Who wins northwest division??

[djtruebeliever]

yeah, nobody wins championships through avoidance. (unless MJ retires for a while) you're going to have to beat the best teams anyway. I would only be slightly more satisfied with a 2nd round exit over a 1st round exit in the playoffs.

[legendarywalton]

Until we develop a sound offensive rhythm and defensive intensity I'd have to say that it's unlikely that we win the northwest. However, I think it'll be close and you can never underestimate the bad blood between us and the Jazz. As much as it hurts me to say, I think the Jazz will take the division this year. On paper we should crush them, but adding Korver to a dynamic backcourt makes them very dangerous. Add to the fact that they play a grind it out San Antonio/Detroit style, that makes them more consistent and durable. A bad offensive night gets picked up on the other end, etc.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm saying Jazz at this point.

[black06eclipse]

same old story for us......we had our squad destroyed by injuries.

all we need is one moderately injury free year and we'd easily make a title run. that's not being a homer, its just common sense. we've somehow topped last year's injury level.

[JRmakes_it_rain]

i agree with same old story......but I think that the coaching side of it is the same old story.....I think even with the injury to Nene, we are still a contender, but I think coaching is holding the team back. We don't have any traits that any title contenders do...we have a 7 man rotation that has a journeyman pg playing 35 mins on a regular basis, and I doubt he even played that much in europe. We have a 32 year old pg/sg playing big minutes when there really isn't a need to run him into the ground, we've got a serviceable big in Hunter who could be used to eat up some of Camby and K-marts minutes, but doesn't. And not to mention a SF/PF in Najera that all of a sudden thinks he's a jumpshooter.....all of these issues could be fixed with a good head coach...I think the assistants as a whole are doing an excellent job, but our head coach and his game/player management is doing a horrendous job.

[pickaxe]

Until we develop a sound offensive rhythm and defensive intensity I'd have to say that it's unlikely that we win the northwest. However, I think it'll be close and you can never underestimate the bad blood between us and the Jazz. As much as it hurts me to say, I think the Jazz will take the division this year. On paper we should crush them, but adding Korver to a dynamic backcourt makes them very dangerous. Add to the fact that they play a grind it out San Antonio/Detroit style, that makes them more consistent and durable. A bad offensive night gets picked up on the other end, etc.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm saying Jazz at this point.

Minus getting disturbed by Harpring as much as they did, I think the Nuggets had that last battle.

Korver does offer the one sharpshooter the Nuggets still don't have.

All this talk and still the FO hasn't replaced any of our sharpshooting prospects with even serviceable replacements.

JR (lack of development), Kleiza (disappears), Najera (maybe just excited to get to chuck up 3s), Chucky (groin), Melo (just does not have the long range down yet), AI (very careful with his 3s), Carter (not reliable enough), ......etc.

Did I miss anyone?

All those guys are supposed to be our sharpshooters and none of them come even close to the Korver level of knocking down shots.

If it isn't broken, don't fix it. But the long range shooting that's supposed to open up the floor for say.....Melo, is broken. They need to fix it. Band-aid, splint, gurney....whatever, but they need to fix it.

[Lava Rock Kid]

I dont think the nuggets have the team leader with the credentials to motivate the other players. Denver has the talent and GOD knows they are paying a payroll compared to other west powers. But look at what all championship teams have in common, duncan, oneal, olajawon, Jordan. They all have the one team leader that has always played hard and didnt have troubles like AI's famous "practice speach" I dont see Melo being the player that gets the respect of a true leader.

[Don_eMOCION#31]

I dont think the nuggets have the team leader with the credentials to motivate the other players. Denver has the talent and GOD knows they are paying a payroll compared to other west powers. But look at what all championship teams have in common, duncan, oneal, olajawon, Jordan. They all have the one team leader that has always played hard and didnt have troubles like AI's famous "practice speach" I dont see Melo being the player that gets the respect of a true leader.

you talk about an interview that is what, 6 years ago? i've never seen A.I. bitchin on his teammates like kobe, carter or kidd did for example. a.i. always plays hard so what do you want more from your leader?

[black06eclipse]

Wasn't Iverson's best friend murdered 2 days before that speech? Needless to say he wasn't in the right frame of mind. No one plays harder than Iverson so I could care less about something he said half a decade ago. He's still diving into the front row for looseballs in the 4th quarters of blowouts.

back on topic, i'll know a lot more about the division in 11 days when the deadline is over. the front office has basically guarateed that they're going to make a move.

[Lava Rock Kid]

you talk about an interview that is what, 6 years ago? i've never seen A.I. bitchin on his teammates like kobe, carter or kidd did for example. a.i. always plays hard so what do you want more from your leader?


Kobe, Carter or Kidd has never won the championship as the leader of a team. Shaq led the Lakers when Kobe was winning. AI is a stud no doubt, but as a fan of an opposing team I dont see the respect from fellow teamates or the fear from opposing teams that the team leader is indestructable. Look at some of the players I mentioned, at their peak nobody could touch them. Every night the nuggets play you expect some big drama to happen. All the experts say the Nuggets have the Talent to win it all. The nuggs have had some great coaches and have a great coach. Karl outcoached sloan the other night and usually does. But I dont see the one man who can take over the team and take it to the championship.

[Eric Stratton]

[quote="meloivynene"][/quote]Korver is shooting 36% from 3 this year.

JR shoots 38%. LK shoots 35%. Najera 36%, Chucky shoots 37% for his career from long range....and it's a long career.

[corona]

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Korver is shooting 36% from 3 this year.

JR shoots 38%. LK shoots 35%. Najera 36%, Chucky shoots 37% for his career from long range....and it's a long career.

c'mon eric, we all know Korver's a better shooter than that. and he's a far more respected shooter than anyone on the nuggets because he has a reputation for being a great shooter (41% from 3 career).

jr rarely plays thanks to karl & ac (an atrocious shooter who plays 30mpg)
lk only shoots well from the corners
najera averages 1 make every other game and isn't respected at all
chucky can't play (and if you're going to mention korver's season stats instead of career....atkins is shooting 24% this season)

if karl had 4 guys at his disposal who are equal shooters to korver...he wouldn't have thrown a hissy fit in the media when the jazz made that trade.

[The Rebel]

if karl had 4 guys at his disposal who are equal shooters to korver...he wouldn't have thrown a hissy fit in the media when the jazz made that trade.

If Karl had 4 shooters like Korver the would all be on the bench, we all know it. Karl only fills that outside shooting is important when he needs something to blame when things are going bad. Take a look at what Karl has said over the last two summers, when he has more then once came out in the media and stated that he fells outside shooting is overrated and not something that should be important to the teams overall success.

[L-Burna89]

If Karl had four guys like Korver, they'd all be getting 30 mpg and a free dinner every holiday.

[Eric Stratton]

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c'mon eric, we all know Korver's a better shooter than that. and he's a far more respected shooter than anyone on the nuggets because he has a reputation for being a great shooter (41% from 3 career).

jr rarely plays thanks to karl & ac (an atrocious shooter who plays 30mpg)
lk only shoots well from the corners
najera averages 1 make every other game and isn't respected at all
chucky can't play (and if you're going to mention korver's season stats instead of career....atkins is shooting 24% this season)

if karl had 4 guys at his disposal who are equal shooters to korver...he wouldn't have thrown a hissy fit in the media when the jazz made that trade.

JR rarely plays? He gets 17 minutes and scores nearly 10 ppg. Atkins played in a handful of games, all of them injured. Throw this year out. He is a terrific shooter, and that can't be argued otherwise unless you're a moron. Korver has played the entire year with big minutes at 36% and you think he's the second coming. He isn't a better player than Kleiza is, for Gods' sake.

Melo and Iverson are shotmakers. Maybe not from 3, but both damn good from the perimeter.

Shooting from distance is NOT this teams' problem.

[corona]

-= original quote snipped =-
JR rarely plays? He gets 17 minutes and scores nearly 10 ppg.

he has eight dnpcds. he only plays garbage minutes against decent opponents, if he's lucky. karl won't play him in the playoffs, we all know that.

Atkins played in a handful of games, all of them injured. Throw this year out. He is a terrific shooter, and that can't be argued otherwise unless you're a moron.

there's teams every year in the nba that shoot over 40% from 3.
atkins career he shoots under 37%. in terms of guards that play minutes in the nba...he's an average shooter from distance. Nash, Korver, Miller, Kapono, Barry...etc are terrific. chucky gets a lot up and makes them at an average clip by nba standards.

Korver has played the entire year with big minutes at 36% and you think he's the second coming. He isn't a better player than Kleiza is, for Gods' sake.

he shot 43% last year, 42% the season before. you think a 55 game sample that he was traded in the middle of will negate all that? you think other teams forget that hes' a 40%+ shooter when they write their scouting reports? kleiza is not a better shooter than korver, and that's what this team needs.

Shooting from distance is NOT this teams' problem.

in last years playoffs we made 4.6 a game at a 31.9% rate.
that's horrendous.
the only thing that's changed is subbing atkins for blake (who's actually shooting better from 3 this year than at any point in atkins career)
if shooting from distance is not this teams problem, i wouldn't have to watch Carmelo get double teamed by Anthony Carter's man over a dozen times every game.

enough propaganda.

[Ascheier]

-= original quote snipped =-

JR rarely plays? He gets 17 minutes and scores nearly 10 ppg. Atkins played in a handful of games, all of them injured. Throw this year out. He is a terrific shooter, and that can't be argued otherwise unless you're a moron. Korver has played the entire year with big minutes at 36% and you think he's the second coming. He isn't a better player than Kleiza is, for Gods' sake.

Melo and Iverson are shotmakers. Maybe not from 3, but both damn good from the perimeter.

Shooting from distance is NOT this teams' problem.

Korver is a 40.1% CAREER shooter, asshat. He's a way better shooter than Kleiza.

[Eric Stratton]

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Korver is a 40.1% CAREER shooter, asshat. He's a way better shooter than Kleiza.

He shoots a few % better than Kleiza, douchebag. And Kleiza can do more things than Korver. He is the best runner in the league. He takes it to the rim with authority when he doesn't have the open J. Korver doesn't do things like that.

[denvers_finest]

Intesting note, I think one of the broadcasters brought this up during the Cleveland game, but Klieza hit exactly 2 three pointers his first season in the league.

He has done a tremendous job of developing that portion of his game, as he was not known as a shooter coming out of college.

[noone]

-= original quote snipped =-

He shoots a few % better than Kleiza, douchebag. And Kleiza can do more things than Korver. He is the best runner in the league. He takes it to the rim with authority when he doesn't have the open J. Korver doesn't do things like that.

Looking at stats you can make a case that Korver is only slightly better than Kleiza shooting the ball. However, watching the games and seeing how opponents glue a defender onto Korver, you see how much more other teams respect Korver as a shooter. They give him Rip Hamilton respect when running around screens (obviously he's not as good). No role player on Denver gets that kind of respect. Not even close. Do I think Kleiza could be used in a similar role? Sure, albeit not as effectively. Will Karl ever do it? Probably not.

Overall, right now Korver is a better player, but Kleiza has more potential. What you see from Korver now is what you're gonna get for the rest of his career. Great shooter who can stroke it from anywhere on the court. Solid fundamentals, very smart player, and hustles his ass off on the defensive end (his biggest, maybe only, shortcoming is his speed).

[djtruebeliever]

Intesting note, I think one of the broadcasters brought this up during the Cleveland game, but Klieza hit exactly 2 three pointers his first season in the league.

He has done a tremendous job of developing that portion of his game, as he was not known as a shooter coming out of college.

he wasn't known as a great 3pt shooter, but he was known as a shooter. he shot extremely well in the summerleague immediately after we drafted him, and he has always been able to light it up in practice/shoot-around, he just hadn't really been able to get his shots to fall in game-time situations (even when wide open)