| 16 September 2009
(Denver-CO) “If you’re not getting better today someone, somewhere is.” I can remember that being one of my former high school basketball coach’s favorite messages to convey to us before a grueling practice. It was a way for him to use a rhetoric of despair to worry us into practicing harder by planting the hypothetical seed of the thought of losing to a rival team in front of our friends, fellow classmates, and families.
That was high school basketball in Colorado; not exactly a hotbed for hoops talent on the national scene.
In the NBA, it’s not only having to get players to practice harder (yes, we’re talking about practice…) but nowadays teams just find ways to improve by adding personnel. In the West, the powerhouse teams in the Western Conference have all bought into a similar rhetoric and have started a personnel arms race. The Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, and Portland Trailblazers have all made impressive moves this summer to boost their chances of reaching the NBA’s promise land, but there is one contender from last season that has appeared relatively content to move laterally.
You guessed it, the Denver Nuggets!
Having made it all the way to the Conference Finals last season only to perish to the eventual NBA Champion, Los Angeles Lakers. Maybe Denver is just planning on practicing harder so not to let the Pepsi Center faithful down in 2010. Because the way I see it, this team has some serious ground to make up in the practice facility if they’re going to keep up with the Western Conference’s status quo.
For starters, let’s take a look at what has changed with the Denver roster. Nuggets brass did a phenomenal job landing Ty Lawson via trade with the Timberwolves on draft night. And while this goes against the point I’m trying to make, anytime a team lands first round talent without a first round pick they’ve done themselves a tremendous favor. But, from there this off-season gets a little shaky. Dahntay Jones was lost to free-agency by signing with the Indiana Pacers, Linas Kleiza left town to play in the kiddie pool Greece for more money than Denver could have offered, and Sonny Weems and Walter Sharpe were traded (Sharpe came via trade with the Pistons along with Arron Afflalo for a second round pick) to the Milwaukee Bucks for Malik Allen in a move that brought size to the Denver front line, but was more like putting a band aid on a wound that’s going to need stitches sooner rather than later.
But wait there’s more to this story…
The Nuggets, obviously not knowing that Linas was headed to western Europe, passed on a second round gamble pick, Dujuan Blair, and selected Sergio Llull of whom they traded the rights to for cash to the Houston Rockets not but a few minutes later. And guess who did take a gamble on Blair… the San Antonio Spurs.
In addition, and after seemingly replacing Dahntay Jones with Arron Afflalo, the off-season rumors of yet another shooting guard coming to Denver have been steady. Wally Szczerbiak and Rashad McCants being the most often noted, but the likes of a Desmond Mason have also been mentioned too. Is this because Afflalo wasn’t the man Denver really wanted, but yet still needed to finish scratching Joe Dumars’ back for Detroit sending Chauncey Billups to the Nuggets for Allen Iverson last season?
You can draw your own conclusions on that one, but I think you can see what I’m getting at here.
The Lakers added defensive stopper Ron Artest to an already ridiculously big and talented offensive roster. The Spurs added veterans Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess, and rookie wildcard Dujuan Blair to a roster that still has Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili on it. The Mavericks landed Shawn Marion and Tim Thomas to a team that gave Denver all they bargained for in the Western Conference Semi-Finals. And, in the under-the-radar move of the off-season out West, the Trailblazers were able to pick-up Andre Miller from the 76ers to compliment the young and very talented roster already in place that was missing a heady, veteran starting point guard.
So where does that leave the Nuggets?
The Nuggets would start Chauncey Billups, J.R. Smith, Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, and Nene. Or, if you prefer, roughly the same starting five minus Dahntay Jones who didn’t really play a starter’s share of the minutes at shooting guard anyway. With that being said, J.R. Smith will miss the first seven regular season games due to suspension stemming from his reckless driving case that killed his friend, Andre Bell, and the Denver bench is not what it used to be. Sure, the Birdman and AC are back. Plus, Ty Lawson being tutored by Chauncey Billups is going to fast track his transition, but the roster looks pretty lean from there. Johan Petro still hasn’t proven that his services can be relied on with regularity. Malik Allen hasn’t played in more than 50 games in a regular season in four years with four different teams. Arron Afflalo, while young, hasn’t yet been anointed as the answer at backup shooting guard. Which in turn leaves only the slim chance that Renaldo Balkman emerges into regular rotation. But who knows where his head is at after making off-season waves with pending DUI charges
That was high school basketball in Colorado; not exactly a hotbed for hoops talent on the national scene.
In the NBA, it’s not only having to get players to practice harder (yes, we’re talking about practice…) but nowadays teams just find ways to improve by adding personnel. In the West, the powerhouse teams in the Western Conference have all bought into a similar rhetoric and have started a personnel arms race. The Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, and Portland Trailblazers have all made impressive moves this summer to boost their chances of reaching the NBA’s promise land, but there is one contender from last season that has appeared relatively content to move laterally.
You guessed it, the Denver Nuggets!
Having made it all the way to the Conference Finals last season only to perish to the eventual NBA Champion, Los Angeles Lakers. Maybe Denver is just planning on practicing harder so not to let the Pepsi Center faithful down in 2010. Because the way I see it, this team has some serious ground to make up in the practice facility if they’re going to keep up with the Western Conference’s status quo.
For starters, let’s take a look at what has changed with the Denver roster. Nuggets brass did a phenomenal job landing Ty Lawson via trade with the Timberwolves on draft night. And while this goes against the point I’m trying to make, anytime a team lands first round talent without a first round pick they’ve done themselves a tremendous favor. But, from there this off-season gets a little shaky. Dahntay Jones was lost to free-agency by signing with the Indiana Pacers, Linas Kleiza left town to play in the kiddie pool Greece for more money than Denver could have offered, and Sonny Weems and Walter Sharpe were traded (Sharpe came via trade with the Pistons along with Arron Afflalo for a second round pick) to the Milwaukee Bucks for Malik Allen in a move that brought size to the Denver front line, but was more like putting a band aid on a wound that’s going to need stitches sooner rather than later.
But wait there’s more to this story…
The Nuggets, obviously not knowing that Linas was headed to western Europe, passed on a second round gamble pick, Dujuan Blair, and selected Sergio Llull of whom they traded the rights to for cash to the Houston Rockets not but a few minutes later. And guess who did take a gamble on Blair… the San Antonio Spurs.
In addition, and after seemingly replacing Dahntay Jones with Arron Afflalo, the off-season rumors of yet another shooting guard coming to Denver have been steady. Wally Szczerbiak and Rashad McCants being the most often noted, but the likes of a Desmond Mason have also been mentioned too. Is this because Afflalo wasn’t the man Denver really wanted, but yet still needed to finish scratching Joe Dumars’ back for Detroit sending Chauncey Billups to the Nuggets for Allen Iverson last season?
You can draw your own conclusions on that one, but I think you can see what I’m getting at here.
The Lakers added defensive stopper Ron Artest to an already ridiculously big and talented offensive roster. The Spurs added veterans Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess, and rookie wildcard Dujuan Blair to a roster that still has Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili on it. The Mavericks landed Shawn Marion and Tim Thomas to a team that gave Denver all they bargained for in the Western Conference Semi-Finals. And, in the under-the-radar move of the off-season out West, the Trailblazers were able to pick-up Andre Miller from the 76ers to compliment the young and very talented roster already in place that was missing a heady, veteran starting point guard.
So where does that leave the Nuggets?
The Nuggets would start Chauncey Billups, J.R. Smith, Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, and Nene. Or, if you prefer, roughly the same starting five minus Dahntay Jones who didn’t really play a starter’s share of the minutes at shooting guard anyway. With that being said, J.R. Smith will miss the first seven regular season games due to suspension stemming from his reckless driving case that killed his friend, Andre Bell, and the Denver bench is not what it used to be. Sure, the Birdman and AC are back. Plus, Ty Lawson being tutored by Chauncey Billups is going to fast track his transition, but the roster looks pretty lean from there. Johan Petro still hasn’t proven that his services can be relied on with regularity. Malik Allen hasn’t played in more than 50 games in a regular season in four years with four different teams. Arron Afflalo, while young, hasn’t yet been anointed as the answer at backup shooting guard. Which in turn leaves only the slim chance that Renaldo Balkman emerges into regular rotation. But who knows where his head is at after making off-season waves with pending DUI charges
Or if you prefer, behind the status quo of the Western Conference elite.
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