Is Denver Nuggets "Gallo" Championship Wine Or Fancy Vinegar?

I'm proud to call myself a Denver Nuggets fan, but this team can be downright habit forming- and not in a good way.

When the Denver Nuggets took the Memphis Grizzlies to the wire in a hard fought game that did not include 3 starters, I immediately did the happy dance because starter resting is something only the good teams get away with.  Tanking teams usually fake injuries or other ailments to justify the type of shady behavior that good teams do all of the time.  Not these Nuggets.  They stood boldly before their public and made it known who would not play against Memphis just as they rested three others the night before.

Before the Memphis loss, the decision felt like a reasonably smart chess move for a team that has made mostly good moves recently.  The biggest move involved that psychological ploy notoriously described as replacing the king/coach.  While this ploy has been known to motivate underachieving teams, these Nuggets have rapidly driven past motivation and are playing inspired basketball. So inspired, in fact, that an interesting dichotomy has grown.

Will ill-Will always look the
same way he did the night
he got traded to Denver?

Despite recent success, some Nuggets fans(me) are angry towards this newly unleashed effort that has left us all unsure of what the heck we are watching now or what exactly we were watching previously.  These products are so incongruent  that the only explanation points to really immature players with a really fragile psyche.  Some of the most accomplished men in the world were terribly underwhelming before they gained the confidence from a strong woman or a trusted confidant- or both. Nuggets management must uncover the most fragile Denver Nugget players no matter which coach they pursue.  They should also try to uncover whether or not Wilson Chandler realizes that he's no longer in New York.

Playing Like Single Men

Prior to firing Shaw, these Nuggets had fallen to a performance level that typically comes from single men because no wife or fiance would allow her man to continuously perform so miserably- for many reasons. Coach Melvin Hunt has displayed motherly sensitivity towards his players, so he's been able to help them see themselves on a bigger level- dare I say, on a championship level. In the process of starting their 5 game road trip, the Nuggets rested 3 key players and still pulled off a double overtime victory over the New Orleans Pelicans- in New Orleans.  Before Denver plucked the Pelicans, the Golden State Warriors attempted the resting game against Denver too, but it cost them a victory.

As the team with the top record in the West, the Warriors might have been shocked by their Denver loss, but what is the excuse for the teams that followed?  Under interim coach Melvin Hunt, Denver has placed their product on film, and opposing teams are noticing.  This all could be end of season spoiler duty, but you still have be the kind of team that can spoil to be a spoiler.  Last years Nuggets showed a similar season ending stride, which probably added to the over inflated expectations Denver had going into this season.  What we hoped we had at the end of last year has resurfaced in just enough time to make next year our greatest hope once again.  Fortunately, there's no such thing as bad hope since even a little hope can change the world.  We hoped for a healthy dose of Danilo Galinari to anchor our "strength in numbers" marketing line that started the season. When he wasn't quite ready for public consumption, the marketing team had to finally stop the stupid ads.

Brian Shaw lost a job waiting for a wine that never quite matured and a Nugget who still thinks he's a Knick.  In some ways, George Karl did too.

Just when you thought it was time to cook a stew or simply throw out that bitter wine we call Gallo, Danilo Galinari has forced fans and the front office to hit the breaks and make sure we don't already have our closer in the fold.  Gallo has always been squeezed from a high quality but fragile grape unique to his European heritage, but experience and injuries have increased his playmaking just enough to ease up on his knee's and give his career a chance to ripen fully.  What we will never know is if he is one driving play away from needing another year on the shelf.

If Gallo has finished the worst of his career hampering injuries, then Denver instantly becomes a team to consider on another level.  Our ability to match any teams size, speed of play, and half court execution makes this Nuggets fan increasingly intrigued for our future.  Cities like Denver will always depend on a touch from above to secure the John Elway's or Patrick Roy's that bring parades to town. Parade's are fun, but they breed entitled fans who become anxious for victory, and anxious fans can be worse than the homeless wino who would rather gobble up volumes of the cheap stuff rather than hold out for a championship variety. Has Danilo finally matured into that championship variety or is there a crack in the barrel turning this wine to vinegar?

Maybe the Nuggets still believe in Gallo or maybe they have no choice but to bring him back even if the plan is to get out of wine making altogether. Gallo's 40 point performance (career best) against Orlando instantly forces the Nuggets brass to reconsider their search for championship grapes since Gallo could already be that select variety we hoped he'd become. Whether the Nuggets are posturing for free agency, the draft or standing pat can not be ascertained by their current push to 'sort of' win basketball games.

The team and coaches are clearly playing hard enough to win games. In fact, several scores have tilted heavily for Denver under coach Hunt, yet this organization remains confusingly disjointed in the takeaway messages that fans are forced to derive from the front office silence. Direct messages from above are not exactly how they do business since some of the players have verbalized their confusion while staring into the eyes of healthy teammates on the bench who would have helped them avoid a couple of recent losses.

I WAS EXCITED!

If the players are confused just like the fans, that's all I needed to hear to join those who are questioning the resting recipe employed by the Nuggets of late.  I'm still really excited that we did it and won a game in double overtime- and that we did it again and almost beat the number two team in the West- but I am scratching my head in excitement.  I can't tell if we are gonna stand pat  since whoever is in charge is not talking- which I believe means the heat is still on someone in the front office too. Even the indirect message from this team is too cloudy to know if our excitement will change once we discover who's in charge and where they are trying to go.   Should I connect to certain players on this team or accept that any one of them could be traded to help Denver take the next step to improve? Is Gallo truly a fine wine or just a fancy vinegar?  Does Ty Lawson drink too much wine for Denver to endure the bitter flavor he keeps causing? Is Jusuf Nurkic getting aged too fast?


In the fine art of championship wine making, you need a perfect chemistry of quality grapes or it might be necessary to dump the whole tank and try again.  Are the Nuggets comprised of championship grapes or should we be tanking and searching for something better? Will we ever know if this current recipe has championship potential if we don't have the patience to let it mature?

I think I need a drink.

Denver Nuggets Can Wound Any Team. Need To Develop Killer Instinct

Until George Karl proves that the Karl system is something that can win a title, then I don't want to hear any more conversation about Mr. 57 wins that can't get another job.

As for the merits of Brian Shaw?

Watching my Denver Nuggets compete and lose against the best and worst of the NBA has made me more convinced than ever that Brian Shaw is the right man for this team.  George Karl was clearly a little better at pushing the button called Ty Lawson, but even Karl depended upon a positive Lawson versus timid Ty and needed the maturity of Andre Miller or Chauncey Billups to offset the immaturity that inevitably becomes Ty Lawson from time to time. Avoiding firing Karl made the Denver Nuggets also avoid the youth movement that had to take place to pave way for our future after Carmelo Anthony. An argument could be made that Karl should have been fired a year earlier so that the transition could have started sooner. With or without Karl, this team would not be competitive if not for the positive impact of coaching.


SquareBiz! Karl could have maneuvered a couple of extra wins by virtue of a faster style and years of end game coaching experience.   Karl would have certainly added a few additional games to his legendary win total, but would he also buy into the front office marketing plan of winning with numbers?  Even Shaw, who tried the plan, has had to virtually abandon it given injuries and sporadic ticket sales- but would Karl be better at finding minutes for rookies and mediocre players returning from injury all at the same time?

Nobody in the world believes Karl could coach kids or cared to risk his career on their ability, especially Karl.  Kenneth Faried needed fan frenzy to force his way into more playing time, and only then did  Karl finally consider the merits of a youth movement- weeks before he was eventually fired. Had George been retained, stupidity and missed freethrows in the next season would have cured Karl of Kenneth quickly.

It has been miserably frustrating to watch my Denver Nuggets compete and lose against good and bad teams alike. But good coaches realize that you have to build upon the positives that you experience and learn from the negatives regardless of the final score.  Every time that I look at the Nuggets from a coaching perspective, I do not see a team with no opportunity to win games or a team that is competing strictly on the talent of the players.  These Nuggets defend, block out, run the floor and get fast breaks points(#7 in the league).  They run plays to absolute perfection and pummel all teams while getting shots EXACTLY where they expect those shots to come from.

And then suddenly they forget their own identity.

Sometimes the Denver Nugget identity shift is caused by tasting that bitter wine we call Galo (Danilo Galinari); who could be good if his legs were good, but they're not, so he's not- other times the shift happens from player/s that fail to step up on defense when teams make their run at the Nuggets.  Bench scoring is suppose to come from Galo (or Chandler when Galo gets right), but JJ Hickson, Dorrell Arthur and now Jameer Nelson have had to carry the back ups while waiting for the wine to ripen.

The real trick on every night is compiling a combination plate of back ups and starters that can actually secure the win down the stretch.  As it stands, the coach has rolled craps more often than not, but it has little to do with his coaching ability or his worthiness of remaining with this team. Nuggets fans send their message via attendance just like most smart fan bases.  Legitimate critics of Shaw have a legitimate concern about the ability of this coach to develop as fast or faster than the team he's tasked with developing himself. Shaw's growth must continue to outpace his team to remain the leader that we hoped could replace Karl.

Fans of Karl need to start a "hire my coach" campaign to keep the end of his era from being now. Moreover, they should stop using Karl as the primary reason why Shaw was a mistake.

My personal team building efforts could benefit if the Nuggets would suck a little bit more because getting a group rate on bulk tickets has not been as easy as I would hope for a team with the Nuggets record.  For whatever reason, Colorado basketball fans have not abandoned their desire to see if Shaw's team can win games, even if it means they might experience bitter defeats. The trained eye may not always appreciate the outcome, but they recognize the show.  This team can play, and it can play in SEVERAL different ways utilizing several different play options and several different styles of play.  They have not perfected Shaw's style of play, but they have shown glimpses of brilliant basketball that has the front office still maneuvering for wins (see; Jameer Nelson) both this season and in seasons to come. Every other team in a similar position would have scrapped this season while the Denver Nuggets are working to salvage the season- and the coach.

One and a half years into Brian Shaw,
have we seen enough?

If this team had one capable closer it could be in playoff contention.  Without that credible closer the Nuggets will be mostly a nuisance to the entire league throughout the entire season mostly because they have a coach who was that same kind of pest of a player himself.  Brian Shaw is reflecting his nature upon his team with every passing day, and for those who watched Shaw play, that is the most hopeful thing for all Nugget fans.  One serious aspect of the Shaw personality is the quiet ability to get you down and mysteriously slice your jugular vein until you bleed out.  He has taught his team how to wound its victims, but making your victim bleed out with minimal effort takes ninja like precision to perform.

It's not a skill that any team can master overnight.

Has Jusuf Njurkic Already Made Timofey Mosgov The Backup Center?

At the close of last night's drubbing of Memphis at the hands of Denver's desperate Nuggets- who needed a win like air and water,  the lead Grizzly bear Marc Gasol, gave hugs and sincere respect to the new Nugget big man he had ferociously battled just minutes before.

I believe that Nurkic is our future.  Teach him well! 

During a pivotal moment of the game, Jusuf Nurkic finished a back-to-back block brigade, including one against Gasol, with a Dikembe Mutombo-esque bit of crap talking as the icing on his patty cake. According to coach Brian Shaw (in the post game press conference), Nurkic was promised more minutes with less fouling.  Nurkic, who loves to reach and has the wing span to justify the bad habit, finally had a game with no fouls despite a VERY physical battle against one of the leagues best centers.


Along the way he compiled a double double, including 5 blocks, while simultaneously forcing Timofey Mosgov to wonder if he should count his remaining days as the Denver Nugget starting center.  Javale McGhee is working on his ball handling skills as we speak so that he can become a 7 foot power forward/center for his remaining days in Denver.

Nurkic is but one of several young talents that are quickly trying to earn their way into the trust of the city that they play for.  When you become a fan favorite, even your bad play gets overlooked as with Kenneth Faried.  It sometimes even gets you a second opportunity to return to a city that thinks they missed something in your game- as with Aaron Aaflalo who is quickly convincing me that Orlando got his best year/s.  Aaron Augustus Aaflalo is unafraid to shoot in the waning moments of games, but opposing coaches are totally fine trusting AAA  with a slightly contested look to win a close game. The signs say that Wilson Chandler will never be a player who wants that shot, so the hope in  this area remains with two up and coming guards that simply haven't come up quite yet. 

Last night, Nurkic might have been the first Nugget rookie to officially come up.  He certainly got lucky to catch a team that had played the night before, however he was unfortunate for that team to be the 3rd placed team in the vicious NBA Western conference- and a team whose center is probably the best in the league-  unquestionably the center (not named Tim Duncan) with the widest array of skill sets. Denver beat Memphis by 29 points, but Denver fans discovered a reason for hope in the coming days and years.  Denver Nugget point guard and current team leader, Ty Lawson, had another stellar game displaying all of the reasons why you appreciate Ty when he's feeling it.  Even when Ty is not "feeling it", he remains an effective player in the league and would easily lead the league in assist if his current guards weren't such erratic, sporadic, dare I say spastic scorers of the ball.  With a reliable person to deliver the ball to (i.e., someone really close to the rim who can score and/or get to the line consistently), Lawson could unveil a second half to a career that has been positive while far from prosperous.  Whether its Ty Lawson or a reliable backup like Jeremy Lin (who could really use a new home),  Jusuf Njurkic will be the Nugget center catching their passes and calmly creating something for his team.

Nurkic is a natural playmaker who understands the game on a very high level but continues to make the small mistakes that separates rookies from veteran players- mistakes like fouling instead of forcing hard shots then blocking out to eliminate second chances.  Nurkic and the Nuggets could all stand to improve in the realm of defending without fouls and last nights game was the first foray into that realm of improvement.  Since Denver has never successfully defended without fouling, last nights win also has to be considered an anomaly. Whether they were just the beneficiaries of blind whistles will be determined in the games to come.  Denver has long since been the best team in the NBA at getting second chance opportunities.  Unfortunately, the Nug's have also ranked pretty high in giving up second chances and/or giving teams free throws as a result of poor defensive discipline.

The winning potion versus Memphis was one part tired Grizzly and one part new and improved Nugget, a team that MUST keep this going if they hope to keep it going.

Or they could scrap the season like New York or Philly and push the youth movement into overdrive but risk further loss of favor towards coach Shaw who would likely become the sacrificial lamb of such an approach.  The Nuggets are playing for respectability and they are playing for an identity.  They are playing to ensure their fans that they have a plan for the future and that some pieces of it, especially the coach, are clearly in place.  The Nuggets are unlikely to win it all and even hardly capable of turning tide enough to make the playoffs this year, so the current goals have to be set within arms reach or they become a deadly mountain to climb.

Winning just enough to keep the heat off of a worthy and capable coach is an active goal that just took a 7 foot, Jusuf Nurkic leap forward.  As long as he can continue to defend without fouling, Mosgov will move back and the Nuggets will move forward....and that is a good thing.

Denver Misses Playoffs For First Time In Years. (..blaming coach Shaw has gone missing as well)

So the playoffs are out of reach but all hope is not lost in Nugget Land. Last season the Washington Wizards waxed the Denver Nuggets every time they played them.  This year we returned the favor. In order to defeat the Wizards, the Nuggets went without the services of former Wizard Jan Vesely (yeah, I said it….Vesely), overcoming a different kind of spell,….the injury bug.

Vesely came to Denver with instant intrigue, but got lost in the parental controls that coach Brian Shaw had to place on the center position.  Allowing Mozgov to assert physical presence early in games, and  a foul free JJ Hickson to come off the bench and close out games has been brilliant, especially with Hickson actually hitting late free throws. 

    

Hickson has always been a player of immense promise.  Those who follow these things recall JJ Hickson as the dude that replaced Lebron James when Cleveland lost Lebron to the “Decision” to exit for Miami.  Later, Portland acquired Hickson and thought his heavy body could learn to dance around centers, so they converted him to a nimble scorer at the post.  In both scenarios, Hickson saw the ball a lot, and was asked to do something with it. When Hickson has the room to operate, the only way to stop him is with a foul since he is typically a poor free throw shooter.

Correction; he was a poor free throw shooter.  Hickson went down with an ACL injury recently ending a season of redefined dominance in the paint for the Nuggets. Last season Denver was among the league leaders in points in the paint, but most of those were strictly from fast break points. With less fast break points, Denver is still among the tops in this statistic and Hickson was key to that transition.

Lots of people might see the injury bug as a negative curse, but the reality is that the Nuggets are being designed and defined by these handicaps.  Literally.  The toughness to put forth a win worthy effort every night is something most teams struggle to do once the starters take a seat.  In Denver, we never know who will play and contribute, much less start or finish, but every time Coach Shaw digs deep, he keeps finding gold.

Timofey Mozgov is a rough edged center who makes you happy and mad all in the same play. He does the same for his teammates and coaches, but he is a legitimate center, and a fairly good one at times.  What matters most is that Timofey Mozgov is a developing player who will get there…..wherever his there is……..if he could only remember to block out.

If he would only block out like Jan Vesely does. Vesely is as raw a player, but he has freakish athletic ability,  a wingspan like a condor, and is fairly sound on basic techniques like blocking out.  He can run the floor with the best of them and will out run the worst of them. When he plays, it looks like Chris “Bird Man” Anderson and  Javalle McGhee gave birth to a love child.

Did I mention that Vesely got hurt too?  His old team got tired of his “Bird Man” antics, and gave him the shot fake, shoulder to the ribs trick sending him to the injury list as well. 

No worries! The Denver Nuggets proceeded to sweep the Wizards, returning a bitter favor from the season prior when WE were in the playoffs and the Wizards swept us as their yard marker for the future.

Oh, how things have changed.  Yet, in this situation the Nuggets are not an up and coming team gaining in health and chemistry as the season progresses.  They are an up and coming team that keeps losing players day by day.

Did I mention that Wilson Chandler went down several games ago too, forcing Quincy Miller and others to pick up the slack?  With Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder game following the Wizard victory, Miller would get tested quickly.

Within minutes after the start of the game, Coach Brian Shaw forced Randy Foye to get eaten alive by Kevin Durant instead of allowing Quincy Miller to lose 10 games worth of confidence from the assignment.  Before the game, Miller reminded Coach Shaw that he started the game the last time the Nuggets defeated OKC.  Shaw probably reminded “Q” later that Durant is the likely NBA MVP this season, and was unlikely to have forgotten the previous defeat. 

In a common theme, the Nuggets couldn’t get enough scoring or defense from the starting five to make a real game of it, but we did discover one amazing fact. 

Quincy Miller has been sitting so long, we hardly noticed that he is as long and agile as Kevin Durant.  He is actually one inch taller than Durant and he is certainly equally as skilled with handling the ball, but lacks the maturity and all-star pedigree that Durant brings to bear.  However, if there ever were a player that Miller could pattern his game after, it is Kevin Durant.

Over the past few games, Miller has taken advantage of his minutes with aggressive defense and attacking offense along with way too many turnovers.  In this first installment of the two game San Antonio series, Miller actually kicked off the scoring for Denver.  Early on, he was all alone as San Antonio built a lead that appeared too large to overcome.  Without much scoring again from Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried and Aaron Brooks stepped up late, and the Nuggets made a strong rush down the stretch to give the Spurs a challenge, but failed to seal the deal.

Since the Nuggets are playing a home and home series against the Spurs, Coach Shaw instantly claimed tonight’s rematch game in Denver as the Nuggets playoffs for this season.  This is Denver’s chance to give the Spurs, and ourselves, a bit of what we gave the Wizards; a warning shot for next season and for the future of this franchise.  San Antonio is currently the hottest team in the league with 15 victories in a row, but Faried and the fellas will do their best to put a stop to the streaking Spurs.

As San Antonio secured victory number 15 by finishing off the Nuggets 108-103, it was noteworthy to see Tim Duncan giving post game respect to Kenneth ‘For Real’ Faried before they left the court.  As they say….game recognizes game. The sky is hardly the limit for this hardworking player.  Faried’s consistent growth with each game shows that he is virtually limitless.  Whatever he is missing in his game right now will be added with time and hard work.  He is short on neither.

Does the fact that Coach Shaw declared this game a playoff game make a Nugget victory more likely?

 Probably! 

The signs have shown that these guys will threaten to win even when all seems lost.  If tanking the season for a better draft slot were in the plans, they need to sketch a new plan.  These Nuggets are playing for pride and for an identity.  In Faried, they have fortified the toughness element for a long time coming. Given the nature of the Denver sports fan base,  Faried might be slowly prying this teams identity away from timid Ty Lawson and establishing himself as the player you fear most whenever you play Denver. In Randy Foye they now have a consistent outside shooting threat.

Since Faried and Foye are the only starters that have not succumbed to injury or poor play, they must be particularly responsible for whatever success we have had in this injury filled home stretch.

...Because it couldn’t be the coach of course.

The Nuggets Win! The Nuggets Win! (You know? The Denver Nugget?.....Ty Lawson and them?....)

WE WON, WE WON, WE ON!!!!

I am more than a Denver native.  I am a loyalist.  The demand of any true sports loyalist is to give your energy to the most important team in town. While I love the Nuggets for their place in the Denver sports hierarchy, it has come time to focus my loyalties in the area of importance, and the Avalanche are the most important team in town.
That being said, the Nuggets have finally won a game.

After losing six games straight, the Nuggets are swiftly losing fan interest.  I say swiftly because an Avalanche moves quickly and can overtake things in an instant.  What remains peculiar is that the Nuggets are still drawing any attention from local basketball fans.  Even the people calling for Shaw's head are giving measured criticism that comes only from watching the games.

Denver has hit a few bottoms this season.  They have seen signs of possibility, but the falls have virtually shaken those images from our mind.  On the way to losing 6 straight, the Nuggets played a close game with Portland without the support of Ty Lawson, rallied late against Minnesota with Lawson, but came up short in each.  Last night against Dallas, they finally broke through.

The Nuggets owned the Mavericks from pillar to post, despite allowing a late rally from Dallas that only served to distort the artistry of their effort.  Denver is mostly hard to watch because they can, and should, beat each of these teams on any given night, but are stricken with youth and inexperience on the court and the bench.

The new (and improved) angry coach Brian Shaw is still stuck with a team that can't close well, but having a chance to win is half of the battle.  He must find enough players that will give a professional effort each night or his future, and this team's, will remain a roller coaster ride for sure. The coach in me is perfectly satisfied with what I have seen from all parties involved this season.  Youth is what youth is.  Even Damian Lillard reveals his youth at certain times, and he is probably the most mature young player in the game.

Ty Lawson has read the tea leaves and returned to the lineup as fast as his cracked rib would allow.  He not only returned, but he is playing in a way to not make Shaw recognize his ability over veteran backup Aaron Brooks.  The Lawson/Brooks combination plate, alongside Randy Foye/ Evan Fournier in the spot up shooter role, has made for a fast and furious line up, but it comes at the risk of guard apathy, especially in the realm of defensive rebounding.

Is Brian Shaw getting a grip on this team or did he start too late

Shaw's options remain the same as they've been all season long; plentiful, and different every single night.  Coach Shaw has to find a happy medium between the Nugget team he'd like and the Nugget team he has.  No coach wants to mold boys into men, but every coach wants to place their fingerprint on the teams they coach.  Outside of
some magical work in the free agent market, small to mid-level market teams will always have to draft and develop.

Shaw is the right guy for the job and he has many of the right pieces for the mission before him, but he seems to have starting molding the clay after it sat and hardened for a while.  Molding clay that has begun to harden already is tough on you and the clay.

If Shaw accomplishes this task, he will have the forearms and the grip to show for it.

Ty Lawson Is Down. Are The Denver Nuggets Out?

Change.  Makes you wanna hustle.

Lyrics from an old Donald Byrd jam that I thought about when the Nuggets watched Ty Lawson walk to the locker room stooped over at the waist.  One of the greatest challenges of coaching is balancing winning with growing, realizing the necessity for a fair balance of both.

Ty may be down for a while now with a cracked rib.  Some of the damage might be a by-product of the players own ignorance and the coaches uncertainty of how to handle it.  Brian Shaw is a good coach but a great guy.  He could stand to be a little more bad.

When the season began, he played almost everybody in an effort to get to know his players.  They lost with it that approach and then they won with it.  When they started to lose again because players (Andre Miller) complained of inconsistent minutes, he tightened the roster and let key guys play key minutes like key guys do on great teams.  The problem with that idea is that he is now asking Ty "I need to eat better this year" Lawson to make his body do things that he is not disciplined to accomplish with success.

Kevin Durant is only partly Kevin Durant because God blessed him with the talent to be Kevin Durant.  If Kevin Durant only worked as hard on his game and his body as Ty Lawson does he would be Rudy Gay.  Legends are who they are because they match legendary ability with world class work ethic.  The Denver Nuggets try with Ty, but it is clear that they do not have the leader in Lawson to demand excellence of others.

A few years ago, Jeremy Lin launched his way unto the scene when a flailing New York Knicks team pushed him into the line up.  Lin had nothing to lose and everything to gain. For the Nuggets, a window has opened for a two headed monster (Fournier and Miller) to emerge in the Nugget back court.

Randy Foye has stepped up a couple of times in the pinch to ease the pain of losing Lawson, but his shooting is sorely sacrificed when he plays point.  Evan Fournier has shown the capacity to do the job, but he gets inside of his own head at times.  The Magic Johnson alternative to this problem is proving to be Quincy Miller.  Miller can push the rock, create off of the dribble and knock down the 3 if you lose him in the shuffle.  He plays the way Fournier used to play before he realized that his services are so vitally needed.  Together, the window to their growth and our future may have just opened wide.

Shaw will also need to alter the short bench experiment because he is insisting on a style of defense that demands an altered line up from night to night.  Injuries have already forced his hand, but guys like Anthony Randolph and Jordan Hamilton, who have had to cool their heels could stand to get those extra minutes right now as Denver continues the 4 game road trip tonight playing game 3 of 4 against the Indiana Pacers.

This will be an ugly affair if the Nuggets do not come out with the kind of energy that Indiana plays with.  It could get ugly if they do bring energy, but without it, the Pacers will punish the Nuggets for the defeat they suffered in Denver a few weeks back.

Denver is quite the enigma right now.  The flashes of brilliance are so apparent that it makes them a hard team to blink at.  Stretches of crappy play makes them downright painful for an eyes wide open fan to witness. Conventional wisdom has said to give up on this team and on a run at the playoffs, but the fans and the players fight on. They have plenty of youth and talent to grow into a respectable team, but the injuries could cause the front office guys to get an itchy trigger finger.

The trade deadline is February 20th.  Between now and then, keep your ears towards the
Pepsi center and listen for a loud bang.