Highs and Lows: Denver Nuggets
Allen Iverson, Dime #28Opening Night is one week away. While we wait for the ‘08-09 schedule to start, we’re going team-by-team, from 1 to 30, exploring where each team’s ceiling is for the upcoming season and where their basement is. In other words, what are the realistic best-case and worst-case scenarios for each squad?
Additions: SF Renaldo Balkman, PF Juwan Howard, SF Ruben Patterson, SG Dahntay Jones, PF Chris Andersen, PG Smush Parker.
Losses: C Marcus Camby, PF Eduardo Najera, SG/SF Yakhouba Diawara.
Ceiling: 7th-8th seed in the West
If nothing else, the Nuggets have two of the coldest snipers in the world on their side, who finished third (Allen Iverson) and fourth (Carmelo Anthony) in the NBA in scoring last year, respectively. Along with J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza, getting buckets won’t be a problem from the two-guard/small forward positions. Up front, Nene is back healthy after missing almost all of last season with various injuries and illness, and Kenyon Martin, the team’s third-leading scorer from a year ago (12.4 ppg), should be good for about 70 games even on those shaky knees. Point guard is an area of concern, but the Nuggets appear to be in the market just waiting for someone like Jamaal Tinsley or Stephon Marbury to become available, whether it’s before Opening Night or closer to the trade deadline. On paper the Nuggets got undeniably worse in the offseason, but they realistically shouldn’t finish any lower than third in the Northwest Division — ahead of Minnesota and Oklahoma City, and Denver could possibly beat out the much-hyped but unproven Trail Blazers for second place. Sneaking into the playoffs isn’t out of the question, but it will be next to impossible unless Iverson puts on his 2001 Philly cap and carries them.
Basement: The most star-studded Lottery team of all-time
Why would one of the worst defensive teams in the League practically give away a recent Defensive Player of the Year (Camby) and let perhaps their best on-ball defender (Najera) walk in free agency? Future cap space is the company-man’s answer — although that defies logic since you need to take advantage of having Iverson on the roster now, not later. You could, however, argue that since Denver’s team defense was awful in spite of Camby and Najera, it can’t be THAT much worse with Steven Hunter and Ruben Patterson acting as sub-standard replacements. (It’s not like they can give up 130 points per game, right? Right?) Overall, there are just too many “ifs” and too many guys that will have to play out of their minds for the Nuggets to be a serious threat. Nene will have to play better than he ever has — like the man the Nuggets signed to a monster deal a couple years ago — to compensate for the lack of interior presence; not to mention he’ll have to stay on the court. K-Mart also has to stay healthy. ‘Melo has to step up his defense and get his hands dirty in the paint. Smith needs to improve his shot selection and be the kind of solid defender his athletic ability allows. And while I’m never one to doubt A.I., he is 33 years old and has a ton of mileage on his body, maybe too much for another Herculean effort of putting an entire team on his shoulders for 82 games. Denver has a pair of veterans platooning at PG, however they’re not very good veterans in Anthony Carter and Chucky Atkins. It would also help if Juwan Howard found a fountain of youth and Renaldo Balkman played like a first-round draft pick and Birdman Andersen tapped into the potential everyone swears he has, but again, those scenarios are unlikely.
‘08-09 NBA preview archives
10/20 — Philadelphia 76ers
10/17 — Dallas Mavericks
10/15 — Indiana Pacers
10/14 — Golden State Warriors
10/10 — Detroit Pistons
10/9 — San Antonio Spurs
10/8 — Chicago Bulls
10/6 — Oklahoma City Thunder
10/3 — Washington Wizards
10/2 — Utah Jazz
10/1 — Charlotte Bobcats
9/30 — Memphis Grizzlies
9/26 — Toronto Raptors
9/25 — New Orleans Hornets
9/24 — Atlanta Hawks
9/23 — Sacramento Kings
9/22 — Miami Heat
9/19 — Portland Trail Blazers
9/18 — New Jersey Nets
9/17 — Minnesota Timberwolves
9/16 — Cleveland Cavaliers
9/15 — Phoenix Suns
9/12 — Milwaukee Bucks
9/11 — L.A. Clippers
9/10 — Orlando Magic
October 21st, 2008 at 2:44 pm
QuEsT??? says:
i was waiting for this one. i believe (maybe) that with camby and najera gone, the nuggets will step up defensively, and quietly th nugget’s front office has brought in defensive minded guys such as renaldo balkman and ruben patterson. either that or im just forcing myself to believe that they will have to outscore everyone and that isnt going to happen.
October 21st, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Sam I Am says:
Ceiling: 8th Seed in the West
Basement: Eating Chicken Nuggets during the playoffs
October 21st, 2008 at 2:59 pm
TJ says:
People give Camby too much credit on defense. For example, look at the last four years. His defensive numbers (rebounds and blocks) have gotten better and better, while the Nuggets defensive rankings have gotten worse and worse.
Shotblocking isn’t always about good defense. Sometimes it is more a product of gambling, just like steals can be.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Michorizo says:
Isn’t Iverson going to get traded?
October 21st, 2008 at 3:43 pm
stan says:
A.I.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Three Stacks says:
Is Iverson in a contract year? Anyone know?
October 21st, 2008 at 3:49 pm
control says:
Why even talk about Nene? The best that guy is going to do is get injured in the first week. The worst he is going to do is give the rest of the team some dickrot-staph type of infection and kill a few people.
At least AI is going to be in his comfort zone…competing with the 2nd best person on the team instead of trying to make the team better.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
johnny says:
what’s with all these wings?
Melo, JR, Linas, Ruben, Renaldo….AI (kinda)
October 21st, 2008 at 4:41 pm
RENO says:
I love AI’s passion and toughness in which he plays the game with. I think pound for pound he’s the toughest and arguably one of the greatest scorers to play the game. Now with that being said, I still don’t think that an AI led team will ever win a Championship. Just don’t see it happening.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:55 pm
YGB (Obama 08) says:
@AB K-Mart has shaky kness? Have you seen him play in preseason? And who’s your new team?
October 21st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
jayslay says:
yea iverson could be traded bcuz he can opt out next year
you kno what every year the nuggets get criticised and every year they make the playoffs….GET OFF THERE BACK’S…this is a bonafide team man…melon has made the playoffs EVERY year since being in the league…that cant be said about bron,bosh,or wade….granted wade and bron borh went to the finals but wade had a good big man in shaq who at the time was still relevant and bron didnt have to play anybody…now b4 anybody suggest that im sayin melon is better than either one im jus putting that stat out there….they wont miss the playoffs…will they make it past the first round, it all depends on who they play…the nuggets have a better team than portland they are beter than dallas imo and they will be better than what dime and everybody is sayin…..i kno im prolly gon be by myself on this but hey im goin on the limb and sayin they will be a 6 seed this year…they are jus to loaded not to make the playoffs and they not gon start missing the playoffs bcuz of camby and najera… najera didnt play that muchand is declining fast and camby is overrated and injury prone and like 35…they aint lose much they will be fine
October 21st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
jayslay says:
yo i ment melo lol
October 21st, 2008 at 5:21 pm
JarrJohnson says:
@ three stacks: Yessir.
Take a good look. This is the last time you’ll see AI in a Nuggets jersey.
@TJ:
I agree with you. Granted he was a great shotblocker, but the rest of the team would play lazy D while he was in the lineup because he was there to clean up everyone’s mess. I’m expecting the D to improve (Sh–, can’t go nowhere but up.)
As far as the playoffs are concerned, even if the ceiling is reached, expect history to repeat itself. The front office is the personification of the definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. The roster is put together like a “Pimp My Ride” car. (What good are purple and white, zebra print, crushed velvet seats and a karaoke machine when the engine doesn’t work?)
Honestly, coming from a diehard Nuggets fan, I hope they don’t make the playoffs. Maybe then Kroenke will finally quit playing “Guess the GM” and appoint one person to make the personnel decisions.
I need some Advil…
October 21st, 2008 at 5:38 pm
bigdoggchad says:
Nuggets 47-35 7th seed
October 21st, 2008 at 5:44 pm
jayslay says:
how can u be a die hard fan and say u dont want them to make the playoffs????? as a regular fan i wanna see them in the playoffs
October 21st, 2008 at 6:08 pm
JarrJohnson says:
I’ve seen them in the playoffs for the last 5 years. The team hasn’t changed enough to make me believe that the result will be any different. The whole point of this exercise is to compete for a championship. As a die-hard fan, I can no longer tolerate the mediocrity of “making the playoffs”. There needs to be a radical change and not making the playoffs may just be the catalyst that this franchise needs.
October 21st, 2008 at 6:25 pm
jayslay says:
the thing is would u really rather sitting at home and ur team in a rebuilding mode???? i mean i kno u see what the kings ,new york new jersey,chi town and others are goin thru….aint nobody in the forseable future who is goin to be a immediate impact in the league sowhy rebuild when melo is bout to be in his prime that makes no sense….
October 21st, 2008 at 8:27 pm
JarrJohnson says:
Absolutely.
If the front office was acting with the same sense of urgency that you outlined, then yeah, go to the playoffs, because then they would be trying to compete for a chip. But the problem is this franchise has no idea what “mode” they’re in. They don’t have a win now attitude because they haven’t been creative or aggressive enough in their roster re-organization since the trade for AI. (btw, The trade for AI has resulted in two consecutive first round exits.) They haven’t had any picks in the first round in the draft since ’05, so they’re not trying to go in that direction either. So, my thought is this: You’re not doing anything in free agency nor are you making any appreciable moves to get young talent via the draft. Therefore, you’re satisfied with how the roster is currently constituted, which means that the Nuggets franchise is satisfied with squeaking into the playoffs and subsequently getting’ bounced.
My rationale for missing the playoffs is that all of the excuses that the front office has been feeding this fanbase (We won 50 games, we’ve made the playoffs the last X number of years.) will finally be non-existent and they can finally move forward toward building a team that can legitimately compete in the West.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:59 pm
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! says:
poor ai, i wish he could finally play for a team that WANTS to WIN like he does!!!! how they have KARL as coach still just makes my head hurt!!! hoping Melo steps up cuz he let AI down last year…I think they will be in playoffs…more than that who knows??????
October 21st, 2008 at 10:02 pm
jayslay says:
i understand what you’re sayin what im sayin is i dont think its time 4 an overhaul jus yet…..i think this year let everyone show what they have…jr smith got a new contract i say resign iverson to somethin and go out and try to get anybody who doesnt want to score…thats all they need…they could ude a new coach but the question is who????what coach is gonna come in and demand the respect and make these guys play defense????there isn’t one…..!!the thing i think george karl is perfect for them…i mean this is the same guy who went to the finals has taken another team to the conferance finals i mean so it aint like he aint had no success….do they need to improve yes they do….do they need to rebuild rite now no they dont…they really cant honesty i mean why should you mess up somethin now yea so what they haven’t gotten past the first round but that has ALOT to do with matchups…they had to play the lakers the spurs they both went to the finals when the nuggets lost so i mean its not like they are losing to scrubs i think they need work but i think another year b4 jus restarting
October 21st, 2008 at 11:52 pm
V says:
Everyone has to mention how many points the nugs give up when they talk about their deffence but their oppoenents only score so much because the nuggets score do much! If you look at the actual percentage, you’ll be able to their deffencr isn’t that bad and they actually don’t give up a lot of points. People just like to hate on the nuggets, they diss them and even when they’re proven wrong they still hate! How many people said golden state was going to get into the pksyoffs last year but it was the nuggets that made it besting golden state 3/4 times that year. The nuggets aren’t the greatest team out there but they are good, pool need to stop acting like the nuggets are soooooooooo bad cause they’re not
October 21st, 2008 at 11:54 pm
V says:
danm iPod touch, sorry for the spelling mistakes
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:57 am
Bo says:
AI is injured??
http://www.squidoo.com/dunklikeAI
April 18th, 2009 at 3:24 am
Bkbouncer says:
Bless Dime for having the link back to this page, where they admit they had the Nuggets as a bad playoff team or good lottery team at best. At least they admit they sometimes make the wrong call. Other outlets refuse to give the Nuggets their dues, after being chosen to finish near the bottom of the league by nearly all media outlets, they finish number 2 in their conference. Yet, this team continues to go unrecognized. This is why I feel they can do very well in the playoffs this year, because while playing a team they were better than all year, they are an afterthought. Dime is the best place to get reliable NBA news in the world.