A look at the Nuggets 10 games in
Carmelo Anthony lays it in against the Lakers in the Nuggets' Friday night 105-79 win at the Pepsi Center.
Ten games into the season, the Denver Nuggets are boasting an impressive 7-3 record. I say impressive because the Nuggets have faced four sets of back-to-backs and have played seven of the 10 games without guard J.R. Smith.
The Nuggets had impressive divisional wins against the Utah Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers as well as a promising rematch win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.
However, the Nuggets dropped two disappointing games on the road to the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks. Then came the embarrassing loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
With the first 10 games done, the Nuggets could easily be sitting 8-2 or 5-5. The Portland and Chicago games were both won inside the last minute of each game.
Starting 5-0 blanketed their Achilles heel. Carmelo Anthony played like a man among boys. The defense looked great, with the offense looking even better. There wasn’t much to complain about after the first five games, but after the loss to the Heat, the major problem could not be hidden anymore: the need for another 7-foot big man.
With 6-foot-10 Kenyon Martin and 6-foot-11 Nene, the Nuggets don’t have good size in the front court. Being outrebounded in every game, the Nuggets don’t even have a player who is averaging over 10 rebounds a game. Nene leads the team with 8.8.
Every “elite” team has a center who averages over 10 rebounds a game. The Lakers have Andrew Bynum at 12, San Antonio has Tim Duncan at 11.5, and Dallas has Erick Dampier at just shy of 10.
It’s not just the rebounding the Nuggets’ big men are lacking, it’s the offensive flow and movement. The laziness on the pick and rolls leads to a slow and unproductive offense.
Laziness on the glass leads to no rebounds and the opposing teams getting more rebounds. The Nuggets’ big men have been soft, most notably Chris “Birdman” Anderson, who inspired the team last year with his defensive play off the bench. That play has been absent this year.
When the Nuggets’ big men don’t move or set picks for the guards and forwards, the Nuggets’ offense fails. Anthony will take the ball and force a bad shot even when facing double or triple coverage.
This was the case in the Heat and Hawks losses. Melo was also guilty of this in the Bucks game. Notice how all three of those games were losses. After the Bucks game, I asked Travis Heath of hoopsworld.com what was wrong with the Nuggets offense and why Melo went from being a team leader and all-star to a ball hog who doesn’t pass the ball.
“I don’t think it’s all on him to simply pass the ball,” Heath said. “Denver’s offense has been much too stagnant, especially late in games. It’s pretty much become dump the ball off to Melo . . . and hope Melo can make a play by himself. I’d love to see more fluidity in the offense and action away from the ball. If no one is moving, it’s pretty hard for Melo to do anything other than shoot the rock.”
Basically, when the bigs aren’t moving, the guards aren’t slashing and everyone is standing around, which leaves Melo playing one-on-five basketball.
Once Dec. 15 comes around and free-agent contracts can be traded, I think Mark Warkentein will heavily pursue a big man. Heath agrees. “Denver is in the market for a big man, but nothing is expected until free-agent contracts can be traded.”
There have been many positives from the 7-3 start. Rookie guard Ty Lawson has looked phenomenal. Many experts have Lawson ranked in the top three among rookies this year. ESPN’s David Thorpe ranked Lawson No. 1.
Another bright spot has been Arron Afflalo, whose defense has been as good or better than that of former Nugget Dhantay Jones. Afflalo’s offense also provides a huge benefit. Afflalo poses a great 3-point threat, which allows Melo and Chauncey Billups to have more room to operate.
Last year, teams could double on Billups or Melo because Jones was unproductive on the offensive end. This year, teams have to stay on Afflalo or he will torch them with 3’s.
Smith also is improving, considering he’s played in only three games after sitting out the first seven with a league suspension. Andrew Feinstein of denverstiffs.com asked Nuggets coach George Karl about Smith starting.
“I don’t think J.R. wants to start,” Karl told Feinstein. The coach said Smith enjoys coming off the bench and joining an offense that is already in rhythm.
I think Smith will come off the bench for the remainder of the year but will still get 35-40 minutes a night and average anywhere from 18-21 points a game.
Billups puts the Nuggets’ motivation in perspective.
“I feel we had a real legitimate chance of winning, of beating (the Lakers last spring),” he said. “You don’t get those opportunities all the time. Even though I’ve had ‘em a few times, it just doesn’t come back around automatically just because you were good last year. This year we want to get back to that spot.”
With a move for another big man, the Nuggets could be on their way to another deep run in the playoffs.
I agree that adding another inside post player is imperative, but I fail to see why an inch really matters. So the Nuggets have no 7 footer (actually they have one on the bench)…he’s only 6’11″? Woa is me…poor Nene and K-Mart are undersized. Nonsense…K-Mart and Nene are not poor rebounders because they lack size, it’s because they lack the “want to”. Remember Fat Lever? He used to pull off double figure rebounds on a regular basis at 6’3″. Paul Silas was 6’7″ or so…Charles Barklety was 6’4″…those guys were helacious rebounders. Add another big man since they need it, but that won’t solve the problem of being lazy on the glass. Why on earth does this team not run and move without the ball every night anyway? When they do so they blow teams out, and when they don’t they frequently lose. You’d think that message is simple enough that they’d get it right? If I were Karl I’d sit people on the bench who didn’t bring a superior work ethic to the gym and the game. The fact that he doesn’t is disturbing, and it may be why some people think GK will never win a title. Can you imagine Pat Reily letting his center and power forward loaf on the glass? Larry Brown? Phil Jackson? Come on George, if you want to win a championship these guys have to start putting in a consistent effort in all phases of the game not just what gets them on ESPN.
Mark, I agree with a lot of what you’re saying. The Nuggets’ bigs have been lazy in all of the losses. Do keep in mind two of the losses were the second of a back-to-back so fatigue may have been a huge factor.
Anyways, the reason I call for another big man is because Martin is not your “average” power forward. He is an oversized small forward with the ability to guard small forwards, but playes the PF b/c Melo is at the 3. Nene is a natural PF. Idea size. I know 1 inch doesn’t sound like much, but when teams like LA throw three 7 footers at you at once (Odom, Bynum and Gasol) All the sudden Martin doesn’t look too tall an is outsized. That 1 or 2 inches is just that much more for those players to get rebounds.
Denver needs a “true” center who will rebound, box out and hit the glass hard. Nene is still maturing and tends to drag off on doubles and tends to get lost in the paint. While Martin is playing a jump shot or dibble one-on-one, that leaves no one to grab a board.
A Jeff Foster or David Lee, someone who is a true center is what denver needs. Right now I see Denver playing with two PF’s with a soft center off the bench that is more focused on blocked shots than blocking out the respected big. Once Denver adds that “true” center, I call them a legit elite.
Great article!! Can’t argue with the facts, and there’s a lot of them, glad someone knows what they’re talking about!!
Thanks Josh, I appreciate it! =)
And who are we going to loose if we need another big man.
Matthew, once free agent contracts can be traded in December, Denver can offer Malik Allen’s expirering 1.5 mil contract, Renaldo Balkman’s 2 mil contract, Anthony Carter’s 1 mil contract or Denver still has a TPE (trade exception) worth 3.6 mil which could bring in a big with a contract equal or less to 3.6 mil. Let me work out a few traes as examples and post them on here in a bit.
Nuggets trade Malik Allen and Renaldo Balkman for Ronny Turiaf. Works under the cap.
Nuggets trade 3.6 mil TPE to Detroit for Chris Wilcox
Nuggets trade Renaldo Balkman to New Jersey for Josh Boone or TPE for Boone
Nuggets trade Renaldo Balkman and 1st round pick to Washington for Andray Blatche (highly unlikely)
Nuggets trade Malik Allen and 2nd round pick to Houston for Chuck Hayes
Nuggets trade Balkman and 2nd rounder to LAC for Deandre Jordan (highly unlikely)
Nuggets trade Johan Petro, and Malik Allen to Minny for Olekiy Pecherov
Nuggets trade Balkman and 2 1st rounders to Sacramento or Spencer Hawes (I’d love this deal but it’s a pipe dream).
Other possible bigs the Nuggets may persue are; Mikki Moore, Jeff Foster, DJ Mbenga, or possibly Aaron Gray from Chicago when he is healthy again in January.
what about kwame browne?? seems like the detroit trade would work though…i think denver will pursue mbenga, moore, or foster
Kris, with all due respect, I don’t think Kwame Brown s any better than Johan Petro. After doing some research, I found that Detroit would acually rather trade Jason Maxiell over Chris Wilcox. This is intriguing becaue Maxiell is younger and in my opinion better than Wilcox.
As far as Mbenga is concerned, I have a hard time seeing LA make any trade with Denver unless it was bringing Melo or Billups to LA without losing Kobe. Foster is tough because his 6 mil contract is hard to match without Denver including a key piece. Mikki Moore could be a possibilty though.
We’ll see how things turn out by mid December. There will be many injuries and a better look at team’s records and where they are heading by then. If Denver loses Nene, Martin or Birdman for an extended period, I think we may see an even larger name brought in to Denver over the players I mentioned above.
You mean 25-30 minutes, right? Why on earth would he average 35-40?
Nuggets need Ilyasova from Milwaukee, who they flirted with drafting. A big that can spread the floor.
Luke you’re correct. 25-30 is right.
As far as IIyasova is concerned, I read today that he will be starting for the Bucks now. Don’t see him getting traded. I have however, found a likeing for Brandon Haywood the last couple of days.