Watching the Nuggets post Melo trade has been fun, exciting, and frustrating at times. We are finally playing team ball, but we were once again unable to make a deep playoff push last year, and I fear the same for this year.

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While watching the Clippers Thunder game it became clear what the Nuggets lack....

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There are very few people who get the chance to sit inside an NBA huddle.  ESPN has given us small audio clips, but they're only are a few seconds long and don't show the strategy parts of the game.  Well, everyone, we are in luck.  I was privileged enough to get a recording of one of our timeouts from Saturday nights game.  Enjoy....

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The Nuggets have found themselves in a hole 0-2, losing to the Thunder in two different ways.  The Nuggets lost the first game because we couldn't execute in the fourth quarter.  Before the final 2 minutes, the Nuggets did their job considering they were on the road.  They kept it close all game and led most of the time, however they couldn't finish. 

The second game was just a bad game.  We got out coached and out played.  The Nuggets routinely settled for jump shots, and seemed to be allergic to the rim.  We played sloppy offense, which turned into sloppy defense.  Here's a comparison of the two games from an offensive numbers point of view:

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Since the trade of MElo (there is no I in team but there is ME in MElo) the Newgets have been doing better than most people could conceive.  We’ve had a renaissance of full effort basketball in Denver, and man has it been fun and exciting.  I’m going to break down some of the quarter by quarter scoring and defensive numbers to show the most important improvement to this team: Consistency.

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Watching last night's game I noticed a few trends that I think should be corrected given the state of the Nuggets.  It was apparent last night, that our team as a unit, couldn't hit the side of a building from deep or even mid-range.  K-Mart went 1-4 on jumpers, Chandler 2-10, Lawson 0-6, Afflalo 2-8, JR 1-8, Harrington 0-7, and Felton with 2-4.  It was apparent by the second quarter that the shots just weren't falling for us.  So what did JR and Harrington continue to do?  Shoot more jumpers....  I think we would have seen a lot less JR and Harrington tonight, had Afflalo stayed healthy and Gallinari been in, but the question still begs, WHY DO YOU  CONTINUE TO SHOOT???  I've seen George Karl in interviews and even during practices preach about not settling for jump shots.  Yet JR and Harrington still continue to launch shot after shot.  I'm no coach, and have never had to deal with someone as immature and crazy as JR, but I don't understand why George doesn't tell JR that for every jump shot he misses, he has to go to the hole at least twice before he can take another jump shot.  I think that would solve at least one problem.  When JR is driving to the basket he doesn't always score, but he makes the players around him open and thus in a better position to score (That or he gets to the line).  When he takes ISO jump shots with hands in his face, he is just replacing Melo as our ball stopper.  Whether it be the offensive system that George has in place, or just JR's lack of intelligence on the basketball court, something's gotta give here.  It's great when JR is hot and hitting shots, but when he's off, he needs to drive to the basket.

Harrington on the other hand doesn't have the athletic ability that JR has, but the same point can apply.  If Harington's shot is off he needs to pass the ball, or attempt to get layups.  It's funny that a 6-9 power forward is seemingly allergic to touching the rim with his hands.  Last night, Harrington missed all of his shots, but only two of them were in the paint.  One was just inside the free throw line, and the other was a missed 3-foot layup.  That wont cut it with this new look team.  We need easy buckets for this team to have any shot at doing something in the playoffs.  I think this is the reason Gallinari will be so valuable for us coming down the stretch.  From the two games Gallo has played, it seems that he isn't afraid of going to the hole.  In both of his games he attacked the basket frequently, but also took some outside shots.  Gallo went 3-9 on jump shots, but went 4-5 on layups in the Portland game.  This is something I can live with.  I understand that players have to take jump shots, but if you aren't hitting them, you'd better get to the rim. 

I think that for this team to be successful, they'll need to get great performances out of Gallinari, Chandler, and Afflalo on a nightly basis.  If these guys can be consistent on the offensive end (i.e. attack the rim occasionally) and continue to play solid team defense, then I think we can go places.  If JR and Harrington contribute, then that's the cherry on top, but we can't rely on JR/ Harrington to give us a consistent solid performance.  With 10+ players that can actually play on this team we don't have the time for JR and his antics.  If he isn't going to play intelligent basketball, then don't play him at all.

Well, our Nuggs gave us one of the worst losses of the season in L.A., and followed that up that with another one in Sacramento. Looking at the situation realistically, you have to remember that the season is 82 games long and 2 losses wont kill the Nuggets, but what is alarming about this current squad is the resemblance to Nuggets teams of past.  Don't these last two losses remind you of the Nuggets of a few years ago who routinely played down to their competition and were absolutely incapable of winning on the road.  This team has no balls.  We don't have a leader that is running the show. I hate to bring this up, but the reason we have DenverStiffs.com is because of the shitty play a few years ago. Remember the lackluster defense, careless offense, lack of cohesiveness, Sticky ball syndrome, and Isolation style offense?  Remember how that team had constant distractions and underachieved?

The Nuggets are looking more and more like the Nuggets of old, and I'm a little frightened about our team.  George Karl has not been effective this year with his coaching.  I know a lot of people are die hard supporters especially after the cancer, but we have a horribly coached basketball team considering the talent.  Who the F looses to the Kings by 20?? Melo went 9-17 but didn't get his team involved at all.  Melo had a huge night on the dishes with a total of 0. It's funny how Phil Jackson was just on TV talking about how his team struggles when his star player tries to win games by playing one-on-one, and not involving his team.  I wish our coach was more like that.  The problem is, that I think George knows probably better than most that Melo is leaving, and he may be getting checked out as a player. I could be wrong on this, but we have been getting outplayed and out coached.  I do have to Note again here that this is only two games out of the season, which means little, but the atmosphere and the feel of the Nuggets isn't where i think it should be given the players talent level.  We have been banged up and haven't gotten a chance for everyone to be 100%, but if you think about it, most of these players have been playing together for two to three years now.  Everyone knows what to do, but they just don't do it.  Nobody stops the ball on defense, which is the first thing you have to be successful on D. We give up open threes like they're candy. The Nuggs have played great basketball in the past with this squad. It's not like the Nuggets as currently constituted wouldn't make the playoffs.  They would, but they would most certainly get bounced in the first round. I'm tired of that.  It's time for a change.

Now lets discuss Chauncey, who is a little different than Melo, but is one of the main reasons we have such a bad fundamental offense.  He likes to take three pointers with 20 left on the shot clock, or try to get fouls.  If he makes them then good, but it's leaving the rest of the team standing around looking at him shoot.  That offense fails to involve other players.This team has always succeeded at a high rate when they pass the ball and C-bills knows that.  For some reason though, the Nuggs don't pass the ball.  WHY???  It's not rocket science...  When we move with out the ball and get open looks from penetration we become consistent on offense.  When we play ISO ball with Chauncey or Melo, it screws up the flow of the offense.  Chauncey is supposed to be a the helm on offense, but still we play ISO ball.  Is that Chauncey's fault, or is that the coaches?  If that's Chauncey's, then we need to blow this team up, and let Melo finally get out of here which is what he really wanted in the first place.  If this is Karl's decision, then we need to get a new head coach. We are about to enter into a rebuilding mode. Our Nuggets are looking more and more like the Golden State Warriors when Nellie was in charge.  Jack up shots, play no defense, and blow leads in almost every game.  Is George Karl the next Don Nelson?

The Nuggs have great talent.  We have on paper, one of the best line ups in the league. We don't have the chemistry though. We can't figure it out. Doesn't this team just seem to give less effort than the Nuggets of 2008 or last year?  I feel like the message from George Karl has gotten weak and the impending trade is starting to get to the team.  It will all be over soon, but I wish that the Nuggets would just take our team out of its misery and blow it up.  Now don't get the impression that I embrace the Nuggets current Melo situation with joy.  We have been dealt a shitty hand.  Arguably one of the best Nuggets of all time is basically saying that our City isn't good enough for him and his family.  That's the worst IMO.  I love Colorado, and think Denver is one of the best places in America.  It sucks that the face of the franchise doesn't share the same feelings.  I wish we had Kevin Durant.  He has made OKC his home and is a strong figure in the community.  All Melo has done in Denver is drive drunk, open night clubs, and donate money generously on occasion. Either way, somethings gotta give here.  If we take the current Nuggets team to the playoffs we will loose in the first round.  I've seen this style of team 4 times before. 

In a perfect world we would be able to keep Melo and trade some of our expiring contracts for a super star stuck on a bad team.  It worked with Kobe, but it wont with Melo.  Melo is going to go where Melo wants.  He controls his own destiny.  David Stern, the biggest tool in the NBA said it best, Melo has earned the right to become a free agent by playing out his contract.  He is not doing anything wrong, and it's his decision to make.  I just hope this is all over soon, so our Nuggets team can become fun to watch again. I hate watching players who don't care about the city they play for.

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While watching the Nuggets these past few months, it's been hard to get a solid feel for how this team is going to perform on a nightly basis.  It seems that most nights, we play little to no defense, unless we are playing a worthy contender.  We play up to the competition, and we play down to the competition.  Melo is leaving, and there is little we can do about it.  Many reporters have been quick to speculate and use "league sources" regarding possible Melo destinations.  I want to move away from these rumors and look at what the Nuggets need in a trade for this year, and for the next 3-5 years. 

Looking to the future of the Nuggets, the next few months will most certainly change the course of our beloved Nuggets for years to come.  Watching these past few games sans Melo has shown me what the Nuggets need in terms of trade.  Before I get to these needs, I'm going to give a quick synopsis of our team, and the styles that we employ.

The Nuggets have wisely chosen to run their offense through Nene the last week or so, which I commend George Karl for.  Nene is showing that he can be a dominant PF/C when fed the ball consistently.  The Nuggets are great when they're moving the ball and making the extra pass.  We can hang with most teams when we play like this.  The problem is that at some point in every game, we hit a wall in terms of offense.  We hit a roadblock when the other team usually switches to some type of zone that seems to baffle our players and entices them to take ill-advised shots. With Melo in the Line-up, we lean on his scoring ability during these stretches to keep the games within reach.  Melo sometimes adds to the problem of bad shots, but he makes a lot of them, which is what makes him so valuable.  He can carry a team for stretches of the game.  There are only 5-10 other guys in the league who can carry an offense by themselves and still win games. 

The problem with this is that all of Melo's offense is predicated on isolation's, which goes against our motion and passing offense. Most of the players on our team need to be set up to be effective scorers. Afflalo, K-Mart, Bird, Nene, Forbes, and Harrington to a lesser extent all need to be put in the correct situation to be at their best.  When these players find themselves trying to create their own shots, it leads to that bad offense that we see during certain parts of every game.  Chauncey, Melo, JR, and Lawson can create their own shots and can excel at isolation plays.  The two better being Melo and JR.  Ty and Chauncey technically must be able to create on their own because they're PG's, but Lawson seems much better at creating his own shot with his dribble penetration.  Chauncey has seen better days, and can't get the separation needed to get off his shots.  That or he misses the open look.  Either way, for this team to do anything without Melo, we need Chauncey to show up and start running the show.  If he can't do that anymore, then we should part with him too.  We need Lawson to continue to step it up and run.  I think that Lawson doesn't run enough, and could score about 6-8 more points per night if he would attack the basket every time he is given the opportunity.  I feel that sometimes he passes when he should shoot, and shoots, when he should pass. In terms of our future, Lawson should be a solid PG for the next 3-5 years.  He is one of the guys I'd deem untouchable in trade talks unless we get someone better in return.

Although JR can make some idiot decisions from time to time, we will need him on this team without Melo for this year.  He is another one of those guys that can create his own shot and can provide instant offense.  The difference between JR and Melo is that Melo is more consistent, and doesn't act as childish sometimes.  The only way we can get ride of JR this year is if we can get another scorer similar to JR, that is more consistent.  Looking past this season, I believe we will let him go, as I think George Karl might explode if the Nuggets signed JR to a long-term extension.

In terms of players that I believe can be involved in a trade are as follows:

K-Mart, Billups, Harrington, and Anderson.  If the Nuggets are going to truly rebuild, then all of these players are expendable. I think that only one of these players would join Melo in a trade.  I could be wrong on this one if the Nuggets attempt to pull a trade a la the Magic, which completely changed that team.  I think that we will trade Melo, but we will wait for the summer to truly rebuild as some of these contracts will come off the books.

The attributes of trades the Nuggets should look for involving Melo are:

1. They must get a player that is able to create their own shot to fill that void left by Melo.  I understand that the efficiency will not be the same, but the player needs to at least have the potential to take over games.

2. We need at least 2-3 #1 picks from lottery eligible teams.  We may end up with more depending on the deal, but we don't want picks from playoff contenders.

3. We must get at least one player younger than Melo.  The main person in the trade has to be younger than Melo unless it's another superstar.  We already have one of the older lineups in the league, so we need to get younger, and in a hurry.

4. We must get one or two players that can play defense, or be coachable on the defensive end. If we are going to be giving up offense ability, we need to get back some defensive toughness.  If we don't we will turn into the Golden State Warriors and a non-factor in the Western Conference.

5. This is not a necessity, but I would like the player to be bigger than Melo.  Our team has been undersized for the last few years, and if we're going to rebuild we might as well get big.

Looking at this list you may realize as I have, that Nuggets basketball is going to drastically change in the next few months.  We will go from possible contenders to possibly out of the playoffs.  We will not contend for a title trading Melo for pennies on the dollar, but that is the situation were faced with.  If we get another star in any of these trades, you can damn well guarantee that they wont be even close to Melo in terms of talent.  We have to hope that the players we get (that aren't fillers) will grow into stars. 

One name that has been mentioned since training camp is Derrick Favors.  The problem with getting Favors for this season is that he can't create his own shot.  Hell he isn't even starting on his own team.  This kid may blossom into a nice PF, but getting him for this year will most certainly send us to the 7-8 seed and possibly out of the playoffs.  If the Nuggets Brass want to keep the fan base interested it would be wise not to get only Favors, picks, and an expiring contract for Melo.  The idea that the Nuggets want cap relief for Melo baffles me a little bit.  At the end of this year we have at least 23 Million coming off the cap with a possibility of shedding 45 million plus.  The Nuggets aren't going to entice big time free agents this summer without a star player or two.  The Nuggets have always had trouble getting good free agents to even consider coming to Denver.  The best way for the Nuggets to acquire great talent will be through the draft and through trades.  Either way, the next few months will determine the next 3-5 years for the Nuggets organization.

The Nuggets ergg Melo situation needs to be over.  By over, I mean the media needs to stop false reporting and blowing smoke up my ass with unnamed sources and unrealistic trades.  The media needs to stop reporting on an issue that is really a non critical situation at the moment.  Melo hasn't said anything, and the Nuggets haven't done anything.

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The Denver Nuggets have over the past two summers shown no real desire to improve the obvious weakness on this team (BIG MEN).  Why?  All we've heard coming from the F.O. is that "we tried really hard, but....."  Or, "we offered this guy a contract, but......"  As a die hard Nuggets fan I'm over it!!!!!

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The past two years have been unbelievable being a Nuggets fan.  We have been seeing things on the court that haven't happened in over 20 years.  Unfortunately, I think this run is bound to end, and quite soon.  With K-mart "possibly needing knee surgery," it appears that the Nuggets are about to take a turn for the worst. 

So who's to blame?  K-mart?  The "physical" nature of basketball?  No.  I blame this on our front office and George Karl.  The oldest, and most injury prone players on this team have been over used and it's finally catching up to us.  If you have two out of three big men you play with Knee tendinitis, you are doing something wrong.  Chauncey, K-mart, Nene, and Bird have all seen minute increases of at least one minute from their career averages.  Why?  Theses guys are not wine, and they are the most injury prone players on our team. 

I do sympathize with Karl because he was not given another big man when he has publicly said that having another big is what he thinks this team could use.  The fact is, we didn't get another big and other players need to be playing.  Only playing 8 men the entire season is inexcusable.  When given the opportunity, Malik Allen and Joey Graham have shown that they can at least step in for a few minutes a game and relieve some of the pressure off of our three main bigs.  If you watch the Lakers games this year against us, you will notice that Phil has given other players like Powell, Walton, Vujacic and others meaningful minutes in the second quarter.  Phil has a the bigger picture in mind.  This is a long distance race, not a sprint.  By playing people like Powell, Walton, and Mbenga he assures himself the opportunity to have his starters fresh and ready for the fourth quarter or more importantly "THE PLAYOFFS?"  Karl uses 8 guys and that's it.  For a team filled with players that have had serious health issues, this is just dumb.

The second reason we find ourselves in this dilemma is our front office and owner Mr. Stan.  Stan has decided to go cheap on us and it's showing.  This whole business of, "we tried to get _____" irritates me to no end.  I don't care who you talked to, or who considered coming here.  We needed a big and we got absolutely NOTHING.  Was the front office and Stan watching the Lakers series last year?  Did they see how we ran out of gas in the final two games, and just could not match up height wise with the Lakers?  Apparently not.  We have had ample opportunity to get someone in here.  Does Dejuan Blair ring a bell?  Does Channing Frye ring a bell?  Instead we have decided to let Karl run our players into the ground.  Better Luck Next Year....