Birdman

[cedric76]

with ur thin frontcourt do u see him averaging more than 20min/game

Kmart and nene are ur only 2 other frontcourt player ,with thoses 2 injury prone ,Chris should average many minutes,isnt it?

thx for info

[DaFan334]

Hunter is a center, he should play a bit there. Melo and LK should get some time at the 4 then as well, but yes, Birdman will play a bit. AND YES, BIRDMAN IS AWESOME

[underdog33]

Depending on if Juwan Howard Makes the team or not. I see Andersen as the first big as the bench, but his minutes might be down if Juwan and Hunter are given minutes.

Birdman is back! Looking forward to this upcoming season

[eathy]

he'll get Najera minutes.

[SnakefromHell]

I think he'll play a lot more minutes than most ppl expect him to.

Especially if he keeps hustling, rebounding, and playing real big man defense (yeah this is direct sarcasm to Camby). And imo he's already better and safe offensively than Camby, especially if his hook and shots are falling.

Seeing him go after loose ball and save it from going out of bounds, seeing him mix it up with big men, slap around for the loose ball and actually came away with the ball on some possessions... almost put a tear in my eye.

Those hustle plays possibly never existed in this ball club since 2003 when I became a Nugget fan. Those things that he and Balkman do are contagious.

[Ewingfan]

I was impressed with Birdman last night even though its only preseason. He was blocking shots and hustling. Balkman looked good also. I dont wanna hear about how these guys cant shoot because scoring obviously wasnt the problem last year.

[Nutty Nats Fan]

Scoring was a problem last year. Was the year before as well. Watch some games, this team has trouble scoring in the half-court. Defense wasn't good either, especially the last half of the season when Karl told the media he gave up on it.

[Ewingfan]

Scoring was a problem last year. Was the year before as well. Watch some games, this team has trouble scoring in the half-court. Defense wasn't good either, especially the last half of the season when Karl told the media he gave up on it.

What I was trying to say is that some people prefer Najera who could shoot the three but that didnt make them a better offensive team. I do watch the games Denver is a terrible halfcourt team. They rarely run any plays.

[Nutty Nats Fan]

Exactly. Najera was one of the only players who would cut to the basket, usually getting fed and scoring from Melo. Least pre-AI. Why Karl decided that was a bad thing, I don't know.

[eslr]

I think losing Camby and picking up guys who might be offensively challenged, but won't be ball stoppers, will improve our offense this season.

Camby was a horribly inefficient scorer (especially for a center) and when he wasn't jacking up shots was trying to facilitate the offense in order to get his touches. The problem with having your C facilitate the offense from the top of the key (which Camby was very good at, but it's not what you want him doing) is that you essentially limit your offense to the top of the paint and inward which really hurts your options.

With Camby we had a lot of ball stopping, a lot of stagnation (because he couldn't put the ball on the floor) and we lost our entire low post presence allowing interior defenders to hedge and play more help defense.

We have two guys who get double teamed all the time. Put the ball in Melo or AI's hand, force them to take on the mentality of a distributor (which I think you can do if everyone on the team is buying in), and get the ball moving. If you don't have someone stopping the ball, you eventually will swing it around to the open man or pull the defense out of position and open up a lane to the basket.

Between AI, Melo, JR, Kleiza, KMart and Nene you have more than enough offensive fire power. Its just about getting it to the open man and hitting the outside shot. Subtracting one of the bigger ball stoppers on the team and adding some willing passer should help, though outside shooting will remain an issue.