Game 30: Denver Nuggets 95 – Golden State Warriors 105

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Box Score

There was one major difference between the first game against Golden State and tonight’s game.  I will give you two different sets of numbers.   

23-43 

and 

10-29 

In the previous game against the Warriors the Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson combined to shoot 23-43.  Tonight they combined to shoot 10-29.  That’s umm, not so good. 

It was mentioned in my last post and in the comments section that the Nuggets offense the other night in Oakland was based far too much on isolation sets.  When Melo and AI are hitting their shots and attacking the rim that type of offense in a fast paced game can produce 124 points.  When even only one of them has a good game it results in 95 points.  I would hate to see what would have happened if Melo had shot as poorly as Iverson. 

Even on possessions where the Nuggets moved and passed the ball, which were about as common as a svelte Samoan, they just were not in sync.  It may have just been one of those nights or part of the reason for their discombobulation on offense when they actually tried to run something may have been because they had no idea how to do anything more complex than pass to AI or Melo and clear out. 

Another difference between the two games was the Warriors inability to hit threes in the fourth quarter in the first game (going 2-11 from behind the arc) and their more restrained attitude in the fourth quarter in this game (2-4).  Golden State did a great job of slowing the pace down and playing under control in the fourth quarter. 

The Nuggets lost some of the positive momentum they had built up tonight.  Nene looked rusty for the first time since returning from injury and Kenyon Martin’s strain looks to be worse than expected as he has missed the past two games.  Instead of being healthy and on a roll heading into their next game, which happens to be against the World Champion San Antonio Spurs, they are unsure about Martin and they are not playing a style that will translate into success against such a strong defensive team. 

Other Observations From Game 30: 

 - I mentioned Nene looked rusty, but it was not all his fault.  The Nuggets did not do a good job of hitting him when he was open under the basket and there were occasions when he did have the ball that their spacing was so poor he had no room to operate.   

He was also the biggest mismatch on both ends of the floor finding himself guarding players like Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson and being guarded by Barnes or other smaller players.  He failed to take advantage of his mismatch when the Nuggets had the ball, but Golden State did not make the same mistake.   

 - Both teams shot poorly, but the Nuggets compounded their shooting woes by turning the ball over 24 times.  When a team is shooting poorly, you cannot afford to give that many possessions away.  Denver did grab 19 offensive rebounds, but part of that is a factor of how many shot they missed, which happened to be 55! 

 - The pattern for the quarter by quarter pace factor we tracked in Golden State was repeated tonight.  The pace factor of the first quarter was 116, the second quarter it was 106.  Things picked up in the third quarter as it increased to 110, but in the fourth quarter the pace factor dropped down to 94.   

 - The downside of getting a lot of steals is he exposes his teammates to being undermanned by running out of the play.  The other downside of overplaying the passing lane like he does is he is susceptible to backdoor cuts.  Monta Ellis did a great job of making those backdoor cuts, but fortunately the Warriors did not really look to take advantage of those situations. 

 - I thought the Nuggets did a good job of trying to run, even after made baskets.  They ended up with only 11 fast break points, but had they not pushed the pace like they did, they may not have scored any more than 80 points. 

 -  Do not look know, but the Blazers won their 13^th straight game tonight and are now tied for first in the Northwest Division.  Can someone please beat Portland! 

Once again check out Golden State of Mind for some thoughts from the Warriors’ side of things.

Game 29: Denver Nuggets 124 – Golden State Warriors 120

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

What happens when two teams who are both in the top three in scoring and pace factor play each other?   

Fast breaks.  Lotsa’ threes.  Points.  Fun. 

Going into the game it was clear that the Nuggets faced a stern test.  Golden State has gone 8-1 at home since Stephen Jackson returned from his suspension for pretending he was the star in an action movie during the off season.  Golden State is a great offensive team because they create matchup problems all over the floor.  They usually have four players who are capable and willing three point shooters and there are several sequences during every game where all five players on the court are ready and able to pop the three.  Then to take that advantage to a higher level they push the pace relentlessly.   

They also have a big man in Andris Biedrins who does a great job of cutting to the basket both off of pick and rolls and from the weak side.  Biedrins has great hands and is a very good finisher around the hoop.   

Add in good isolation players like Barron Davis, Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson (who is more crafty than quick) and the only way to shut these guys down is to pray for a power outage.   

The offenses (and defenses) of both teams did not disappoint.  After the first possession of the fourth quarter both teams were already over 100 points.   

Thanks to NBA League Pass and the fact that the Warriors play a lot of late games due to society’s insistence to use time zones I have seen a lot of Golden State games over the past couple of years.  When playing at home the Warriors have a tendency of ramping up their defense in the fourth quarter.  They ride the emotion from their great crowds and play with great intensity.  Free flowing games end up grinding to a halt as they milk the clock and rely on Baron Davis to create shots for himself or his teammates late in the shot clock. 

With this in mind I was very worried about the Nuggets’ ability to keep up with the Warriors when Melo was called for his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter.  Allen Iverson came to the rescue as he so frequently has in the past couple of weeks.  He singlehandedly kept the Nuggets in the lead through the fourth quarter. 

Even after Melo returned Iverson was the man that carried the load.   AI did a great job of forcing contact and getting to the line.  He found himself frequently matched up with players such as Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.  It is easy for quick players in those situations to settle for long pull up jumpers.  Iverson continually attacked them and that resulted in eight fourth quarter free throws.   

In the end Stephen Jackson had his chance to make love to pressure as he claims he is wont to do, but pressure had a headache, rolled over and turned out the light as his three pointer that would have put the Warriors up one in the closing seconds caromed off the rim.  Now we all can say we know how it feels to be an NBA player. 

I thought the Nuggets played another focused game from start to finish.  We have seen them string together two and a half consistently good efforts in a row starting at half time of the Kings game.  They have done that a couple of times so far this season only to go on a stretch of maddeningly inconsistent games. 

The schedule takes them home to play Golden State on Sunday and then they get a long rest before facing the Spurs on Thursday.  I think you will see the Nuggets put forth good efforts in those games and hopefully run their record up to 20-11.   After that they go on the road to face the horrid Timberwolves and as we all know, that is probably a big warning sign for Nugget fans. 

Other Observations From Game 29: 

 - I mentioned pace factor earlier in the post.  Pace factor is simply how many possessions a team averages over the course of a game.  Denver is first in pace factor at 103.  Golden State is third at 100.9.  Obviously the pace of tonight’s game would make Lance Armstrong wishing he was about to head into the Andes with his little ten speed.   

I charted the pace quarter by quarter and extrapolated it out to what that quarter’s pace would be if it was carried out throughout an entire game.  Here is what I found out: 

First quarter pace factor = 118

Second quarter pace factor = 104

Third quarter pace factor = 100

Fourth quarter pace factor = 92 

Earlier I mentioned how the Warriors like to make things as crazy as possible through three quarters and then try to buckle down in the fourth.  These numbers bear that out.  Both teams scored over 30 points in each of the first three quarters.  In the fourth quarter Golden State outscored Denver 23-22.   

I find it interesting that both teams that are known to push the pace are content to play a much more half court style when the game is on the line.   

 - This was a tough game for Nene.  You would expect him to be able to dominate in the paint against a smaller Warrior squad, but Golden State is used to having teams try to pound the ball in side and they are very adept at swarming around and making life difficult on bigger post players.   

The Warriors are also good at exposing bigger players when they are on offense.  Both Camby and Nene found themselves in foul trouble partially due to unsuccessfully trying to draw charges against quicker players.  Actually the unsuccessful part could be up for debate.  It kind of seemed like the Warriors got all the borderline, and not so borderline charge/block calls, but why complain about things like that after a win, right?   

 - It was also a bad game for Najera to have to start in place of Kenyon Martin.  Najera is not a post player capable of taking advantage of his extra girth on offense and he was too slow to keep up with Matt Barnes and Al Harrington.  If Martin can play on Sunday, it will help the Nuggets with that matchup problem. 

 - Melo missed a lot of time in the second half with foul trouble and we talked about how Iverson took care of the fourth quarter, but Linas Kleiza did a very good job to keep them in the game in the third when Melo was on the pine.  Kleiza actually scored the last 11 points of the third quarter for the Nuggets. 

Melo only scored six points in the second half, but the Nuggets still managed to score 53.  Iverson scored 21 of those and Kleiza and Camby came up big to help fill in some of the slack.  Anthony Carter hit a shot with just over seven minutes left in the third quarter and after that the only Nuggets to score were Iverson, Kleiza, Camby and Melo.  That attack was about as diverse as a KKK rally.   

 - The Nuggets may have won the game at the foul line as they shot 33-37 for the game.  Iverson, Melo and Kleiza were 29-31 from the line.   

 - At one point Altitude missed ten seconds of game time and what was described as a long two by Stephen Jackson after repeatedly showing a charge called against Carmelo.  We saw it, OK!  We know it was a charge!  We know he should have either pulled up or passed it!  Show the fricking game! 

 - By the way, Microsoft Word in all of its contempt for humanity suggests I change fricking to frisking or frocking.  I may take them up on frocking.  That sounds kind of naughty.  

 - The Nuggets were not as stationary as they have been in the past on offense, but their offense was definitely comprised of mostly isolation plays.  They ended up with only 13 assists on 43 makes.  That is usually a deadly ratio for the Nuggets.  The offense was helped by the fact that Golden State did not have anyone who matches up well with either AI or Carmelo and they were able to create quality shots on their own.   

That style of offense is fine when AI and Melo are shooting a combined 23-43, but if one of them had an off night things would have been much different. 

 - If you will permit me let’s look at a basic box score stat one more time.  The Nuggets scored 124 points while only being credited with six fast break points.  How is that possible?  Typically if they end up with six fast break points they would end the game with 78 points or something similarly insipid.   

 - I am always impressed with the Warriors unselfishness from the perimeter.  They frequently make an extra-extra pass.  Many times you see them swing the ball around the three point line and when they have the shot most teams take and most defenses are designed to have a player running at the shooter on the rotation, they throw the ball one more time to a player that the defense is completely unprepared to guard and instead of having a defender run at them, they have a completely open shot.   

 - J.R. Smith played very well.  He played eight minutes and took four shots, but none of them were threes.  He drove to the rim at every opportunity and from what I saw only made one late rotation on defense. 

 - I liked the breakdown of minutes amongst the point guards.  Anthony Carter played 27 minutes and Chucky Atkins played 21.  I have no problem with Atkins playing 20 minutes in the role of a sniper and the only Nugget who seems to be able to pass the ball to the roller on a pick and roll.   

While we are here, I know he is one of the premiere scorers of all time, but has anyone ever explained to Iverson that the pick and roll is not just designed to get him a shot.  Can one of the Nuggets plethora of assistant coaches please inform him that there actually is another option on the play? 

To partake of some insight from the Warrior’s perspective, and to see one of the absolute best blogging communities around, check out Golden State of Mind.  Just try not to be too disappointed with Born a Nuggets Fan when you come back.

Chaos in the Wild, Wild West

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What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is going on here? 

The Northwest Division is in turmoil.  Denver remains in first place, but Portland is on a nine game winning streak and has surpassed Utah.  The Jazz are 1-8 over their previous nine games and actually out of the top eight in the west at this point.  Even though the Nuggets are in first they are only 6-7 since they hit their high point of 8-3 earlier in the season.   

Will Denver or Utah ever get their sad little acts together?  Right now it is a race between two Yugos that have had their little engines replaced with some 500 horsepower beast of an engine.  Both cars sound great when you step on the gas, but the driver’s cannot steer and rainwater is pouring in through the windows.   

I keep waiting for Utah to bounce back thinking that every loss is rock bottom, but they continue to find new low after new low.  If the Nuggets go through a stretch like that this season there would not be an unbroken piece of glass, mirror or television screen left in my house.   

There is a bright spot the size of a gnats’ jimmy for the Jazz it is that seven of those eight losses were on the road.  The losses to the Spurs, Mavs, Suns and Blazers can be explained away, but the last two defeats at the hands of the Hawks and the Bobcats must be especially disturbing to Utah.   

Once again rock bottom may be a few more rungs down as their next three games are at Orlando, at Miami, home against Dallas and then at the Lakers.  As a Nugget fan, I am enjoying every floor the Jazz crash through as they plummet to the basement.   

Portland is an amazing story.  Written off before the season started they have interrupted the exclusive meeting of western playoff contenders with some very impressive play the past three weeks.  After watching the recording of the game they had against the Nuggets the other night I believe more than ever that they earned that game.  Their shooting in the third quarter was quite impressive.  Tonight they had another strong comeback against the Raptors to keep their streak alive. 

Even with their incredible current streak it is difficult to see Portland ending up much better than .500.  They are still young and this winning streak cannot go on much longer the way they have barely eked out some of those games.  Once this momentum ends we will see what they are really made out of.  As opposed to Utah who is feeling the pain on the road, Portland has enjoyed a hoard of home games as they have won six of the nine games at home.  Their run may still have some legs to it though as their next four games are at home and they may very well have vaulted into first place by then. 

We have been over and over the Nuggets’ situation because that is what we do here.  We can now count the Nugg Doctor among the growing number of fans who believe this team will be battling inconsistency all season.  It is clear that the Nuggets can play better and I am sure they will.  The return of Nene will help, but many of you already know I believe Chucky Atkins will be about as useful as a concrete pillow.  Anthony Carter is a much better player, especially on defense, and Carter has done a great job of hitting open shots, which is all Atkins is good for.   

The inconsistent play is not just plaguing the Northwest Division.  Houston has not been anywhere near as good as advertised.  They are closer to Sacramento than they are to the eighth seed and that is not because the Kings are any good.  Phoenix is currently enduring a 2-4 stretch.  Dallas has decided not to focus so stringently on the regular season after realizing that killing yourself to win 67 games does not necessarily do much to help you get past the first round of the playoffs.  San Antonio came out of the gates red hot, but they have never placed much emphasis on the regular season.  They are not going to kill themselves to maximize their regular season win total.   

The only two teams that have been consistent from start of the season through today are the Lakers and the Hornets.  I guess the Timberwolves and SuperSonics have been very consistent as well, but not in a good way.  Neither the Lakers nor the Hornets have played a cake schedule, both have had a pretty even mix of road and home games and neither one has undergone a damaging losing streak.   

The wild card in the west has to be Golden State.  Even since Stephen Jackson, who claims to “make love to pressure,” (actual Stephen Jackson quote that makes you wonder who is responsible for the birth control in that relationship) returned from his suspension they have been sensational.  They may not be an elite team, but they have not had what I would call a “bad loss” since Jackson started suiting up.  I think they will definitely level out a bit, but they must be considered a legitimate team in the race for the fourth seed. 

In the end I am sure some combination of the Spurs, Mavs and Suns will possess the top three records in the west at season’s end, but is there any team out there who you believe is a shoe in for that fourth spot?  If I had to pick a team with my family’s life on the line I would have to try to kill all the bad guys who held them captive because even though I am a supreme wuss I would have better odds at going John McClain on them than correctly selecting the team that will end up fourth.   

This may all seem a bit uneven, but after all of this analysis I am here to deliver good news to Nuggets fans.  They are in that fourth spot right now as they are currently leading the division.  Nevermind the fact that they only have the sixth best record and they are equally close to the eighth spot as the fourth.   

That fourth spot would guarantee one thing.  The Nuggets would not have to play the Spurs, Suns or Mavs until round two.  Of course, last time they avoided one of the top teams they were embarrassed and eviscerated by the Clippers.   

That series proved that losing to the Spurs is not so bad after all.  At least there is some dignity in it.

Accute Summer League Obsservations

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

• Marco Belinelli has been the most enjoyable player to watch. He is a complete chucker, but has been dialed in enough to make a great first impression.  He is one of those players who seems to be a better shooter when turning around with a hand in his face than spotting up wide open.  Of course, so far he has made plenty of shots both open and well defended.  He is also a tremendous passer always hitting his teammates in stride no matter how small of a window he has to squeeze the pass through.
• Golden State has the most entertaining team as a whole.  Along side of Belinelli they have Pierre Pierce, who was kicked off the team at Iowa a couple of seasons ago and Kelenna Azubuike from Kentucky who played with them sparingly last season.  These three have pushed the pace and set each other up beautifully.  They all have been making the right decision every time down the court.
• Jose Juan Berea has had a marvelous start to his summer.  The mighty mite has done a great job of running the offense while scoring points when he has to.  He would be a great change of pace point guard for Dallas to bring off the bench next season.  Devin Harris can play fast, but not like Berea and he is nowhere near the shooter Berea is.
• The next time that either Johan Petro or Mouhamed Sene pass out of the post will be the first.  These guys have been complete black holes.  I am sure the coaches want them to work on their post up game, but they should not ignore working on passing out of the post since that is what both of them will be doing most of the time in the NBA.
• Kevin Durant has absolutely been a disappointment. Everyone will say that it is just summer league, but a player with his abilities should not be shooting 25%.  He has two more games to turn it around.  The fact that he has not recorded an assist after the attention he gets from defenses is absurd.  On the bright side, he has done a good job of drawing fouls even though many of them are non shooting fouls and some of his statistical ineptitude can be attributed to whoever the official scorer is.  Against the Knicks he blocked a couple of shots in the first half that he did not get credit for, stole a pass that he did not get credit for and he definitely had more than one rebound.
• Yi Jianlian has been decent.  Like Durant he has not really gotten in a groove yet. The talent is there.  His offensive game is already relatively polished.  He has good footwork and it is difficult to not be impressed when you see his spin move in the post and his step back jumper on the perimeter.  He will be a very good inside out offensive player.  Like Durant, he draws a lot of non shooting fouls because he posts up so aggressively.
• Somehow Marcus Banks scored 42 points and made four out of five three pointers in the Suns first game.  He must have thought he was back in college at UNLV.  I watched the archived broadcast of the Phoenix/Cleveland game (just to see how on earth Banks scored 42 points) and the announcer must have been Marcus Banks’ old roommate from UNLV.  Whenever someone scored he said the player’s first name and then yelled their last name while increasing the volume and pitch.  Every time someone scored it was the same.  There was one instance where he did something different.  Marcus Banks made a common everyday one handed break away dunk and he suddenly yells, “Slam Dunk!” followed by the standard, “Marcus BANKS!”  I wondered if he would get that excited about every dunk and on the next possession Dwayne Jones dunked for Cleveland and we once again treated with the standard first and last name.  How disappointing that must have been for Dwayne.  There may have been more than 20 people watching this game from the stands if they just had silence instead of the announcer doing his shtick.  It got old fast.
• Louis Williams has been a scoring machine.  He has been able to get to the basket at will and his jumper looks to be much improved.  He plays a similar style to Iverson which makes it doubtful his success will translate with the parent club as he will not be able to dominate the ball.  He will be able to score though if he is given the chance and his constant parade to the free throw line shows that he is being aggressive attacking the basket and not just settling for jumpers.
• Former Nugget fan favorite Ryan Bowen is on the Timberwolves summer league team.  It still makes me mad that Nugget fans were so attached to him.  I appreciated his hustle as much as anyone, but for people to have said if they traded him they would stop watching the Nuggets was a joke.  He is a 10^th man at best on a shallow roster.  Enjoy his hustle, but do not make him a folk hero.  Of course these comments are about five years to late, but I did not have a blog back then.
• The Nuggets are getting very good performances from Will Blalock, Jelani McCoy, Curtis Sumpter and the prize prospect Von Wafer.

Blalock has done a good job pushing the pace, making the right decision when running the offense and has played pretty solid defense.  If Steve Blake ends up going somewhere else, they will replace him with a veteran, but they will probably be interested in bringing in a young player like Blalock to add a prospect for the future.

McCoy has been very good showing his athleticism and shot blocking ability.  He definitely belongs on someone’s bench. His offense has been limited to put backs, but he is playing very well.  At worst he is a player that you could put on Tim Duncan for a few spot minutes and would provide insurance in case of foul trouble.  We mentioned him as a potential replacement for Jamal Sampson and at this point, Sampson has the size advantage, but McCoy has an advantage in the athleticism department.  He can run the floor very well which is important for a Nuggets big man.  McCoy is listed at his standard 245, but he looks bigger to me than he did in the past.

Going into summer league play we mentioned Curtis Sumpter is an intriguing player and he just needed to be able to shoot from outside.  Well, he has done that and more.  He has shown a very good feel for when to slash to the basket, made some nice passes, been active and even made a couple of three pointers.  If he continues to play like this, he should be invited to camp along with Blalock and McCoy.

Von Wafer is the player with the best shot at being in the rotation next season and he has been good, but not great.  He missed all four of his three point attempts in their first game, but cashed in on three of four in the second game including an angry three after missing two free throws with a defender in his face (on the three pointer, not the free throws).  He has also done a good job being aggressive and making his way into the lane by utilizing a pump fake on the perimeter.  He even tried to ram a dunk down on top of Pops Mensah-Bonsu the pogo stick from George Washington and drew the foul.  He has not been a star, but is definitely showing why the Nuggets are excited about him.

Larry O’Bannon played very well in the second game showing a good touch from outside and solid athleticism after barely seeing the floor in game one.

I ripped Lamond Murray’s inclusion on the Nuggets’ roster and despite a very solid shooting performance in the first game I stand by it.  He was much worse in game two.  They conveniently forgot to list his birth date on his summer league profile page, but undeterred I found out that he turned 34 in April.

Skita has shown progress in his understanding of the game, but is still no where near being an NBA player.  He has one of the worst spin moves when driving the lane, but he insists on using it often.  Most players change direction when they spin to get around a defender or seal the defender on their back.  Skita just barrels straight ahead into the defender.  It is neither graceful nor effective. 

Other players that have not looked good at all are Dontaye Draper, Bracey Wright and Matt Freije.  Sorry to any family members or college buddies of these three who may have read that, but it is true.

Summer League Roster Announced

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The Nuggets summer league roster has been announced and for a team without a draft pick last week, there are some intriguing names on the list. 

Anthony Carter, DerMarr Johnson and Jamal Sampson are players who may not be back next season and will need to be replaced.  For that matter, Steve Blake will probably be gone too, but I doubt his replacement is on the summer league roster.  It is possible that one or two of the players on the summer league roster might make the team so let’s look at the players that have the potential to stick.

Will Blaylock, PG, Iowa State – Blaylock was a second round pick by the Pistons last season and is a guard who can penetrate and set up teammates.  He is a poor shooter though and is on the small side, but he has the talent to make a roster.

Mark Karcher, G/F, Temple – Karcher was the best player for a couple of years at Temple and is a decent scorer.  I have no idea how his game has advanced over the past couple of seasons as he has not been in the NBA, but he has potential to create offense off the bench.

Jelani McCoy, F/C, UCLA – McCoy has been in and out of the NBA, most recently out, but has the size and athleticism to make a roster.  He has seven years of NBA experience so if he can bring something to the table in summer league, he may be a replacement for Sampson.  I do not think I would make that exchange, but it is a possibility.

Curtis Sumpter, F, Villanova – Sumpter is a very talented player who has had several knee injuries that derailed his college career.  He is more of a power forward in a small forward’s body, but he has skills and if he can develop a decent midrange jumper, he may be able to make it in the NBA.

Dajuan Wagner, G, Memphis – Wagner was an absolute stud in high school and at Memphis.  He came out after one season and was drafted between Skita and Nene.  He had some strange flukie health problems (an infection that spread form his bladder to his urethra, does not sound fun) and is trying to get back to the NBA.  He was on Golden State’s roster to begin last season, but was let go early on.  It is unlikely he will ever be what he could have been had he stayed healthy, but if he can recapture a little of that talent he had entering the league he can be a contributor in the NBA.  

There are also two players that make me wonder what on earth the Nuggets were thinking.  First of all Skita is on the roster.  Do the Nuggets really need to bring in a guy who represents one of the worst decisions and biggest missed opportunities in team history when the Nuggets could have drafted Amare Stoudemire or Caron Butler instead of Skita?  Why Skita?  Was Mark Macon unavailable?

Secondly, Lamond Murray who has not been in the league for probably two or three years and has no contributed anything for probably five years is on the roster.  Do we really need to see what he can do?  Why not bring in Richard Dumas or John Wallace?  Hopefully, he is being considered as a potential coaching candidate, because if he actually plays I will be very confused.

There are 14 players on the roster.  Would 12 have been too few?  

Who is not there?  Kiki’s big reach from the 2005 draft Ricky Sanchez is AWOL.  He has been playing with the Idaho Stampede in the CBA, but no one ever mentions him as someone the Nuggets are watching anymore.  I can count seven players that were drafted behind Ricky that have a future in the NBA and three that I personally would have picked ahead of him (Andray Blatche, Monta Ellis or Ersan Ilyasova in that order).  Actually, there are probably about 20 or 30 players that I would have picked ahead of him, but those three were guys that I really liked (and still do). 

The player to watch is Von Wafer who the Nuggets called up from the NBDL last season.  Wafer hit 45% of his threes and if he can even just play acceptable defense and mistake free offense the Nuggets could really use that shooting.  The Nuggets picked him up last season knowing that they had no picks in the 2007 draft so that they had at least one prospect heading into the season.  It may work out and if it does, we will see the first signs of that starting this weekend in Las Vegas.

Update:  The Nuggets have announced that Dajuan Wagner will not be part of their summer league team. No reason was given and I have yet to see Wagner on any other team’s summer league roster. The Nuggets have added Bracey Wright who played (or should I say watched) for Minnesota the past couple of seasons.  

Thumbs Up for the 2007 NBA Draft

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

 Lots of spare thoughts about the draft…

- How could the Blazers have traded Randolph to the Knicks without forcing them to take on Darius Miles as part of the deal?

My concerns about Randolph playing alongside of Oden will are still valid with Randolph playing alongside of Eddy Curry.  What I said in a previous post was Nate McMillen hounded Randolph to play inside instead of setting for 18 footers.  With Oden on the block would Zach be happy to settle for jumpers?  Now with him playing alongside of Curry, will he be happy to settle for jumpers in New York? 

I have more thoughts about the Steve Francis aspect of this deal, but I doubt many people are interested so I have moved it to the end of the blog.

- The Sports Guy stole my thunder in his draft diary, but the trade of Jason Richardson to Charlotte for Brandan Wright seems like the first step in acquiring Yi Jianlian from the Bucks.  Rumors had it that they were shopping Richardson to get a pick high enough to land Yi.  Since Milwaukee drafted Yi, they did the trade anyway hoping that he will refuse to play for the Bucks.  If the Bucks are right and they are able to get Yi to play for them, this was a horrible trade for Golden State.  They should have waited to pull the trigger until they knew Yi was available. 

However, even if they do acquire Yi, they just traded their second best player away for a project the year after making the playoffs for the first time in 12 or 13 years.  I love Monta Ellis and he can more than replace Richardson’s scoring, but he will not provide the all around game and presence that Richardson gave them.  Say hello to the lottery again next season Warrior fans. 

- The other big trade of the night was Ray Allen to Boston for the fifth pick, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West.  There are a number of issues here so lets take a look at them. 

First, Boston was obviously really shopping that pick hard.  Ainge knew that the fans were tired of the youth movement and his career termination warning light was flashing.  He had to get a veteran for that pick and he did. 

Second, is Allen the right veteran?  Ray Allen will make any team better.  He is a great shooter and a smart player.  With Rajon Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Al Jefferson and Perkins, they have a very solid playoff quality starting five, but before they start printing playoff tickets in Boston, there is an age and injury question though.  Over the previous four seasons Allen has missed 26 games in 03-04 and 27 games last season.  He will turn 32 in July.  Pierce has been healthy over the previous seven seasons, but missed 35 games last season and will turn 30 before next season starts.  With both of these guys playing on the perimeter, there is a chance that one or both will break down soon.  However, Boston did land a quality veteran without giving up any of their young talent such as Rondo, Gerald Green, Sebastien Telfair or Al Jefferson.  Add in Glen Davis who they acquired in the trade, Ryan Gomes, and a healthy Tony Allen and this team is at least ten deep.

There are also interesting issues from Seattle’s standpoint.  Trading Ray Allen kicks off a youth movement that should create a quick return to respectability.  The first question that comes up is was Jeff Green the best pick at #5?  It certainly was not a bad pick, but there were players with more potential there.  They have a sure thing in Durant, the chance to gamble a little with the fifth pick was there.  A player with big time potential such as Yi or Brandan Wright may have given the Sonics a better shot at having a great team in three years instead of a very good one.  On the other hand, Green has a wide range of skills and will be a very good wingman for Durant.  Their skills do complement each other very well.  Ultimately, I do not have a problem with Jeff Green, but at some point in the future they may be kicking themselves for not nabbing either Yi or Wright.

The other big question surrounding Seattle is what does the drafting of two small forward/power forward combo players mean for the future of Rashard Lewis?  Reports were the Sonics want to try to retain him.  I do not think he will want to stay with the current makeup of the team.  I still believe that a sign and trade for him is the best course of action for Seattle. 

- Sacramento will rue the day they drafted Spencer Hawes.  He may be able to toss in some jump hooks around the basket and hit 18 footers, but he cannot rebound or defend and that seems unlikely to ever change.  I am not saying he is Rafael Araujo, but they passed on players with some serious star potential for an average center at best.

- The talent level that available towards the end of the first round and early in the second was very impressive.  We knew this going in, but it is amazing how many late first round picks will not only be on rosters, but contributing next season.  The depth of the draft is why picks such as Aaron Brooks to Houston and Alando Tucker to Phoenix were so bad.  Brooks is too small and Houston now has a glut of point guards, but none of them are very tradeable.  Who wants Alston?  (Silence…crickets chirping…)  Tucker was a strange pick because he cannot shoot.  He is a good player though and with the tempo in Phoenix, he will be a contributor.  The Tucker pick is not nearly as bad as the Brooks selection, but I still thought it was strange.

- Once again Phoenix has just given away a pick thinking that they are saving money.  Someone needs to tell Robert Sarver that another way to save money is to draft good players and then replace your more expensive players with the cheaper player you have drafted.  Would they have had to pay Diaw if they had Deng on the roster?  Would they have had to give Marcus Banks that ridiculous contract if they had drafted Rajon Rondo?

The Suns are going to hit a wall in a couple of years where they fall off the map for two reasons.  Age will eventually catch up with Nash and they have no young players in the pipeline because of their insistence on selling off their draft picks.

- All in all, last night’s draft was about as good of draft as I could remember.  Between the interesting picks, exciting trades and depth of talent the only thing it was lacking was decent commentary.  Can we please give the draft back to TNT?  Give me Hubie, Charles, Kenny and EJ any day of the week over the jokers from ESPN.

- Now the aforementioned Steve Francis commentary…

The reports are the Portland will buy Steve Francis out of his contract and he will never play a game for them.  That raises the question, where will he end up?  I think there are a couple of good options for him if he can play the point unselfishly.

Cleveland needs a guard who can take the pressure off of LeBron, but Francis dominates the ball too much to be a good fit there. Miami is in the market for a point guard too and Francis could help take the pressure off of Wade.  Washington just added Nick Young last night to play the two, but Francis is from the Maryland side of DC, he was drafted in the MCI Center (or whatever it is called now) and hit a big game winner there last late in the season for the Knicks.  Francis could help ease the transition for Young, but are he and Arenas too similar?  I think so. 

What about the Lakers?  If they keep Kobe, which they certainly want to, Francis could be of assistance in upgrading the talent there, but he is more of an iso player than a player who would fit in the triangle.  Would Phoenix want him to help backup Nash?  Francis can definitely excel in that open style, but he would not be a starter and probably would not want to sign there if he could start somewhere else. 

Perhaps a return to Houston is in the cards.  The Rockets have Mike James, Rafer Alston and the recently drafted Aaron Brooks at the point, but they may be interested in Francis at shooting guard.  Would the Nuggets want Francis?  Kiki tried to trade for him a few years ago.  Are there still people in the organization that would like to have him?  If Minnesota fails to trade KG, Francis and Foye would make a dynamic back court combo.  Add in Ricky Davis and Corey Brewer and the Wolves have a more talented team, but would they make the playoffs?  My guess is no.

Several teams are kicking off youth movements such as Philly, Seattle, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans, to a lesser extent Toronto is in a youth movement and Indiana and Sacramento appear prepared to embark on a youth movement. 

I do not see any team that really makes sense for Steve Francis.  I realize that no one probably really cares about where Francis ends up, but I took a flyer in him at the end of the season in my fantasy basketball keeper league with the hope that he would be moved before next season.  So far, so good.