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Written by Nick Sclafani
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Tuesday, 06 January 2009 15:34 |
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(Boulder-CO) The basketball Gods have spoken and have put 'Melo on the shelf for at least three weeks. The good news is the fractured finger in 'Melo's shooting hand will not require surgery.
THIS JUST IN: Any trade rumors involving Linas Kleiza have since died. Someone get me a ticket on the L-Train!
The silver lining in all this is with 'Melo sidelined we are going to really see just how good tradable Linas Kleiza truly is. In the past, I've analyzed Kleiza's production as a reserve compared to as a starter and if the stats tell even a partial truth the Nuggets should be OK as long as the rest of the crew picks up some extra slack.
This injury could also expedite any trades concerning solidifying the frontcourt the Denver front office was mulling around in an attempt to compensate for 'Melo's absence.
Go Nuggetst!

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We'll need Chauncey to score a little more efficiently than he has been... those 4/12 shooting nights have the potential to sink us without Melo's production available. Hopefully we play better defense than we did in the Pacers game, because this will definitely limit our offensive repertoire... 3 weeks is a long time.
This is probably the best possible time for this to happen though, as we have a fairly easy, home-heavy schedule for January. The only really big games are Phoenix, Houston, Utah, New Orleans, and a game against the Spurs that he may be back in time for. A lot of Eastern Conference games aside from that, with only Orlando and Detroit as real contenders.. We'll probably slide a little bit, but as long as we don't blow those key Western games, I think we'll be okay without Melo.