Well first off let me say I'm not throwing the towel in on the season after a single loss to the T-Wolves. I'm just trying to express how remarkably sad it is to see potential greatness go down in flames knowing there's very little the Nuggets can do to avoid it. There are too many things working against them, the worst being they took the forbidden fruit of buying into their own hype and a taste of the spotlight just wasn't enough. These guys feel entitled to greatness for losing the WCF and there's just no logical reason or excuse for it whatsoever.

It's funny how everyone started dickriding the Nuggets so suddenly. Going into the playoffs last year they were an afterthought, a cool story but more likely to be pretenders than a serious threat to LA.  Barkley then has a momentary lapse in stupidity and now it's cool to like the Nuggets. Everyone drank the kool aid, sportswriters, local media, fans and worst of all the Denver Nuggets themselves

I said even during the wins this team showed nothing inspiring. They are pretty good and should be, the payroll is quite high and luckily we got great talent for all that money. There is no identity to this team, no continuity to how they win because every night someone different is trying to shine, hit a new career high or get themselves on Sportscenter's top plays. The only Nugs I really enjoy watching are Aflac, Ty Lawson, Joey and Naldo because they play with a chip on their shoulder and play like they have something to prove when they do get minutes. The rest of them act like they are god's gift to hoops and opponents are going to piss themselves with fear upon witnessing them. Ego is killing this team and it's fucking killing me too

Normally I would be able to hold out hope for a turnaround but where does George Karl fit into this? Yes, he is playing the right players now but he is so helpless to deal with the coming implosion it's not even funny. The players have no discipline, no structured gameplan, and if you watch games it's easy to see that Chauncey and Kenyon have free reign - their egos are running the team, nothing more. Why were the Nuggets so tragically flawed during the Iverson era? Because Allen did everything on his own terms in Denver, GK was just there to watch. Karl can't handle the personalities on this team once reality sets in, he will lose the team quickly when they do get challenged and subsequently slaughtered by a squad more dedicated to championship TEAM basketball. Thank God it's the last year of his deal.

Honestly we could still win the division and shit, win a series in the playoffs or something too. For me I don't really give a damn. Maybe we should let Portland have it, and when they lose to LA perhaps it will turn them into a bunch of selfish conceited assholes like us. Well, Melo should average 30 shots a game and be on TV a lot - he may get some MVP votes too so there's always that. Good God basketball got shitty quick. I almost believed they had the heart of a champion.

Linas Kleiza has been absent from the Denver Nuggets and Lodo's bar scene for  3 months now, opting instead for getting trashed in Greece and moneybags full of Euros (Eurobags?).

Denver whittled away lots of trade assets in offseason moves, including most of their upcoming draft picks and even the rights to unsigned draft pick Axel Hervelle. Most of the tradable contracts are minimum deals and not of much value, so fans have been speculating on potential trades involving Kleiza's rights. From my understanding of the CBA and consulting with some more knowledgable heads on the subject, it seems clear to me now that Kleiza's rights or LK himself can't be traded for the forseeable future (while he is under contract), and even after that moving him remains kind of a headache.

Mark at ShamSports knows whats up, he clarified it for me and on a previous message board post a while ago. Here's what he said

No they can't.

Kleiza can be signed and traded (if he's not under contract somewhere, that is), and the Nuggets can match any offer sheet he gets as he's still a RFA. But they can't trade his Bird rights. You can't trade anyone's Bird rights. Never could.

Read the whole post here if you don't believe me

The same problem exists with Josh Childress' signing in Greece 2 years ago.  Both he and Kleiza are still restricted free agents, with their rights held by Atlanta and Denver respectively. That means they can only be signed and traded or signed to offer sheets once they are no longer under contract in Europe. The Nuggets could match any offer for Kleiza, they could sign and trade him to someone if he were not currently under contract. Kleiza has an opt-out after 1 year in Greece, so if he wants to return to the NBA Denver could re-sign him then or sign and trade him to another team. Or, he could sign an offer sheet with another team, and Denver would have seven days to match. None of this can happen until he terminates his contract in Europe though.

Josh Childress tried to return to the NBA after 1 year in Greece. Both Cleveland and Milwaukee wanted to sign Childress, but it didn't work out for several important reasons which are relevant to LK's situation now. Milwaukee and Cleveland would have had to use their MLE to offer Childress a contract, which Atlanta could match and would have 7 days to decide whether or not to do that. During that waiting period Milwaukee/Cleveland could miss out on other free agents they wanted to sign while Atlanta made their decision. Dallas signed Gortat to a full MLE deal which Orlando matched just to screw with Dallas, after stealing away Brandon Bass while Dallas waited for them to not match the Gortat offer.

The other, more attractive option would be trying to work out a sign and trade deal with Atlanta. Milwaukee and Cleveland would rather do that because Childress' would be signed with his bird rights by Atlanta, then traded to them so they would still have their MLE to spend on other free agents. Obviously, Atlanta wasn't amenable to this - they have no reason to help out Cleveland or Milwaukee by giving them Childress. At the least they would demand something in return like a draft picks, cap relief, or a cheap role player or two.

Childress is making decent dough in Greece, so even though he probably would have taken a cheaper deal to return to the NBA, the politics and rules of the CBA prevented it from happening. It was a hassle, so both teams said screw it - Milwaukee signed Hakim Warrick and Cleveland signed Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon. Atlanta still holds Childress' bird rights, they will wait for a good deal to sign and trade him. Or, they will wait for him to sign a cheapo contract to return to the NBA, which they could match within 7 days if they wanted to.

Until then, everything is in limbo. Childress opted into the second year of his Greek deal and now he isn't a tradeable asset until next year, just like Kleiza. Bottom line, the Nugs can;t get anything for Kleiza right now. They can deal with trading him whenever he is done with Europe and chooses to return to the NBA. My guess is Kleiza will stay in Europe for at least 2 years, if he comes back to the NBA the most likely scenario would be back to the Nuggets on a pretty cheap contract. Anything could happen though, but LK cannot be traded until he's out of his Euro contract for now. Complicated, I know. Kind of a bummer too

After following summer league, preseason, every game since then and the way the Nugs have been playing, I didn't know what to think about watching the Bucks game. Nothing would have surprised me. I figured a blowout win was as likely as a blowout loss or a close game. There's little continuity to anything we are doing, the team hasn't established the way they want to play, and we have been through more lineup changes and starting fives than any team in the league.

This isn't about Karl rage. Put all that aside and just realize everything is not fine and peachy in Nuggets Nation right now. Watching the last 2 games has convinced me of something we can chnage that is immediately going to pay dividends for improvement over the rest of the regular season and beyond - start JR immediately and give him 30 minutes a game at least. It's time, and he's ready.

I thought the Nuggets actually played a pretty good game in Milwaukee. They missed too many shots and made some mental mistakes at critical times in the game. First off, it's clear that Afflalo in the starting lineup isn't as great as we thought it would be, especially with Melo trying his hardest to turn himself into Kobe Bryant. Aflac only plays the first few minutes of the 1st and 3rd quarters, nothing else. It doesn't matter if he gets a hot hand shooting because he's likely to be the first one sent to the bench at any given time. AA has shown good chemistry with Lawson and Billups, and surprisingly... JR Smith.

JR could solve a lot of problems Denver is having with establishing their offense. It's funny how easy it is to stop the Nuggets offense right now. All you need to is get set on defense, wait for Melo to get the ball and send help to the paint and stand straight up. JR is a willing passer and a playmaker who is going to shoot when needed and cover up some of this selfish stink eminating from Melo's game.

Even without his hot shooting, JR is providing the kind of defensive spark to rally back from a 10 point deficit in crunch time. The revolving door at starting SG has to stop now, give JR the job and play him 30+ minutes a night, the guy is clearly one of our best players without a doubt. The sooner George Karl and the Nuggets realize this the better. Otherwise I fear we're going to remain stuck in this terrible limbo never really knowing quite what we have with this group of Nuggets. Take my poll please

New Tomasson

Look!

Flip going to Charlotte, and McCants signed a nonguaranteed deal with the Rockets. I'm really not big on Wally or Udoka, at this point in free agency that is whats left. Tomasson also points out the Nugs wanted Flip because they believe JR can play minutes at the 3 backing up Melo. I haven't heard of any other teams seriously looking at Wally so we may be getting closer to him finally signing. If that doesn't happen though I think we will be fine signing somebody out of training camp like White and exploring trade options once the season starts.

There is literally nothing going on with the Nuggets right now. Novak is gone. I am being driven to think crazy thoughts about how to avoid signing Wally World to fill the vacant scoring swingman role. I don't think Wally would be a great addition. I won't lose any sleep if we do sign Wally, I just think he's a stiff and there are many other more interesting guys with a lot more upside who deserve a shot.

What's going on with Walter? He can shoot the 3, and it will give us another white guy and some long hair on the team. I guess it's probably unlikely we'll suddenly get proactive so late in free agency, so let's discuss who shoul dget the final roster spot

Wally, Kurz, Brumbaugh/Karl/D-leaguer, or someone else?