added to my list of Nuggets I've NEVER seen make a shot. I don't mean dunks or free throws. I mean open jumpers from somewhere outside the painted area.
For those of you who have followed this blog for a while, the same discussion came up last season when the Nuggets acquired Chucky Atkins. Before Chucky played his first game as a Nugget last year, I wrote that I had never seen him make a shot either. Never. Not one. And since he's been a Nugget, sure enough, Chucky hasn't made one open shot (at least as far as I can tell).
So who else joins this illustrious list of current and former Nugget "shooting" or hybrid guards who I've never seen make a shot? Going back to 1990, here's a sampling off the top of my head, and I welcome your inclusions (please note that to make this list, the player had to get ample chances to earn more playing time. For example, Julius Hodge - who incidentally also never made a shot - never really got a fair chance to show how often he'd never make a shot. Make sense?)...
Dahntay Jones (career 44% shooter)
Chucky Atkins (41.5%)
Yakhouba Diawara (36.5%)
DerMarr Johnson (41.1%)
Rodney White (42.4%)
Junior Harrington (37.1%)
Vincent Yarbrough (39.3%)
George McCloud (40.2%)
Kenny Satterfield (33.5%)
Tariq Abdul-Wahad (41.7%)
Doug Overton (41.2%)
Darnell Mee (31.2%)
Mark Macon (38.4%)
Looking at this list above and watching Jones start only makes me more frustrated about the J.R. Smith situation. Sure, George Karl is 100% in the wrong to not be starting J.R. But regardless of the coach's decision, J.R. needs to earn that spot when he's given minutes. For the second game in a row, J.R. hurt the Nuggets much more than he helped them (J.R.'s +/- on Sunday against Memphis was -15 and tonight against Charlotte was -12).
Let's hope J.R. gets his act together soon and for the first time since...well...errr...David Thompson maybe?...the Nuggets will have themselves a decent starting "shooting" guard.