I fell asleep Saturday afternoon and missed most of the first half of the game at Indiana. I felt as if the guys who wore those old uniforms, I think they were the first ones that were Nuggets uniforms (discounting the 1949 team) instead of Rockets uniforms, those guys (Dan Issel, David Thompson, Bobby Jones, Ralph Simpson, The late Marvin Webster, Byron Beck, Claude Terry, Gus Gerard et al.)would have blown out the current Indiana team. I didn't clue in right away that the Indiana team was wearing their throwback uniforms too. The thing that clued me in was the thought "hey I didn't know they still used the 'hand on the ball P' logo". Then I realized they were having throwback night too. I remember the Pacers that used to wear those uniforms; Mel Daniels (built kind of like Elton Brand but far better skills, would have been an NBA all-star, one of the most underrated players ever), George McGinnis (a great scorer before he got to the Nuggets), Bob Netolicky, Don Buse (didn't look at all like a basketball player but could handle the ball and shoot, sort of like Steve Nash only a way better shooter) and Darnell Hillman (the undisputed king of the afro hairstyle). Later on they show some old guy standing on the court and lo and behold it's Darnell Hillman! Who would have ever recognized him? He was the leapingest 6' 9" guy you ever saw (Well maybe Blake Griffin jumps better but that's it) and he actually played for the Nuggets a little bit on the downside of his career. It's a shame that they couldn't have broken out the red, white and blue basketballs for the night. In fact I think they should adopt a rule that the Nuggets, Spurs, Pacers and Nets are allowed the option of playing their home court pre-season games with the red, white and blue ball. Then when fans demand more they would be allowed to play their regular season games with it and before you know it the whole league would be using it. If you ever saw a game with the red,white and blue ball you'd wish they were all played with that ball. You can see the spin on the ball and you can tell where the ball is coming off on rebounds. Back in the ABA days, the Pacers were a team that you wanted to go see; them and the Colnels and the Nets/Squires (whichever Dr. J was playing for). It was the biggets heartbreak ever when those Nuggets lost the ABA championship series to the Nets. Nowdays they try to credit Dr. J for that championship but it was really a guy named Jon Williamson that won that final game for the Nets. We've never been to a championship series since. Saturday was quite the trip down memory lane But it was disappointing that Darnell Hillman was the only ABA guy we saw that night. I hope when the Nuggets have their home throwback night they can show more of the guys I mentioned.

Since we have a little down time between games I thought I'd revisit something that came up in one of the threads. Do you think you know the (offensive) three second rule? Do you complain about how seldom it is called? When I was a high school referee it was always amusing to see the new guys coming in and how they would talk about how they were going to enforce the three second rule and show the veterans how it should be done. Then when they learn what the rule actually is they wind up calling it just like the veterans do. Spectators at HS games used to yell at me about three seconds during a game but they weren't even close to having a legitimate complaint. I checked the NBA rules and it's pretty much the same as for HS and college. See if you can tell me what the three second rule is without looking it up. I think you'd be amazed at how many get it wrong. This is just for fun so please be honest about not looking it up.

I posted this in the post game thread but I thought it deserved a fan shot. This is written fromt he perspective of being a former high school referee.

All of you guys spouting your rules about planted feet and moving backwards and one thing or another just don’t get it. A player has to obtain legal guarding position before he can draw a charging foul. Look at what I got from the NBA’s own web site:
http://www.nba.com/nba101/misunderstood_0708.html

Block/Charge:
A block/charge foul occurs when a defender tries to get in front of his man to stop him from going in that direction. If he does not get into a legal defensive position and contact occurs, it is a blocking foul. If he gets to a legal position and the offensive player runs into him it is an offensive foul. In both situations, if the contact is marginal, no foul may be called.

So Ginobili has to flop in order to convince the refs that the contact isn’t marginal.

To get into a legal position defending against the dribble, the defender needs to get his torso directly in the path and beat him to the spot.

It’s obvious from the replay that Ginobili didn’t get his torso directly in the path, nor did he beat him to the spot.

On a drive to the basket, the defender must get to his position before the shooter starts his upward shooting motion.

By this measure, Ginobili wasn’t there soon enough but even if he was, the previous criteria disallowed the charging call.

For off ball players, the defender must get into position and allow enough opportunity for the offensive player to stop and/or change direction.

Absolutely no way in hell Ginobili met this criteria. He was definitely an off ball defender and Melo had absolutely no chance to avoid the contact.

All ties are considered blocks as the defender did not beat him to the spot but arrived at the same time.

At the absolute best, Ginobili got to his illegal guarding position at the same time, definitely not beating Melo to the spot.

So those of you who say it was a charge are wrong.
Those of you who say it should have been a no-call may be correct.
Those of you who say it should have been a foul on Ginobili are probably correct.

The fact of the matter is that NBA officials are some of the worst in the world. I’ve worked with better high school referees.
I’m of the school that says that a foul in the first quarter is a foul with only seconds left in the game. Having said that I’m also of the position that advantage/disadvantage plays a large part of whether or not a call should be made. As illustrated above, the call should have been a score for Melo and a free throw. Many officials would have made that a no-call on the advantage/disadvantage principal.

I remember one game where an offensive player pushed his arms through a defender’s vertical position causing him to miss the shot. I didn’t make a call. The offensive player complained about not getting a call and I told him that the defender was legally vertical and the complainer had caused the contact. if I had to make a call on that one it would have had to be against him so he should be glad I used some discretion on that play. That’s the same sort of thing that comes into play in applying advantage/disadvantage pricipal to the play last night and argues for a no-call. The idea that the referees shouldn’t make a call in the last few seconds or even minutes of a game is a poor one I think. The idea that referees should not be making calls on incidental/marginal contact that determines the outcome of a game is a better idea.

For the last couple of years it seems the NBA officials have been biased toward the charge call. The one that I find blatantly wrong that we’ve seen called against the Nuggets a lot lately is that a Nugget with the ball is dribbling toward the sideline past a defender with his back to the basket and the defender flops toward the basket, perpendicular to the motion of the Nugget. They whistle the Nugget for a charge but there’s no way that is a charge.

I've been pretty quiet about the Melo-drama (as you guys call it) becuase  I figure that there's not much I can do about it. One thing that has me wondering though is what Melo is thinking and what his priorities are.

Is it about winning and more specifically about winning a championship? If so then what makes him think that he's going to have a better chance on another team than the one that was in the WCF season before last? Does he actually think his chances for a championship are better with teams that have been total losers the last several years? Or is he so confident in himself that he thinks he is enough to transform any team into a championship team? I'm just having a hard time seeing that this thing is about winning and if winning isn't his priority then we're better off without him.

Is it about money? Does Melo think he can make more money on endorsements in a bigger market? He probably can but if that's where his priority is then good luck with that. I hope he and Latrell Sprewell have enough money to feed their families.

Is it just the lure of a bigger city, better career opportunities for Mrs. Anthony? Well you can't blame a guy for wanting to keep peace in the family. It's hard to believe that the Anthonys find the quality of life in Denver (or Littleton, where I grew up) to be so unsatisfying that they just have to get out.

However I look at this, it just doesn't seem to be about basketball and winning. So I'm left wondering what it is really about.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-berri/the-most-overrated-scorer_b_701408.html

I haven't seen any discussion on this article so I thought I'd post it. Apparently the Huffington Post isn't so popular with Stiffs. With Melo and Harrington on the list, it is relevant. What I found interesting is how he backs up his claims with statistics although he's sort of equating inefficiency as a scorer to being an overrated scorer.

It doesn't seem possible. Nate are you reading that as Kareem in asking where his $30 million is? I don't think he is. I think he is saying that the players coming out of high school are asking where their $30 million is. I think Kareem is spot on. You have so many stories about NBA players gambling their money away (Ty Lawason has been seen grequently at Colorado casinos), fathering children by multiple women, gun infractions even stupid April Fools pranks. I definitely believe the quality of the player off the court is reflected on the court. Hey, a little education never hurt anyone. Lest you claim that players like LeBron can't risk a career ending injury playing in college; you have to remember that the top players have insurance policies against such a thing. There's more to the college experience than learning the materials. There's the experience in totality that many players need.

Another thing you have to remember is that Kareem played a lot longer than he intended to because he had an agent who ripped him off for a lot of money. Alex English had the same agent and also was ripped off. At one point they were suing each other because the agent was telling them that he gave their money to the other guy and they had to sue to protect their interests even though they didn't believe that the other guy had their money. So Kareem may have some bitterness. I don't think the $30 million quote is him complaining that he didn't get $30 million but if there is some bitterness, he earned it.

I found the Tim Donaghy book at the library so I got it and read it. I wouldn't have bought the book.

The stuff that is the most damaging has been excerpted in reviews all over the internet, so I didn't read anything that was particularly surprising. One thing that the NBA likes to claim is that they have the best referees in the world, when in fact they a far from it as Donaghy shows. He illustrates that it's not how good you are that gets you in, it's who you know. Donaghy had connections through his father. How many juniors like Tommy Nunn jr. and Joe Borgia jr. have we seen in the NBA? Those guys would have never made it without their fathers being who they were. Donaghy got into the NBA after a little bit of men's rec, high school ball and two years in the Continental League. That's it. Some of the others got in with less experience than that. He says that the good college referees don't want to go to the NBA because they would have to take a pay cut. He highlights how the NBA happened to get the first women referees in major mens sports and as I contended at the time it wasn't because they were the best candidates available.

Donaghy confirms that NBA unwritten policy is that superstars do not foul out (David Lee: "That's my sixth foul!" Bill Spooner: "No it's not!") This unwritten policy is enforced by NBA memos and such to refs as to be on the look out for certain things happening with certain players. He describes how Dick Bavetta helps the losing team to prevent blow outs and to extend playoff series. He describes how the refs have little arguments or bets with each other about who will have the most traveling violations or fouls or whatever such that one referee will be working in favor of your team while the other is working against you, or the whole crew will be against you one night while the next crew will be working in your favor the next night. If only half of what he says is true, then NBA officiating has nothing to do with what is actually happpening on the court.

With these claims you have to wonder if Donaghy is telling the truth. The FBI tried to find situations where he was lying and couldn't do it. Donaghy even passed a polygraph test. Of course only idiots think a polygraph has any ability to determine if a person is lying or not. You might as well consult goat entrails or tarot cards or flip a coin as to do a polygraph test. He's probably one of those idiots who wouldn't have taken it if he was lying out of fear of the results. (Incidentally defense lawyers almost always have their clients take a polygraph test, if they pass they trumpet the results to the media and anyone who'll listen and if they fail they keep it secret about having taken it.) One thing is that Donaghy doesn't make excuses. He points out that other referees gamble, but he says he doesn't think that they ever bet on sports or any illegal gambling. He's definitely not trying to justify himself by saying that everyone does it.

After reading the book there's a distinct feeling that the NBA is more like professional wrestling than anything else. The only difference is that the players aren't in on the fix. Every time you're wondering why there was no call or why there was a phantom call or a bail out call, there's a reason having to do with it. Maybe the home team coach bought the refs lunch that day. Maybe they completely screwed over the star player in the last game against an Eastern team and now your Western team is having to pay for it as they are making it up to the player they screwed over the last time.

As far as books go it isn't very long and he certainly could have used a better ghost writer as the similes are strained. Occasionally he uses certain words in such a way that I don't think he knows what they mean. Otherwise it's an easy, short read that will change the way you watch the NBA (if this review hasn't already).

Acording to the DP:http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_14663544

I expected as much. When I went into chemo treatments I thought I would miss a lot less work than I actually did. Surgery, chemo and radiation mess you up a lot more than you expect. I wouldn't be surpirsed if GK misses all the games for the next several weeks.

This is just here to fill up the minimum requirement for a FanPost.

In the Scott Hastings tradition of fumbling for words he came up with "fundamentalized" as in "The Nuggets are being out fundamentalized".

To put it in the vernacular, the Nuggets suck at fundamentals.

To put it more eloquently, the Nuggets execution of the fundamentals of the game of basketball are sorely lacking and need improvement.

What are these lacking fundamentals? Each player seems to be sound in individual fundamentals such as dribbling, shooting and pivoting. They couldn't get to  the NBA without these skills. Somehow they got through what little college ball they might have played on these skills alone, in fact it was their skills and athleticism that got them through so far. In the NBA it isn't enough because now you're going up against guys who have the same skills and athleticism. Most of these players haven't had to learn how to run a pick and roll, or how to defend a pick and roll or how to pass ("my college team always wanted me to shoot, not pass") or how to box out on a rebound (they always got plenty of rebounds before without boxing out).

For the next three days the Nuggets need to work on these fundamentals. They need to learn how to use a pick by rubbing their man off on the pick instead of just sort of going around the pick. The pick needs to learn to roll everytime. Marlowe calls so many plays a pick and roll when there is no roll and Hastings tries to point out that there wasn't any roll, but I think he gets tired of pointing that out. They need to do passing drills. They need to work on moving without the ball instead of standing around at the three point line hoping the ball will come their way so that they can be the hero that hits the three. They need to work on boxing out. They need to work on getting the ball to the point guard after the rebound (the way they did in the first quarter against Atlanta at home). Every point guard I ever played with at a higher level than sophomore high school level was trained to call for the ball when their bigs got the rebound yet the Nuggets guards don't seem to do that. Maybe they think it is below them.

The sad thing is that this probably won't happen. It doesn't look like it has ever happened in training camp where that sort of thing belongs. Playing with these fundamentals is a result of habit and you can't develop these habits in three days, but at least there should be the effort to train these things. I wonder what is going to happen these next three days?

I just happened to catch this documentary on TV Saturday. It was basically a look at Yao's first year in the NBA. A lot of it covered the translator that was hired to go everywhere with Yao. The translator mentioned at one point that he was exhausted, effectively surprised at how exhuasted he was due to the travel schedule. He mentioned how he didn't even play in the games so the players must really get exhausted by the schedule.

I bring this up to illustrate how you never know in the NBA what these guys go through and which nights it catches up to them. The visiting team appears at game time as if by magic from the fans perspective and then disappears again. Probably the only guys who can know what it is like are the ones who live it. The Nuggets have shown signs of exhaustion all season. The trip to China didn't do them any favors. Hopefully the lighter schedule coming up will give them a chance to get better.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the sign downtown with Chris Andersen and the words "Block and Roll". It's a billboard to sell 10 game packages. They seem to be using the "Can you feel it: slogan from last year too. I thought they usually changed that from year to year. Maybe they thought they did so well with it last year that they would use it again. Anyway, it's a sign the season is not too far off.

I know I do. I hate him because he's an idiot. God and I have a hatred of idiots in common(remember The Good, The Bad and The Ugly?) He's supposed to be a play by play guy but he never knows what is going on. He anticipates calls and usually get's them wrong. I remember one time seeing an official signal a technical foul just as they were going to commercial. When they came back the opposing player lines up to shoot the technical foul. Marlowe had no idea why that guy was shooting a free throw and mumbles something about a technical foul. We never and I mean never found out who the technical was on or what it was for. One time the official makes a big signal about the foul being before the shot. A player goes to the throw in spot indicated by the official, a bunch of player substitutions start and Marlowe says "We don't know if this is a shooting foul or not". He had to be the only guy in the building that didn't know if it was a shooting foul or not. It's embarassing to have to hear him make a fool out of himslef so much. So many times he says what is going on with the vocal inflection of a question as if he is asking Hastings or some behind the scenes guy what is going on. I spend half the broadcast correcting the TV about the stuff Marlowe got wrong.

I brought this up because some discussion was going on about the "local blithering idiots" vs. the national guys in another post. The national guys will at least stop their little chat about everything but the game in front of them to let you know what a call was or what was going on.

I do like Hastings because even if he is a homer, in the past he has not held back on criticising the players for bad decisions. I like it that he once in a while has those teaching moments where he's telling the young player's at home what to learn from what they are seeing. Don't forget that Hastings was in the NBA for a long time and he didn't make it on his good looks. He made it because he learned from coaches and did what he was told and played the role he was assigned. I remember when the Miami Heat had their first year. They had gotten in their first few players and Hastings was one of them. He was quoted as saying "Right now I'm the best player we have. If that doesn't change we're in a lot more trouble than anyone can imagine." He is not an idiot, but he plays one on TV, just to be one of the good old boys. I'd love to have him over to watch a game with me. Marlowe can stay home. In his case he really is an idiot.

After reading Andrew's post about why he is a Nuggets fan, I felt really old. I remember going to the Auditorium Arena to see the Denver Rockets. One nice thing about that place was that no matter where you sat, you weren't that far from the game. I remember Beck's crazy hook shot, Julius Keye blocking shots (even on Dr. J), Warren (Armstrong) Jabali, Dave Robisch, Ralph Simpson (maybe his number should have been retired too) and many others. I saw Dr. J make a move at the Auditorium Arena that puts to shame anything he ever did for the Sixers.

Ralph Simpson came to a basketball camp I attended and really helped my shot. He was a class act.

I'm a Nuggets fan because I grew up here and I've always been one to support the local team.