Off-Season Review

Yeah, this review is a little late, most off-season reviews are made just after free agency. I wanted to wait and see how the summer league and a couple preseason games went just so I wouldn't jump to any crazy conclusions as a lot of reviews did shortly after the big changes made this off-season. Alright enough of me making excuses for putting this off, let's dive into this crazy off season.

Departures:

Masai Ujiri: The most needless overreaction of any of the departures this year in my mind is that of Masai Ujiri. From the causal fan, to local sports radio hosts, all I've heard about Ujiri's signing with Toronto is how terrible it was to let him go. Sure, I will admit that Ujiri was very capable, demonstrated most aptly in getting the most out of the "Melo Trade", but the notion that Josh Kroenke is just another rich owner meddling with a team in a sport that he knows nothing about is ludicrous. Let's look back to the "Melo Trade", whenever there was a photo of Ujiri fielding offers on the phone, constantly texting someone, who was always right next to him? That's right, Josh Kroenke. I believe Josh had just as much (if not more) of an influence on this team than Masai has the last couple of years. As a Nuggets fan, I'm perfectly comfortable with Kroenke calling the shots.

Andre Iguodala: I'm not a huge fan of Iguodala. While his 13ppg and lock down defense will be missed, I'm just not sold that he was really 100% into it last year. He seemed to have an attitude that he was better than the team - coaching. Luckily, the Nuggets won 56 games, so he never really had an opportunity to complain. As much as it hurts to lose that kind of an athlete, I can't really say I'm surprised or even that disappointed.

Kosta Koufos: Kosta's biggest strength in my mind last year was his consistency, that coupled with great fundamentals made him George Karl's perfect fit for center. I really liked Koufos, but the additions of a couple big men this off-season should make his loss pretty irrelevant.

Corey Brewer: I would venture to say Brewer was the biggest loss this off-season, mostly because I really thought he would stay with Denver. Yes, he probably took a little too many 3 point shots, but he more than made up for it with his defensive tenacity and will to win. I doubt that I will ever forget 3-21-13 vs the Philadelphia 76ers, when Corey scored 6 points in the last 10 seconds when the Nuggets where down by 5.

George Karl: I like Karl a lot (and not just because his last name is my first name), but I do think it was time to part ways. Last year Karl brought out the very best in his team, 56 wins is crazy with the roster he had. And the funny thing about this is, this is the biggest reason he had to go. Karl didn't have very much time left to coach last year, which I think drove him to want to win it all now. The problem is that he didn't have the roster to win it all. His championing players like Andre Miller and Kosta Koufos, and keeping players like Evan Fournier and JaVale McGee on the bench won him some games in the present, but seriously hampered the success of the Nugget's future. It was a great run, and like I said, I have a lot of respect for Karl and what he did in Denver, but it was time to move on.

Additions: 

Randy Foye: This dude can flat out shoot. He gives us something that we haven't had in a looong time, a pure spot up 3 point shooter (Voshon Lenard maybe being the last one?). I mean, last year the guy shot 41% from the three point line. He is also a great guard defender and will help out the Nugget's terrible free throw percentage, shooting 86% in his career from the line.

J. J. Hickson and Darrell Arthur: Why would I put these two together? Because they are so similar. They are both semi small (6'9) big men who rebound at a high level (Hickson averaged a double double last season), can score in post ups, have soft touch on free throw line jump shots, and are great on both offensive and defensive pick and roles. From the limited amount of video I've seen on them, Hickson is more of a high motor and energy guy, while Arthur is a smoother player, relying more on skill and a soft jump shot.

Nate Robinson: How could you not love the way this guy plays? He gives all of us sub 6' people hope doesn't he? But seriously, I have seen few people ever play the game with as much heart as Nate. He's one of those players (like J. R. Smith was) that can win you a game, or lose you a game with his shooting, but there is one thing he will bring every game, 100% effort.

Brian Shaw: The biggest reason Karl was fired, is probably the biggest reason Shaw was hired, and that is player development. Count on seeing a lot of young players playing a lot of minutes for the Nuggets this year. Shaw isn't going in a completely different direction than Karl, he still wants the young team to run and take advantage of the altitude. Defense seems to be what he's changing the most, fewer switches and more sticking with one man, which may be a wise move with moving screens being a point of emphasis this year.

Break out player this year:
As much as I would love to say Evan Fournier, I just haven't seen very much improvement over the off-season, with him not making the French team, and the fact he played a far second fiddle to Jordan Hamilton in the Summer league. I'm going to have to go with Wilson Chandler. Chandler has all the tools, he can shoot the 3, drive hard and finish, play great defense, and has that cool NBA swag. If he can stay healthy (which he is already being slowed down by a hammy) I could see him breaking out to an all-star level.

The Wild Card: 
Danilo Gallinari. The difference between a 50 win or 40 win season this year could be how Danilo effects the team once he comes back from the ACL injury.

Conclusion:
When it's all said and done, the Nuggets most likely will not win as many games this year, and probably won't get out of the first round of the playoffs. So does that mean it was a bad off-season? Not at all, as long as the Nuggets develop their young players to have a bright future, I think this was a great off-season.

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Teamness Comparison: How the Nuggets Must Improve This Offseason

     As tough as it is to say, the Nugget's season is now over before the second round of the playoffs once again. I can already hear the voices coming back out of the woodwork, you remember, the voices who say "You can't win in the playoffs without a superstar". And while those who say you can't get out of the first round without a superstar have no argument (see the Grizzlies VS Clippers series), those who argue that you can't win a championship have a little more of an argument. The one thing us Nuggets fans can cling to is a championship team that did it without a superstar nearly ten years ago, the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons. This Pistons team showed you don't need a superstar, but what you do need is players who fill every role greatly. So as we look at how the Nuggets need to improve this off season, let's compare these roles between this year's Nuggets team, and a team that won the championship on teamness.

1. Scoring:
Pistons:
Richard Hamilton 17.6, Chauncey Billups 16.9 PPG
Nuggets:
Ty Lawson 16.7 PPG, Danilo Gallinari 16.2 PPG


2. Rebounding:
Pistons:
Ben Wallace 12.4 RPG, Rasheed Wallace 7.0 RPG
Nuggets:
Kenneth Faried 9.2 RPG, Kosta Koufos 6.9 RPG

3. Assisting
Pistons:
Chauncey Billups 5.7 AST
Nuggets: Ty Lawson 6.9 AST

4. Defense
Pistons:
Ben Wallace 1.8 STL, Ben Wallace 3.0 BPG
Nuggets:
Andre Iguodala 1.74 STL, JaVale McGee 1.99 BPG

Now, Just looking at these stats, the Nuggets seem to be not very far behind the Pistons, but there are 2 areas I think the Nuggets need to improve in this off season.

1. Leadership.
When comparing these two teams, the most obvious area where the Nuggets are lacking is leadership. With the 2003-04 Pistons, there was no doubt who the leader was, Chauncey Billups. Who was the Nuggets leader? Lawson? Miller? Iguodala? The Nuggets need to develop better leadership to get far in the playoffs next year.

2. Consistent Shooting.

With the slashing, driving, points in the paint style of offense the Nuggets play, you have to have consistent outside shooting. If you can't hit from the outside constantly (as the Nuggets couldn't in their series against the Warriors) the opposing team will simply "pack the paint" and not allow inside scoring. When you look at the championship Pistons, they where filled with consistent shooters who could spread the floor, Billups, Hamilton, Prince, and Wallace. The good thing, there seems to be a lot of great shooters that will be free agents this year. Here are some free agents the Nuggets should look to acquire; Kyle Korver, Marco Belinelli, Francisco Garcia, JJ Redick, and Kevin Martin.

I know you get tired of hearing there's always next year, but I'm going to say it anyway. If the Nuggets can keep Iguodala, they can only get better. Remember, the Nuggets are the 3rd youngest team in NBA, the future is bright!

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Significance of an otherwise insignificant game against the Suns.

     An individual who hasn't kept up too much with the western conference playoff picture or the Nugget's season so far this year might look at the schedule on NBA.com and see the Nuggets Suns game and think this is a pretty irrelevant game. Just looking at the game on its surface, it seems they would be right. The Nuggets have 57 wins and have the 4th best record in the league, while the Suns have a lowly 25 wins and have the 4th worst record in the league. I would beg to differ, to me, this game is the most significant game the Nuggets have played this year, and the most significant non playoff game in years. Now before you exit the the page because of how rediculous you think that statement was, hear me out!

     Now most of you know that this game's significance jumps way up for the fact that if the Nuggets win, they will clinch the 3rd seed in the western conference. The third seed represents to me for this team more than just playing an easier team in the playoffs, it represents a resilient team, that was unwilling to give up and use excuses to roll over. At the end of December, the Nuggets where 17-14 and were struggling to gel, playing a tough schedule and fighting to stay in the playoff picture, while the Clippers where 24-6, the thought of the Nuggets finishing above the Clippers was almost laughable. Did the Nuggets use this as an excuse and give up? No, they continued to gel and improve every game. The Nuggets later went on a 15 game winning streak, and just when it looked like the Nuggets had it all going, their leader, Ty Lawson went down with an injury. This was a perfect time to lay down, but the Nuggets didn't feel bad for themselves and continued their winning ways. Then six games ago, Danilo Gallinari, the Nuggets leading scorer for most of the year, went down with a season ending ACL tear, another great excuse for bad play, but they went on to win that game and four of the next five games (1 and a half games without Kenneth Faried).

     All this being said, the Nuggets still must win this game to have the greatest regular season in franchise history in my books. Yeah, yeah, I know that the Nuggets this year have the most wins in franchise history, but look back to the 2008-09 season. In 2008-09 the Nuggets barely held off 3 teams who were right behind them for the 2nd seed in the west. Even though they only won 54 games as opposed to 56-57, they did their job and kept that 2nd seed and to this day, had the best regular season in Nuggets franchise history. Now you see the significance of this game against the Suns, the significance is not only one of the best teams in the league playing one of the the worst, or even getting the 3rd seed, the significance of winning this game is having a really good year or having the greatest year in Nuggets franchise history. What will it be? We will find out tonight at 6 MST!

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Trade Deadline Review

     It has been around one month since the Nuggets decided to not make a move on the trade deadline February 21st. When most of the trade grades come out the day of, or the day after the deadline, I decided to wait a month to grade the Nuggets. For an accurate grade you have to see how the team responds. Good thing I waited, I probably would have given the nuggets somewhere near a c-, I thought they should have traded Wilson Chandler for a three point specialist, boy was I wrong. I'm going to go ahead and give the Nuggets an A+ for not making a deal, and here are the reasons why:

1. Team Cohesion: At the start of the year, the Nuggets were many expert's pick to be a top 3 team in the West with the acquisition of Andre Iguodala. The year started shaky with Ty Lawson and Andre Iguodala really struggling. If you look at the Lakers this year, and the Heat when they first acquired Bosh and Lebron, you can see how hard it really is to adapt to new player in the regular lineup. I think the Nuggets were going through this big time, trying to see where Iggy and Chandler fit in, it also didn't help that the majority of the Nuggets games the first quarter of the season were away. With the decision to not make a trade, the team management have allowed the Nuggets to get over most of their growing pains instead of increasing them. I don't even think the way the Nuggets are playing on this 12 game winning streak is as good as they will be come playoff time, as one of the Nuggets most key players (Danilo Gallinari) hasn't been himself since his injury.

2. Wilson Chandler: If there was a trade involving the Nuggets, it most likely would have involved one of two players, Chandler or Mozgov. Just one month ago I couldn't stand Chandler, it seemed like when he wasn't injured (or in China) he played terribly, shooting at a terrible %, and making a ton of unforced bad plays, only having 1 or 2 good games. In one month I've come completely full circle on Chandler. Over the past month Chandler has shown the ability to shoot from the 3 point ark pretty consistently, drive hard to the basket and finish, defend, rebound, and frankly, carry a team in scoring if it comes to it. I'm excited to see how Chandler develops with this team. With Chandler's versatility, he fits in perfectly with what the Nuggets want to do. Of all the players on the Nuggets roster, I think Chandler has the potential to be an all star level player in the future. Knee jerk reaction? Maybe ha ha.

3. The Future: When I heard Masai Ujiri say,  "We're not a contending team, We also need to be patient as a team, organization, to grow a little bit." in his interview following the trade deadline, I couldn't help but be a little annoyed. "Why would you make a statement like this, with a team like the Nuggets, shouldn't you be going for it all this year? And why give them an excuse to not win it all?" were my initial thoughts. Now looking back I think I understand a little more. Why would the Nuggets trade a project like Chandler for a guy in his prime like JJ Redick (this is what I wanted) when the Nuggets aren't a huge threat to win the championship this year? That would be trading away the future for a player that might help you win a couple more games in the playoffs, that wouldn't have been a smart deal.

So a month later, I'll admit I was wrong about Chandler for Redick. I guess that's why I don't get paid for my opinions.

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Game Preview: New York Knicks 3/9/13

     After two and a half years, Carmelo Anthony will make his much anticipated first return to Denver to take on the Nuggets. This is the game that stuck out on the Nuggets schedule to fans at the beginning of the year. This is the must watch can't miss game. Here are the keys to win this game.

#1. Make It Hard On Melo: It is very likely that Carmelo will hear the boos from the crowd, this will only fuel him more. Melo will get his tonight, they key is to force him to shoot a low percentage from the floor.

#2. Rebound: The Knicks are 21st in the league in rebounding, while the Nuggets are 3rd. If the Nuggets can force bad shots and win the battle on the boards, they should win this game.

#3. Play Your Game: With all the emotions that will be flying around tonight, it is imperative for the Nuggets to play their fast pace game. I believe this is the biggest key to this game. The Knicks want to play half court "Melo" ball while the Nuggets want to play at a very fast pace. Whatever team wins the battle for play style will win this game.

Key Match Up: Carmelo VS Danilo
The Nuggets will send a mix of Danilo, Iggy, and Brewer. Don't think that Danilo can't wait for this game also, look for him to have a big game scoring and play well against his old team and the player he was traded for.

Now here is the question of the day; If you where at the game, would you booo Melo for leaving in the way he did, cheer for him for the year of bringing the Nuggets back to prominence, or neither? Personally, I would find it hard to not let a booo slip out during Melo's introduction.

Game Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves 3/9/13

Coming off a big win against the Clippers, the Nuggets (41-22) will host the Timberwolves (21-37) who they have struggled against this year, winning only one of the 3 meetings. This game has special significance, if the Nuggets win this game, it would mark the most strait home wins since 1989, when they went on a 19 game winning streak at home. Here are the keys to tonight's game.

#1. Stay focused: As Karl said after the Clippers game "We've got to stay focused on (19) games of pretty serious playoff intensity and not get hung up on a loss or a winning streak". The Nuggets need to forget about the win two days ago and play  hard from the tip tonight.

#RUN: It seems like more nights than not, this is a key to the game. This is especially essential tonight, as Minnesota is likely going to be without two of their regulars, Nikola Pekovic (abdominal strain) and Andrei Kirilenko (strained left calf).

Stop J.J. Barea: It seems like J.J. Always plays great against the Nuggets, I see him as the x-factor tonight.

Key Match up: Derrick Williams VS Danilo Gallinari
Due to team injures, Derrick is currently playing the PF position, but it's likely that he will be matched up against Danilo. Williams is averaging 20.5 points in his last six games, so this should be a fun one to watch.

With Memphis playing as well as they are, the Nuggets really need this win to keep pace.

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Game Preview: Los Angeles Clippers 3/7/13

     This match up seems to be a budding rivalry. The Clippers have two of my personal 10 least favorite players on their team; the overrated, whine if you don't get every call, act like you're a tough guy, Blake Griffin, and the, manipulate your body to create contact and always get the call, Chris Paul. Needless to say, I can't wait for this one to start and hope the Nuggets can pull it out! Here are the keys to the game.

#1. Feed Off The Crowd: The Pepsi Center is going to be rocking tonight! The Nuggets play great at home (11 strait home wins) and will hopefully find extra energy from the crowd tonight.

#2. Come Out Strong: The last thing the Nuggets need tonight is to start out cold and have to dig themselves out of a deep hole. The Clippers are going to start out hyped up for this game, so you have to ride the storm and match their intensity.

#3 Foul Smartly: There's no doubt that there are going to be some terrible calls against the Nuggets tonight, as is the case whenever you play against superstars. The key is for them to minimize their "stupid" fouls and not let bad calls get to them.

Key Match up: Ty VS The Fish (AKA Chris Paul)
This was hard to choose  as there are plenty of good match ups in this game. I feel that whoever controls the pace of the game will win, so naturally the two pace setters will be the best match up.

Today is the day to go out and show on national TV who the real Lob City is.


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Game Preview: Sacramento Kings 3/5/13

The day after a win at home, the Denver Nuggets (39-22) travel to Sacramento to take on the Kings (21-40). The Nuggets have seven straight wins against the Kings, and have won the first two meetings this year by 25 and 28. Here are today's keys to the game.

#1. Get Loose: Playing an away game as the second of a back to back is tough. The Nuggets need to get their legs quickly and come out strong against a team that, over the last couple of games, have been very hot offensively.

#2. Dominate the boards: The Nuggets have out rebounded the Kings 103-82 in their two wins this season. They need to keep this trend going.

#3. Find Danilo's Lost Confidence: Either Danilo has not been playing at 100%, or he has lost confidence in his driving game. If the latter is true, this game would be great to get him going again, as the Kings aren't known for their defense.

Key Match up: Ty VS Isaiah:
Not often will you see Ty play against someone who is shorter than him, as he will today. Isaiah Thomas is at 5-9 while Lawson is at 5-11. Should be fun to watch the little men go at each other, gives us normal people of normal height hope...

These are the kinds of games the Nuggets need to win to gain their fans' trust, let's see if they can get it done tonight. 


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Game Preview: Atlanta Hawks 3/4/13

Coming off a huge win against the Thunder, the Denver Nuggets (38-22) look to protect their home court (25-3) once again as they face off against the Atlanta Hawks (33-25) at 7:00 pm MST. It should be interesting to watch how the Nuggets respond to the big win, and to see if they can keep their great play at home going. Here are the keys to tonight's game.

RUN!: The Hawks played last night in not only a physically, but mentally draining game against the Lakers in which they lost by not getting a shot off on their last possession. It's needless to say that the Nuggets pace will play a huge factor in whether or not they win tonight.

Force Bad Shots: The Hawks shoot the ball very well, they shoot 46.3% from the field and 38.2% from the 3 point line. The Nuggets seem to give up a ton of open three point shots to teams, they will have to clean this up in order to win soundly tonight.

Get Gallo Going: This might be a good game for Danilo to get some of his confidence back that he loses so easily with injuries. The Nuggets really need to get Danilo going if they want to make a run in the last stretch of the season.

Key Match up: The Benches
Coming off of a back to back, it's likely that we will see more of Atlanta's bench. The Nuggets have the huge advantage in bench scoring (39.9 vs 29.5 ppg).  If the Nuggets bench delivers, chalk this up for a win.

The Nuggets have a hard time on the road, so games like this are a must win.

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Game Preview: Portland Trail Blazers 2/27/13

     The Nuggets (36-22) travel to Portland tonight to take on the Trail Blazers (26-30) at 8:30 pm MST. While the Trail Blazers have a loosing record, they are a good home team (18-9). This should be a good test for the Nuggets to see if they can start gaining some confidence in away games. Here are the keys to the game.

#1. Chase off the 3 point line: The Trail Blazers score 25% of their points from the 3 point line, something the Nuggets have been bad at guarding this year.

#2. Stop LaMarcus: The Nuggets don't really have a player that matches up well with LaMarcus Aldridge, so he will score some points. What the Nuggets do need to do is make it hard on him, giving him no easy points, and force him to have a bad shooting %.

#3. Play Like You're At Home: Wouldn't it be great if the Nuggets did this all year? This is a great game to start the trend of playing great defense away from home.

Key Match up: Lawson VS Lillard
I'm excited to see how Lawson plays against the rookie, he should be able to get by Lillard on the offensive end as Lillard isn't known for his defense.

The playoffs are almost here and the Nuggets really need to start winning these types of games to get the playoff seed they want.

Game Review: Los Angeles Lakers 2/25/13

Result:
Den: 119
LAL: 108

Now let's look at the keys to the game.

#1. Manimal And Minimal Passed: Even though Lawson didn't start out well, (started 1 for 7 from the field) the Nuggets didn't need either of their tone setters to get them up for this game, as the whole team played great from start to finish.

#2. Hit The Boards Passed: The Nuggets beat the Lakers in the battle for the boards 44-36 and offensive boards 8-13

#3. Energy: Passed Wow, did the Nuggets pass this! I don't think I've seen the Nuggets play this close to a complete game (all but the beginning of the fourth) the whole season. The Nuggets did all the little things with a fast pace that led to scoring 33 fast break points while only giving up 3, WOW.

Key Match up: Iggy VS The Black Mamba Passed: 
Iggy, with the help of the other Nuggets wings (and Andre Miller) did a pretty good job on Kobe. Even though Kobe did score 29, Kobe's going to get his, but he seemed pretty frustrated the whole night. Maybe because Javale owned him in the paint?

The Positives: 
#1. Everything: There are way too many positives to just pick out three. The pace was great, every player who played did well, I mean the Nuggets did everything great!

The Negatives:
#1. Inconsistency: It took me forever to think of a negative, and I only could think of one: (other then the terrible reffing) Inconsistency. The Nuggets would be sitting in 4th or 3rd right now if they would play the way they did yesterday every night. The Nuggets have shown how well they can play, now we expect it every time they hit the court.

Summery: This was an awesome win and hopefully a game that can build some momentum going into Portland tomorrow.

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Game Preview: Los Angeles Lakers 2/25/13

     The hot Lakers (28-29, 7-3 in their last 10 games) will pay a visit to Denver (35-22) to try to even up the season series at 2-2, while our Nuggets will try to make it 3-1. This is a different Lakers team than the first 3 games the Nuggets have played them. Dwight Howard is finally starting to get his legs, and the whole team is starting to gel. Here are the keys for the Nuggets to win this game and the season series against the Lakers!

#1. Manimal And Minimal: The Nuggets two tone setters both need to have a great night. Ty needs to set the tone offensively, driving to the basket with the intent to score, and if nothings there, pass it out. Kenneth needs to do what he does best and work hard on the offencive boards and frustrate an easily irritable Howard.

#2. Hit The Boards: In the two wins the Nuggets have against the Lakers so far, they were able to do well getting second chance opportunities. There's nothing more frustrating then getting a stop on defence, only to let the other team get the offensive board and a new 24.

#3. Energy: Playing with energy not only means flying out on the fastbreak, it means playing with defencive intensity every possession, boxing out, setting a good-hard screen, diving on the floor for the loose ball and many other small things. If the Nuggets do these small things, they should be able to wear out a much older Lakers team by the fourth quarter.

Key Match up: Iggy VS The Black Mamba
I'm not looking for Andre Iguodala to score as much as Kobe, or even to stop Kobe from scoring, I'm just asking for Iggy to make it hard on Kobe. Andre knows Kobe well from their Olympic gold metal run this off season, maybe Andre knows a couple of tricks to get in Kobe's mind, we will see!

The game is less then two hours away! Wouldn't it be great to have the bragging rights on these guys \/ this year? Let's hope that in four and a half hours we have this right!

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5 Reasons That It's Great To Be A Nuggets Fan

    In a season that started with very high expectations, and has been filled with ups and downs, it's easy to get down on our Nuggets. Whether you're frustrated with Karl's coaching, tired of a player, or annoyed that it seems the same teams are always the only ones competing for a championship in the league, here are 5 reasons to keep you watching the Nuggets.

#1. Youth: The Nuggets are the fourth youngest team with the average age of 24.7 (only behind the Cavaliers, Hornets, and Rockets). Being the 4th youngest team would suggest that they should only improve from here, which is exciting considering the Nuggets are currently 5th place in the West.

#2. Masai Ujiri: I'm becoming more and more of a Masai fan by the day. While in hindsight, you might not be the biggest fan of the Iggy trade at this point, let's look at the biggest decision Masai has made with the Nuggets; the Carmelo trade. Let's look at all we received and what we gave up in that trade now.
Gave up: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman. None of these players have made much of any impact at all other then Anthony up to this point. 
Received: Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, Andre Miller, Jordan Hamilon (from Felton trade) Quincy Miller, 2 2013 second-round picks, and a 2014 first-round draft pick.
Looking back, all I can say is, wow we really made the best of that trade.

#3. Budding Young Stars: The Nuggets have two of the league's best young players; Ty Lawson and Danilo Gallinari. It should be fun to continue to watch these two players develop and get better year in and year out.

#4. Flexability: One of the Nuggets biggest problems is a great one to have, they simply have too much talent to play it all. The Nuggets have so many young, skilled players that draw a lot of trade value. If there is a "superstar" available this off season, and the Nuggets want to go in that direction, they could potentially put a strong trade offer together. 

#5. Athleticism: In my opinion, this Nuggets team is in the top 3 funnest teams to watch in the league. With finishers like Corey Brewer, Wilson Chandler, Kennith Faried, Andre Iguodala, JaVale McGee and a lob passer like Andre Miller, this year's Nuggets have become a fan favorite team to watch around the NBA world. 

All in all, this is one of the greatest times to be a Nuggets fan in the team's history. We are truly lucky to be Nuggets fans in 2013! I can't wait to see what the future holds for this young team.


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Game Review: Charlotte Bobcats 2/23/13

Result:
DEN-113
CHA-99

 Now let's take a look at the keys to the game.

#1. Intensity Passed: The first half intensity wasn't great, but the Nuggets really picked it up in the second half.

#2. Rejuvenate The Slumpers Passed: Iguodala went 5-7 from the field and dished 10 assists. He looked really comfortable on the court today.

#3. Take Care Of Business Passed: The Nuggets lead at the end of every one of the four quarters and won by double digits. 

Key Match up: Ty VS Kemba Failed: Kemba had a better game stats wise scoring 24, and dishing 5 assists, while Ty was right behind with 20 points and 5 assists.

The Positives:
Taking Care Of Business: While I think the Nuggets could, and maybe, should have played a better game, they did what was needed to get the W.

JaVale McGee: With just 17 short minutes, JaVale scored 17 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and blocked 3 shots. JaVale was the best player on the court tonight.

Andre Miller: Andre scored 8 points and had 5 assists. Andre really played well tonight, while staying in his role and not trying to do too much.

The Negatives:
Javale's Lack Of Playing Time: Like I said earlier, JaVale was not only the Nuggets best big man tonight, he was their best player. So this begs the question, why is Karl not riding the hot hand and only giving him 17 minutes? I guess there is a reason Karl is couching a team and I'm sitting on my couch watching, but I just don't get this.

Danilo Gallinari: Danilo is still feeling the effects of a tweak he had yesterday, giving him limited minutes in which he only scored 6 points. With Gallo's injury history, let's hope this isn't anything that could get worse.

Ty Not Getting Calls: Can you imagine how many points Ty would get if he got the Russell Westbrook treatment from the refs when he drives to the basket?

Summery: This win was nothing to get too excited about, just the Nuggets doing what they should on the road against a bad team.

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Game Preview: At Charlotte Bobcats 2/23/13

Is there any better way for a team that's really struggling on the road (5 strait home losses) to regain confidence then to make a stop in Charlotte? That's exactly what the Nuggets (34-22, 11-19 on the road) will do tonight, as they take on the lowly Bobcats (13-42, 7-21 at home, man, it's good to be a Nuggets fan isn't it haha) at 5pm MST. The Bobcats are the worst team in the league, to today's keys will be based around that fact.
   
Keys To The Game
#1. Intensity: Lets face it, the Nuggets have played pretty soft ball on the road this year, especially last night. They gave up 119 to the worst scoring team in the league, that's terrible. Couple this with the fact that the Bobcats are a team the Nuggets could easily look over, this could be a trap game. If the Nuggets play hard for 4 quarters you can book this as a win.

#2. Rejuvenate The Slumpers: This is a perfect game for Andre Iguodala to get out of his slump, hopefully, this won't be a close game, giving Andre the opportunity to take more shots without having too much affect on the game.

#3. Take Care Of Business: The Bobcats, though they have some good young talent, are a bad team. This key is to not give them any confidence; Lead at the end of every one of the four quarters and win by double digits.

Key Match up: Ty VS Kemba
Both Ty and Kemba are both coming off a 27 point game and have been hot in the last couple of games. It should be interesting to see which player scores more and what impact it has on the game.

The Nuggets should win this easy, but look out, this game could be a trap if the Nuggets don't play hard. Look for a post game review following the game to review my keys!

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Game Review: Washington Wizards 2/22/13

Result: 
DEN-113
WAS-119

Now let's take a look at the keys to the game.

1st Quarter Defense- Failed: Once again, the Nuggets went on the road, and allowed a team that isn't as good as them to gain confidence, letting the Wizards score 33 in the first. The Nuggets seemed to cruise through the first 3 quarters, and hoped to make a push for the win in the fourth (as seems to be a theme this year on the road). This allows teams like the Wizards to gain confidence that comes into play in the fourth.

#2. Hit your free throws!!! Passed: This is something that the Nuggets actually did well tonight. Unfortunately it didn't play too much of a role in the game.

#3. Run, Run, And Run: Failed: The Nuggets had 17 fastbreak points, 2 under their season average.

Key Match up: Kenneth VS Nene Failed: Although neither played that big of a role in the game, Nene had the better game statistically, scoring 14 and grabbing 4 rebounds, while Kenneth scored a lowly 6 points and grabbed 4 boards.

The Positives 
1. Ty Lawson: Ty continues to play great, he scored  27 points while dishing out 12 assists.
2. The Slumpers improving: The 2 Nuggets players who have been bad shooting slumps (Chandler and Iguodala) shot 11-20. Let's hope they can gain some confidence and continue an upward swing.
3. Fight: Once again, the Nuggets fought back in the fourth. When they were down by 18 in the 3rd, they could have easily laid down and given up. It is encouraging to see a young team like the nuggets never give up.

The Negatives: 
Ty In the Clutch: Ugh, when is Ty going to hit that game winner we all want him to? Ty had two chances to tie or take the lead in the game and missed them both. One was blocked by Nene and the other was a missed 3 pointer.
Lack Of Effort On The Road: Where is the effort on the road that we see at home games? I understand there is a difference playing in front of your own fans and playing against other team's fans, but the difference really shouldn't be this drastic.
Danilo Gallinari: Danilo dinged his hip and didn't play well the rest of the night, lets hope it isn't anything that will keep him out of any games.

Summery: Another bad loss on the road from a bad road team. If the Nuggets want to get the 4th seed, they have to clean up their road performances. Lets forget about this game and move on to the Bobcats tomorrow.

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Game Preview: At Washington Wizards

     The Nuggets (34-21, 11-18 on the road) will play the first of two back to back road games at Washington (15-37, 11-15 at home) tonight at 5:00 PM Mountain Time. While many people may think this is a gimme game for the Nuggets, I would disagree. The first and most obvious reason being that the Wizards are one of the only 3 teams to beat the Nuggets at home. The second being that the Nuggets road record is 11-18, which is worse than the Wizards home record, 11-15. Let's face it, the Nuggets have been a pretty bad road team so far, if they can improve on road games and keep up the pace at home, they should be able to lock up that 4th seed and home court for the playoffs. This is a perfect game to start gaining confidence on the road. Here are my 3 keys to winning tonight's game.

#1. 1st Quarter Defense: My first key is essential to beating any selfish (9th fewest assists in the league) jump shot happy team like the Wizards. While The Wizards offensive style won't win many games, it can be extremely dangerous if they hit their early shots and gain confidence. If the Nuggets play with the defensive intensity from the opening tip, the Wizards don't have a chance, and this could be a blowout.

#2. Hit your free throws!!!: One thing the Wizards do pretty well is keeping their opponents off the free throw line (16th fewest FTs allowed), while the Nuggets shoot a league low from the line at 68%.

#3. Run, Run, And Run: Once again keeping with the theme of playing against a jump shooting team, with lots of long jumpshots, comes lots of long rebounds that enable plenty of fast break opportunities.

Key Match up: Kenneth VS Nene
You have to love this, a player going up against the player who made him expendable. The first match up wasn't that great, Kenneth had the slight edge on a nervous looking Nene who seemed to be trying to do too much in front of his old fans. This should be interesting to watch.

While the Nuggets should be able to pull out a win tonight, the Wizards have the ability to make this a close game in the fourth. Look for a post game review following the game to review my keys!

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Evan Fournier Halfway Point Review

I can still remember Thursday, June 28th 2012, NBA draft day. I was excited because the guy I wanted looked like he could possibly drop to pick 20. You see, the two drafts prior to this one, the Nuggets got my guys (Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried), and they turned out to be great picks. Well, the draft started with Anthony Davis being picked first over all. Fast forward 18 picks, the Magic are on the clock, and they need a big man, and they pick Andrew Nicholson! I'm now ecstatic, my guy, Jered Sullinger was still available! Four minutes pass, and David Stern walks the podium, I'm about to be 3 for 3 in my Nuggets draft predictions! With the 20th over all pick, the Denver Nuggets select Avon (yeah, that's how he pronounced it, psh) Fournier. At this point I'm thinking "I've never heard of this guy, but before you throw your remote at the TV, at least see what this guy looks like and watch his highlights". The camera switches to Evan, and he's a 19 year old baby faced Frenchmen, to make matters worse, his "highlights" were him hitting a couple wimpy looking layups. At this point I'm so sick I turn the TV off and don't watch any more of the draft. Fast forward to the summer league, where Evan really didn't seem to be special, while guys like Sullinger were dominating. I tell you this whole story to tell you this, Evan has really grown on me watching him during the season, in fact, I've come full circle on him, and now think he has a great future for the Nuggets. Here are 5 things that have persuaded me to be a Fournier fan.

#1. Age: Evan is only 20 years old, born October 29, 1992. This simply means he has plenty of time to improve and learn from NBA coaches.

#2. Height: At 6-6, Evan is extremely tall for a point guard, and even tall for a shooting guard. Evan's skill set at 6-6 is extremely rare.

#3. Speed: Now don't get me wrong, in a 40 yard dash, he wouldn't do great, but he has what I like to call deceptive speed. On defense, the player he's guarding often times gets the step on him driving to the basket, but with Evan's length, he's often able to surprise his man and cut him off. He also has a very quick first step that allows him to get by his man and be a play maker.

#4. Shooting: Evan has demonstrated that he has the potential to be a really good three point shooter. He is 13-29 from behind the three point line this year with his limited minutes. If there's one thing that will keep you in the NBA, it's 3 point shooting.

#5. Cool: Seriously, if this guy has any nerves, he doesn't show it. For a rookie that gets few minutes, when he is in he seems to be cool, calm, and collected. He doesn't try to do too much, he doesn't try to do too little. For a 20 year old, that's impressive.

Conclusion: While it will take time to tell if Fournier was a better pick then Sullinger, (who was having a solid rookie season before he injured his back) I have a good feeling about it.

Trade Deadline

    Well, here we are, one day away from another trade deadline. As a Nuggets fan you can't help but get a little anxious around this time, as the blockbuster Carmelo Anthony deal was only two short years ago. In all actuality a Nuggets trade this year is doubtful, as statements from the front office would suggest, but that has never stopped trade talk among fans before has it? Here is a list of players who in my opinion are, or should be, expendable for a potential trade.

The Expendables:

#1. Wilson Chandler: As I look back at Wilson's time with the Nuggets, I can't seem to remember a time that he wasn't in a slump. In fact, the only good game I remember him having was in the Nuggets beat down of the Bulls on February 7th, when he scored 24 points shooting 8-9 and 5-5 from the 3 point line. Wilson also seems to be a solid rebounder and defender. While these facts show Wilson's potential, you have to ask the question, is this potential worth 37 million over 5 years? In my opinion, no way!

#2. Timofey Mozgov: To be honest, I really doubt that after Timofey's play so far this year that anyone would be willing to give up too much for him. He seems to have lost a lot of confidence in his game which has shown is his lack of ability to catch the ball and put it in the basket. The reason I think there is a possibility that Timofey is traded is the simple fact that he's 7-1 and many teams seem to be dying for big men (Just look at the Heat who just signed Chris Andersen).

#3. Andre Miller: Over the past year, Andre is really starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth. Before the season began, he seemed to not want to sign with the Nuggets, wanting to join a team that had a better chance to win a championship. Well, he signed with the Nuggets for two years, problem solved, right? Wrong. Early February Andre came out with comments that he wasn't happy with his playing time, and that he didn't know how much longer the Nuggets wanted him here. Since this point, Andre really has me wanting him to either shape up, or be traded. Andre's body language on the court has been terrible, he seems to always be angry even when the team is playing well. He's taken many ill advised shots and turned the ball over way too much in crunch time. To me, he seems to be wanting to be the Nuggets go to guy in the fourth, when Ty and Danilo seem to be much more fit for that role. This trade will most likely not happen, the only way it could is if the Nuggets received a respectable point guard in return, as Karl isn't yet ready to turn the second team reins over to Evan Fournier just yet.

Players The Nuggets Should Target:
What specific player should the Nuggets target? I really don't have a clue. What I do know is that the Nuggets are in need of something they do not have on this team: a consistent 3 point shooter. This would aid the Nuggets offense sooooo much. The defensive strategy against the Nuggets this year has been to pack the paint, and dare the Nuggets to shoot threes. A knock down 3 point shooter would really spread the floor, giving Ty and other Nuggets open lanes to the basket, something they don't have now.

My Dream Trade:
Orlando gets Wison Chandler
Nuggets get  J.J. Redick