Last season, Denver managed to have an excellent end of the regular
season, by winning 10 of their last 14 games and reclaiming the 8th and
last spot for the postseason in the Western conference, where they
ended up being swept by the Lakers. In that series, Denver scored 101.5
ppg, but we all know which was the problem of the Nuggets: No Defense!
How can a team fight for the title, if they allow 115 points per game
in a playoff series?
For this season, George Karl returns with the expectative of
winning a playoff series, something he hasn't managed to do since he
joined the Nuggets in the 2004-2005 season. With the accusations of
having no defense, what did the staff do? They traded their best
defender Marcus Camby to the Clippers (a conference rival) for a future
draft pick. And if that wasn't enough, they didn't hire a replacement
for the center position! Don't forget we are talking about a player who
had last season 9.1 ppg, 13.1 rpg and 3.6 blocks per game!
Right now, the Nuggets have Nene Hilario and Steven Hunter for the
center position. Nene has already shown that he is a good player and
capable of adding a lot of aggressiveness and explosion in the paint,
but let's not forget that he had a very delicate surgery last season
due to cancer and expecting him to play a lot of minutes per game this
season may be an huge gamble, especially as the team doesn't have a
capable backup for this position.
The offense will once again dependent from the duo Allen Iverson
and Carmelo Anthony can do. AI and Melo were 3rd and 4th in the league
in terms of points per game with 26.4 and 25.7 respectively and once
again this will be the most probable scenario for the team this season.
Carmelo Anthony is yet to be a real leader in the field, as he is a
player with a lot of potential, but who seems to be lacking some mental
toughness, something that other stars like Lebron and Wade have
reached, but Melo is still lacking something to be a true leader in the
field. Will it be this season?
Linas Kleiza will be his backup and I wouldn't be surprised if
Kleiza ends up being also used as a PF, due to his huge versatility,
something George Karl has already done last season. This versatility
will allow the Nuggets to fix a little bit their frontcourt, making it
faster, but lacking physical power at the same time. Kenyon Martin
played 71 games last season, which is something to be referred, as he
had just played 2 the previous season, due to a knee injury. He comes
from a season, where he had 12.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg and a career high of
53.8% FG! Without Camby on the team, a lot more will be required to
Martin, especially in the defense. Renaldo Balkman has joined the team
and he may give some aggressiveness to the team, something they really
need and surely he will play more minutes than he played in New York.
Denver's backcourt has Allen Iverson and J.R. Smith. Iverson has
been frequently accused of thinking first on the basket and then just
on his team mates, but the truth is that he finished the season with
7.1 apg, being the 9th player in the league in assists, so that
accusation is a little bit unfair. The problem is that Iverson can't be
in two places at the same time and something it gets confusing which is
his role in the field. Even though he has already past his prime,
Iverson is still one of the best players in the league and one of the
very few, who can solve a game on his own.
J.R. Smith comes from a good season and probably he would have won
the Sixth Player of the Season award, if it wasn't for Ginobili. He had
12.3 ppg and managed to shoot 40% in 3pts shots, which is always a good
sign. His main problem is his inconsistence and the fact he will be a
starter this season will be a big test if he is ready to play well in
large periods of time or he will always be a player who comes from the
bench and play well for 10/15 minutes.
Denver doesn't have a deep roster at all and they have basically no
solutions on the frontcourt. If the problems the team had last season
aren't solved, it will be almost a miracle if they manage to repeat
last season's regular season record. If injuries start to appear, the
team has no solutions capable of guaranteeing competitiveness at long
term. With Iverson and Carmelo in the same team, we can never underrate
the potential of this team, but the team's roster is too short, having
in account a regular season in 82 games long and not 40.
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