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im typing this off my cell so imma make this quick. I still think this team can contend. we have all the pieces. we got two great scorers, we have a little 3 point threat I atkins, smith, and kleiza. we have a decent bench with a nice sixth man and we also have some interior defense. we also have a decent coach (wish he was gone though) I think we just need one more piece like hinrich and maybe another big.
I feel a.I played well and smith came along but this team will depend on a.I distributing the ball and melo acting like the mismatch he can be. he needs to stop settling for jumpers and take advantage in the paint when he can. karl needs to start smith or atleast atkins over carter. atkins atleast provides scoring. nene needs to come back healty and strong. ill be back with more. leave your thoughts

Daffy wrote:we also have a decent coach (wish he was gone though).

you've lost me there...

anyways back onto topic... if i were GM, i'd be heading into rebuilding mode, and build around the core of Melo, JR, LK, and Nene. I'd be looking to trade AI for some young pieces, and i certainly wouldn't have traded Camby for nothing... also George Karl wouldn't be coach.

George Karl... everyone knows what problem he brings to the team.

obviously right now, this team has a long way to go. JR NEEDS to start and play at least 25+ minutes. I don't know why Karl refuses to start him, statistically on/off court he is a much better defender than AC, and obviously the team improves so much more offensively. If Anthony Carter is getting 28 minutes every game again, then it will all be the same **** next season. AI needs to return and play at the Point... the Nuggets are like almost undefeated when he gets a double double of points and assists, and if anything, that shows that this team is much better with someone distributing the ball, passing, and enforcing ball movement... rather than sharing it between 2 ball dominant players, who take turns in scoring.

This team also needs to be committed to playing very good defense, especially Melo and AI... with Camby gone no one will be there to bail them out of shots. AS well as defence, they need to be one of the most efficient offensive teams in the league... to win a championship u need to have both defense and offense (ala Spurs, and Boston).

And one thing i'd like to see the team chuck away is excuses. Man last season George Karl and 3 FO were god damn full of excuses. Chucky Atkins was injured... WAH WAAAH, Nene was injured... WAH WAAAH, Nuggets are in the West conference, WAH WAAAAH, Nuggets won 50 games which is one of the best in history... WAH WAAAH, Nuggets didn't do it the coaches way last season... WAH WAAH... for **** sakes.

my biggest question... since it appears we arent going to sign another point guard, is AI finally gonna play point the majority of the time with JR starting at the 2? We all know this is what this team needs to do to win more if we cant find that big point guard to slate next to Iverson.

Honestly, a lot of the success this year depends on the leadership of any of the key guys. These guys can compete and play better than last year, but they have to bring it. They can't be struggling to win barely 50 games by the end of the season. They need to be at 55 wins and with room for more. Well, let's put it this way - the losses can't be Jeckyl/Hyde losses where the Nuggets suddenly look like the bottom of the barrel after beating the best teams in the league the night before. Consistency is what they need.

If Carmelo likes this success he enjoys he needs to realize no matter what talent of his shows up on the court this year, his actions need to be solid. A solid contributor with flashes of brilliance.

Ofcourse this team can compete. First of all AI has to play the point... he did in philly back in 05 and was top 5 in scoring, assists, steals. He can distribute the ball as good as anyone out there, it's just that most of the time the rest of the team stands around when he has the ball so he is forced to create something for the whole team... the point being: this team needs some better offensive sets. Screw looking for another point gaurd when AI will take up most of the minutes no matter who they can get. We need another big man with low post skills and a determined team on defense.
It will be tough but if the nuggets stay healthy the whole season (for once) they can do a lot of damage.

Bukcic3 wrote:Ofcourse this team can compete. First of all AI has to play the point... he did in philly back in 05 and was top 5 in scoring, assists, steals. He can distribute the ball as good as anyone out there, it's just that most of the time the rest of the team stands around when he has the ball so he is forced to create something for the whole team... the point being: this team needs some better offensive sets. Screw looking for another point gaurd when AI will take up most of the minutes no matter who they can get. We need another big man with low post skills and a determined team on defense.
It will be tough but if the nuggets stay healthy the whole season (for once) they can do a lot of damage.

forget AI's personal stats, how has any team where he was the point guard do? What were their records as compared to when he was the SG? How was their playoffs record? People love to talk about AI's capabilities as a PG, but nobody ever wants to talk about the fact that the 76ers won a little over 33 games per year when he was the starting point guard, or that they only made the playoffs 1 out of 4 tries with him as a point guard. Maybe you hsould also mention that the Nuggets have a losing record when AI is the starting PG for them as well.

We can talk about his stats all day, we can even talk about what looks best on paper, or you can even try to convince me that he has changed. But the results are the results, he does not make his teams better as the point guard, for whatever reason, and to continue to try to place him there because of his size, without him having a complete change in mentality, is going to continue to hurt the team around him.

Maybe you hsould also mention that the Nuggets have a losing record when AI is the starting PG for them as well.

I don't think AI played any point last year.. or did he?

This year, the Nuggets were 9-4 (69%) when AI started at PG. 41-28 (59%) when he started at SG.

Only 13 games, but it definitely isn't a losing record, and is 10% higher than when AI is at SG.

Nutty Nats Fan wrote:

Maybe you hsould also mention that the Nuggets have a losing record when AI is the starting PG for them as well.

I don't think AI played any point last year.. or did he?

This year, the Nuggets were 9-4 (69%) when AI started at PG. 41-28 (59%) when he started at SG.

Only 13 games, but it definitely isn't a losing record, and is 10% higher than when AI is at SG.

Yes AI played point once he got here, until the Nuggets traded to get Blake there record with him as starting point guard in 06-07 was 6-13 with AI starting PG.

Your count is also off, AI started at PG the first 15 games and had a record of 9-6 (which is 66% winning percentage) during the regular season (they won 62% with Anthony I was out of the league a year ago Carter starting at Point), Ai also started at PG and had a record of 0-3 during the playoffs. For a 50% winning percentage throughout the year.

total combined winning percentage with AI starting PG since he has joined the Nuggets = 40.5%

Now if you were to say we need another point guard, as Atkins is still not a huge upgrade I would agree with you, but when the guy you want to start at Pg is playing out of position and is only slightly better then a guy who could not get a job two years ago, then I say I would rather give the guy who was injured last year a shot unless we figure out something else.

I wonder which team had AI when he first came to Denver...

In this team, with this roster, in this situation, the better 1-2-3 punch that Denver has is AI at te PG, JR at the SG and Carmelo at the SF. By a wide margin. You have to be a Great-Wall-sized AI hater to deny that.

Playing AI at SG means some scrub (Atkins or Carter) starts at PG, JR doesn't have enough playing time, and opposing SG's would eat Iverson alive on our defense. Or if you're playing Atkins/Carter-Smith-Anthony, having a player as good as AI on the bench for a Carter/Atkins is wrong on so many levels.

And BTW I loved the way AI played PG with the JR/Kleiza/Najera unit. He showed that he can play that position, only you have to put at least a couple shooters, around him. And if he's dribbling too much (Denver is an uptempo team, who plays fast with AI too, so the AI overdribbling is blown outta proportions, usually by people who doesn't see Nuggets play) there's (should be) a coach to tell him to play smarter. Set a couple plays he could use so everything it's not And1 Freestyle tour would be nice, tho.

The big cancer on this team, as always, Georgie. So I believe this team is a 1st Round Exit with Nene healthy, out of the playoffs without him, Melo or AI.

Yes AI played point once he got here, until the Nuggets traded to get Blake there record with him as starting point guard in 06-07 was 6-13 with AI starting PG.

Okay, now that is silly. You really shouldn't count the games Melo was suspended. And wasn't Karl playing Boyktins with AI a lot? I wouldn't call AI the PG in those situations.

Your count is also off, AI started at PG the first 15 games and had a record of 9-6 (which is 66% winning percentage) during the regular season (they won 62% with Anthony I was out of the league a year ago Carter starting at Point), Ai also started at PG and had a record of 0-3 during the playoffs. For a 50% winning percentage throughout the year.

Ah, I was going by the games Yak started. Didn't know LK got some starts at SG during that time. Another argument could be made that the team can't win with LK started at SG. The team was 0-5, including the playoffs. But I think it is silly to blame AI for the playoff losses (or any one player). Camby was nothing. Karl cared more about playing bumper cars. There was no team on the floor. Now if you want to blame him for the Spurs series, I'd agree with you. But he was at SG then.

I do agree with you, this team needs to trade for a better, taller, PG. But if they don't, we should be calling for Karl's head if the starting backcourt isn't JR/AI.

The Rebel wrote:

Nutty Nats Fan wrote:

Maybe you hsould also mention that the Nuggets have a losing record when AI is the starting PG for them as well.

I don't think AI played any point last year.. or did he?

This year, the Nuggets were 9-4 (69%) when AI started at PG. 41-28 (59%) when he started at SG.

Only 13 games, but it definitely isn't a losing record, and is 10% higher than when AI is at SG.

Yes AI played point once he got here, until the Nuggets traded to get Blake there record with him as starting point guard in 06-07 was 6-13 with AI starting PG.

Your count is also off, AI started at PG the first 15 games and had a record of 9-6 (which is 66% winning percentage) during the regular season (they won 62% with Anthony I was out of the league a year ago Carter starting at Point), Ai also started at PG and had a record of 0-3 during the playoffs. For a 50% winning percentage throughout the year.

total combined winning percentage with AI starting PG since he has joined the Nuggets = 40.5%

Now if you were to say we need another point guard, as Atkins is still not a huge upgrade I would agree with you, but when the guy you want to start at Pg is playing out of position and is only slightly better then a guy who could not get a job two years ago, then I say I would rather give the guy who was injured last year a shot unless we figure out something else.

Melo was out the 1st games AI played point...its was when he got suspended...

^^^ That is true, and Kmart wasn't playing either, but Rebel is also right. Everyone is always saying how Iverson should play the point because when he gets 10 + assists we win. This is one of the things that I don't blame GK for because Iverson has the control and he knows that he has to distribute to better our chances. If he does we win, so why doesn't he have more 10+ assist nights? The ball is in his hands for the majority of the shot clock everytime we have the ball. He needs to step up and make it happen more often.

Here is where I blame GK, he doesn't put the best talent on the team around AI, Melo or both (depending on the matchup). He doesn't use all of his players and by the time the playoffs get here the starters and key reserves are spent making our bench in-experienced at playing and working together in tight games when we need them. This seems to happen a lot in the first round of the playoffs. Against the Spurs, JR struggled because he was seldom used going into the playoffs. After he came back from his knee surgery, he wasn't used, and then come the playoffs he was called upon to play some very key minutes. Similar situations happened to Hunter and Atkins last season. Karl doesn't seem to like to play guys that went down and came back from an injury during the season. His rotation only goes 8 to 9 deep. Miss your spot in the rotation and guys like Anthony Carter get your job, which makes no friggen sense to me at all. I guess I could go on and on...

As for the season, I think we will know by Xmas which direction we will be going in. If we are playing well, they might be enticed to use the TPE and go out and get a piece to the puzzle. Yes, this is possible to do in the game of chess. If we aren't playing well, we can look to dump AI for some youth, a close to expiring vet and draft picks that we will probably never use on a player in an upcoming draft.

I hope we do well from start to finish.

That is true, and Kmart wasn't playing either, but Rebel is also right. Everyone is always saying how Iverson should play the point because when he gets 10 + assists we win. This is one of the things that I don't blame GK for because Iverson has the control and he knows that he has to distribute to better our chances. If he does we win, so why doesn't he have more 10+ assist nights? The ball is in his hands for the majority of the shot clock everytime we have the ball. He needs to step up and make it happen more often.

While I agree with this, getting 10 assists is not an easy task and to get 10 assists you need some cooperation from your teammates. Your teammates have to be hitting their shots and getting open, hence why usually when Iverson or most players get 10 assists the team wins because people are hitting their shots. Now, there's been nights when I saw Iverson looking for his teammates a lot and getting 5-6 assists, while there have been nights he hasn't looked for them as much and been in the 8-10 range due to his teammates just having the hot hand. Now Iverson at point needs to be more consistent looking for his teammates, but I always thought it was somewhat silly to just use assist numbers as some sort of bottom line, like people loved to do with the Nugs record when AI has 10+ assists.

Now bottom line. I don't see any reason why the starting line-up shouldn't have an AI/JR backcourt. For obvious reasons and because I did think that they played well together in the backcourt last season.