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.

Nuggets Take Down Lebron James While Lamenting The One That Got Away

Nugget haters are mounting their excuses right now trying to explain the reason that the hapless Nug's found a way to beat the Heat.

Don't worry.  I'll do it for you.  After all, the Nuggets were not the first but the second of the teams who beat the Miami Heat back to back on their home court.  In other words, the Heat had already lost at home and have lost several games recently.  If you are religious you understand the divine intent of King David, you also understand his victory over Goliath.  If you are not you might think that a scared kid got lucky with a rock and a slingshot. Nugget haters can easily subscribe to this miracle story as plausible cause.

Do the Nuggets have their backup team starting the game?
(.......excluding Ty Lawson of course)

I would make a few more excuses for the Nugget victory, but in reality there are none.  The Nuggets lost the start of the game and just about lost the end of it as well.  Correction, the Nuggets starters lost the start of the game against Miami and the bench had to save the day.

Is Evan Fournier a future all-star?

While JJ Hickson, Aaron Brooks, Quincy Miller, Dorrell
Arthur and Evan Fournier comprise the backup bunch,  
Fournier lead the way among the bench players and showed a reason for us all to send thank you cards to Masi Ujiri in Toronto who we credit with the foresight to draft Fournier.  As we look forward to the draft and hope for a play maker who can be an all-star caliber closer, Fournier could be the best gift from France since the statue of Liberty or Tony Parker, and will press Danilo Gallinari next season for the #1 Euro Nugget. 

 Brooks added 5 dimes versus Miami

Starters and finishers are hardly the same in basketball. This truth  relegates Timofey Mozgov to obscurity down the stretch of most games.  Against Miami, every other starter except Ty Lawson shared minutes with backups who performed better.

As it turns out, the key to this game would be free throws.  No matter how many statistics you dominate against a team like Miami, and the Nuggets dominated a few, you had better beat them well enough to avoid their closing ability.  The Nuggets did not do this at all and were forced to maintain a lead that they enjoyed through the greater portion of the game.

Now haters!  Listen up!  This is where you have to determine if the coach and team that you are criticizing is truly worthy of the critique you level.  Since the Nuggets get 3 new players from the cupboard next year, a coach with more skills in the kitchen, and his own seasoning (to add to the recipe), what we see now is merely a test kitchen if you will.

Have we seen enough of the Wilson Chandler experiment?
Is it time to let Quincy Miller start?

On this road trip, the Nuggets have learned that  there are simply no moral victories.  The loss to New Orleans was a painful Christmas gift that we either gave early this year or late from last year.

Either way it was a gift.

Winning back to back games on the road, including one over the defending champs is cool, but does it vindicate the losses and the voices of the haters? 
Fournier said it best.  

"This is no vindication. This is one win."

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