torotoe wrote:The McGee trade will start to look good when Nene starts his decline. Games played and the slightly cheaper contract make it a good trade right now IMO. McGee is improving quite quickly considering Karl plays him 18mpg. That said, 18mpg is not enough production for 10m bucks. Ujiri's fault? no. Karl should play him at least 24mpg.
McGee has cut down on the mistakes somewhat, but let's be real, the Nuggets did not make that trade to get a young player to come off the bench while they pay him $10 million a year, but it is not Karl's fault, the guy sucks on defense and is a net negative plus minus player. Both the defense and offense get worse with McGee on the court, to my recollection that has never been a problem with Nene, and the fact is everybody knows Karl loves his plus minus which should have told us all that Mcgee was going to struggle for minutes.
Also with all the games Nene has missed, he has still played more total minutes this season then McGee has, considering how much more production you get from Nene as compared to Mcgee and that was a bad trade, with the hope it works out in the end due to Nene falling off in his last couple of years.
torotoe wrote:The Iggy trade has been awesome IMO. I don't like Iggy's offense but he assists enough that he's not taking away from the teams overall offense. His defense is spectacular and is paralleled by no wing defender today. It's not coincidence when Harden, Durant, etc have bad games against the nuggets. He is a big positive overall. Afflalo has high percentages, but he can not handle, defend or pass like iggy, even though his assists are way up this year. AAA's impact is pretty small IMO. He could walk, so that remains to be seen.
Talk about buying the hype, according to advanced stats it is arguable that Igoudala is not even the best wing defender on the Denver Nuggets that is actually Gallo. Making a couple of nice steals a game does not show that someone is a great defender. As for his handles, passing, and defense being better then Afflalo, you are right. However would you rather have Gallo and Lawson have the ball in their hands more? Igoudala's handles and passing are not as good as either one and they would have the ball in their hand much more with Afflalo as compared to Iggy. As for the defense, the Nuggets defense has only marginally improved this year going from Afflalo to Iggy, yet their offense has also decreased, even with the continued improvement of Faried, Gallo, Lawson, and Koufos on both ends of the court. Whether anybody wants to admit it or not the lack of spacing has costs us games this year, that lack of spacing became a problem when they traded their best 3 point shooter, and their spread 4 for a defensive guy that struggles on offense. Fact is I am not so sure that it was worth a 1st in the 2014 draft for what appears to be a marginal improvement on the actual team and overall game.
torotoe wrote:Felton for Miller+Ham was good. Felton wanted out and he would have 1. been a pain all season 2. walked after the season. Hamilton seems to be a very good pick considering who was left and same for Fournier.
Felton could have been traded elsewhere, you traded a defensive PG that is an average starter and great backup PG, and was a decent outside shooter, for an old declining PG that cannot hit the broadside of a barn from outside 16 feet, and has always been known to not be a leader. Then you asked that pg to be happy now coming off the bench, and to be a leader, and are surprised when he is bitching about it. Miller has complained just as much as Felton did while in Denver, yet Felton was about to be a cancer and Miller is a good replacement?
Fact is Hamilton cannot get off the bench due to his defensive problems, and his in ability to hit free throws, there are several players that have done better that were drafted after him, but let's be honest, it does not really matter. Hamilton is a 12th man that we all hope will show he is a good player, but at this point he has brought nothing to the team, and the fact that he cannot get off the bench has restricted his growth to the point that it will probably end up a wasted pick for the Nuggets.
As for Fournier, what does he have to do with that trade?
torotoe wrote:Honestly, I think the nuggets can be a "good enough" shooting team. Replace Miller and Brewer (who will walk IMO) with 40% 3pt shooters and they're good to go (for now). Miller is over the hill and I'm ready to see him go. He's evolved into a much more selfish player. He doesn't seem to pass unless he thinks he will get an assist, and recently he has made some awful turnovers. Replace Miller with Chalmers and Brewer with Fournier/Ham and we lose nothing that the former two bring, but gain so much. I feel that spacing will make Lawson, Gallo and Iggy more consistent. They are all good passers, but they are surrounded with poor shooters. Shooters would give those guys more room to operate, making both their slashing and passing more potent. I think they'd be more consistent too.
How exactly are the Nuggets just going to go out and get a couple of 40% 3 point shooters? Prior to Afflalo they had not had one in years, and have been looking for more for at least the last decade. Fact is there are only 31 guys who shoot regularly that are over 40% from 3 this year, there are only 49 that even shoot over 38%. You think the Heat are just going to lose Chalmers? You think that Fournier and Hamilton are suddenly going to get minutes? You realize that Karl has been complaining about a lack of shooters all year and yet neither of those guys can get minutes, yet next year they are the answer? Also if you have Lawson, Gallo, and Iggy on the court, which one of those guys is going to spread the court from the bench? It is not like any of them will replace Faried, of Koufos in the lineup.
Another thing this team set the record for futility in 3 point shooting, not hitting on 23 tries in one game, but it was worse then that, they hit 1 shot outside the paint in 54 minutes of game play, you think they are suddenly going to get room by having a couple of shooters off the bench?
torotoe wrote:All those facts you stated, well they are moot considering the Nuggets record and play. Looking at the remaining schedule, I think the nuggets pass the Grizz. The nuggets have the best record versus top teams. They have a poor record versus bad teams. IMO that is on GK. they should win all of those games, and when they don't they are poorly prepared. Defensively, they could use a ton of work, and yet the D is already pretty good.
Also, I want to know who this "get" is that you think Ujiri should have pursued.
Is it also Karl's fault that so many of the Nuggets play like crap on the road? That is where those loses occurred, and last I checked guys like Gallo and Iggy have long been known to struggle on the road. Chandler, Faried, Koufos, and brewer also have their stats drop across the board on the road, but that is all Karl's fault? That is a sign of youth and mental weakness, something the coach cannot always help.
As for the regular season record, who gives a crap, the goal is to win a championship not be the 4th best team in your conference, to do that you must progress yearly and build a proper team. Nothing throughout this season shows me this team is any better then many of the Nuggets team over the last 10 years that have struggled to get past the 1st round. In fact it is funny to me in that Karl may be doing his best job ever with a Nuggets team this year, this team has more flaws then strengths, yet he catches crap now, as opposed to the last few years.
AS for a couple of guys they could have went out an got that they didn't. How about Dorrell Wright and Jarrett Jack? Both were traded last summer for cap space/ rights to a Euro player never coming to the NBA, both would have provided the shooting the Nuggets needed, if you skip on resigning Andre Miller, they could have gotten both for their TPE, skip the Afflalo for Iggy deal, and you still have assets for the future, a payroll in control, and a good team.
