SB Nation - J.R. Smith

Best start in Nuggets history?... (Nuggets/Rockets recap)

Andrew Feinstein — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:41:58 -0000

Sometimes games have absolutely no personality whatsoever. Tonight's relatively easy victory over the Rockets was one of those games. But sitting at 19-7, the best start in Nuggets NBA franchise history, who are we to complain?

First off, let's congratulate this band of Nuggets for completing the best 26-game start in Nuggets history. That's no small feat. Yes, they've had a pair of dreadful, alarming losses combined with a few more clunkers that we'd expect better from, but overall this is a damn good team. They still open games lethargically (as we witnessed again tonight), but there may not be a better third quarter team in the NBA right now. I remember just a few seasons ago when the third quarter was the Nuggets death knell. Oh how times have changed.

But is this really the best start in Nuggets history? Record-wise, yes. Through 26 games last season, the Nuggets stood at 17-9, but you could argue the first four games didn't count (no Carmelo Anthony for games one and two, versus the Lakers in game three and at Golden State in game four with no Allen Iverson). In the Nuggets first 26 games W.C. (with Chauncey), they were 18-8, one off this team's pace. But this season's Nuggets have lost five games to sub-.500 teams, including once at home, whereas last season's Nuggets (again, W.C.) didn't drop a single contest to a sub-.500 team in those first 26 games W.C. So while technically their records are almost a wash, I still liked the spirit and game-by-game seriousness of last season's Nuggets better at this point in the season.

From my seats at Pepsi Center, I don't think I saw the Nuggets break a sweat tonight. Yes, they dug themselves an early hole (I remember turning to my seat mate and saying "they only have 11 points with four minutes to go in the first quarter?!") and then suddenly they were up at the end of the first period and never looked back.

The Nuggets successfully completed what I labeled on Friday as their "no excuses week" (three home games against opponents playing them on the second of a back-to-back) with the record they should have had: 3-0. Part of being a great team is simply doing what you're expected to do, and the Nuggets have done so. Meeting expectations might be a tad boring, but we'll take these relatively easy victories any day.

The view from the not-so-cheap-seats...

...I didn't catch the Chauncey Billups groin injury but did see Chris Andersen limping a bit. The "Birdman" seemed to shake it off, however, and hold his own down the stretch.

...Melo did his best impersonation of Kevin Durant/Alex English by scoring the quietest 38 points I've ever seen him score. I guess that happens when you shoot an astoundingly high 20 free throws (and he promptly sank 19 of them). Convinced that this had to be Melo's career high for free throw attempts, I just looked it up and he amazingly had two 22-plus free throw attempt games during the 2005-06 season.

...believe it or not, watching J.R. Smith shoot threes lately had become cringe-worthy for some Pepsi Center fans. I won't proclaim that J.R. has ended his shooting slump, but tonight's 21-point effort was the most he had scored in 12 games. Eek.

...after Nene missed his wide open layup, he laughed at himself and had a "I can't believe I didn't just dunk the damn ball!" look on his face. So did we!

...did Ty Lawson's sick under-the-basket scoop layup look as good on TV as it did in person? Just wow.

...I'm embarrassed to admit this but I had no idea who David Andersen was until tonight (off the top of my head, I can go 10-11 deep on any NBA roster...12 might be a stretch). But this (legitimately) 6'11" kid from Australia has some game. And believe it or not, his 17 points against our Nuggets tonight wasn't his career high: he put up 19 against the Lakers earlier in the season.

Non-Stiff of the Night

-Carmelo Anthony: Melo didn't shoot particularly well, but as noted above - when you score 38 points and no one really notices - you've ascended to an Alex English-type level in this game. It's become expected/assumed that Melo will go for 30 nightly and anything short is considered an off night. That in itself is the definition of a super star player.

Stiff of the Night

-Chase Budinger: Pardon the reverse racism here, but if you're a white American (i.e. non-Euro), second round draft pick and you're still playing in the NBA you have one job to do: hit wide open shots. And Budinger - who deserves a lot of credit for working his way into the Rockets rotation - couldn't hit any of his shots tonight ending up 0-4 from the field.

Photo courtesy of AP Photos: David Zalubowski

Game 23 Recap: Denver 102, Oklahoma City 93

Zorgon — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:56:58 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Serge Ibaka may have a name that is just as cool as Nene's, but he can only dream of similarly awesome dreadlocks.

Browse more photos »

Well, what is there to say about this game?

After the second quarter, this game was over. Sure, the game might have still been statistically in reach, but it wasn't realistically in reach. The Thunder couldn't hit a 3 pointer if their life depended on it, and 39% from the field doesn't exactly cut it either. It just reminded us of the painful fact that we have no shooters, and that almost all of our scoring come from right next to the basket and from the line.

Below: Analysis, Awards (I promise, they're lengthy!)

First, let me just say that defensively, we did everything right. We limited them to 40% from the field and 29% from the 3 Point line. Heck, we even equaled them in total rebounding. So, what was the problem, you may ask? Well, it all comes down to turnovers and free throws. They had 9 more attempts than us at the line (totaling up to 5 more points), and they had 3 less turnovers. The second quarter collapse didn't help either. You can play with a team for three quarters if you want, but you can't completely collapse against them in one and expect to win. This game was almost like the Cleveland loss, except the collapse here came in the 2nd, rather than in the 4th.

Yet again, the Thunder Wonder for this game is Kevin Durant. 32 Points, 10 Rebounds, and a better performance than Carmelo Anthony is all that I have to say. The Thunder Down Under is Nick Collison, who really battled down low and helped us stay in this game. He was a big part of the first and fourth quarter runs. 14 Points, 5 Rebounds, and a whole lot of ammo for the cannons that declare him as the starter for this team. There might be something I'm missing, but Nenad Krstic has proved to be totally worthless against anything but immobile or European Centers offensively, and he doesn't provide much in the way of defense or rebounds. Sure, he can clear the lane and set picks all day, but couldn't Nick Collison do that while also providing something offensively and defensively? Look, I used to sit next to Krstic's friends, great people, and Krstic is a great guy. In fact, he'd probably be the guy who's jersey I'd be out to get next. But until he can prove that he can perform better than Nick Collison on a consistent basis, it's my recommendation that this 15 million dollar man sits on the bench.

The Thunder Blunder, however, is not Nenad Krstic. Rather, I'm turning to the Point Guard situation and Russell Westbrook. It's games like these that make me really miss Kevin Ollie. Now, before the fingers of hate start pointing at me, let me just say that I'm not in the Jim Traber camp which claims that Russell Westbrook will never be a "true" point guard. But, I'm also not in the camp of "Russell Westbrook is the greatest Point Guard Ever, let's put him in the All-Star Game". I'm somewhere in-between. I think that he's learning. Some nights, he'll be one of the most unselfish players on the court, throwing out 10 assists while hardly scoring at all. Some nights, he'll score really well, while dishing out few assists. Then, there's nights like these, where his scoring will be mediocre, and his assists will be below par. It's on nights like these we lose, and it's also on nights like these where I miss Kevin Ollie. I mean, how many times to I have to see Russell Westbrook just dribble down to the post and brick a layup? He's starting to look like Kyle Weaver offensively. And I know he had 14, but 5 of his points were in complete garbage time at the very end of the game. I'm not saying Kevin Ollie is better than Russell Westbrook by any means, I'm just saying that he brings stability to the offense in the middle of the game. He only shoots it if he knows he's open, and he triggers excellent ball movement amongst the team. Shaun Livingston will just go out there and copy Russell Westbrook's game. But I think it's helpful to have both Ollie and Westbrook, and I think Westbrook will have less of these games as time goes on. Unfortunately, for now, he's the Thunder Blunder.

And finally, on the Nuggets side of things, it was business as usual. Though Aaron Affalo and Kenyon Martin were shut down by Thabo Sefolosha and Jeff Green respectively, they still got a huge surge of scoring off of the bench via Chris "The Birdman" Andersen and J.R. Smith, who both combined for 34 points. Talk about former Hornets coming back to bite you. But the best performance of the day, and the Thunder Plunderer Award, is reserved for Carmelo Anthony, who had 31 Points, 5 Rebounds, and 2 Assists, all while shooting over 50%.

Next Game: Vs the Mavericks, Wednesday, December 16th, 7:00 PM Central Standard Time.

10 YEARS OF STIFFDOM: A Decade Retrospective...

Andrew Feinstein — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:04:03 -0000

Who knew that at the beginning of the '00s - with none other than Dan Issel in charge - that the Nuggets would end up having a successful and often thrilling decade? Here's a look back at the last 10 years of Denver Nuggets basketball...

At the conclusion of the 1990s, the Nuggets were in utter disarray. As documented in detail here at Denver Stiffs, this once proud and respected franchise had been turned into an NBA laughingstock thanks to a lethal combination of ineptitude, incompetence, and ignorance. Between 1990 and 1999, the Nuggets made the playoffs just twice and Nuggets fans were forced to endure seasons with win totals under 40 games eight times (including the lockout shortened 1998-99 season in which the Nuggets would likely have "won" about 25 games had an 82-game season been played out). We witnessed five seasons in which the Nuggets won less than 24 games, and in 1997-98 the 11-win Nuggets won less games than the Broncos that year.

Making matters worse throughout the 1990s, the Nuggets never caught a break. Even though they participated in eight NBA Draft lotteries, twice sported the worst record in the NBA (1990-91 and again after that infamous 1997-98 campaign) and had a bottom-four record five total times, the highest pick they were ever rewarded was third (which Issel promptly screwed up by drafting Raef LaFrentz over Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki and Antawn Jamison). We missed out on all the game-changing draftees of the 1990s: Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Chris Webber and Tim Duncan. And a freak knee injury sustained by rising star LaPhonso Ellis in 1994 would prove to be the undoing of the Nuggets only good team of the decade: the 1993-94 squad that had just stunned the NBA world by beating the number-one seeded Seattle Supersonics in the playoffs before taking the Utah Jazz to seven in Round 2.

But make no mistake about it, the Nuggets problems throughout the 1990s were self-inflicted. Cartoonish figures such as Peter Bynoe, Bertram Lee, the Comsat "Corporation," Paul Westhead, Bernie Bickerstaff, Allan Bristow and finally, Issel, made every wrong/bad decision possible, leaving the Nuggets organization in tatters until Stanley E. Kroenke rescued the franchise in 2000 with his purchase of the team. Upon arrival, Kroenke made it clear that he wanted to win and win now, and thus set in motion a series of events that produced one of the better decades in franchise history...

2000-2001 (40-42, no playoffs)

In an increasingly tough Western Conference, the Nuggets remarkably won 40 games but were still seven games off the eighth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves. While a 40-win season would normally be a good thing having come off a 35-win season, team "president", "head coach" and dictator Dan Issel had already mortgaged the Nuggets future by sending away numerous first round picks in order to build that 40-win team.

Non-Stiff of the Year: Antonio McDyess

Coming off a gold-medal winning performance in the Sydney Olympics, McDyess was a stud in 2000-01. The quiet, dignified power forward averaged 20.8 ppg, 12.1 rpg and 1.5 bpg and even made the All-Star team.

Stiff of the Year: Dan Issel

The aforementioned Issel had previously (and foolishly) traded away the Nuggets own first round picks for 1999, 2000 and 2001 - all lottery picks, mind you - and after an assortment of complicated, even more stupid deals, for those picks he essentially brought back Tariq Abdul-Wahad, Kevin Willis (on the very wrong side of his career), Voshon Lenard and Tracy Murray. But that was just off-the-court. On-the-court, Issel was a tyrant with his players and the refs. At one point, his players were so fed up with the way he was treating Raef LaFrentz (a draft bust of Issel's own making) and others, that point guard Nick Van Exel led a player boycott of practice.

2001-02 (27-55, no playoffs)

After years of overpaying for mediocre players and parting with valuable first round picks in exchange for nothing, the wheels finally came off the Issel Administration and the Nuggets fell apart in 2001-02, precipitated by a major knee injury to McDyess that caused him to miss all but 10 games of the season. Prior to the season starting, Kroenke - either sensing that Issel had too much power, was too incompetent or both - astutely hired Kiki Vandeweghe as GM to a five-year contract.

Non-Stiff of the Year: Kiki Vandeweghe

After Issel "resigned" the day after Christmas (more on that shortly), Vandeweghe gutted out the roster and made a controversial move that would put the Nuggets on the path of success they still enjoy today. Knowing the Nuggets were going nowhere with the expensive roster he inherited, Vandeweghe boldly shipped out Van Exel, LaFrentz, Abdul-Wahad and Avery Johnson (another overpayee thanks to Issel) to Dallas in exchange for Juwan Howard, Tim Hardaway, Donnell Harvey and a future first round pick. When the Nuggets eventually met the Mavericks in the 2009 playoffs second round, I detailed how that major trade actually brought the two once dormant franchises together.

Stiff of the Year: Dan Issel

"Go drink another beer, you Mexican piece of shit!" Those nine words - uttered by Issel towards a heckling Hispanic Nuggets fan after a December 10th loss to the Charlotte Hornets - were exactly what Kroenke and Vandeweghe needed to kick Issel out the door. Issel, a Nuggets legend as a player, had built up so much great PR in the community (he still has some...note Woody Paige's ludicrous suggestion that the Nuggets bring Issel back to the organization last year) that he would have been tough to fire otherwise. After serving a four-game suspension, Issel "resigned" on December 26th, 2001 and unfortunately for Issel, things haven't exactly worked out for him since.

Stiff of the Year Runner-Up: Tim Hardaway

Unlike Howard who - knowing playing in Denver would be a brutal, losing situation - accepted the trade to the Nuggets and behaved like a total professional during his time here (it helps when you're getting paid $18.8 and then $20.1 million per season!), Hardaway was a petulant, angry brat who never got over leaving Dallas where he was hoping to gravy train his way into an NBA Championship. After starting 14 games for the Nuggets, Hardaway unleashed his anger on a TV monitor by throwing it onto the floor and getting himself suspended two games.

2002-03 (17-65, no playoffs)

Entering the 2002-03 NBA season, Vandeweghe purposefully compiled the worst roster in modern NBA history in hopes of tanking enough games to win the first pick in the draft (knowing that on the horizon was one of the better drafts in NBA history). The Nuggets starting back court of Vincent Yarbrough and Junior Harrington couldn't crack a 14-man roster the following season, and the rest of the roster was littered with names you already don't remember. Armed with two lottery picks - thanks to a great trade that sent McDyess to New York in exchange for Marcus Camby and the Knicks lottery pick - Vandeweghe drafted Nene and some skinny kid from Georgia, and I'm not talking about the university (more on him shortly).

Non-Stiff of the Year: Jeff Bzdelik

In spite of being dealt the worst hand ever dealt a coach in modern NBA history, rookie head coach Jeff Bzdelik refused to make excuses, worked his ass off and was able to get 17 wins out of our Nuggets. I'd argue that was 17 more wins than they should have had and Bzdelik should have gotten Coach of the Year consideration. The Nuggets were awful talent-wise, but they played harder than their opponent almost every night.

Stiff of the Year: Nikoloz Tskitishvili

Drafted fifth overall out of the Republic of Georgia, "Skita" has since gone down in history as the worst fifth overall pick of all time (and believe me, there have been some bad fifth overall picks). Given ample opportunity to succeed in his first season, Skita - listed at seven-feet tall - shot 29.3% from the field as a rookie. At a game in Los Angeles against the Lakers, I once saw Skita shoot a wide open shot in which the ball hit the shot clock first before getting anywhere near the backboard or rim.

2003-04 (43-39, 1-4 in the playoffs)

A full 10 years after upsetting the Sonics in the playoffs, the Nuggets finally got their act together and Coloradoans cared about basketball again. Unable to shake the Nuggets streak of bad luck with the Draft Lottery, Vandeweghe got lucky nonetheless thanks to Detroit GM Joe Dumars' stupidly drafting Darko Milicic (i.e. Skita 2.0), leaving Syracuse star/stud Carmelo Anthony available with the third overall pick. And with Howard's giant contract coming off the books, Vandeweghe was finally able to spend Kroenke's money. Free agent signees Andre Miller, Jon Barry and Earl Boykins joined Melo, Nene and a healthy Camby. Under Bzdelik's stewardship, the Nuggets won 43 games and put up a respectable fight against the Timberwolves in the playoffs first round. As fans, we were happy just to be in the playoffs!

Non-Stiff of the Year: Carmelo Anthony

For the first time since Alex English last donned a rainbow jersey, the Nuggets had a perennial All-Star caliber player in Melo. As a rookie, Melo averaged 21 ppg and 6.1 rpg while giving fellow rookie phenom LeBron James a run for the Rookie of the Year Award. But more importantly, Melo led the Nuggets back to the postseason in a hyper-competitive Western Conference, whereas LBJ couldn't do the same in Cleveland in the weakened Eastern Conference.

Stiff of the Year: Rodney White

Playing for his next contract after his rookie deal was due to expire in two seasons, White gave the Nuggets next-to-nothing in 2003-04 even though he appeared in 72 games and received 14 minutes of playing time per game. Just a few years removed from being the ninth overall pick to Detroit (ahem...Joe Dumars again), White would be out of the NBA completely after the 2004-05 campaign. But hey, at least he was nominated for the Denver Stiffs Hall of Fame!

2004-05 (49-33, 1-4 in the playoffs)

Wanting to build upon the Nuggets newly found success (and at Kroenke's alleged insistence), Vandeweghe spent the entire 2004 offseason shopping for a big name free agent to bring to Denver. After being turned down by Manu Ginobili and Brad Miller, Vandeweghe panicked and got duped into sending three number one picks to New Jersey for Kenyon Martin in a sign-and-trade deal. K-Mart's price tag? $90 million over seven seasons. Under immense pressure to win more games, Bzdelik and the Nuggets floundered out of the gate, starting out 13-15 before Bzdelik got sacked and replaced by a former WNBA coach (Michael Cooper) who went 4-10 as coach of the team.

Non-Stiff of the Year: George Karl

Inheriting a 17-25 team loaded with talent but without any direction and big egos to boot, Karl's no-nonsense, "my way or the highway" approach immediately turned the Nuggets fortunes around. With only 40 games to work with, Karl guided the Nuggets to a 32-8 record (the best in NBA history after a mid-season coaching switch) and had the Nuggets playing the best basketball in the NBA down the stretch of the regular season.

Stiff of the Year: Kiki Vandeweghe

By acquiring K-Mart, Vandeweghe essentially panicked while throwing away all of the salary cap flexibility he had worked so hard and smartly to cultivate. But worse than that, Vandeweghe was eerily silent while Bzdelik was left to twist in the wind as the Nuggets struggled early in the season. Vandeweghe never publicly defended the one man willing to coach the dreadful 2002-03 roster that Vandeweghe had assembled, and Kiki made matters worse by bringing in Cooper to take over as head coach. The Cooper hire cost the Nuggets a higher playoff seed.

Stiff of the Year Runner-Up: Carmelo Anthony

Melo couldn't stay out of trouble in 2004. First, he was cited for marijuana possession at DIA that his cousin conveniently took the blame for (the old "that wasn't my pot!" excuse). Second, he feuded with Olympic coach Larry Brown in Athens and found himself benched on the 2004 Team USA that embarrassingly finished with a bronze medal. Third - and perhaps the worst/dumbest - Melo was caught on a "Stop Snitching" DVD in which alleged drug dealers explain what happens to people who cooperate with the police. Melo didn't improve much on the floor, either, and found himself (rightfully) in Karl's doghouse early and often.

2005-06 (44-38, 1-4 in the playoffs)

Unable to build off the team's incredible run under Karl to conclude the previous season, injuries ravaged the Nuggets and they limped their way to a 44-38 record. K-Mart and Camby missed 26 games apiece and most tragically, Nene succumbed to the Nuggets power forward curse and was lost for the season with an ACL and MCL tear after just one game. At the time, the Nuggets marketing and PR team spun the season as as success under the guise of "Northwest Division Champs" and that the Nuggets were a three-seed entering the postseason. But this was before the NBA properly seeded division winners who have mediocre records. The Nuggets were such a weak three-seed, that the Clippers purposely tanked games to face them in the first round...and when they got their wish, the Clippers clocked the Nuggets in five games. Oh, and that was the Clippers only playoff series win since becoming the Clippers in 1978. Overall, the season was a mess from from the top down (as chronicled in detail at the time by the Denver Post's Thomas George). Vandeweghe would be let go at season's end and was replaced by Mark Warkentien (and eventually Rex Chapman, too). Dysfunction, egos and injuries had set the Nuggets back a few steps.

Non-Stiff of the Year: (tie) Carmelo Anthony and Andre Miller

Melo and Miller played in 80 and 82 games, respectively, and carried the Nuggets in 2005-06. Melo improved his scoring average by over six points per game and his field goal percentage went up, as well. Miller - the modern day NBA "iron man" even if he doesn't condition well in the offseason - was a steady hand as always, starting in all 82 games and dishing out over eight assists per game.

Stiff of the Year: Kenyon Martin

Recovering from microfracture surgery and frustrated by knee tendinitis, K-Mart was pretty surly for much of the season and was morphing into a locker room cancer. He allegedly didn't get along with coaches or teammates (according to George's article, K-Mart's teammates questioned his commitment to recovery and work ethic) and it all came to an ugly head during halftime of Game 2 at Los Angeles, when K-Mart went at it with Karl and several teammates. K-Mart was benched for the remainder of the game and eventually su spended for the duration of the series.

Stiff of the Year Runner-Up: Reggie Evans

As perhaps a microcosm of the dysfunction and lack of respect for the game that was taking over the Nuggets, "The Joker" grabbed Clippers center Chris Kaman's testicles while fighting for a rebound during Game 1 of the Clippers series.

2006-07 (45-37, 1-4 in the playoffs)

In spite of it being K-Mart's turn to succumb to the Nuggets power forward curse (he would play just two games all season) and losing their first three straight games by a total of five points, the Nuggets would win 12 of their first 21 games with Melo playing the best basketball of his career. That all changed abruptly on Saturday, December 16th, 2006. In New York facing the Knicks (who had embarrassingly beaten the Nuggets in Denver in Game 3 of the season), the Nuggets found themselves up 19 with 75 seconds to go. Karl - alleged by some to want to rub the victory in Knicks coach Isiah Thomas' face (Thomas had recently sandbagged Karl's good friend Larry Brown) - left his starters on the floor, prompting Thomas to send in his "goon squad" and make the Nuggets pay. What began as a hard, unnecessary, dangerous, around-the-neck foul on J.R. Smith by the Knicks' Mardy Collins erupted into a full-scale brawl...culminating with Melo's cheap shot punch on Collins. Melo would be suspended 15 games and Smith 10, prompting Nuggets management to attempt to salvage the season by bringing in super star guard Allen Iverson from Philadelphia in exchange for Miller, Joe Smith and two first round picks. Little did we know that the fun was just beginning.

Non-Stiff of the Year: Allen Iverson

Welcomed with open arms by Nuggets fans and his new teammates, Iverson made an immediate impact on the Nuggets (on and off the floor, in good ways and bad). But with Melo out 15 games, Iverson was able to keep the Nuggets afloat and competitive almost by himself. When Melo and Iverson finally got to play together for a long stretch, the Nuggets reeled off nine straight wins and 10 of 11 to finish out the season strong as the hottest team in the NBA.

Stiff of the Year: Isiah Thomas

In addition to sinking the Raptors as an incompetent vice president, sinking the CBA in a summer as an incompetent commissioner and sinking the Knicks as an incompetent president/coach/alleged sexual harrasser (hell, Isiah was an incompetent broadcaster, too), Isiah would sink the Nuggets season in one fell swoop by commandeering his players to take out the Nuggets starters in that game.

Stiff of the Year Runner-Up: (tie) Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith

Even though Isiah "started it," Melo and J.R. were unable to keep their heads cool and unnecessarily exacerbated an already ugly situation, ruining the Nuggets entire season as a result.

2007-08 (50-32, 0-4 in the playoffs)

Entering 2007-08, the Nuggets would finally have a training camp with their full roster participating from the get-go. With Melo and Iverson having ample time to play together, optimism in Denver was higher than it had been since entering the 2004-05 campaign. So high was the optimism, in fact, that Kroenke had over $83 million invested in the team's payroll (second or third highest in the league at the time) and Melo and K-Mart started floating out "60 wins" as a realistic goal. But even with Iverson appearing in all 82 games, Camby playing 79, Melo 77, K-Mart 71 and vast improvements seen in the games of bench players J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza, the Nuggets weren't able to secure a playoff spot (an eighth seed no less) until the 79th game of the season with a big win at Golden State. As an eighth seed, the Nuggets got worked over by the Lakers in an embarrassing four-game sweep: a series which saw Melo bark at Karl "don't just sit there!" and the benching of Iverson early in Game 3 that didn't go over well. Prior to the Nuggets final regular season game, Melo would get arrested on suspicion of a DUI. It became evident that the A.I. experiment was an expensive failure.

Non-Stiff of the Year: Nene

After being diagnosed with testicular cancer and undergoing surgery to remove his right testicle, Nene remarkably returned to play again on March 27th against the Mavericks, giving the Nuggets a much needed emotional boost that helped them secure a playoff spot down the stretch.

Stiff of the Year: George Karl

Stuck in an admittedly tumultuous and difficult situation, Karl spent much of the 2007-08 sitting on his hands during games while the Nuggets unraveled on the court. While the Nuggets head coach got called for just one technical foul all season (second to last in the NBA), his players finished in the top two in personal fouls, technical fouls, flagrant fouls and ejections. The inmates were running the asylum as Karl's coaching record in Denver got extended to a paltry 3-16 over four years. Karl would later admit to SI.com that "...the last couple of years, I was confused." Watching Karl's Nuggets routinely take nights off that season, so were we.

2008-09 (54-28, 10-6 in the playoffs)

Disappointed with his lack of return on investment, Kroenke gave an edict to management to slash payroll during the 2008 offseason. Camby would be shipped out to the Clippers in exchange for a trade exception, coach and fan favorite Eduardo Najera would not be re-signed, Iverson's contract wouldn't be extended and things were looking grim entering the 2008-09 campaign. But what loomed as a disaster instead became a season of reformation and rejuvenation. Karl came into training camp as "Fiery George" again, Melo won a gold medal with Team USA and learned a thing or two from Kobe Bryant on what an NBA work ethic really is and K-Mart, fully healthy, came into camp with an apology to his coach and teammates and a vow to work harder and play better. With former NBA castaways Chris "Birdman" Andersen and Dahntay Jones added for next-to-nothing (by NBA salary standards) and Nene in real basketball shape for the first time ever, the Nuggets were quietly confident that they had a special season on their hands.

The lone chink in the Nuggets newfound armor would be Iverson who, upset by not receiving a contract extension, showed up to camp out of shape and several steps slow. Remarkably, Nuggets management was able to pull off one of the great trades in Nuggets history by shipping Iverson to Detroit for Chauncey Billups. By adding Billups to a roster primed to take off, the Nuggets would shock the basketball world by tying a franchise record with 54 wins and going toe-to-toe with the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. Simply put, it was the greatest full season of Nuggets basketball since the 1984-85 Nuggets made it to the conference finals and hopefully a sign of more good things to come in the decade ahead.

Non-Stiff of the Year: Chauncey Billups

The Denver-born Billups - who had been cast off by Issel years earlier without ever given a fair hearing as a Nugget - immediately proved to be the perfect leader for the Nuggets. Coming off six consecutive conference finals appearances with the Pistons, Billups would make it seven when he led the Nuggets there.

Non-Stiff of the Year Runner-Up: (tie) Nuggets Management and George Karl

After years of placing talent over character, the Nuggets GM "troika" of Warkentien, Chapman and team adviser Bret Bearup had assembled a roster stocked with good character guys and also deserve credit for not panicking after the 2008 playoff debacle. Warkentien would be rewarded with the NBA's Executive of the Year Award, but it should have been shared by all three guys. Karl, meanwhile, turned in one of his finest performances as an NBA head coach while bridging whatever gap had existed between him and his mercurial stars Melo, J.R. and K-Mart.

Stiff of the Year: Allen Iverson

The NBA will soon be announcing their "All Decade Team" and it will be fascinating to see if A.I. makes the squad. One of the greatest players of the decade, Iverson ultimately proved to be a bad fit for the Nuggets and a bad influence on Melo and J.R. This became painfully clear when the Pistons imploded after bringing Iverson on board in exchange for Billups.

Overall, the '00s were a great decade for Nuggets basketball: six straight playoff appearances, two 50-plus win seasons, All-Star players and thrilling performances (how many game-tying and game-winning shots has Melo made?!). And while it would have been nice to see a few more playoff series victories prior to last season, the memories of the Bickerstaff and Issel Administrations are still prominent enough for me to appreciate what's been going on recently.

Fortunately for Nuggets fans, four of our best players - Melo, J.R., Nene and rookie Ty Lawson - still have many seasons ahead of them and hopefully will remain in a Nuggets uniform into the next decade. At the very least, we're guaranteed that the new decade starts out reasonably well and it will be fascinating to see where this franchise is standing in 2020.

Thanks for the memories and Go Nuggets!!

Photos courtesy of AP and NBAE/Getty Images

Recap: It's Not Robbery If You Give It Away; Nuggets 105, Suns 99

Mike Lisboa — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:50:18 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Sweet Lou had a sweet game in his Colorado homecoming last night. Things didn't work out so well for the rest of the team however. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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[Note by Mike Lisboa, 12/13/09 8:50 AM PST ]

Sorry this didn't get published until the morning... I fell asleep re-watching the game last night before publishing.

***

At some point down the road, the Suns will probably look back on this loss and the Mavericks loss as two games they'd like to have back. Phoenix wasn't supposed to compete in this game, much less have a shot at winning, coming off a grueling win against the Orlando Magic last night. But someone forgot to tell Steve Nash.

1st Half

Nash hit his first 5 shots to help the Suns to an early 13-5 lead. He looked like a man possessed. The Suns would not roll over on the 2nd night of this particular back to back. However, the early momentum did not last long as Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets found their shooting touch, and eventually took 16-15 lead halfway through the quarter. From then on, the rest of the period was a back and forth dogfight resulting in a 29-26 Nugget lead. Nash and Amare Stoudemire accounted for nearly all the Suns 1st quarter points, but the real story might have been Robin Lopez' 3 fouls in just under 4 minutes of play.

After picking up 5 fouls in 5 minutes against the Magic, Robin proceeded to melt down defensively again, picking up all 3 of his fouls in quick succession in 1 quarter. It might have been the best thing to happen to the Suns in the first quarter as it allowed Lou Amundson to come off the bench and log some heavy minutes. Lou was everywhere in the 2nd quarter, starting things off with a block on the first play of the quarter.

The Suns started the 2nd quarter with a line-up of Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley, Grant Hill, Lou Amundson and Channing Frye and proceeded to go on a 19-2 run. Everything went the Suns' way during this stretch. Dragic was aggressive going to the hoop on one end and playing fearless defense on Ty Lawson at the other. Amundson was a beast on the boards, tipping balls back and pulling down everything in sight. Channing Frye was hitting from range and even drawing contact driving to the hoop.

Defensively, the Suns showed active hands, poking, prodding, blocking and tipping balls that Denver brought into the paint. Aggressiveness and activity were the Suns' hallmarks in the second quarter and they were rewarded. (It also didn't hurt that what open looks the Nuggets did get weren't falling.) The Nuggets did not score a field goal in the first 5:30 of the quarter. Nash checked back in around the 5 minute mark and continued his hot shooting. 1 minute later, the Suns had their largest lead of the game at 52-35. There was so much frustration with how the game was going for Denver that both Carmelo Anthony and George Karl received technical fouls complaining about the officiating. That shoe would soon enough be on the other foot.

This would be their high water mark as they shot 55% for the quarter while holding the Nuggets to 39% shooting and forcing 8 turnovers. Lou Amundson alone finished the 2nd with 8 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Grant Hill defended Carmelo Anthony as well as anyone this season in the first half, holding him to 12 points on 4-12 shooting. The Suns would take a 60-47 lead into halftime on the strength of this performance.

[Note by Mike Lisboa, 12/13/09 9:10 AM PST ]

I don't know how I forgot to mention this: This might have been the best quarter of basketball the Suns have played all year. It was something to behold.

2nd Half

In the 3rd quarter the wheels came off for the Suns. Chauncey Billups and Melo both found their stroke scoring 10 points each. The Suns for their part went ice cold, shooting 36% and turning the ball over 6 times (after only committing 8 turnovers in the first half). While Steve Nash continued his blistering offense going 3-4 from the field, the rest of the Suns were a paltry 3-11. The Nuggets were far more aggressive in the 3rd quarter, slashing and cutting to the hoop and drawing contact. They almost matched the Suns run from the 2nd quarter with an 18-2 run of their own to cut the Suns lead to 1 point. The Suns had lead by as much as 17 early in the quarter.

The 4th quarter was a back and forth affair and the Suns had a chance right down to the wire. The Suns traded baskets with the Nuggets for the first 5 minutes of the 4th quarter until the Suns had a disastrous stretch of game where they turned it over on 3 consecutive trips down the floor. 2 of those turnovers were offensive fouls on Amare Stoudemire, also his 4th and 5th fouls for the game. Turnovers played a large part in the Suns' unraveling. They had 6 in the 4th quarter and 20 for the game. The Suns actually shot a scorching 69% in the 4th but had 6 fewer shots than the Nuggets due to turnovers and offensive rebounds (the Nuggets had 15 for the game, 6 in the 4th quarter).

With just under 4 minutes left, the Nuggets began to assert control. After yet another Suns turnover on a bad pass from Channing Frye to Lou Amundson, Carmelo Anthony came down and scored on a put-back of his own miss to put the Nuggets up 94-92. On the ensuing 4 possessions Steve Nash and Chauncey Billups put on a clinic in clutch, with Nash hitting a 3-ball and a jumper in the lane, while Mr. Big Shot hit a pair of 3s of his own to give the Nuggets a 100-97 lead. On the next trip down, Kenyon Martin got Nash on a switch and blocked his fadeaway attempt. On the ensuing Nuggets' possession with 1:36 to go, Billups missed a long jumper, but drew a blocking foul on Grant Hill after Denver collected the offensive rebound. He went 1 of 2 at the line to give the Nugs a 4 point lead with 1:18.

After Grant Hill nearly turned the ball over on an inbound pass a few seconds later, Nash layed in a finger-roll with 1:00 to go to pull the Suns within 2 points. Grant Hill force a Carmelo miss to get the Suns the ball back with 30 seconds to go.

Controversy!

With the Suns trailing by 2, on what would be the Suns' final meaningful possession, Steve Nash found himself covered by Nene at the arc. Nash drove left, had some arm-to-arm contact with Nene and had his lay-up attempt blocked by the Brazilian center. No foul was called on the play despite the obvious contact. What happened next truly doomed the Suns. After the miss, Carmelo Anthony rebounded the ball with 7.8 seconds left on the game clock. The nearest Sun to Anthony was Steve Nash. Angry about the non-call and complaining to the official underneath the basket, Nash did not turn and foul Anthony. Amare Stoudemire was the 2nd closest and seemed to not understand the need to foul until Anthony had already gotten around him. Jared Dudley, he of the high basketball IQ, came flying in to commit the foul, but overpursued and got screened away from Melo, allowing Anthony to get downcourt where he was eventually fouled by Channing Frye after running the clock down to 2.0 seconds.

At this point, the Suns were down by 2 with a career 80% free throw shooter going to the line. Standard practice here is to hope he misses 1 of 2 and do what you can with the remaining 2 seconds on the clock. Except the Suns never got the chance. Alvin Gentry went ballistic on the referees, getting ejected from the game. 2 technical free throws plus 2 free throws for the foul later and the Suns are down by 6 with not even a prayer of a chance at a last second shot.

My Take

To blame the Suns' loss on poor officiating at the end of the game is to ignore the several other glaring holes in the Suns' game in the second half: giving up 10 offensive rebounds, turning the ball over 12 times, scoring only 39 points while giving up 58. It also ignores how much better Denver played in the second half: only 3 turnovers, 8 steals, and a 20-13 rebounding edge. Sure, the Nuggets got to the line 15 more times than the Suns, but that was to be expected. The Nuggets are hands-down the most aggressive and effective team in the NBA at getting to the line, with a 40.8% Free Throw Rate (ratio of number of free throws made to number of field goals attempted). The Suns, by contrast, are in the middle of the pack in the NBA, with a 29.6% rate, which makes sense given the Suns' reliance on jumpers and 3 pointers.

These are the the things that the players on both teams have control over by how they play the game. They cannot control how and when the whistle does and does not blow. All they can do is execute and hope for the best. Last night, the Suns problems with execution were the same as they have been all season: giving up too many offensive rebounds and turnovers coupled with weak defensive rotations (J.R. Smith goes 0-8? Bullet dodged.). These are things that can be fixed and worked on and improved upon. So can in-game awareness of things like getting one's toes behind the line on a 3-pointer (see below in "Notes"). If Nash and Frye do that over the course of the game, the Suns are up by 1 when Nash makes his fateful drive. If, instead of wondering about the non-call, Nash or Amare makes a move to foul Carmelo Anthony, maybe the Suns have a shot at getting the ball back with 5-7 seconds left on the clock instead of 2. If Gentry doesn't lose his cool, if Amare takes better care of the ball, if J-Rich hits that shot, etc.

The Suns had ample opportunities to win this game even with a bad call or two going against them. Is NBA refereeing inconsistent and frustrating? Sometimes. Should it be more transparent and are reforms necessary? Definitely. Is it an over-riding factor in determining the outcome of games? Very, very rarely. And last night was not one of those times.

Random Notes

So much for bigger or longer defenders slowing down Steve Nash: 11-17 FG, 28 points and 7 assists with only 2 turnovers. I think the longer defenders do disrupt his ability to share the ball but it helps if the people he's passing it to make their shots, too.
Amare Stoudemire seems to be struggling to figure out when to take the jumper and when to take it to the hole. In the 3rd quarter when Denver was at the tail end of their big run, he made a pair of nice moves to the bucket, one that resulted in a score and the other in a trip to the line. However, his 7 turnovers for the game may make him a little gunshy about puttling the ball on the floor in the future.
For a team that likes to live and die by the 3 ball, the Suns did a poor job of making sure their feet were behind the line last night. 3 potential 3-pointers were ruled 2-pointers upon official review because of toes on the line. 1 by Nash, 2 by Frye.
It was nice to see Channing Frye have a strong offensive showing on the road and on the second night of a back to back.
Jason Richardson on the other hand continues to struggle. Over the last 10 games, J-Rich is shooting only 45.1% on is field goals and 33.3% from 3 point land. Over the last 5, it's even worse with 41.4 FG% and 25.0 3PT%.
Goran Dragic had a solid night with 4 points, 4 assists and a steal with only one turnover leading the 2nd unit as well as containing Ty Lawson (2 points, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, -18 for the game). Point guards were not the problem for the Suns last night.
Jared Dudley's 3 point shooting continues to impress. After going 2-3 from downtown last night, he leads the Suns, hitting 48.8% of his shots behind the arc.
If nothing else, the Suns showed they CAN be competitive against tough competition on the second night of back-to-backs when the spirit moves them. Nash, Hill, and Stoudemire all logged over 34 minutes in last night's game (with Grant Hill leading all Suns with 42:45).
Get ready for some congestion downtown: 8 of the Suns' next 10 games are at home... finally!

Other Links

A tale of two halves... (Nuggets/Suns recap) - Denver Stiffs

Suns vs Nuggets coverage

Suns vs Nuggets recap

Suns vs Nuggets boxscore

Why the NBA isn't Tough Anymore

aramnath — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:31:07 -0000

More photos » by David Liam Kyle - NBAE/Getty Images

Don't blame Lebron for dancing, blame David Stern and the excessive suspensions in place if players tried to police the game themselves. (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)

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"If a guy was doing the Riverdance like that, coach would come over and say, 'Who's got the fewest amount of fouls of my big fellas?' " said ex-Celtic and TNT analyst Kevin McHale. "If you raised your hand, he would say, 'We will let him drive and then we will throw him on the ground.'

"When he is laying there we would say, 'Do you feel like dancing now?'

"And that pretty much solved the dancing problem."

Let's imagine that what McHale said would happen back in his day took place today. To begin with, both teams would pretend to actually want to fight, but since since fights never happen in the NBA nobody would actually do anything. The reason why a fight has almost no chance of happening is because of the heavy suspensions that is now imposed on any sort of slightly physical play.

Any time there's any kind of physical play, there is an immediate reaction that a flagrant foul needs to be called and then announcers usually will say something like "there's no place for that in the game". Well if there's no place for that in the game then you can't really complain about guys showboating and you should expect Lebron to continue his "Riverdance" (Kevin McHale you were a horrible GM, but that was slightly redeeming).

It's gotten to the point where a guy like Kendrick Perkins is considered a tough guy. Bitch please. Oakley would slap Perkins silly and not one player on the Celtics would be man enough to step to him (I'm looking at you wannabe thug Paul Pierce, throwing up the B against the Hawks). If you think I'm joking go watch some clips of the early 90's Knicks. Yeah, we never won a championship, but if you had to choose one team in the history of the NBA in a fight, you would choose that team because we had Oakley and Mason. Do you really need anybody else?

When players could settle things on the court like that, you didn't have these problems. That's why you never saw Jordan, Bird, Magic, Dr. J or any other great player dancing around on the court. Back then if you were talking trash and trying to show a player up, you better believe your ass was going down hard whenever the opportunity presented itself.

The league was obviously tougher when you allowed the players to police it themselves. Ever since the Malice in the Palace the league has become excessive in its punishments of players involved in fights or any physical play that could lead to confrontation. Remember the last "fight' in the NBA between the Knicks and Nuggets?

There were maybe 3 punches thrown, followed by Carmelo's bitch slap and run (seriously just look). The suspensions in comparison to the fight were insane. Melo got 15 games for his slap and both Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith were hit with 10 game suspensions for their wrestling match. Then after the fight we had to hear about how this was such a disgusting act that tarnished the game and that "there's no excuse for behavior like this".

If the blame should go anywhere for Lebron's dancing and the less physical brand of basketball we watch today, look at David Stern and the league office.

Are NBA games fixed?...

Andrew Feinstein — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:24:05 -0000

Now that Tim Donaghy is talking, so are NBA fans worldwide. And the question on everyone's mind (except Lakers fans) is: are NBA games fixed? What if I told you: sort of, but the problems with NBA refereeing can go away with three simple solutions.

Watching disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy's interview on "60 Minutes" last night, here are my reactions - as a fan of a small market team - to Donaghy's four most debated allegations. At the end I'll give my very simple solutions to solve the many problems - all legitimate whether you believe Donaghy's honesty or not - that Donaghy has brought to light...

Based on insider information, including referee crews, Donaghy could pick the winner 75-80% of the time.

This one I believe 100%. I've talked to a number of people affiliated with the league in the past who have told me that if they could bet on games (rightfully illegal if you work for or with the NBA), they'd be right over 75% of the time. Think about your own workplace for a moment. Think about all the secrets, off-the-record and under-the-radar information you know about everyone around you. Now transplant that to the NBA, and if you were a league employee of any sort (coach, player, trainer, ref, etc), you'd know all kinds of details that the average gambling fan would never know - ranging from personal problems with the players and coaches to ref biases to health issues unreported. It's the very definition of "insider training."

Certain referees have biases - good or bad - against certain players and coaches.

I was beside myself in shock to hear this one! (I'm being sarcastic in case you didn't pick up on that.) As my stepfather would proudly say: "No shit, Sherlock". I've often written on this blog that the fundamental problem with NBA refereeing is that they ref the player and not the play (borrowing that line from my Lakers fan cousin Paul). This has been going on since the NBA's infancy and will forever continue. This is also why I can't stand players who whine with officials because I believe it exacerbates the problem. At the end of the day, refs are human beings and if they're getting barked at constantly by the same player (read: Smith, J.R.) and perhaps in an inappropriate manner, the refs will inevitably - even if it's just subconscious - screw the player with bad calls.

Even though he bet on games that he was refereeing, Donaghy didn't let that influence how he called the game.

Even though the FBI claims that this statement holds up, I'm still not buying it. As part of their "Outside the Lines" piece on this whole Donaghy fiasco, ESPN's Scott Van Pelt probed Donaghy a bit further on this one but Donaghy is standing by his statement. I just can't imagine a degenerate gambler unable to resist blowing the whistle here or there to favor a bet he made, especially in garbage time.

The NBA has a star system and refs are told to call games a certain way to ensure big market teams led by big stars end up victorious.

There's no question that the overall NBA benefits from having its big market teams and big stars competing in June every summer. That said, I've never thought that the NBA can outright fix games through their officials but rather, can "nudge" outcomes in certain directions. I've also never bought that an edict comes from NBA commissioner David Stern's office to call games in one way or the other, but do think that it's implied as to how a game should be called among the refereeing fraternity. (If a memo was sent from NBA headquarters to officials to sway games in a specific direction, don't you think one would have leaked out by now? Just ask Tiger Woods how well secrecy via digital communication goes over in 2009.)

We've seen a "star system" time and time again since the NBA's inception (mostly benefiting the Lakers recently and Michael Jordan's Bulls in years past as current examples) and as a Nuggets fan, I've learned to live with it. I've always believed that when you're playing a team like the Lakers or the Celtics and it's in the NBA's best interest for them to win, it just means you - as the small market team - have to have a better game plan, play harder, avoid mistakes and keep your mouth shut with the refs. Make no mistake about it: the Nuggets didn't lose to the Lakers in the 2009 Western Conference Finals because of bad officiating. Bennett Salvatore didn't throw two errant inbounds passes for Denver or light up the Nuggets like Kobe Bryant did in the first half of Game 6 to seal the series for Los Angeles.

But what about the 2002 Sacramento Kings, you ask? The Kings didn't lose the 2002 WCF to the Lakers due to bad officiating either, but certainly lost one key game, Game 6, due to horrendous officiating that swayed the Lakers victory (I'm sorry Lakers fans, but the 15 foul shot disparity is too great to ignore). But whomever ref'd game Game 7 didn't miss the numerous free throws - 14 missed freebies in total on 53% FT shooting - that cost the Kings that series. Now Game 7 of the 2000 WCF with the Trail Blazers is a different story. That was a blatant example of the NBA aiding and abetting the Lakers to victory. The free throw disparity was Lakers 37, Blazers 16: an abomination that the NBA should forever be embarrassed about.

So if you're scoring at home, I'm buying about half of what Donaghy is saying...but already knew/assumed most of that stuff about NBA refereeing in the first place. Which brings up the main argument against Donaghy's accusations: that he's feeding into a preconceived stereotype about NBA refs that all NBA fans - sans myopic, moronic, rose-colored-glasses Lakers fans - already believed was true anyway. In other words, he's throwing fuel on an already simmering fire.

To top things off for Nuggets fans, several of our players - former and current - have been in the eye of this Donaghy storm. During the "60 Minutes" interview, they replayed a Nuggets/Jazz game from January 6th, 2007. A game in which Donaghy claims that the refs were essentially out to get Allen Iverson for having berated referee Steve Javie. Donaghy asserts that Iverson got hacked routinely and calls weren't made and that Iverson was called often for "palming" (i.e. traveling) more frequently than normal as retribution for Iverson's behavior towards Javie. Before you leap to conclusions, read CBSSports.com's Ken Berger column debunking Donaghy's claims about this game, citing that Iverson took more free throw attempts than any other player and was the victim of just one blatant non-call on Mehmet Okur.

The second Nugget whose name came up today was Chauncey Billups, whom Donaghy - in that "Outside the Lines" piece - claims is disliked by some officials. I'm not surprised, actually. Billups may be a great leader, great community member and great player (yes, yes and yes), but he's a whiner. And so is Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith, Kenyon Martin and before this season, you could throw Iverson, Marcus Camby, Dahntay Jones and Linas Kleiza onto the All-Whining Team, too. Maybe I watch the Nuggets too much to fairly compare their constant complaining against the complaining of other teams, but other than the Spurs and Kobe Bryant, are there bigger whiners with the refs in the NBA than our Nuggets? Hence why we haven't gotten a lot of favorable calls over the years, and I've mentioned this ad nauseum on this site in the past.

But back to the title of this column: Are NBA games fixed? Sort of, but not in a way that a good game plan can't overcome (Lakers/Blazers Game 7 is an extreme example that I've had trouble finding a duplicate of). If I thought NBA games were fixed or premeditated in any way, I wouldn't give the NBA a nickel of my money for tickets and merchandise, and certainly wouldn't spend the hours I devote to covering the Nuggets and the NBA with this site.

That said, Donaghy has a lot of valid points that must be addressed and I just so happen to have solutions to the three main problems that have made NBA refereeing a running joke as of late.

Solution #1: Referee "stats" must be made transparent and available

How is it that I know how many times Ty Lawson gets his shot blocked per game but don't know how many times Bennett Salvatore calls traveling per game? Or how many times Dick Bavetta calls offensive charges per game? Or how many times Bavetta calls offensive charges against the Nuggets specifically at Pepsi Center vs. on the road? Long ago suggested by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and recently proposed by ESPN.com's Bill Simmons, we MUST have transparent statistics for referees. The NBA claims that it keeps detailed records to review their refs. If this is true, where are these records and why aren't they online for everyone to see? Moreover, I suspect many NBA teams (hopefully including the Nuggets) keep their own internal "ref stats" so they can make the necessary adjustments when facing a Salvatore vs. a Bavetta vs. a Javie, etc. Make these stats public already, dammit!

Solution #2: Disallow players from talking to officials

I hate to legislate emotion out of the game like the NFL does, but if you want to know where referee bias comes from, it comes from interacting with the players too much. Players like Chauncey and Kobe may be perpetual whiners, but there's a method to their madness: they figure that by annoying the shit out of an official for three-and-a-half quarters, they'll get a call their way (or in Kobe's case, multiple calls) when the game is on the line in the fourth quarter. I'm not sure how the NBA would institute this and it would take a while to adjust to it, but if you made barking at officials an automatic technical foul and eliminated the ref/player relationship altogether, we might finally see refs call the plays and not the players anymore. (But don't take my word for it, watch George Karl and former NBA referees tell you themselves in this ESPN "Outside the Lines" piece that aired when the Donaghy story broke last year. Kudos to Denver Stiffs reader Big Mickey D for hunting this down!)

Solution #3: Add more referees and rotate them more sporadically

I was in the minority of NBA fans who wanted to see the replacement refs. In agreement with Simmons, I've long believed that NBA refs are too old, too short and (now clearly) too biased to fairly officiate games. Putting Donaghy's allegations aside, do you really think Dick Bavetta can call an honest game anymore? He's been around way too long. But assuming the NBA isn't going to pull a "Logan's Run" on aging officials, let's at least add more young, tall, and preferably former players to the referee ranks and have more referee crews. This way, the Bavettas and the Salvatores ref specific teams less than they do now, disabling whatever bias they have from eating away at a chunk of a team's season. (Remember when Dan Issel coached the Nuggets and Javie refereed our games it was all but assumed to be a loss? Come to think of it, whenever Issel coached a game during his second stint with the Nuggets we should have assumed the loss.)

As bad as the Donaghy story may be for the integrity of the NBA, I believe in the long run it could be the wake up call the NBA desperately needed. But don't forget the power and the voice that we have as fans because remember, we're taxpayers. When you buy that NBA ticket, NBA league pass, Nuggets workout pants (like I bought today during NBA.com's 20% off men's apparel sale), bobble head dolls, jerseys and so forth, it gives you the right as a taxpayer to voice your opinion when those who collect our hard-earned money (from David Stern to Dick Bavetta) aren't being transparent and earnest with us. All we as fans ask for is a fair fight and the least the NBA can do is prove that it's always a fair fight....even if the Lakers have appeared in half the NBA Finals ever played (I'm just saying).

The NBA should listen to what Donaghy is saying, listen to us and change their ways. It will only make the product we already love much more believable and transparent. Why is that a bad thing?

(I'll be printing this email and mailing it in letter form to David Stern's office tomorrow.)

Photo courtesy of NBAE via Getty Images

Welcome back, Birdman?... (Nuggets/Heat recap)

Andrew Feinstein — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:02:06 -0000

I'll happily take the Nuggets being on the right side of a blowout any day of the week. But it's extra special when the blowout comes during a fair fight.

Before we recap tonight's events, it should be noted that I - Andrew - is covering tonight's game and not my partner-in-crime Nate Timmons. So while blowout wins for our Nuggets tend to come on Nate's watch, let's hope my recent spate of jinxes has begun to reverse itself!

The other blowout win I covered recently was when the Nuggets clocked the Lakers a few Fridays ago. But as I alluded to at the time, that game wasn't a fair fight. Not only were the Lakers playing shorthanded, but they had to fly into Denver in the middle of the night coming off the late TNT game the Thursday before. (It should be noted that the Heat playing at the Lakers tomorrow won't be a fair fight for the Heat whatsoever. Tonight's game against the Nuggets started a half hour late, the Heat will have to travel to L.A. in the middle of the night and the Lakers have been off since Tuesday. Have I mentioned that the Lakers schedule is a fucking joke yet?)

Unlike that Lakers victory we can gloat for a while about tonight's conquest. The Heat had no excuse to show up flat: they're healthy, had plenty of time to acclimate to Denver altitude, had more than one day's rest and had confidently beaten the Trail Blazers in Portland on Tuesday. The Nuggets are just a hell of a lot better than their South Beach counterparts, and it showed.

I don't know about you, but I thought the story of the game tonight was the continued - and desperately needed - resurgence of Chris Andersen. For the second game in a row, the Birdman reminded all of us why I started the "Bring Back Birdman" petition last season: blocking and altering shots, grabbing big rebounds, finishing around the rim and generally wreaking havoc - in a good way - inside. And his bench mate J.R. Smith also brought back the energy and production that made the Nuggets bench so special last season. Now the question is whether or not they can replicate this production on the road. I've always felt like if the Birdman and J.R. are solar panels, then the Pepsi Center crowd is their sun.

Tonight's victory might also send a more profound message throughout the NBA than the Lakers victory did. What does it say to the rest of the league when Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups shoot horrifically (and indeed they did, even as Melo eeked his way to the 20-point plateau for the - gulp - 19th straight game!) and yet the Nuggets can still beat a playoff caliber team in a walkover? It says we have balance and when we play the game the right way, look out.

A few observations that I'm sure most of you noticed, too...

...you have to love J.R. dishing out a season-high six assists. Imagine if he starts embracing the pass?

...under the radar, Arron Afflalo is finding his role with the Nuggets and is becoming a major contributor. I couldn't be happier having him on the Nuggets.

...I was thrilled that George Karl picked up at technical foul early in the game when he sensed the Nuggets sluggishness, and even more thrilled to see Kenyon Martin hold his coach back by embracing him. But I have to admit I was a little disappointed that Karl didn't get himself kicked out alongside K-Mart when K-Mart got tossed in the second half. Given that the game was clearly over anyway, I'd have loved to see the two of them walking out the tunnel together a la Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains in Casablanca.

...for those who watched the Celtics/Spurs game beforehand, are you as frustrated as I am that the Nuggets didn't draft DeJuan Blair when they had the chance in the second round? Even though the Nuggets were able to sell the draft rights to their second round pick (Sergio Llull) for a record price, they were being penny-wise and pound-foolish by passing on Blair (along with 28 other teams). Blair is yet another example in a long line of slightly undersized but gutty, tough power forwards who kicked ass in college and yet NBA teams routinely pass on (just a few off the top of my head: Carlos Boozer, Paul Millsap, Jason Maxiell, Leon Powe and Glen Davis). Damn I wish Blair was in a Nuggets uniform right now. I just can't shake it.

14-5. Pretty damn good. A few more victories like this, and the home loss to the Timberwolves will prove to be a wake up call, and not a trend.

Go Nuggets!

Photo courtesy of AP: David Zalubowski

K-Mart for Shaq: Would you make this deal?...

Andrew Feinstein — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:58:16 -0000

The Cavaliers need an athletic, quick, tough power forward. The Nuggets need cap relief. If the Cavaliers offered Shaquille O'Neal to the Nuggets for Kenyon Martin, should the Nuggets make that deal? It deserves some serious consideration...

How many more games do the Cleveland Cavaliers need to play before realizing that the acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal has been an utter failure? As noted in last week's Stiff List, without O'Neal the Cavs are 5-1. With him, 7-4 (including losses to the Raptors, Bulls at home and the Bobcats).

But that record doesn't tell the whole story.

Watch any Cavs game with Shaq on the floor, and it becomes immediately evident that he clogs up the middle, slows the game to a halt and, even worse, contributes next to nothing defensively. Moreover, not only weren't the Cavs hurting at center to begin with, but the center they had/have - Zydrunas Ilgauskas - may have been/may be the perfect center to play alongside LeBron James. After all, the Big Z can hit a long jump shot from anywhere on the floor, forcing opposing defensive big men to play him outside while leaving the lane wide open for an LBJ dunk or drive-and-dish to an open teammate.

(On a side note, I found myself in an elevator once with the Big Z at the historic Boston Harbor Hotel in downtown Boston. At a legitimate 7'3", the poor guy had to completely bend his head and arch his back down to fit into the tiny elevator. Nice guy, though!)

If you watched the Cavs play last season, their biggest problem wasn't at center but rather, power forward. Anderson Varejao is a nice change-of-pace, wreaking havoc, flopping pest for 20 or so backup minutes, but you don't want him as your featured power forward late in games (remember his shot attempts against the Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals? Ghastly!). The Cavs are in dire need of a power forward who brings Varejao's defensive toughness and peskiness, but can also finish on a fast break and will get out of LBJ's way on the offensive side of the floor. The Nuggets just so happen to have such a player in Kenyon Martin.

Having spent over six seasons learning how to play alongside Carmelo Anthony, K-Mart would be a great fit for Cleveland. With K-Mart on board at the four spot, the Cavs could move the Big Z back to being starting center and fill out their lineup with LBJ at small forward while their backcourt combo of Mo Williams at point guard and Anthony Parker at shooting guard stays in-tact. As another plus, rather than having Big Z eat up meaningful bench minutes the Cavs bench would be comprised entirely of their "energy foursome" of Delonte West (when he's on his meds), Varejao, Daniel Gibson and Jamario Moon. Now that's a team that can contend with Orlando and Boston in a conference final.

And while K-Mart's salary (more on that momentarily) might be tough to swallow for Cleveland, it will feel a lot better if K-Mart helps get LBJ back to the NBA Finals meaning LBJ will be more apt to stay in Cleveland. (And yes, I know I predicted that LBJ might go to the Nets to be coach by George Karl just a few days ago. While I believe LBJ will stay in Cleveland - and why would those Chinese investors pony up to own the Cavs if LBJ is walking? - I also believe if he goes anywhere, it's to the Nets.)

By now you're probably thinking: you haven't said one good thing about Shaq, so why the @#$% would the Nuggets do this deal?

For the Nuggets, it's all about economics. Shaq's $20 million salary comes off the books at the end of this season, whereas K-Mart's is still owed $16.5 million next season. (It should be noted that the money due to K-Mart next season is a "player's option," but I have a sneaky suspicion he'll be exercising it. Thank you, Kiki Vandeweghe. K-Mart's contract is the gift that keeps on giving.) Also, K-Mart's $15.4 million salary this season is close enough to Shaq's $20 million that the Nuggets would only have to use a little trade exception money to make the numbers work.

Before you accuse me of asking the Nuggets to throw away this season just to get K-Mart's salary off the books, consider this: next season, Melo, Chauncey Billups, K-Mart, Nene and J.R. Smith's salaries combined will be $64.2 million - expected to be near the luxury tax line in 2010. Throw in Chris Andersen's $4 million due for next season and the Nuggets are guaranteed to be at or over the tax line paying the salaries of just six players. Last I checked, that's less than half of a 13-man NBA roster.

If this deal actually happened (and remember, I've suggested crazier deals before...like the time I proposed trading Allen Iverson to Detroit for Billups and Antonio McDyess way before it actually went down), what would it mean for this season? How would it affect the Nuggets on the floor?

In theory Shaq would give us the center we desperately desire, enabling Nene to dominate at power forward (Nene's more natual position). In theory Shaq would give the Nuggets much needed size to go up against the bigger Western Conference teams. And in theory Shaq would be so amped up to get revenge against his former team, the Lakers, that he'd give the Nuggets a much needed ally in their war with L.A. with one more burst of energy for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs before riding off into the sunset. And lest we forget, good Shaq or bad Shaq, he puts asses in the seats (admit it, you'd watch every game with Shaq in a Nuggets powder blue and gold jersey).

But these are the same arguments that recently duped Phoenix and Cleveland into acquiring Shaq. And watching the 37-year-old center "play" these last few weeks, I can't with a straight face say that he'd be good for the Nuggets on the floor. Shaq would undoubtedly clog up the lane for Melo and Nene and slow down the Nuggets overall pace, which is what makes the Nuggets so deadly in the first place...especially at Pepsi Center. It shouldn't be a surprise that a Suns team sans Shaq is back to running teams off the floor en route to a top two record in the Western Conference right now.

Furthermore, in spite of the inexcusably unacceptable loss to the Timberwolves on Sunday night and another bad loss to the Clippers a few weeks ago, at 13-5 the Nuggets have tied their best start in franchise history and have a good thing going. The players seem to genuinely like each other, seem to listen to head coach George Karl (at least a majority of the time) and it feels like they haven't even played that well yet. (They also haven't played that many good teams yet...it has to be said.) As-is, we're looking at back-to-back-to-back 50-win seasons and another shot at the conference finals, if not more if the Nuggets catch a few breaks.

That said, if we - and/or Nuggets management - truly believe that this incarnation of the Nuggets, constructed as-is, can beat the Lakers and march into the NBA Finals then I say fine; let's see how the season plays out and hope for the best. Maybe Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol will get injured. Maybe the Lakers will get shorter. Who knows.

But if we - and/or Nuggets management - think that another Western Conference Finals appearance is the best this team can do, why not bring in Shaq and unburden ourselves of K-Mart's contract? At the very least, the Nuggets would remain a top five team in the West, would be fascinating to watch, would make any Nuggets/Lakers games and a possible playoff series an instant ESPN Classic and, most importantly, would free the Nuggets up financially to be a player in the 2010 free agent sweepstakes. As of today, the only free agents the Nuggets will be able to afford next summer will be from the D-League.

K-Mart for Shaq? Would you make this deal?

Like I said at the top of this column, it deserves some serious consideration.

Shaquille O'Neal photo courtesy of Getty Images: Isaac Baldizon

Kenyon Martin photo courtesy of AP Photos: David Zalubowski

Unacceptable... (Nuggets/T'Wolves recap)

Andrew Feinstein — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:02:02 -0000

There are good losses, bad losses and unacceptable losses. This one falls squarely in the "unacceptable" column.

Call me the Nuggets Curmudgeon from now on, because I've had it with the way this team is playing. Going back to the Nuggets no-show performance against the Heat in Miami at the beginning of the month, the Nuggets nasty habit of waltzing through games against lesser competition finally bit them in the ass tonight. Could this be the wake up call the Nuggets needed moving forward? Or was tonight's unacceptable (I'll get to why it's unacceptable in a moment) loss to the god awful Timberwolves be the continuation of a pattern that we'll be seeing all season long?

Sitting at 12-5, in theory there shouldn't be much to complain about. In theory. But among those 17 games played, only five - home against Utah and the Lakers, on the road against Portland, Miami and Atlanta - were against teams that actually scare anyone in the NBA, and including Miami in that fivesome is a stretch. While the Nuggets have been cursed with a league high 22 back-to-backs, they were also given a blessing by getting 13 weak opponents out of their first 18 games (Golden State being the 13th weak opponent...coming into Pepsi Center on Tuesday).

But rather than take advantage of these circumstances and pad the win column early as they did admirably last season, the Nuggets have pissed away two should've/could've/gift wrapped victories (at the Clippers last week against an injury-depleted Clips squad and tonight against the lowly Wolves) and almost gave away a third to the Knicks on Friday night.

Before everyone says I'm being too negative, allow me to explain the difference between a good loss, a bad loss and an unacceptable loss.

When the Nuggets lost to the Bucks in Milwaukee, I'd call that a good loss. The Nuggets were wrapping up a tough road trip that included three pairs of back-to-back games, and even though the Bucks were the more energized team the Nuggets dug deep and put up a fight through the very end of the game.

When the Nuggets lost to the injury-rattled Clippers in Los Angeles last week, that was a bad loss. The Nuggets had been off for two days, had played only twice in eight days (both at home) prior to that game and both those games were walkover, no-energy-needed contests. But they were on the road and anything can happen on the road.

Tonight's game falls into the nether regions known as an unacceptable loss. Entering tonight's contest, the Nuggets had a day off, last played at home and, oh yeah, the Wolves were 1-and-fucking-15 before tonight! All the Nuggets had to do was watch game tape of their easy victory against the Wolves in Minneapolis last week to further exploit the Wolves myriad problems, pound the ball inside and play halfway decent defense.

So who were the culprits for tonight's embarrassing home defeat? In no particular order, allow me...

...head coach George Karl, for waiting until the five or so minute mark remaining in the game to demand that his team start playing harder and turn up the pressure on the Wolves (according to Altitude's Maya Starks).

...Carmelo Anthony, for continuing his El Matador-style defense for the second game in a row turning Ryan Gomes into an All-Star while getting to the free throw line for a mere five attempts. Five attempts?!!

...Chauncey Billups, for continually chucking three's even though he made just 25% of them tonight and finished a ghastly 2-13 overall (and yes, I had claimed Chauncey's shot was back after the Knicks game...shows you what I know).

...J.R. Smith for playing defense so erratically, I thought he might take out all his teammates on several possessions like a bowling ball crashing into the pins.

...Ty Lawson for being so careless with the ball, I thought Anthony Carter had suddenly reemerged as the backup point guard.

...Chris Andersen for remaining grounded as teams take it right at him inside with no fear whatsoever. Three @#$%& rebounds? Three?!!

Ok. Deep breath. My venting is over (for now). I still have the utmost confidence that this Nuggets team can make noise when it counts. But when they finish one game behind Portland or Dallas for homecourt advantage in the second round of the playoffs (forget the Nuggets catching the Lakers by season's end, that ain't happening) remember this loss. This unacceptable, unwarranted, inexcusable, horrible loss.

Photo courtesy of AP: David Zalubowski

Playing like their competition... (Nuggets/Knicks recap)

Andrew Feinstein — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:05:02 -0000

Just because the Nuggets were playing the Knicks tonight, didn't mean they had to play like them.

First off, why is it that Nate always gets to recap the feel good walkover victories whereas I'm saddled with the games - win or loss - with a negative bent? I hate to be so negative after a W, but I guarantee George Karl and his coaching staff aren't the least bit happy with the way tonight's victory went down. And neither should we.

The Nuggets hosted one of the shortest and worst defensive teams in the NBA tonight, but rather than drive the ball to the rack and punish the Knicks porous interior defense they engaged in a long-range shootout from the opening tip, at the risk of wasting Carmelo Anthony's finest scoring night of his career. The Nuggets 35 free throw attempts is a phony number, too, because a large percentage of those free throw tries came as the result of the Knicks being over the foul limit in virtually every quarter.

And that was just on the offensive end of the floor.

Defensively, the Nuggets might as well have worn matador outfits and held out red capes all night as they allowed the Knicks to routinely waltz into the lane en route to a 49% shooting night for their opponents from the Big Apple (the Knicks typically shoot about 43% from the field, fourth worst in the NBA). There's an old NBA saying that the first team to 100 points wins, but that's not necessarily the case when both teams are tied at 100 with over seven minutes to go.

All that said, it was a thoroughly enjoyable game to watch for offense junkies. Melo's career high 50 points was sensational, complete with a lot of "oh, no don't take that sho----oh, yeah!!!!" makes. It's hard to believe that Melo - he of the 33-point quarter - had never dropped 50 in a game before. He was certainly overdue.

But as well as Melo played, the Nuggets were unable to get Melo involved offensively down the stretch and closing duties fell to Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith who combined to make the game's final six, very clutch field goals (four for J.R. and two for Chauncey, including the very last two in the game). I've heard rumblings from Nuggets fans lately concerned about Chauncey's scoring accuracy, and hopefully tonight's performance puts many of those doubts to rest.

It needs to be acknowledged, however, that somewhat similar to the recent contests against the Clippers and Nets, the Nuggets are falling into a bad habit of playing down to the level of their competition (or, in tonight's case, playing like them). Instead of having lesser opponents dictate the tempo of the game, the Nuggets should be imposing their will on the dregs of the NBA. This is the NBA, though, and what makes the sport so much fun to watch is the unpredictable nature of the game. Tonight's game showed just how unpredictable this game can be.

Congrats to Melo and the Nuggets on an always needed and welcomed victory. But how 'bout some defense on Sunday against the Timberwolves, fellas?

Photo courtesy of AP Photos: David Zalubowski