Other teams improve, Nuggets stagnate

[maxwellcu]

Does this front office have any kind of plan, at all? I understand the Camby trade as a necessary salary dump, but it seemed to be indicative of further moves down the road, which obviously haven't happened yet.

If the plan is to blow the team up, do it and rebuild around Melo. If the plan is to be a contender and win now, we need to make at least one strong move to acquire a player like Artest, as the Rockets just did.

What's going on with JR? Why hasn't he been resigned yet? I assume the FO is waiting for another team to set his market value, but frankly I think that would have happened already if it was going to at all. Pissing him off by not offering him a contract this offseason is going to do nothing but ensure that he stays next year and then leaves the team, leaving the Nuggets empty handed.

Furthermore, as we all already know, the team is being run [into the ground] by an incredibly inept head coach who is adept at neither handling his players nor X's and O's. His apathy, horrible inability to relate to or get through to his players, inability or unwillingness to gameplan, and general lack of commitment to the team puts the Nuggets at an incredible disadvantage. Rather than running plays or even establishing some kind of offensive identity, the team is simply told to run up and down the court as quickly as possible and iso all game long, which often results in ill-advised shots or just straight up chucking. With offensive players the caliber of 'Melo and AI, with several other competent scorers, the team should be near the top of the league in offensive efficiency. Instead, it is roughly average.

Karl's inability to get the team to play legitimate defense is a problem as well. Part of it is, granted, personnel-related, but a lot of it is coaching. How many times a game do we see blatantly blown rotations? It's not an uncommon sight to see a Nuggets player seemingly have no clue, or care, who their assigned man is and not even attempt to rotate. The P&R defense is comical at best, as is the perimeter D in general -- both of which are problems caused by, or at least not mitigated by, coaching. Rather than utilize an incredibly talented and appropriately sized shooting guard on his roster, Karl prefers to start two players that are about 6 foot, if not shorter, in his back court. I'm not sure how anyone can realistically expect that to produce legitimate results.

It appears that the team is largely in disarray and without much of a game plan. It's difficult to tell if the team is going to be blown up, or if a move is going to be made to try to put the team over the top. Either option would be better than stagnating in mediocrity, which is what seems is the teams outlook for foreseeable future barring any future moves. One thing that is clear, however, is that George Karl's time here needs to come to an end as quickly as possible and the team needs to install ONE legitimate GM to run the team and make decisions, rather than letting three or four or five people try to direct the Nuggets.

[Joe27]

Not all teams are improving, Cavs have done as much as nothing yet. We cant even re-sign our own PG.

[Dapro]

Is Denver still the 8th best in the west anymore? I think not. I sense rebuilding coming for the Nuggets...

[DaFan334]

This is still a very talented team. They honestly haven't lost as much as people may think. They are also not done for the summer. Its not even august yet, give it a little time. JR Smith will most likely be resigned and his potential could bring alot to this team. Balkman was a pretty good move as we gave up pretty much nothing to get a guy who can replace alot of the things Eddie did but who is much younger. Give them a little more time. They actually have done a bit, so they really aren't stagnate. Ild expect more to come.

[eathy]

a **** steal from the Rockets.

T-Mac + Yao + Artest will rival the Boston Big 3.

we could've had Melo + AI + Artest which would've rivaled it as well.
Melo + AI + Artest + Camby would've destroyed it.

[Ewingfan]

a **** steal from the Rockets.

T-Mac + Yao + Artest will rival the Boston Big 3.

we could've had Melo + AI + Artest which would've rivaled it as well.
Melo + AI + Artest + Camby would've destroyed it.

Rival Boston's Big 3. Please. They dont even compare to Kobe, Lamar and Gasol or Duncan, Parker and Ginobili. This move does nothing but get them out the first round. Maybe.

[downundernugget]

other teams improved?

Lakers - resigned sasha BUT loss Turaif, no improvement

Warriors - lost Bdiddy and overpayed for Maggette, no improvement

Spurs - lost Barry and Horry, signed Roger Mason Jr, drafted Hill and resigned KT, no improvement but they got younger

Jazz - traded hart for knight, no improvement

Suns - have done nothing

Mavs - Overpaid Diop and have done nothing else signifcant

thats 6 of the top 9 West teams last year that haven't improved. Exactly how is everyone else improving? You can't include the lottery teams who improve through the draft coz that is just a natural progression. The Blazers have only improved coz they have been so crap for so long that they have stockpiled lottery picks and they are finally getting some reward from being rubbish.

[CanNugget]

im still hoping that as soon as the bulls sigh Bgordon and Deng they will trade Kirk to us for the TE.... dreams...

[Kevlo_911]

And the starting point guard for the Denver Nuggets is _____________ .

= loss

Until they do SOMETHING this team won't even make the playoffs. I can see the clips doing better than us.

[maxwellcu]

Take a look at the West.

Lakers - Kobe/Pau/Bynum. They will be at or near the top.
Rockets - Added Artest.
Hornets - I see no reason for them not to be as good as they were last year.
Jazz - Very solid.
Spurs - Not quite done yet IMO.
Mavs - Underperformed last year, have one or two more years to be competitive.
Suns - This is probably their last year but I don't see them falling off this year.

You have to expect these 7 teams are locks for the playoffs, barring any catastrophes. That leaves one spot for the Nuggets, Blazers, Warriors, and Clippers to fight over. How good the Blazers will be largely depends on how good Greg Oden is, and how Aldridge/Roy continue to develop. The warriors realistically don't have a shot at the playoffs this year barring any major surprises. As far as the Clippers? Who knows. They could be really good, or they could be just above average, but they'll be a threat to take this final spot IMO.

The Nuggets barely made the playoffs last year. This offseason should have been a time to at least attempt to make the team better OR try to get some value for Iverson/Camby/whoever and blow it up. The FO appears to have taken neither direction and as a result this team will fight for the 8th seed or 7th seed and probably get blown out in the first round [again] by a team like the Lakers. Because the team is afraid of 1st round draft picks, they will probably dump the ~15th pick for nothing, or next to nothing, Iverson and JR will walk, and the team will be left with Melo, Nene, and Kmart to try to rebuild with. Exciting prospect. The only chance I see for this team to be competitive without making a major move is if Nene has a monster season. I'm not holding my breath.

[Kakish]

Yea, I See what your saying, but I kind of agree with this statement.

This is still a very talented team. They honestly haven't lost as much as people may think. They are also not done for the summer. Its not even august yet, give it a little time. JR Smith will most likely be resigned and his potential could bring alot to this team. Balkman was a pretty good move as we gave up pretty much nothing to get a guy who can replace alot of the things Eddie did but who is much younger. Give them a little more time. They actually have done a bit, so they really aren't stagnate. Ild expect more to come.

Camby is VASTLY over-rated. Nene will be better. He is a much better on-ball defender and he doesn't get abused by bigger centers, he also doesn't float at the top of the key on offense and make block that space for the guards. Then Nuggets just need to move AI to the point and start Smith and give him around the 30 min he deserves. That will fix the mis-match problem right-away and make them a much better defensive team. After that, although Iverson is my fav. player of all time, he needs to fall-back on the shooting and become more of a 20/10 guy instead of a 26/7 guy. That will give more room for JR to shoot and make the opposing team have to worry about another offensive threat. After this Melo has to become more aggressive and drive to the basket and stop being so soft.

But sadly, they kept Karl, and all those changes start with the coach.

If they got another coach and did all that, they would be a top 4 team in the west, and make it past the 1st round easily.

[McGrady2Head]

a **** steal from the Rockets.

T-Mac + Yao + Artest will rival the Boston Big 3.

we could've had Melo + AI + Artest which would've rivaled it as well.
Melo + AI + Artest + Camby would've destroyed it.

Melo is really not that good of a player, just being honest. And Iverson is VERY overrated

[DaFan334]

While I disagree with earthys post, Melo is still a very good player. Saying otherwise is completely ignorant. Hes also only 23. And as for Iverson... while he has his flaws, the guy is one of the toughest and best players ever. You just look like a homer tolling because someone said something about your team.

[Reks]

I think that the Nuggets are planning on rebuilding. The thing that sealed that thought up for me was the Camby move. I think Iverson will be next to go, and soon.

[UNLVNugsFan]

Because the team is afraid of 1st round draft picks, they will probably dump the ~15th pick for nothing, or next to nothing, Iverson and JR will walk, and the team will be left with Melo, Nene, and Kmart to try to rebuild with. Exciting prospect. The only chance I see for this team to be competitive without making a major move is if Nene has a monster season. I'm not holding my breath.

If we let AI walk, combined with the 10 million we saved from the Camby trade, I see no reason why we would also let JR walk..........

[M.Balla]

Camby is VASTLY over-rated. Nene will be better...

Co-sign your whole post.

Melo is really not that good of a player, just being honest. And Iverson is VERY overrated

Go home and watch some basketball

[ambiglight]

Kind of crazy that houston can pull the trigger on a trade to contend but denver which was in a worse position than houston, would not. its good that denver fans have a thick skin, cause this franchise looks like a joke. and nobody's buying the scapegoat melo or AI strategy that they were using before...now without a doubt management and coaching are the primary problems...

[JRmakes_it_rain]

a **** steal from the Rockets.

T-Mac + Yao + Artest will rival the Boston Big 3.

we could've had Melo + AI + Artest which would've rivaled it as well.
Melo + AI + Artest + Camby would've destroyed it.

Melo is really not that good of a player, just being honest. And Iverson is VERY overrated

You're right, Melo has won just as many playoff series as Mcgrady.

[EMB6903]

a **** steal from the Rockets.

T-Mac + Yao + Artest will rival the Boston Big 3.

we could've had Melo + AI + Artest which would've rivaled it as well.
Melo + AI + Artest + Camby would've destroyed it.

Melo is really not that good of a player, just being honest. And Iverson is VERY overrated

You're right, Melo has won just as many playoff series as Mcgrady.

A Tracy Mcgrady fan saying Melo is over-rated LMAO

Carmelo~~~~~~~>Tmac, I really dont think its that close anymore

tmac was probably the better player in his prime now though??? hes very soft, injury prone, and is a career 43% shooter from the field

not to mention Melos offensive game is so much more established its not even funny.

[almost famous]

Goody... So now we get to watch the arrogance of Rockets fans grow like we did the Cetics fans..