Game 6: Denver Nuggets 118 – Washington Wizards 92

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

This is a day late and the Nuggets have already had a much better win, even though it may have lacked the style points that this one did, under their belt.  Still, I want to share a couple of thoughts with you all regarding the win against the Wizards. 

The ball movement was phenomenal in the second period during which they took control of the game outscoring the Wizards 32-25 resulting in a nine point half time lead.  The set that was so stagnant in Boston where everyone stood around until someone set a pick for AI, who then would either jack a shot or pass it to someone else to jack up a shot, was only used a handful of times.  They were in motion from the time the ball crossed half court.   

There are two statistical indicators of what they were doing on offense.  First of all they had 32 assists on 45 buckets a very good percentage.  When the Nuggets are winning they are sharing the ball and getting a bundle of assists.  Secondly, AI only had 15 points on only 13 shots.  The ball was not constantly in his hands and that ended up being a good thing. 

Things bogged down a bit in the third quarter, but for good reason.  Melo absolutely caught fire.  He was simply amazing.  It looked like it was a game where dad was playing with the kids and letting them win until they started talking trash.  Suddenly dad got fed up and decided to prove a point.  (You guys with boys over 10 years-old know what I am talking about.) The Nuggets absolutely destroyed the Wiz in the third quarter outscoring them 33-11.  Melo outscored them on his own 18 (I think he had 18 in the quarter, please do not make me go back through the play by play to double check it) to the aforementioned 11. 

Two other quick points and it is on to the Indy game. 

One, the Nuggets actually tried running once again and they looked a little rusty.  They constantly forced passes that were not available and that resulted in a lot of ugly basketball.  You know what, I do not care.  I am just glad that they tried to get out on the break. 

Two, the Nuggets’ three point shooting was excellent.  Melo was 2-3 which put him at 8-21 or 38% on the season, Camby was 1-1, Diawara was 2-4, AI 1-3, J.R. Smith was 2-4, Kleiza was 2-3 and Bobby Jones was 2-4.  As a team the Nuggets shot 12-25 good for 48%.

All in all the Nuggets did what they should have against a team that is not playing very good ball right now.

Summer League Roster Announced

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

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.