Does Signing Galinari Help Nuggets Rebuilding Pain?

Can Gallo say healhty?

Disclaimer:  Disregard This Article If Gallo Gets Hurt......Thank You!

Call the loss of Carmelo Anthony whatever you want to call it. The New York Knicks acquired his services because they were willing to give up one important piece, and that was Danilo Gallinari (Timofey Mosgov and Wilson Chandler were sweeteners) who the Denver Nuggets just extended by 2 years to create a 3 year deal essentially worth $15 million per year.   If you are curious about the hope the Nuggets have for this season, the Gallo deal is all you need for clarification. A truly rebuilding team would let go of Gallo to get maximum value for him while teams are still willing to take a risk on his health. By keeping him and extending him just long enough to sign him again in 2 years if he lives up to expectation, the Nuggets have decided that Gallo's rebuilt knee are all the rebuilding this team needs for now.

                                                                 Disregard This Article If Gallo Gets Hurt......Thank You!

The Knicks never promised that Gallo would be the type of player that Carmelo Anthony had been in Denver while the Nuggets thought New York had won the deal but quietly hoped Melo would crumble beneath the immense weight  of Madison Square Garden and demanding Knicks fans. If Melo remains the great scorer and marginal teammate who never fulfills his promise to carry a team to the crown, Gallo won't only been seen as that valuable piece of the Nuggets/Knicks trade who really helped Denver ease the pain of losing Melo, he'll  soon be competing heads up with Melo for who's a better player.

Chandler might be scared to shoot at times, but he is a
consistent scorer who defends on the other end too.
Does a healthy Gallo make him an All-star player?
Does Mike Malone inspire him to his best?

Disregard This Article If Gallo Gets Hurt (you get it?)......Thank You!

This bold comparison of players assumes that Gallo will stay healthier than he has in his past as an NBA player.  When healthy, I'm banking on the youth and versatility of Gallo over the age and predictability of Melo. At 26 (almost 27), Gallo is at the prime of his career and likely to stay there for the next 5 years. Ty Lawson's designation as Denver's top player over the past few season's was primarily because Gallo missed too many games, not because Lawson deserved the label.

Now that Lawson is history in Denver, Emmanuel Mudiay has the chance to take over the Denver Nuggets soon and make this his team just as the new coach publicly declared, yet that's not likely to happen in his rookie season.  'Taking over a team' kind of leadership takes time to develop, especially at the point guard spot where premier players (Chris Paul, Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving, John Wall...etc.) are paid premier dollars to lead their teams with premier performances.  Mudiay must elevate his game and his team quickly if the Denver Nuggets hope to outperform the skeptics who have determined this team to be in full rebuilding mode despite the fact that, minus the point guard change, the roster looks mostly the same as it did last season. Gallo remains the teams best player for sure, but will he be keeping Mudiay's seat warm until he's ready to officially take over for himself?  At this point in his career Gallo has yet to show himself eager to be that kind of leader, preferring instead to hit big free throws and make big shots as his way to lead his team. Insiders suggest that this year could be different.



From the day Gallo and the gang arrived in Denver, this team has showed the ability to beat anybody so long as they bring a lunch bucket effort night in and night out.

 Three times in recent years, Denver's front office has gotten rid of capable coaches in the hopes that a less experienced replacement could accomplish something different despite the fact that 57 wins and a Coach of The Year in Denver represents the first bar that needed raising.



Michael Malone will be tasked with saving Tim Connelly's job by developing the future players while bringing cohesion to a team that must win enough games to justify basically standing pat with the roster. Melvin Hunt, a coach who had been with these same players since George Karl was here, seemed willing and capable of winning while developing the youth but was replaced for an uncertain change just like his two former bosses experienced.  Nuggets fans are clear headed enough to recognize championship coaches from first round exit coaches just as we recognize front office fishing expeditions. We also recognized that last years team could have won even more games if they had remained consistently professional and uncovered reliable outside shooting.  Connelly has promised us that his buddy Mike Malone is the right guy to deal with each of these issues.

Gallo is nothing if not a reliable shooter and an eager scorer.  He's had his moments of end game success and never shies away from living with the results of casting up game winning attempts. Whether Randy Foye or Wilson Chandler actually become consistent shooting help for these Nuggets hinges on the quality of shots they are given by our point guard tandem which now includes Mudiay- an exceptional passer- and veteran guard Jameer Nelson as the end game, ball handling decision makers who WILL distribute to the right players at the right times. Gallo's contract says he will be asked to create when games are tight, and his exceptional passing skills will also pay great dividends if he continues to elevate his stature as a capable and dangerous NBA scorer.

Smooth Says: "The Nuggets Are Rebuilding!"

Without the Mayor of Park Hill, Chauncey "Smooth" Billups in Denver's back court (which has been quite a few season's  now), way too many close games, even during the Karl years, have been lost in Denver due to poor end game execution. Because he never had a a half court attack, Karl's Nuggets had to blow teams out and hold on for dear life. This point is noteworthy because  I believe that a Nuggets team with a healthy Gallo will be nipping at the tails of their opponents in a lot of games this year.  If they find a way to establish the hometown, lung busting advantage, we should blow teams out occasionally just by virtue of the thin Mile High air. Taking the court with a healthy and mature Danilo Gallinari anchoring the way will snatch a couple of victories right out of the jaws of rebuilding's hungry mouth.

Take the Atlanta Hawks for example, a team without a closer or a means of insuring points when games are tight.  They advanced to the Eastern Conference finals with defensive effort and ball movement. Granted, the East is an easier road to take than what these Nuggets must overcome in the West, but it isn't a cake walk.  Minus a mid-series adjustment by Steve Kerr, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers would have taken the title from Golden State with east coast style basketball anchored by Denver Nuggets cast away, Timofey Mosgov.  It's possible that the Warriors have altered the course of future championship pursuits with their small ball victory, but the signs say several teams are still willing to try to win it all employing the bully-ball style that Cleveland almost won with.  These Nuggets are poising themselves to play both styles well.

Jusuf Nurkic is the Nuggets Center of the future, but the front
court is full of big men fighting for relevance.  Stay tuned!

If They Like Mosgov, Wait Till They Meet Nurkic.

In Denver, interim coach Melvin Hunt scratched out a few wins this way last year making the end of the season at least entertaining. But he also nurtured some of the new talent while doing it. There is a saying that basically goes, "what must be done eventually is best done immediately.  Mosgov got traded mid-season to Cleveland because Jusuf Nurkic made it a foregone conclusion.



When this portion of the Denver rebuild occurred, Shaw, and then Hunt, had to live and then die from the exploits of a rookie center. Coach Malone will be expected to win at least as much as Hunt did with this virtually unchanged roster just to justify another coaching change that left some Nuggets fans scratching their heads again. For this team, simply maintaining the mediocrity of last year's end would be considered growth through stability instead of what many around Denver are expecting to see this season- taking two steps back for the hope of one big leap forward (see; rebuilding).

I was primarily on board with the concept of rebuilding, though I think the process began with the firing of George Karl which ushered in the hope of playing young talent for long stretches (see; rebuilding). And then I watched Mudiay play during the summer league games.  He has some grooming to do as any young player would, but his time in China has paid off big with confidence and overall court awareness.  Mudiay is Rajon Rondo with a slightly better shot.  Rondo can't shoot so that is not a compliment.  Mudiay must improve in this area quickly because opponents WILL soon be forcing him to shoot the ball instead of allowing him to create for others, which he does extremely well already.  He is not a fearful or hesitant shooter so he will knock down some of those open shots from confidence alone on good nights.


Gallo and Galileo (finding stars)


Mudiay's bad nights won't be a lot worse than roller coaster Ty Lawson who was probably fighting hangovers as much as bad health last season. If Mudiay only has to be as good as Lawson wasn't last year, then signs are positive for some success. The only way THIS Nuggets fan accepts the word REBUILDING from the same core roster we've had since Melo left is if Gallo, whom I rejoiced over when we extended his contract, spends another year rehabilitating an injury.(Disregard This Article If Gallo Gets Hurt......Thank You!)  If Gallo STAYS healthy- the extended contract says the Nuggets are betting he will- he is a budding all star who will earn his first all-star appearance by keeping a rebuilding team in the hunt for the playoffs throughout the entire season. Whether or not they make it in will be a function of how good our new coach is at grooming babies and finding stars.

Denver Nuggets Management Need Hunt To Stave Off Circling Sharks

The writing might have been on the wall from way back when mild mannered Andre Miller fell out of love with Brian Shaw so quickly. Kenneth Faried was soon to follow.

What Brian Shaw clearly brought to the Nuggets was a wealth of knowledge of how to play any style that you need to play to win in the NBA.  What he didn't bring was Melvin Hunt who was a key carry over from the George Karl era.  My keen eyes noticed back then how vocal Hunt was, writing that the team would not recognize its new leader with a more vocal leader stuck in the fold. The fact that Hunt remains intact after two coaches speaks to an impeccable reputation and/or an organization that made his presence a non-negotiable for Brian Shaw.

Failed coach or bad fit?

Was Melvin ready when George left or
did Brian add the missing piece?

 Shaw brought a lot of knowledge to the city of Denver. What he did not bring was the capacity to sell his knowledge to a generation of players that need to be sold on the head coach. Hunt was here before most of the current players so he has witnessed which sales pitch works on which players and has earned credibility from this team. If Melvin Hunt is blessed to be made into the permanent coach of the Denver Nuggets, he will have both George Karl and Brian Shaw to credit (which he already has done).  Karl taught Hunt the Mile High game which the team displays at times, while Shaw brought the Eastern style with a twist of Phil Jackson on the side that seems to be the style that the team continues to employ despite Shaw's exit.  Nonetheless, if X's and O's were enough, we would have kept the last two coaches.  Hunt's real asset seems to be his God-given ability to connect with people and the divine timing that might allow him to unleash his gifts just when they've ripened.

Denver Nugget fans appreciate victories just like the next team, but we are savvy enough to recognize teams with the potential to win it all just as much as we recognize teams that probably are only suited for regular season success.  We've seen much more of the latter lately, but championships are not foreign to the Mile High city and neither are championship teams.  We know one when we see it, and Peyton Manning should kick himself in the butt if he leaves Denver without getting that second ring that  John Elway has tried to spoon feed him.

As for Hunt's prospect of keeping the Nuggets head coach job?  It is hard to tell with Denver management who let go of a GM of the year in Masai Ujiri, coach of the year in George Karl and a rising coach of the future in Brian Shaw who couldn't force unprofessional players to stop it.  Hoping that Nuggets brass will get it right this time is optimistic given the recent track record. Hunt deserves a chance to finish Shaw's transition, and he deserves the commitment from management to reap the benefits if he gets it done- but that is rarely how the story tends to go.  Usually two or three coaches handle the fix of a team and some big name comes along to try and take them over the top.

No player has been more vocal about
his dislike of Shaw than Faried.

That's the way big cities write the story, but the Mile High is just  tall, not necessarily big.  John Elway might have made us famous, but strangers still think Coloradoan's ride horses to go skiing.  Elway brought success to Denver by the luck of shunning the Baltimore Colts for a horse of a different kind.  Small town legends typically have to come through draft or luck, and the Nuggets have yet to ride either path towards the ultimate crown.  Will Kenneth Faried become a piece of that draft puzzle for Denver? Have we stopped waiting for Ty Lawson?  What if Jusuf Nurkic carries this team to the precipice? Does this dismal season position Denver for the draft pick that finally sends them over the top?  Most importantly, will Melvin Hunt be the coach to save the team from blowing up this plan (and staff) and starting all over from scratch?

Jusuf Nurkic is the Nugget to watch.

So far, Hunt appears to be smart enough to call the right plays and wise enough to insert the right guys without pissing off  and losing half of the team as a result. In last nights 30 point victory over the similarly hapless Knicks, Hunt had players begging him to leave other teammates in the game who either needed time or deserved it from their quality of performance. When introducing himself after Shaw's firing, Hunt described his number one trait as giving a professional effort at all times.  He will need to squeeze his fingerprint of professionalism on each of his underachievers who've struggled to keep a professional focus throughout the course of this challenging season.   Fortunately GM Tim Connelly uncovered a couple of lunch bucket guys in Joffrey Lauvergne and Will Barton, players who have a chance to stick simply because they give the non-stop effort that Denver fans appreciate.

Lauvergne is a capable backup with a fire in his belly.

Denver fans expect a lot, but we certainly recognize and appreciate the look of progress. Despite a stellar record, Denver is the city that complained all season long over the play of Peyton Manning and the Broncos because fans recognized star wars numbers that wouldn't translate into playoff success without proper balance.  Denver is also the place that demanded a change from the Nuggets by making them play to an empty stadium, and then ran back to the stadium when the back up coach gave us a glimmer of hope in the players, in the playing method and in the front office overseeing it all.

Hunt's success could salvage the reputation of everybody responsible for this debacle.  Some of them are counting on Hunt to keep the firing limited to Shaw alone because the sharks of the Denver sports scene are circling around the court and the  management offices at Pepsi Center.

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.

Brian Shaw Must Overcome Several Obstacles To Overcome Critics

Coaches don't make marketing plans.  Coaches do their best to justify them.  7 games into the season, the Denver Nuggets had only captured one win, but answered a million questions.

Strength In Numbers?  Give us a break.

Number one.  Scrap the stupid marketing plan because the only strength in numbers this season comes from the numbers on Coach Brian Shaw's eye test as he will need the eyesight to see through the forest of options and find the correct 6-8 players on any given night and insure they get proper playing time.  While actually playing legit defense, every NBA team could stand to go 10 deep, so long as those 4-5 backups realize they are serving a unique purpose.  For this rendition of the Denver Nuggets, the 4 totally realize their role, but it's the 6 that can't seem to get it together.

After receiving loss number 7 to the Cleveland Cavaliers- another game that we could have won- I started to realize why the wheels on this car struggled with traction early on.  The 4 are better than the 6.  Watching this team play this season has been an interesting adventure, but watching who doesn't play at the end of games is beyond an adventure, it is a prelude to what every basketball player should respect most about the game of basketball.

The short jump shot has returned in the Nuggets draftee Erick Green

Basketball is not about starting, it is about the players who are on the court to finish the game. Despite the resurgence from the Bird/Magic-MIKE heyday of the 80's and 90's, smart basketball fans still do not stress themselves on the first 3 quarters of an NBA game because these quarter are inconsequential and often played that way. Coaches will start just about anybody with a team uniform, but only certain players will ever be trusted to handle the delicate duties of end game execution.  Alonzo Gee- one of the Denver Nuggets new Fantastic Four- has been closing out games from day one so we will leave his bio until the end.  Jusuf Nurkic, the second of  the noteworthy backups, began the season as the first off of the bench but earned an opportunity to close out a game against LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers before Timofey Mosgov, Javale McGee forced him back into hiding.  It may take another injury or a trade before we Nurkic returns to action, but he will return because Nurkic showed some things.

The best player Tom Izzo ever coached?

Nurkic needed the minutes and the opportunity to win the confidence of his coach while the Nuggets needed to figure out exactly what they have invested in as Nurkic is essentially the player who should have been Doug McDermott, the much applauded draft that Denver acquired for the Chicago Bulls.  Rookie guard Erick Green, the third fabulous backup, quickly won the confidence of his coach and should have also closed against the Cavs, but Brian Shaw played it safe by reinserting Aaron Afflalo to finish the game.  Inserting Afflalo to close took the ball out of the hands of a hot player with a solid short jump shot, and it probably cost the Nuggets a win that night.  In the end, it also exposed everyone to the skill set of a couple of strong draft pickups.

By "everyone" I mean the players who are playing in front of these up and coming stars.  Randy Foye showed up big during the losing stretch, especially given the slow start of Ty Lawson, but he is a strong player that remains a backup at the shooting guard and a double backup at point so long as Nate Robinson remains an unusual Nugget to figure out.

Will Jusuf Nurkic make Nuggets fans forget Doug McDermott?

Robinson could be a good addition to any game at a moment suited for his specialized skills, but playing for any team that needs ball movement or focused leadership is half of the challenge for Robinson, recovering from injuries has been the rest. Early injuries- both physical and perhaps mental- left Ty Lawson as a super no-show, so super backup guard Foye proved long term value, even if it didn't translate into victories.  Injuries and various suspensions  have actually been good for this team because Shaw needed to be able to retain his job by limiting public criticism and not simply justify marketing. No matter how perfectly he is executing the front office expectations, fans of this team are still sore over the firing of George Karl, whose 50 game regular season win standard has cast a shadow over everything considered a defiance to the Karl era.

The next generation of Nuggets don't actually need much skill development, they only need minutes.  Gary Harris and Erick Green already have more offensive courage than Lawson, who has to be constantly reminded to force his will, and his game, upon the competition.  When Lawson is right, he is an extra special player.  When Lawson is wrong- again, he makes the Nuggets coaching staff realize that Nuggets basketball will not work without an engine to drive the car. But does the front office share this assessment?

Aaron Aaflalo could prove to be a positive re-acquisition, but he is not quite as young as he used to be, so his vaunted defense is not aided by youthful legs like the players that are threatening to steal his minutes.  Aaflao's scoring behavior remains limited by an erratic and flat jumper or the hope of a sleeping defense that will let him finish at the rim.  He refuses to shoot the pull-up jumper because his shot is way too flat for consistent success at that range, so driving and passing is the only choice his game offers him. Erick Green plays a lot like coach  Shaw played on offense, with a deadly short jump shot that makes room for every other aspect of his offensive attack. Gary Harris is described by Tom Izzo, his former Michigan State coach, as "the best player he ever coached", and both his offensive and defensive intensity explains why.  Wilson Chandler and Aaron Aaflalo have suddenly started to play better and it seems to have coincided with the unveiling of their potential replacements, Green and Harris.

Coach Shaw could do his best impersonation of Aaron Rogers or LeBron James and tell Denver fans to relax, but without consistency at point guard- and the lingering need to discover if Danilo Galinari will ever live up to the promise- Shaw can't do much relaxing himself.  The miserable starting team consistently gives Shaw justification to sit a couple of those deadbeats at the end of the games in exchange for smarter defenders or more confident players.  Having capable backups has forced the entire team to play smarter, harder and with more confidence which has turned the tide for Denver, but how long can you execute a plan in which your best players are held to the final moments of the game while your starters dig a hole for their backups to fix?

In reality, nothing replaces a hearty appetite and some of the Nuggets simply haven't played hungry for a while.  Alonzo Gee is a journeyman who saw his chance to eat and gobbled up a job for himself. Jusuf Nurkic, Erick Green and Gary Harris are young, hungry and capable of pushing the starters to do number 2 or be number 2.  What concerns me is whether the concerned starters can remain focused on the mission without letting concern for their jobs be the key motivation.  Gee forced Quincy Miller out the door simply because he is hungry and he can defend anybody. Shaw consistently calls on Gee for tough defensive assignments and end game defensive pressure. If the Nuggets are succeeding it is because the heat is on the starters and the newbies are ready to eat.

Hungry players must be fed while the well fed must be reminded of what it means to be hungry. As for the marketing plan?  "Strength In Numbers" sounds like a great marketing plan, but it is likely an advertisement of players whose days in the Nugget uniform will be dictated by how well the coach inspires and markets the talent.

If Shaw can groom the future, groom and prepare the excess cattle for market and actually win enough games to justify his understanding of winning in the NBA, he will have accomplished a lot for Denver and for the future hopes of winning a crown.  If he finally silences the Karl loving critics of his, he will surely be the last man standing, smiling on the stage with the crown in hand.

Love To Denver Makes A Lot Of Sense. Unless You Lose Faried

I am formally joining the Kevin Love to the Denver Nuggets bandwagon. Unless it means we have to give up Kenneth Faried.

If you are not a Nuggets fan, or you are considering this trade as part of your fantasy draft, you might think I have a screw loose, but follow me here.

Kevin Love might very well be the soup du jour, but he is marginally better than Kenneth Faried, and would represent the equivalent of making the same mistake that the Nuggets made when they lost Aaron Aaflalo to Orlando in order to acquire a player that they were never going to be able to keep in Andre Iguodala.  Don't get me wrong, both trades seem to make sense, but Iguodala is similar to Love in that we have seen the top of their upside.  With Aaflalo at the time and Faried right now, the question of potential looms.

Aaflalo remains an excellent defender, but was a rapidly developing scorer at the time. In the days away from Denver, he improved in both areas, maybe even surpassing Iguodala.  With Love, he is an excellent rebounder and an above average scorer although most of his points come from the rebounding effort (including subsequent freethrows) that he puts forth, not the long range bombs that he has become famous for.  Faried is capable of the same type of rebounding performance that Love produces and continues to tantalize the senses regarding his upside potential in this area.  As it relates to scoring, Faried does it much like Love gets it done, on rebounds and put backs.  Occasionally Faried will even find the range on his developing jump shot and free throw, but this is where he noticeably lags behind Love.  Either way, a Faried for Love trade threatens to have the Nuggets repeating a mistake of a few years back.  Swapping similar parts just for the sake of change and hoping the formula reaps playoff rewards.

The Nuggets are not Kevin Love alone away from a championship bid just as they were not Andre Iguodala away from one a few years back.  But Kenneth and Kevin?  Now you have the formula for a dynamic that could change the prospects for sure. I often wonder if the all-time best all-around player, Dennis Rodman, ever gets a chance to watch NBA basketball anymore.  So few players did it with the passion of Rodman, that it is hard for me to imagine any modern player that he would waste his Hall of Fame energy to watch.  If there are any players one could image Rodman being a fan of, it would be Joakim Noah, Kevin Love and Kenneth Faried, because they are the closest you will find to guys who play the game like he did.

Part of the Mile High mystique is in overcoming the altitude, especially if the Nuggets get out and run on you. The biggest problem with implementing a consistent running game is having the big men who can secure the rebound...every time, and also run the floor to insure the trail or lead options are exploited thoroughly.  Defense in the NBA is a loose translation for, make the shot harder than it would have been and DO NOT give up a second chance opportunity.  In translation, rebounding is defense in the NBA. Consequently, the seeds of victory for any would be champion are sown on the second chance points you get and in the ones you avoid giving up. The Chicago Bulls proved that even a team with no offense could make an interesting run at it with an immense effort on the boards.

Denver, with Kevin Love, become the quiet contender that no one will acknowledge until they have no choice anymore.  Just as the Broncos were tagged "The Donkey's" until they upset the Packers in a Superbowl, the Nuggets will always be fools gold until they get a game changing player to believe in the possibility of a championship in Denver. Love might actually decide on Denver, but it could take time to convince him that any smaller market team has a chance in today's star laden, big market NBA.

Or will it?

No one knows where Love goes, but he has played in Minnesota, so he knows what small market hoops is all about.  Yes, he may long for the big city as Carmelo Anthony did after leaving Denver, but if he longs for a championship, here is what the landscape looks like.  Next years prospective champion comes from a list that includes several small market teams, including Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Indiana and maybe even Denver if Love decides on that Mile High life.  The list of big market teams that should vie for the title might equal the small market list, but it doesn't surpass it.  This thing is fairly wide open, and Love has to know it.

Is Faried on his way out or will he Love rebounding with Kevin?

He also has to know the value of any player who does what he does on the boards.
 Absent Kenneth Faried, the Nuggets become a transformed representation of the very team that Love might leave.  With Kenneth Faried, Love should be counting up the rebounds per game (Mosgov and Hickson are not too shabby in this area either) and realize how many extra kick out 3's he might get when he isn't the guy trying to get the rebound as well.

I accept that my premise could be tainted but its because of  the Love I have for Denver and not for the Love I have of Kevin.  Kevin Love has yet to sniff the playoffs, which means he has yet to even open the book on the only test champions take.  It could also be the thin, THC infused air we breath out here, but I think my rationale will pass the piss test.

But first we need more Love in Denver.

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.

Why Do The Denver Nuggets Beat Juggernauts, Lose To Scrubs? It's Like That...and that's the way it is.

Unemployment at a record high.....people coming, people going, people born to die.

Don't ask me because I don't know why....It's Like That.... and that's the way it is.        -(Run DMC)

For some reason, those of you who had a younger sibling who you taught to play basketball never believed they would beat you.  If it was a little brother, it wasn't as hard to include a timely push or shove (or elbow) because parents often freely allow you to beat on your little brother (ask Cheryl Miller).

If you are playing your little sister, just due to her physical differences you never expected to lose that game.  Nothing in the fiber of your DNA would bring you to play 100% against that sibling because it simply felt unnecessary going into battle.

For some inexplicable reason, this younger sibling dynamic rears its ugly head any time a professional athlete, that doesn't possess the murderer gene, takes on a competitor that they are certain they can beat.  Why?
It's like that....and that's the way it is.

Its also like that murderer gene thing I just mentioned.  For some reason there are guys who are as friendly as you can imagine on the court, ala Earvin "Magic" Johnson, but will kindly rip your heart out in the field of battle, as Magic often did to opponents. Why? It's like that...and that's the way it is.

The Denver Nuggets didn't beat the Miami Heat a few nights ago and the blazing hot Los Angeles Clippers last night because they got lucky.  That little brother usually catches up eventually.  In fact, at some point he typically passes the elder siblings because its like that.....and that's the way it is.

These Denver Nuggets shall someday soon become the big brother like they are most nights against every team not in the championship hunt (every team).  Denver may not be the smart, energetic, hard working big brother on most nights, but they display a physical dominance on the court that is as undeniable as it is frustrating (for opponents and Nugget fans alike).....but that's the way it is.

Denver did not set a record last season with games won simply because they had talent.  George Karl is a Hall of Fame coach.....period.  On the other hand, Karl wasn't simply working magic either or he would have saved a trick or two for the playoffs. Karl had lots of talent, and despite the roster challenges that Brian Shaw endured, he too has plenty of talent for the task at hand (as long as Lawson is healthy and shows up).  In the end, the old adage of it being about the talent making good coaches is true to this extent;  no matter how good you are, and all of these guys are good, only the heart snatchers win championships.

When the Dallas Mavericks snatched the heart out of Miami three season's ago, it was the catalyst that Lebron used to become a heart snatcher himself.  What Karl could not give his team was the vicious determination that coaches who understand provide.  I realize that such a characterization is graphic and a bit gruesome, but my words pale to the grind of winning it all.  In the end, champions realize that they will ultimately have to remove the heart of a competitor who keeps reaching for something  you've laid claim to.....because that's is just the way it is.

Brian Shaw looks like a really nice guy when you stare him in the face.  But if you peer into his soul there is the ferocity of a murderer.  If you ever get the chance to see at his 5 championship rings (3 as a player), look beneath his fingernails.....I am sure you will find the blood of a few hearts.

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.

Losing Is Bad, But Numbers Never Lie. Denver Nuggets Need To Grow Up

Portland came to Denver without their number one scoring option, but they did have their new number one player, Damian Lillard.  Lillard ended with 31 pts., and his Trailblazer team shot lights out for a couple of quarters.  Does the fact that we played crappy defense those same quarters have anything to do with their shooting?  The world may never know.  What we do know is that shooting, covered or uncovered, is very cyclical.  Sometimes they fall even when you are well covered.


This Nugget team, especially without Ty Lawson, is a front runner or bust basketball team.  Even with Lawson they don't have a real closer, but do have the penetration power to get free throws and paint points for a reasonable chance at victory.

Shaw has shown the impressive ability to win a fair amount of games with a basketball team that is clearly Ty Lawson away from being hard to watch. He has also revealed an inability to get the most out of guys who don't always bring their best dance moves to the party.

Shaw, with a full complement of capable professional players and not a bunch of immature studs playing for something other than wins, will rectify his coaching failures while unveiling his true coaching ability. Whether or not he is allowed to do it in Denver is the million dollar question.

Coach Shaw reached such a level of frustration with his team that he aired out  guys for not maintaining a neat locker room for one another.  When you are concerned about the way a player forces their game to one side of the court too often you are coaching.  If you make a national declaration about locker room maintenance you are rearing. (see: Parenting)

Those of us who are parents appreciate him for his willingness to invest more than basketball into the lives of his players.  Those of us who are fans of the Nuggets and Shaw ask the same question that I started this article with.  Is Brian Shaw out of his Mother Lovin' Mind?

Of course he is.  And one day all of his players will talk about how he helped them to mature as a person before he made them a better player when they're telling stories to their children.  Bobby Knights players certainly do that for him, and he was certifiably crazy.  Shaw is just starting to show signs.

The loss to Portland is all the example you need. The Nuggets went to the losers locker room with some glaring discoveries.  After being benched in favor of an always hardworking Timofey Mosgov, JJ Hickson came off of the bench to set a  team record 15 offensive rebounds (the previous mark was 13 by Dikembe Mutombo) of the Nuggets 27 total offensive rebounds.  Denver's dominance on the glass generated 64 shots in the paint against Portland. Only 27 of them fell.  

In the 4th quarter, when the Nuggets finally played real defense, they stopped Portland without fouling.  Unfortunately, they had already given the Trailblazers an enormous amount of free throws as Portland finished the game shooting 36-39 from the line.  

There's more.  The Nuggets got 26 free throws of their own, but they missed 9 of them in a game that they lost by 5 pts.

I can hear the parents now.  "Opportunities are not endless.  You must take advantage of the chances you get in life".


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Denver Nugget Coach Brian Shaw Has Stopped Coaching, Started Parenting

Denver Nugget Coach Brian Shaw Has Stopped Coaching, Started Parenting

Back in the day you didn't have to coach effort.  (Listen to the interview)

What the hell is Brian Shaw doing?  What I mean to ask is, why is he doing what he is doing?  Let me get more specific. Is Brian Shaw out of his mother lovin' mind?

I fully realize that my inability to clarify my question comes across as confusion about my concern, but I am actually perfectly lucid with both my question and my concern.  Coach Shaw is behaving in a way that says he actually gives a damn about the careers of his players and not just the performance.

Dare I say that he is almost behaving as a parent.

What makes Shaw's behavior most peculiar is the excessive vulnerability that he displays in how he castrates his players for a lack of effort.  Shaw isn't only so revealing of his teams shortcomings, he is just as quick to place his own failures as a coach, displaying a twisted marriage of humility with intense clarity of what must be done to rectify the challenge before him.  Whenever you are willing to lay down on the knife yourself, it is not hard to share this pain with your team. Those who lay it down like this realize the value.

In the old days, coaches would elude to the very things Shaw is fully exposing.  Let Denver sports radio legend Sandy Clough tell it, we've never seen such a degree of honesty from a professional coach.

http://www.1043thefan.com/Channels/DrewScott/story.aspx?ID=2135986 (radio interview link)

In honor of the last days of Black History Month, I beg to differ.

The history of the black coach is full of such honest dialogue.  They may have all used their own method of personal expression, but black coaches have often been introspectively revealing of themselves and their players, probably to the detriment of their careers.  Shaw says that we don't know who is a championship caliber player on this roster because he hasn't provided them a championship environment yet.

Whether it was Herman Edwards, Dennis Green, Mike Singletary, Avery Johnson or Brian Shaw, we have seen something of this sort. Typically such revelation comes at the end of the road for a coach who figures they have nothing else to lose in being so honest.  What we can't quite decipher in this case is whether the end of the road this time is for the coach or for the uninspired players that he has called out? Shaw has shown signs of being the right guy even if not the best guy for a depleted group of young players with no floor leadership and questionable maturity.

Aaron Brooks has certainly brought something to the table including immense talent and professionalism.  Unfortunately, Brooks has also helped to bring about the return of doubt in a bunch of players who were  already fighting to believe they belong in the NBA.  Young players define themselves by their place in the pecking order and Brooks doesn't improve that for any of them.

Most young players think they need to score to get more minutes while most coaches are giving the minutes to the hardest workers.  A team that has changed so drastically since last season will see more changes by next year as well.  One might think that players are auditioning for another team if nothing else.

These Nuggets challenge your mind to make sense of their roller coaster play.  The moments of brilliance are as dominant as the ineptitude is bad.  Fan's have begun to criticize Shaw mostly because we've seen things that make it hard to stop watching.  Mostly, the Nuggets, and its fan base, do not survive to see the fourth quarter because the wheels fall off of the wagon before the end of the game arrives.

Last night the Nuggets smelled up the place for two quarters and still had a chance to beat a really good Portland team.
 (read more)

Suns Turn Out The Lights In Overtime. Nuggets Fans Looking For New Light

Will the Nuggets do something?

Hopefully they will continue to do more of what we saw last night against the Phoenix Suns, minus the losing  in overtime part.  Losing to a team that is 10 games over .500 and solidly in the playoff race is no shame. The shame came from those 4 games we watched prior to the All-Star break.

The Nuggets are in a really precarious position as they approach the trade deadline.  They basically have the makings of a trade package sitting in the training room.  Danilo Galinari, Javale McGhee, Nate Robinson, Ty Lawson create 4 of a solid starting 5.  What all of the Nuggets create is questions of their capacity for growth versus their capacity for trade value.

What is the full upside for this entire team and will we have the patience to be the team that helps it happen or trades and watches from afar? In case we didn't already know, recent evidence has declared that Ty Lawson is an extremely important player for this Nuggets team. With that being said, I believe the children are the future. Choose them well and let them lead the way.

We have a couple of them in house already in Evan Fournier and Quincy Miller, but the prospects for attaining more has created a special dynamic in this years NBA trade market.  There will be plenty of  kids coming out of college next year, which has the entire league seeking to get their hands on what might very well become an historical draft class.

This new Nuggets coaching staff has to analyze this new Nuggets roster in order to separate the old Nuggets that we already know from the new Nuggets that we are not so sure about.  This process is not one that involves keeping a strong grip on victories throughout the season, so you have to determine if losing is worth the cost of growth.  Losing is costly, but Nugget's fans are smart enough to recognize losing teams from losing players.  We can watch losing, but won't stand for losers.

Brian Shaw may be green, but he is a winner even if the George Karl fans would rather see more W's from this years team.  What fans are not so sure of is whether or not our new front office team has uncovered enough winners to jump on this journey of change.  Plenty of fans will join the ride when this journey gets airborne, but only the true fans will endure a long and slow train ride to the airport.

By the end of business tomorrow (10 p.m. Mountain time) we will know one way or another if the Nuggets will do something.  I haven't yet figured out if doing nothing will mean more than doing something, but at least the real analysis can begin when the deadline has passed.

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.