errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, being the 6th Best team in the league happens.

Or Denver, where beating the Lakers or the Cavs one night, and losing to the BUCKS, CLIPPERS, TIMBERWOLVES, PISTONS, HORNETS, 76ers, KINGS, WIZARDS, Happens!

Let’s face it, these bad losses are really starting to add up. If this "WANNA BE"  Championship team wants to actually have a shot at the title, home court advantage throughout the playoffs is crucial! If it were to come down to a game 7 in the 2nd round against the Mavericks, or a game 7 in the WCF's vs. the Lake Show, we need that game to be at The Can. Currently, Denver is 5.5 games behind LA. If the Nuggets, for instance would have went 6-2 in those 8 disgusting, and unforgiveable games, that would have put us at 42-13 and percentage points ahead of LA for the number 1 seed in the West.

That's all in the past though and there is nothing they can do to change it now, but for a veteran team that should have its eye on the prize and know how important playoff seeding is, it is inexcusable to be losing to these lowly teams. So since the Nugs can't take care of business vs. the JV squads, we will probably be in a dog fight with Dallas and Utah for 2, 3, & 4, for the rest of the season. That pretty much sums up some of the matters on the court, now for what I really came here for and that is to put Silent Stan and the front office on notice.

Earlier, I stated that the Nuggets are the 6th best team in the league. This is based on if we were to play each team in a 7 game series. I feel that there are 5 teams that are better than us in this situation. Obviously they can beat and also lose to anyone on any given night, but here's where we stand. (You HOMERS are going to love this)

1.    Cavs

1A.  Lakers (They are on Champion coast mode until playoffs)

3.    Magic

4.    Celtics (Vets just waiting for the playoffs)

5.    Mavs (This one really hurts, but I love their additions of Butler and Haywood. Dirk now has a legit 5 and another all star caliber player that can also play a little D in Caron. If they can figure out their rotation, roles and get their chemistry right in time for the playoffs, they will be tough.

6.   Nuggets

So this is where my anger sets in! Mark Warkentien, Rex Chapman and Bret Bearup, have been sitting at their desks, with their feet up, patting themselves on the back, all off season which has carried right on over into the 09-10 season, and continues, after once again not doing anything to make this team better at the trade deadline. The first disaster was when they didn't use the 9 Million dollar TPE from the Iverson/Billups deal that expired on Nov. 3rd. This most likely had a lot to do with Silent Stan going cheap skate on us and not wanting to pay the luxury tax. Listen, Stan if this is just a business for you and all you care about is the bottom line, then to me, as a fan you are in the wrong business. Maybe it’s time for you to go back to developing strip malls anchored by Wal-Marts! When I hear you crying about a couple million dollars to sign a player that could potentially make this team better it makes me sick. The NBA is monopoly money, especially for successful winning franchises. If we were a cellar dweller, with no shot at the playoffs, I could understand the fiscal responsibility, but when you are filling the arena on a nightly basis, selling over priced food and beverages, in addition to selling tons of merchandise and you are on the brink of a championship, it is absolute Bull$*&%!!!  Both you and your wife are Billion, yeah with a B, Billionaires!  I don’t think a mil here or there is going to hurt you. You aren’t Sprewell, and you will still be able to feed your kids, and the revenue from the extra playoff games will more than cover the money spent. Give us an owner like Mark Cuban, who may at times be a jerk off, and sometimes makes poor player personnel decisions, but when push comes to shove he is as passionate as they come and all he cares about is WINNING and will SPEND whatever it takes to try and make his team better. Do you ever hear Jerry Buss say, well let’s not bring in that guy, because that will put us over the luxury tax? Aaaaah, let me think about that for a second........ NO! Because he will do whatever it takes to win! We as fans, that pay several hundred dollars each time we go to a game, deserve better and should be offended!

So as all of the other contenders have made moves to get closer to the coveted Larry O’Brien trophy, The Three-Headed Remedial Monster (3HRM) continues to sit and do nothing! The Lakers win the title and go out and get Ron Artest. The Magic made it to the Finals and then went out and signed Matt Barnes, Brandon Bass, they retained Gortat, they traded for VC, they made moves to try and position themselves to better compete for a championship. The Cavs, got Shaq, and  Jamison, The Celtics signed RaSheed, and traded for Nate Robinson. The Mavs, traded for Shawn Marion, Caron Butler, Stevenson and Haywood. These teams all made moves and took chances to do what they felt could make their teams better and not once was money ever an issue. Whether their personnel moves were right or wrong, winning was the key factor, and a championship come this June was the core element.

What did our Nugs do??? Okay in fairness, we made some decent offseason transactions. We traded for Afflalo, who I really like. He is a much better overall basketball player than Dahntey Ones (No J). We signed Joey Graham who is a very nice role player, that deserves more playing time, resigned Bird(5 years was about 2 or 3 years too many for him), and made a great draft day trade to get Ty Lawson, but we also completely missed on DaJuan Blair, the big body and quality rebounder that we so desperately need. All in all, we made some excellent moves when it comes to filling the roster at some key positions and added some solid role players, but completely dropped the ball when it came to giving us that one extra player that puts us over the edge and allows us to dethrone the Lakers!

This is something that has to be done soon, and by soon I mean last week, because at age 33, Chauncey has the rest of this season, next season and maybe one more to play at an extremely high All Star level. He is in his 13th season, and at some point, age, wear and tear, and possibly injuries are going to slow down our beloved King of Park Hill. We have realistically a 2, maybe 3 year window to try and accomplish this, because let’s face it, once Smooth is gone from this team or no longer playing at a high level, all bets are off with this cast of characters. Not to mention, Kenyon entering the last year of his contract. So when management lets all of these TPE’s expire without using them, and the trade deadline comes and goes with nothing, you have to ask yourself if the front office is asleep at the wheel, if Stan has tied their hands with his frugalness, or if they really believe that they have what it takes to win a title? I would say it’s a mix of all three, which as a fan is causing pre-mature graying.

I swear the front office guys act like we are going for a 3-peat or something and don’t want to break up a dynasty. Warkentien, you’re not  "Crumbs" that’s Jerry Krause for you younger fellas. When guys like Chris Bosh and Amar’e are available, you have to do whatever it takes and ask yourself, can we send Nene and some guys from the end of the bench to make the contracts match to Toronto for CB4, or the same thing for Amar’e(though he’s a lot more riskier for locker room cancer and team chemistry reasons) . At what point do you guys realize that Nene is "who we thought he was! Now if you want to crown him, then crown him, but he is who we thought he was!" If you can bring in an All Star, you have to do whatever it take to make it happen! Like I said before, it’s not like you are breaking up a dynasty Wark! We got extremely lucky last year with the matchups and all the basketball God’s were aligned for the Nuggets because Dallas and New Orleans were HORRIBLE! We breezed through to the WCF. Who knows what would have happened if we faced, SA, Houston, or the Blazers in the early rounds? Maybe the 3HRM wouldn’t be sitting on their high horse and you would have done something to improve this team! Back in the summer when David Lee was being dangled all over the league, it seems like somehow that 9 mil TPE could have put him in Nuggets blue. We have to at least take a chance, take a risk, do whatever you have to do to make this a championship team, because as currently assembled, it’s just not going to happen and with our leader getting older, time is of the essence!!!

So I guess in the end, its just going to be more Mile High Heartbreak. I'm sure we can all look forward to another quality run in the playoffs, but is that what it's all about? Winning a round or two and then getting thumped, or do you want to win a title? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I’m a realist, I know my hoops and I know lots of pain from being a fan of this team for so long.

So Mr. Kroenke, if you’re not in it to win it, take a hike! I’m sure there’s some small town in Montana that needs a Wal-Mart. I for one am not spending any more money at the Pepsi Center this year. I don't condone your actions. I will still go when pops invites me with the season tix though. :-) But I will consume pregame bevies at Brooklyn's and not support your over priced suds until you man up and give us what we want and deserve.

BTW………

I know some of you are going to be all up in arms about this, and say that we should be happy that we are as good as we are after all of these futile years, but that is just a loser mentality that most of us have come to accept around here. Well yeah, I agree, we should be happy that these aren’t the Paul Westhead Nuggets, but at the same time after being the laughing stock of the NBA  and sticking by the Nugs for all these years and knowing how close we are, I think that we all deserve a lot more than what Stan and the Management are giving us. My true, passionate Nuggets fans that actually know a thing or two about basketball, I’m sure will feel my pain.

facebook.com/brandonmichaelkite

So what do you guys think........

What if Bryan Colangelo and the rest of the Toronto Raptors brass came to the conclusion that Chris Bosh was going to leave them as a Free Agent this summer and that they didn't want to pull a Bernie Bickerstaff and lose him for nothing and decided to trade him instead. So if Bosh became available in the next couple of months would you trade Kenyon Martin for CB4? It is a tough proposition at the moment with the team being 16-5 and not knowing whether you want to mess with team chemistry. With that being said, I would have to make the deal. It could give the Nuggets a consistant low post scorer and a move to a contender could really energize the career of the forgotten star from Canada. The key question is would Toronto want K-Mart and the 16.5 million that he is owed next year? The Raptors are an extremely soft team, which will happen with so many Euros on the squad, so maybe they would want a "fugazy" tough guy like Kenyon.

What it all comes down to as a Nuggets fan, is whether a lineup of Smooth, AAA, Melo, Bosh & Nene with JR, Lawson and Bird off the bench is good enough to beat the Lakers??

Bosh's 2009-10 stats: 24.4 PPG 12.1 REB 1.7 AST 1 BLK 

Great, not good teams win Championships. Early season wins are nice, but it all comes down to getting wins in April, May and June. Melo has been amazing so far! It's incredible how good he is when he is in shape!! Lawson and AAA have been stellar additions and have finally forced GK to do what we have all been screaming for, for a couple years now, and that is to put AC on the pine. He's a good locker room vet, but I can't stand his game.

 BUT.......

A few things need to happen for the Nuggets to become great. Nene has to develop a mean streak and become an absolute enforcer inside. He is too big and too talented, to not be dominating. He also needs to stop with the weak finger rolls and just dunk the damn ball! Next, JR has to keep playing at a high level on both ends of the court and be the best 6th man in the game. Finally, the FO must add another impact big man to the front line. (Can you imagine our draft if they would have snagged DeJuan Blair in the 2nd rd instead of trading our pick.?? We might not be having this conversation if that were the case)

The Lakers are going to be an absolute monster when they get Gasol back. Bynum just keeps getting better and better each day, and by playoff time, Ron Ron will be nice and cozy with his role so they are going to be even tougher than last year. And lets face it, if the Nuggets are going to make it to the Finals, they will have to beat the Lakers. As the roster is currently assembled, we just aren't big enough to compete with them in a 7 game series. Sure we can beat anybody on any given night, but in a 7 game playoff battle its a whole different ballgame. The FO has to understand that with an aging Chauncey, the Nuggets window to win a title is about 2-3 years. We are so close to being great! I really hope that they understand this and do any and everything possible to bring in a QUALITY big man. And it's not just the Lakers that we have to worry about. There is Portland, and San Antonio in the West and potentially Boston or Orlando in the Finals.

So here are the potential players that could come in here and help give us a parade in June .

My pipe dream big man, which I know will never happen, because A, we aren't the Lakers and B, the Logo wasn't a Nugget, is the Grizzlies, Marc Gasol (3.3 in 09-10 & 3.5 Mil 10-11) He would be perfect, even the Grizzlies aren't that foolish to give up on such a quality young big man, that is making peanuts by NBA standards. Another decent footer would be the Wizards, Brendan Haywood (6 mil) but I doubt that the Clippers East, I mean the Bullets, would let him go. But who knows, because they are the Clippers East?? Oh and don't even get me started with the 9 million dollar trade exception that we let expire without using on November 3rd. Sure we would have been well over the luxury tax, but this is NBA/monopoly money and Silent Stan and his old lady are both Billionaires so cry me a luxury tax river. WE WANT A CHAMPIONSHIP! That could have been the final piece.

So back to reality.....

The potential list: Most of the players with the exception of Gortat, come from non contenders, or lottery bound teams that are much easier to deal with around the trade deadline.

Marcin Gortat               Magic (5.8, 6.3, 6.7, 7.2 & 7.7) Large contract but fell in love with his game in the playoffs last yr

Marreese Speights   76ers (1.6 & 1.7 Mil)   Huge upside, but I doubt Philly would give him up

Andray Blatche           Wizards (3, 3.2 & 3.5 Mil) Same story as Speights

Jeff Foster                   Pacers (6 & 6.6 mil) Rebounding machine!

Hilton Armstrong        Hornets (2.8 mil) Decent player at that price tag

Chris Wilcox                Pistons(3 mil) Dunks in traffic the way I wish Nene would.

Ronny Turiaf               Warriors (4.2 & 4.2) RT would be a nice addition

Fabricio Oberto          Wizards (1.9 Mil) 34 years old but might still have a little bit left in the tank

Aaron Gray                  Bulls (1 mil) Young and big. Probably more of a long term project than a quick fix

Think about the big picture folks. It's going to take one last piece to put us over the hump. Lets cross our fingers, that the 3-headed front office creature is paying attention. Capish, Rex, Brett and Mark?!?!?!?

Go NUGS!!! This could get exciting!