Denver needs another big man down low

Stopped six wins away from an NBA title last spring, the Denver Nuggets lacked the one piece necessary to knock off the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers and play in the finals against the Orlando Magic.

Sorely missing was a 7-foot monster who could either badger opposing big men or dominate in the low post. Lakers center Pau Gasol and his long length dominated Nene in the conference finals last year. Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom controlled the boards, which gave Los Angeles more possessions and eventually a finals appearance.

The same problem was evident in the first two games of the new season. Against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night, Nene was held to only six rebounds. A starting center on a contending team should average at least 10-12 a game.

Granted, Nene was covering the rangy Mehmet Okur, who plays constantly in the mid-post or hovers around the 3-point line launching jump shots, which drags Nene out of the low post. Nene still should have had more rebounds to help contribute to his full potential in the Jazz game.

The problem was more serious in the Thursday night game against the Trail Blazers. Portland outrebounded Denver 44-36 and had nine more offensive boards than the Nuggets.

Giving up offensive rebounds in the NBA will lead any team to a loss. If it were not for Portland’s choking at the free-throw line, Denver would have lost the game. To go along with the poor rebounding, Denver’s starting power forward and center combined for a pathetic 13 points. That won’t get it done against the Lakers and San Antonio Spurs.

Both the Spurs and Lakers have something Denver doesn’t: a dominating post player. San Antonio has one of the best in the game in Tim Duncan, and Los Angeles has Gasol, who bullied Denver last year. If Denver wants to compete, it must bring in another post player

One big man out there who would fill the defensive-rebounding role would be Jeff Foster of the Indiana Pacers. Foster is 7 feet tall with length, much like Gasol. He is notorious for his bruising defense in the paint. Just ask Carmelo Anthony. Foster broke Anthony’s hand when he attempted to dunk the ball in a game at the Pepsi Center last year.

Foster could either start with Nene when Denver is playing a team that features an offensive-minded big man or bring Foster off the bench with Chris Anderson and allow them to clean up the boards. Foster would give Anderson more freedom to try to block shots, which is his strongest attribute, because Foster would be there to get the rebound if Anderson missed the block.

Foster does come with a price — $6 million on his contract — but it may not be as steep as some think. In Indiana’s first game against the Atlanta Hawks, Foster logged only 16 minutes. He is the most expensive big man on a roster loaded with big men, including second-year player Roy Hibbert and rookie Tyler Hansbrough.

Indiana could choose to save money and send Foster to Denver in exchange for a large portion of Denver’s remaining $7.4 million trade exception from the Allen Iverson deal. Indiana and Denver would have to make a decision soon because that trade exception expires Tuesday, Nov 3.

Another possibility would be Ronny Turiaf from the Golden State Warriors. Turiaf is starting for Golden State at power forward, but the Warriors have the promising Anthony Randolph, who could be inserted into the starting lineup, as well as veteran Mikki Moore.

Turiaf is due a little over $4 million this year, so again, Denver would need to use the Iverson exception. Turiaf brings rebounding as well as a good low-post offensive presence, but he may be a little tougher to pry loose. Nonetheless, these are two players the Nuggets should consider before the valuable trade exception expires.

Denver is close to being a top three team. With one more big man, Denver could contend with any team in a seven-game series and strongly challenge the current elites for the title.

NUGGETS NOTES:

The Nuggets have signed forward Renaldo Balkman to a contract extension and exercised the fourth-year option on the contract of guard Arron Afflalo, team Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced Saturday.

Last season, Balkman averaged a career-high 5.0 points per game and 3.8 rebounds per game while shooting a career-high .558 from the field in 53 games with the Nuggets. Per league policy, terms of Balkman’s deal were not released.

Balkman was acquired by trade from the New York Knicks on July 28, 2008, in exchange for guard Taurean Green, forward Bobby Jones and a 2010 second-round draft pick.

In his first two games with Denver, Afflalo he has averaged 1.5 points ppg and 1.0 assists per game in 18.5 minutes.

Afflalo was acquired by trade from the Detroit Pistons on July 13 in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

The UCLA product was selected by the Pistons in the first round (27th overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft and averaged 4.3 ppg and 1.8 rebounds per game in 14.8 minutes per contest in two seasons in Detroit.