Denver Stiffs

Agreed on nene time to suck it up

5baker5 - February 15, 2012 reply

I didn't have the attitude feed but

Nice to Hastings calling out Nene!

MAN UP!!!

Rainbow skyline - February 15, 2012 reply

at least mozgov if hes in uniform he should be playing

Danteslion - February 15, 2012 reply

Not to get preachy

but can we avoid the “suck it up nene” stuff, since none of us know the extent of the injury?

I agree

SDcat09 - February 15, 2012 reply

Nope.

I agree too..

Have to be careful when calling out injuries.. AAA played tough guy last year and it wrecked his season..

djyoung71 - February 15, 2012 reply

Nene is a the Charmin Bear!

We should have never resigned him!

We should’ve signed The Great Kwame Brown.

How is it after a game like this where Nene didn't play

Everyone somehow thinks it’s his fault that we looked so terrible? If anything, this game validates our resigning of Nene…

chantech - February 15, 2012 reply

No fair, using facts…

You just keep your facts and such to yourself there, guy

SDcat09 - February 15, 2012 reply

Nene is an important cog

He covers up our shitty pick and roll game that makes it respectable. Without him we’re not doing anything

CombatChuk - February 15, 2012 reply

So you agree.

Indeed

CombatChuk - February 15, 2012 reply

Should have drafted Jeremy Lin. lol

Totally agree chantech

Nene gets the blame for this loss? What a joke! The Nene bashing on this site is embarassing. I got the Dallas feed so I didnt hear Hastings comment but he should be careful what he says. Of course playing hurt was never a problem for him. He never got off the bench.

gonugs - February 15, 2012 via Android app reply

really good point Skyline

also the more we demand Nene do stuff he cant do, the more he is not going to do stuff he can do

We have to trust Nene here or we’re screwed

Disagree on Nene

I’d rather him get healthy for the stretch run

chantech - February 15, 2012 reply

That's the thing ...

He’s missed 7 of the team’s 30 games (23%) in a here-and-there matter. It’s likely he’s never going to be 100% and he’s not going to get the rest he needs to get back to 100% by skipping a game here and there.

Perhaps he should shut himself down for a month to see if that will help. This here-and-there thing doesn’t seem to be working in getting him back and not knowing if he will play or not on a night-by-night basis can’t be great for the team. Like we saw with Al Harrington last season, playing through an injury isn’t good. So, if Nene is really hurting bad, I’d like to see the team doctor or Nene shut himself down so he will be available for the stretch run.

Playing here and there doesn’t seem to be working too well.

Totally agree

Nene is very important to the Nuggs
Either shut it down and get healthy if injured or suck it up and play through being hurt

NewEraNugg - February 16, 2012 reply

excellent post, Nate

Is it time to start doubting the training staff? I think somebody mentioned it around here the other day. Can’t help but think of the whole mess with Afflalo last year…

I don’t totally know how that whole process works, but it would be sweet to find out.

yes it would be sweet

I’d love to find out how many important man hours we’ve lost so far this season, especially relative to league average

Something is wrong, somewhere. We dont have inside access, I’m sure its complicated but we cannot be the most injured team in the NBA and it not have a reason

right

that was you who brought up this question the other day, right? It’s a good question for sure.

While I get your overall premise here

one thing that I think makes this season different is the massively stupidly condensed schedule. We’ve had two b2b2b’s already, and another b2b this week(I’ve lost track of the other b2b). They don’t have the same amount of time to recuperate, adding further strain on their bodies. I could be wrong but aren’t we one of the few teams that have had their b2b2b twice already?

Not really sure where you are going here. Nene played in all three games of the second b2b2b and two of three of the first b2b2b. While there might be a little rhyme and reason for the 7 games Nene has missed … there doesn’t seem to be much of one.

I'm not heading anywhere in particular with it.

I’m just saying that I think the nature of this season is such that injuries, playing hurt etc are probably more likely due to limited rest time. And that the chances of reinjuring might be increased as well.

yes, the schedule is a problem

but its a problem for everyone.

But I’ve been closely following the Nugs since trade and frankly all I remember is numerous injuries, all the time, including last season.

Before playoffs, we had Martin as chronically injured, then AAA, Gallo, Ty, Chandler – am I missing someone? Then in the playoffs we had 2/5 of our starters out.

The injury report from last season on looks like the roster of a hospital ward. Its worst this season.

Is anyone accountable and who?

one thing

Kenyon is sort of his own special case, apart from the rest of the list.

Yeah, I see that and I dont know enough to think of alternatives

but its the combination of so many players injured so often for such long periods of time.

Frankly, if we were fielding old players, like the Mavs do, we’d have a ready made reason. But how is it that the Mavs have been healthier than we are?

Better Team Won..

Tonight Dallas was just better than Denver. Denver tried in the 1st half, but just didn’t have an answer. Dallas just steamrolled it.

I agree that Ty has to learn from this game. He cannot let a defender like Marion take him out of his game. He needs to drive and kick.. or score.. some thing.. That was the most frustrating part of the game for sure.

Looked ugly. Keep learning Nuggets. One thing everyone needs to remember this new philosophy for the Nuggets of a deep team that shares the ball is only a year old. It gonna take some learning and some hard knocks to be a consistent winner.

And tonight was definitely a hard knock. Nuggets need to learn to impose their style and pace consistently. That will be the next step for this team. They get trapped in a half court game to easy right now.

Go Nuggets..

djyoung71 - February 15, 2012 reply

you sure Dallas was better than Denver?

Danteslion - February 15, 2012 reply

Against our one legged squad.

Yup.

Cuban cashed in his Valentine’s Day gift and his team was better than the Denver for 2 and half hours on Feb. 15.

djyoung71 - February 15, 2012 reply

Our inability to drive the lane is what won this game for Dallas

georgekarl - February 15, 2012 reply

That about says it all dj, my thoughts exactly

Just to add the Rope a Dope defense is now the norm in the league against the Nugs.
Chucker Alert: Corey Brewer aka Butterfingers, 3-15, (0-3 3PT), Hamburgler, 4-12(2-6, 3pt) and alarming if he plays, 2-5 from 3PT Hamilton the Gunner. Rudy 5-9 temporarily off the Chucker Squad. We need ya, Rudy.

Nice to see Koufos grab 14 boards. Way to go.

Hamilton

2-5 from deep but 4-8 overall. Believe Rudy was also 2-5 from deep, so don’t pick and choose who to praise and who to throw under the bus.

Disappointing loss

The effort was flat out pathetic tonight. I watched every Nuggets game this season but tonight I turned it off halfway through the 3rd quarter. I could not watch anymore. Ty Lawson doesn’t look like he’s ready to be that dynamic point guard yet The free throw shooting is just fucking pathetic. Hope Gallo is doing well because I can’t wait until he gets back. At least he can make his free throws.

Did you know?

Gallo has only a slightly better FT % than Rudy Fernandez. Gallo is 89 and Rudy is 84. Weird huh.

georgekarl - February 15, 2012 reply

Still

89% is pretty damn good compared to the mess we have free throw shooting wise excluding Rudy

89% is phenomenal

Gallo to me is like Jimmy from Hoosiers. His ability to score is what brings the whole team together

Zachm219 - February 16, 2012 via iPhone app reply

Do These Loses Really Matter?

We get the young guys some run and get healthy.

Plus a few notches higher in the draft next year.

Still have to winin the playoffs!

Nope, sky’s falling.

They matter to me

Winning in the playoffs?

Novel Idea

love4nuggets - February 15, 2012 reply

Playoffs?

Karl

the dude amazes me again. What was he doing starting Al in the second half? Faried should have been out there. I would love to know what he was thinking

how was Faried doing in the first?

really, I missed that part and don’t feel like going back on the DVR to watch any of the first half cuz what’s the point?

jd80229 - February 15, 2012 reply

He was doing ok

he was fighting for rebounds but not much of an offensive game

he doesn't have an offensive game

probably why he started Al hoping he may get it going since they only scored 39 at half, didn’t work but could understand the reasoning behind it. Its a FAIL all around…

jd80229 - February 15, 2012 reply

Agreed

Tonight was just a giant train wreck

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

Faried looked better than the "offensive players" tonight

He was smashing people in the paint.

KevinAwesome - February 15, 2012 reply

The entire offense is offensive.

agreed

Carlisle definitely out coached Karl, but he wasn’t the one taking a metaphorical dump on the court either

Zachm219 - February 16, 2012 via iPhone app reply

So the Nuggets return to Memphis where this downward spiral started...

on Friday night!

4-29 shooting from Ty, Afflalo, and Brewer. That is why we lost!!!

Agreed

Ty was awful tonight. Really disappointed in him. Brewer is out of control but I still love his hustle. AAA took a step back tonight. He had a solid three game stretch but two of those games were against sub par teams

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

Can't blame ty

He is trying to play against a guy who is a foot taller than him and who can play up on him becaus there are four guys camped in the lane behind him.

not Ty...

…just his height, right?

UKnowULovedVanQwik - February 16, 2012 reply

disagree

He’s fast enough to get around Marion and his jumper is good. If he looks to drive and pull up he would have been successful.
He has to at least try

Zachm219 - February 16, 2012 via iPhone app reply

Ty

I can put some of the blame on him. The dude needed to be asssertive and wasn’t. I believe he has the speed to get by old man marion but he looked tentative all night

+/-

Our rookies were the only ones with a ‘+’ efficiency, sweet.

SpencerN - February 15, 2012 reply

That is called "Effort"

And excitment to play. Something our starters did not have tonight!

nope.

that is called “garbage time”.

danherb - February 16, 2012 reply

exactly Dan

and I wouldnt go crazy about any one’s good showing vs Dallas. I know KK’s stats looked good, and I know he tried, always does, but his efforts did nothing to help us.

Even terrible teams, and we ARE a terrible team without our starting front line, even terrible teams have players who score a bunch of points, get assists and rebounds because, well because they are there to be gotten by some ONE

I hope we rest our key guys against OKC

Karl should pull a “Popovich” and rest the big guns for the OKC game. There is no way this team will beat OKC without Gallo so might as well start the three rookies with Brewer and Koufus to see what they can do. The Memphis game might be winnable if Nene is healthy, but I’d rather him rest up until fully ready to go.

the big bill - February 15, 2012 reply

We're not resting our guys against OKC

Now is Moz is back for the OKC game

we had a chance…If Karl plays small ball, we will see a repeat of tonight’s game!

@#$%ing small ball!

Any word on Moz?

It was good to see him suited up tonight!

Mozgov

i hope he plays friday against Memphis to get himself back in the flow of things. I don’t want to have his first game back be against OKC

last thing I saw

Said Memphis at the earliest

Zachm219 - February 16, 2012 via iPhone app reply

So Everyone?

We are down on Ty (for good reason) but where was Dre?

I still say a major trade in coming! I hope we get a tough guy (or a leader – or both) and a high potential pick (top 5 potential)!

I say these guys are all “On The Block”

1) Dre
2) Bird
3) K2
4) Big Al
5) AAA
6) Stone
7) Rudy

For now I still think Galo, WC, Ty, Nene, Bounce, Moz are untouchable.

Discussion?!

Russcot pointed out that AAA can't be traded this season

I say we need to trade Dre. The dude is old, but I think one of these contenders struggling at the point guard position would make a trade for him

hands down Dre's not getting traded

Karl would never let it happen, plus Dre has the veteran presence this team would sorely lack without him

Zachm219 - February 16, 2012 via iPhone app reply

That's why

I say get rid of both Karl and Dre

Rainbow skyline - February 16, 2012 reply

I don't think Karl has that much power

A Dre trade is becoming more likely with each mailed-in performance.

Miller

I’m not a supporter of his. I wasn’t thrilled with the trade with Portland on draft night. I knew this would happen. The dude is just old and slow. Maybe he’s mailing it in because he wants to be a starter and is pouting. The last few games have been very ugly for Dre. Some of the passes he throws just make you scratch your head. We need to trade him now. We need a backup point guard who can shoot and is young. Maybe Ty is inconsistant because he’s always looking over his shoulder to see if Karl is going to yank him in favor of Miller. Miller needs to go now!

Oh no?

Karl doesn’t have that much power? A nixed deal of David Lee for Linas Kleiza comes to mind for my rebuttal…

Would be surprised to see Koufos get dealed

And most of those players on the block have little value to teams/can’t be traded. Some team might trade for Andre or Rudy perhaps but that’s about it. Al is hitting about 38% of his shots this month. Not good for a forward. Or any position probably.

nugzin2040 - February 15, 2012 reply

With his new contract he has trade value

He would look nice in Utah for the Rockets pick (that the Jazz own)

Agree he has trade value

But the Jazz already have Jefferson and are developing Kanter. With Millsap and Favors, have enough big men already.

Could see Utah trying to get an upgrade at PG. Problem is, they’d expect Denver to take on Harris’s contract. Would love to be able to get Burks if we could.

Utah actually owns Golden State’s pick. New Jersey still has the Rockets pick. Can’t see them give up the GS pick being that it’s 9th currently. Having two more picks in the mid to late lotto is a great situation for Utah. Especially in such a deep draft.

nugzin2040 - February 16, 2012 reply

Minnesota needs a SG and has 3 PGs.

They are playing Ridnour at SG.

Ridnour+filler for Miller and Rudy. They can try Rudy with his fellow countryman Ricky for a few months and see how they fit together. They were the best backcourt in Spain when they nplayed for Joventut. ç

What do you think?

amlmart1 - February 16, 2012 reply

Yeah, not going to happen unless that filler is Love/ first round picks (at least 2)

Mancar - February 16, 2012 reply

If we could get Kevin Love for Andre Miller and Rudy Fernandez

it would be a great day for the nuggets…

It would also be the same day that hell freezes over but still…

I agree with your untouchables

But who the f*** would we get with the guys on the block?

RoxWS2014 - February 15, 2012 reply

A bag of Cheetos's

Mancar - February 16, 2012 reply

But wait!

We could possibly get a ham sandwich!

Let's hold out for Turkey

maybe pastrami

I know Dre has been erratic but we need him

because, if we get healthy for the playoffs, I think he could contribute more than Ty might

Watched the Altitude Broadcast tonight

They sure have some lame ass questions during email the booth night

The way we played tonight

There is only 133 days 16 hours 22 minutes until the draft

don't give up on the season yet

When we get fully heath, we will be just fine

It was more of a joke (I hope)!

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

This is just more proof

That the current schemes are not up to the task. Any high school coach could out scheme this team right now. Massive changes are needed if they even hope to make the playoffs.

We Are Depleted

But nights like this I wonder what the coaches are trying to achieve. I would’ve gone to the rookies early and kept the running all night. Better to lose with them running and getting experience than watch the starters giving low effort.

yes... and Carslile is a great coach

smart, hardworking, respectful, understands timeouts and matchups. He gets his team to find good matchups and exploit them. Hes like the anti-karl.

gonugs - February 15, 2012 via Android app reply

We have more problems than a half-court offense

With the lack of effort and apparent exhaustion, how would a half-court offense had helped us last night?

Exhaustion

I don’t want to use that as an excuse. All teams are dealing with the grueling schedule so it’s not fair to blame it on exhaustion

at this point...

I want us to end up 7th in west and get a good pick in the draft. In the playoffs, with a healthy team we have a chance to beat the Clippers – rembember the blowout? plus, now they are without Chauncey!

danherb - February 16, 2012 reply

oops,

Spurs the 2nd right now… well, whatever.

danherb - February 16, 2012 reply

Well I'm done giving my 2 cents for the Night

Gotta go to bed. Got class tomorrow. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon to rant some more.

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

Running is what we're best at

But as we’ve maintained time and again, in the playoffs and against well-coached teams, games turn into a half-court game. While we should pressure teams to play at a fast pace, we will eventually have to develop a half court offense to be an elite team. I think, and call me optimistic, that we do have a good personnel to run a half court offense. Ty can carve up any D (when he’s trying), Nene is a very smart, quick big man, Gallo stretches out the D well and can shoot, AAA supposedly can hit an open shot, and Mozzy has developed nicely thus far with a soft touch around the hoop. Our shooting is suspect right now, but a good half-court offense yields layups and open jump shots, which would immediately raise our shooting %.

I don’t think Ty’s the issue. We’ve had Billups and Miller play numerous seasons and neither of them have thrived in a half-court offense. That’s probably because we don’t have a full court offense for them to run. There really aren’t many options for Ty, other than to drive and kick out to an undependable jump shooter. For that reason I don’t by the “Ty’s not a good half court PG” when really, Karl can’t produce a true half court PG without a true half court offense.

Our team is talented. What else explains the fact that we handily beat a healthy Heat team, beat the Clips in LA, beat the Lakers. But we’ll never be consistent or elite until we establish a half-court offense (AKA when we get a new coach)

RoxWS2014 - February 15, 2012 reply

This

G.K. Is like an unreformed republican trying desperately to prove his disproven theories work. Even George w. has admitted that at some point you have to abandon your ideology for what actually works. When w. is ahead of you in thinking you have a major problem.

ty has not shown he can run a haIf court offense when teams are focused on him not gettin in the paint.

aIso in cIose games down the stretch ty pIays sIoppy and doesnt make cIean passes. affIaIo is up and down as you can see, and hasnt shown he can be a go to scorer. but you guys wanted to pay him the money instead of jr for reasons idk… other than character and he works hard… maybe you guys are the same ppI who didnt want to trade for demarcus when there was a trade brought up here, but i guess onIy high character guys can be part of the buiIding bIocks for this team, dont want to step on karI’s ego with guys who can be more difficuIt to coach, just settIe for Iesser taIents who dont have as much ego because they dont have as much taIent, unIess you some how get a duncan or something.

anyways I Iike our guys with in reason, they are aII soIid pIayers, but it’s ridicuIous to pay them aII huge amounts of money before you see where they can take this team just Iike ext. karI before the pIayoffs. is it too much to ask to Iet the market compete for them before payin them. you guys may get on nene a Iot, but he’s probabIy our onIy Iegit taIent where i couId say yea he’s goin to be a great contributor on any team. other than him, l feeI Iike we have a Iot of guys who are assets but repIaceabIe which is why NYK traded them for meIo in the 1st pIace. you guys put way too much expectations on gaIIo, he can be an aII star caIibur pIayer, but a Iot of things are goin to have to go right for him. before the trade, ppI here didnt regard too highIy, but now that he’s on our team he goin to Iead this team as an aII star. aIthough gaIIo has shown that he is more soIidIy buiIt than expected, his shooting is not reIiabIe and he is not a 1st option scorer, he’s someone who may be a star, but may aIso just be what he is right now which is a very interestin pIayer who can do things at his height that not many others can do. anyways i just want a baIance of star taIent and soIid roIe pIayers who can step up here and there.

anyways carIisIe prepared his team weII to pIay us Iast game, and this game they just improved in their way of pIaying us. cIoggin up the paint in haIf court, which made ty very in effective. karI seems to onIy have one pIan which is to run, and says stuff Iike if we dont run we dont win… so there you go, is that reaIIy what you want from the coach of your team, shouIdnt he have some kind of back up pIan, it’s not Iike havin a haIf court offense is something unusuaI.

aIso get jr back, chandIer’s not the soIution.

Your idendification of the problems is accurate....

The problem is, there’s no easy solution. Getting a star in Denver is not the same as getting a star in LA, NY, ext. To get a star we will have to draft and develop him, trade for one (unlikely), or over-pay for one in free agency (that worked real well with K-mart). The nuggets are stuck in no mans land. Good enough to be in the playoffs, but not good enough to do anything in the playoffs. This means we will get a poor draft spot year after year, and continue to be stuck in mediocrity. We need to trade and go up, or be bad and build.

smoil - February 16, 2012 reply

Carlisle made great adjustments

and guarded us well. But how is Ty supposed to prove he can run a half-court offense when Karl doesn’t provide him with one? When Ty drives, no one’s rolling with him, no one’s setting an off-ball screen to get open. There are several parts that need to be in motion for a half-court offense, but nothing happens for us. We move around the perimeter and wait for the kickout. Ty wasn’t even good at that last night because he didn’t dive, but even if he did, that type of offense will never be consistent,

My point is it’s far too early to conclude that Ty can’t run a half-court offense. Check out Steve Nash’s assists in Don Nelson’s run and gun system (a little over 7 assists per game), and look at him now. Gary Payton’s assists never exceeded 8 until he left Karl’s system. Dre peaked before coming to Denver and never reached double digits in that category. Billups didn’t orchestrate anything special in the half-court – he scored a lot and watched Melo get his. Ty can’t be complacent as he was last night if he’s going to develop into a truly dynamic PG, and his passes should be crisper. But I think we’d see a lot of improvement and consistency in his game if he runs an actual half-court offense.

yea, karI shouId try to run one, but he's not.

aIthough miIIer didnt pIay weII, when he’s in the game the haIf court offense Iooks Iike it’s tryin to do something, where as ty is in it’s just pass it around, but hey karI Iikes that cuz we pass it around…

we didnt have a haIf court offense before with meIo and etc… but biIIups caIIed out stuff and got pIayers in the right position, and if that didnt work weII meIo one on one… with jr the pick and roII was very effective as jr got a Iot of attntion and anyone who roIIed to the paint got easy points as jr couId make some very nice passes, and he does Iate in games too which is why we shouId try to get him back, he couId actuaIIy run haIf court offense for this team. Iast season, when teams wouId stifIe this team’s offense by not Iettin them run and cIoggin up the paint, it was jr that came in and made the offense work and got it roIIin.

Yep. Chandler is NOT the answer, IMO.

love4nuggets - February 16, 2012 reply

JR was very good at that.

Too bad Karl hated him and gave him the “come off the bench and score” role, and then wondered why all JR would do was come off the bench and score. Chandler will be another good player to have for our “everyone gets a turn to break down their defender” offense, but he won’t make us too much better. IMO, there is only one way to make this team better.

I would hope with more experience Ty feels more comfortable in actively orchestrating the ofense.

lots of food for thought in your post, Rys

But no thanks on bringing back JR. I do agree that GK did a disgraceful job of coaching him. But I have zero faith that JR is ever going to be anything other than a horribly temperamental headcase. A streaky shooter, a guy who can come in sometimes, catch fire, and take over a game — but who’s more likely to stink up the joint, play lousy defense, and make a ton of stupid plays.

It’s a pity, he has the physical ability to be a top 5 player in the league. But his head ain’t right and I don’t think it ever will be. I say let some other team take a chance on him.

that's what you beIiev if you just foIIowed espn and what ppI from other teams teII you.

but, it’s not Iike we have onIy watched jr for a coupIe of games, when he 1st got here, he did not pIay defense, but his shooting was actuaIIy pretty consistent when he got pt, there was Iike 3 bad games in 20 or so games where karI benched him anyways so he didnt reaIIy shoot us out of those games Iike ppI Iike to say.

jr’s decision makin have greatIy improved when he 1st got here and his defense can be exceIIent not just on kobe but Iook at how he pIayed that one game against Iebron, when meIo was out. against miami in that game at can Iast season, the team was down and Iacked haIf court offensive abiIity, and karI had no other options than to go to jr, and he came up big and pIayed great as a pIay maker getting affIaIo open shots that were big down the stretch and pIayin tight defense on Iebron, no way they win that game with out him, there are so many occasions where jr has come off to baiI the team out.

if you want consistent there are seasons where the team was out of the pIayoffs at the aII star brk, and jr pIayed great for the whoIe 2nd haIf of the season to heIp this team get in the pIayoffs. jr has shown way more than some of these other guys peopIe are so high on, he has a bad rep, but he has def improved and focused on improvin in the areas where peopIe criticized him for. he is Iike demarcus for me, he doesnt handIe himseIf as poIiticaIIy as others so peopIe find it easier to criticize him.

all due respect

but my opinion of JR is formed by watching the Nuggets a lot over the last bunch of years, and not by anything else. My memories of him on this team are that he would occasionally come out and be a pleasant surprise by getting hot, but then have a lot of other games where he flat out stunk. I’m not convinced. I think it would be a backwards move for the Nuggets to get him back on the roster.

weII what do you mean by a Iot, i watched pretty much aII the games.

goin by stats and watchin him pIay, i dont see how you can stiII have such a espn Iike opinion, when he has cIearIy improved greatIy in aII the areas you criticize him for. jr wants to win and wants to heIp the team, he may do other stuff that make you sIight him personaIIy, but on the court he is productive when he gets pt.

Rainbow skyline - February 16, 2012 reply

he regressed the last two seasons

he inexplicably stopped getting to the paint, shot around 33% from 3, and settled on the twenty-foot fadeaway as his go-to shot. He’s just not very good.

yea for some reason he didnt get to the paint as much.

but to say he’s not a decent pIayer is ridicuIous. watchin him pIay in the cba, i can say with confidence that he can stiII get to the paint when he wants easiIy with his moves. he is much more compIete pIayer than when he 1st got here, he may not show it and sIack off here and there, but he can do it if he tries, and he does step up in big games.

I haven't watched all the games

but have watched plenty, and we’re not going to get anywhere going back and forth like this, it’s one of those never-ending Denver Stiffs arguments, like optimism vs. pessimism, or whether it’s right to hold a grudge against Melo.

It’s all moot anyway. We’re stuck with GK as a coach for the rest of this season, and probably the next two after that, and GK and JR are never going to be able to work well together again.

Did anyone actually think we were going to win this game?

Our whole frontlne was out and Ty Lawson lacked courage. On their way to the wizard maybe they can find a brain for Karl but that’s another story. Actually I didn’t think there D was bad, but we missed a post up threat and an Italian Stallion. Still these Maverick empty nesters do play soid D from a team that has pourus defenders on it like Carter and Dirk, Kidd is slow and Haywood is real darn slow. Corey is all over the place …and puts the ball all over the place but in the hoop.

Bottom line: Our little engine is Ty and he couldn’t tonight, weather or not he couldn’t drive the lane we will never know as he never tried.Put your big pants on as you just got stomped by a bunch of seniors wearing leg warmers.

Bigdorph - February 16, 2012 reply

Expectations

should definitely be tempered. And no, I didn’t think we should have won. Shows how vulnerable of a team we are. As Ty goes, we go (especially when he is the ONLY competent offensive player who is active). AAA is a nice player, and that’s about as far as I’ll go. He is capable (at his very best) to score over 20 points, but he looks like he’s playing in sand and we are worthless when he is our 2nd scoring option. I’ll put the blame on Ty because I have actual expectations for him.

well put

about Ty being engine that couldnt

Actually putting Marion on the high block is a tough match for little Ty. But if we had our height players, things would have been different

That was brutal to watch.

I can handle an L, but I’d at least like to see some effort. Hell, at least look like you’re half interested in trying to cut the deficit while you’re out there.

Pathetic to watch.

NuggetsFan99 - February 16, 2012 reply

This just shows that our "depth" doesn't perform unless the whole team is healthy.

We were missing our entire starting frontcourt, of coarse it was going to be ugly. And even when they all get back you can bet that they will take even a few more games to get back into shape. Perhaps a stupid question but can teams practice during the All-Star break?

Mancar - February 16, 2012 reply

"Depth" is right.

Remember when some of us (myself included) thought our second string could take on some starting fives? Not so much. But we do have a great team when everyone is healthy. I hope, if nothing else, this proves that Gallo should be in during crunch time even if his shot is off, and that Mozzy may just be more important than 13 minute role GK gives him.

I didn't

expect the Nuggs to win last night
Also see them losing the next 2 as well. Having Moz, Nene & Gallo out is just to much for this team to overcome

NewEraNugg - February 16, 2012 reply

Koufus

looks worse to me in each passing game

NewEraNugg - February 16, 2012 reply

He never appears ready for the pass...

or his hands are just REALLY slow to the ball

He was one of the only nuggets who had a good game. 12 points on 6-7 shooting, 14 rebounds, and 2 steals, and a block. Sure he doesn’t have the best hands, but he has been playing solid ball.

GHill33 - February 16, 2012 reply

And on Faried, he had only 3 rebound in more than 20 minutes. Bird had 11 rebounds in nearly the same time, with 5 offensive boards as well. I like Faried, but if he is in there, he has to rebound, that’s why we got him. I can see why George went to Bird this game.

GHill33 - February 16, 2012 reply

Thinking the Manimal nickname was a bit of an early stretch

I didn’t see a Manimal out there.

Manimal was a pre-existing nickname when he was drafted.

Faried calls himself the Manimal.

Lately...

I’d like him to call himself “Man, where is the ball?”

LongWindedHank - February 16, 2012 reply

Heard he prefers what his teammates call him: Bounce

And that seems accurate enough. The guy appears never to have his feet in complete contact with the floor. And I mean while he’s simply walking around, not just while playing basketball. It’s as if his body is filled with feathers rather than the more likely water, organs, bones and such.

Though he gets way up into the clouds, I’m not sure this overwhelming “lightness” always serves him.

Wasn't it dreamed up by his PR team or did they use it in college?

I don't know exactly.

Let me Google that for us

I think it started in college.

Because of his hair and his wild style of play. I could be wrong.

Anyway he's finding out that the NBA is full of big and tough bodies

I like his hustle and determination though. I’m still interested in him. He’s got a couple low post moves that I didn’t expect. The turnovers are just rookie stuff.

“Everyone kept saying — ’he’s a man, he’s an animal, he’s a beast,’ but no one really knew what to call me,” Faried said Sunday. “So a friend said, ‘Manimal,’ and I said: ‘Whoa. That fits perfectly.’ I have the long dreads. We took it and ran with it.”

The 6-foot-8 power forward first became the Manimal at Morehead (Ky.) State, where he rebounded his way into the record books, becoming the modern-era (post-1973) rebound leader in NCAA history, snatching 1,673 boards, surpassing Tim Duncan’s 1,570. The Nuggets happily selected Faried with the 22nd pick in this year’s draft. Three days into camp, he has caught the eye of his teammates.

Read more: Nuggets rookie Faried lives up to “Manimal” nickname – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_19527334#ixzz1mZOqVN00
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

I assume you meant this in reply :)

Still a marketing gimmick posted sept 1, 2011

SLAM: Have you signed a shoe deal yet?

KF: I’m leaning towards one company—I can’t say. I haven’t signed yet and hopefully I will sign soon. We will see what happens with that. I’ve got my own nickname now (Manimal), so I’ve been marketing that. [Laughs]

Well, it might be a marketing gimmick NOW

but at least it was organically created and just a focus group creation.

when replying to someone else's post

click on the “reply” link at the bottom of their post, to the right of their user name, as opposed to using the “Post a New Comment” field at the bottom of the screen.

If anything is being shown these last several games

it’s that Gallo really is the lynchpin of the entire Denver offense. Wilson Chandler coming back as a bench player will help depth, but in all honesty…until Gallo comes back, the Nuggets will continue to be hit an miss on the offensive end. Chandler has a nice mid range jumper and can play some defense….right now the Nuggets are missing their “guy”. And as long as Gallo is out you will still see nights like last night.

sorry to be a wet blanket

but it’s a little depressing to me to think that Gallo is what we need to prevent games like last night, given that he’s as likely to go 1-10 as he is to score 20+ points and carry the offense.

true...but I have to say

you are looking at things through strictly and offense based prism. If you go back and watch, Gallo is the glue that holds the defense together, he draws attention on offense, and dishes out some assists. I think people get too caught up on his off nights shooting when he does so many other things.

Gallo is the only player the Nuggets have that draws any sort of substantive one on one attention

Chandler is a good role player, Ty can be shut down by merely packing the lane. AAA can’t create his own shot, and Al Harrington is too old.

And, Gallo is only 23 and improved alot this season. His ceiling is extremely high considering, like I said, he does a little bit of everything well

fair enough

I am sure that things will get better after the All Star break, when hopefully Gallo, Nene, and Moz will all be back.

But I’m just finding it hard to be optimistic at the moment — the schedule is tough right now, we all expected this to be a rough month, but man. It’s just brutal to see a game like last night, no effort, no pride.

Tru dat

Ty was just….awful. That could’ve been his worst game as a pro.

Overall I’m very disappointed in Ty’s ability to draw contact. That’s what you must do in a packed lane and Ty just won’t do it.

did you see Cloudburst's most recent Cloudy Notion FanPost?

Maybe Ty’s getting run into the ground this season? Is it too much to ask him to run, run, run all the time with this compressed schedule? What do you think? He’s great at it when he’s healthy and has energy…

I don't think running is Ty's problem

He doesn’t seem to be exhausted. He’s just timid, and always has been. I disagree with the notion that running is a problem…I just think Ty isn’t consistently aggressive enough. That problem has plagued him since he was drafted.

Sometimes people are who they are, and expecting Ty to have a killer instinct may be asking too much.

Jeff, I think Gallo is definitely a key, but I don’t think he’s the lynch-pin to the entire offense, yet. It’s not like Denver is great in the halfcourt when he plays. The team is missing his overall game though.

Respectfully disagree Nate

When you have someone who is good at pretty much everything, his absence becomes that much more glaring. Like is said, there’s no one on the Nuggets who draws as much attention as Gallo…without him, all they need to do is stack the lane because they know that Ty wont drive and no one else has the balls to draw contact

also I must point out that Denver is not good in the half court becuase

they aren’t a half court team. As long as Karl is the coach that will remain true.

MOD FIGHT! MOD FIGHT!

/gets popcorn

i agree with Jeff here

when gallo is out, what other person is there that can initiate the offense when ty is being smothered like last night? dre is playing for a trade right now, aaa cant dribble more than a few times without causing a turnover, buckets is reverting to chucker form, rudy is catch and shoot, brewer is too out of control and the bigs cant really do it either. just goes to show how much we miss our italian stallion

I would say Denver really is missing Gallo’s drives and his shooting ability. I’m going to retract my earlier statement and say that Jeff is correct … Gallo has been the linchpin to Denver’s offense and he is missed.

I made a similar sentiment above

but I hope these games show Karl why Gallo should absolutely be in the game during crunch time, even when he’s shooting 1-10 (which EVERY star player does several times throughout the season). He alters the defense whether or not he’s hitting his shots. In his 1-10 shooting night, he still shot 6-6 from the free throw line before being taken out for the rest of the game in place of Afflalo. That is a joke.

Very good point

how much offensive abiIity does gaIIo have.

he stiII has to show he can be the focaI point of the offense and handIe teams focused on guardin him. he hasnt seen many doubIe teams, and whiIe he can get some easy shots with his size, you are gonna have to take some difficuIt shots at some point, can he make those kinds of shots Iike a kobe or meIo.

Yesss!

Like I said above, he is our Jimmy Chitwood

Horrendous Shooting

Brew 3-15. Ty 1-8. AAA 0-6. Al 4-12.
Combined 8-42 which comes to 19 FG% for those 4 guys.

So the Moral of the story is If your jump shot is a cement brick, then take the ball to the rack and dunk or get fouled. And set up your teammates for layups and dunks, with pick and rolls and backdoors and but don’t settle for brick jumpers.

Nuggburg - February 16, 2012 reply

Bit OT

But I have 2 iphone 4’s (not 4S) that wont work here in Peru. both 16gb, one white, one black. Anybody know of anybody who is interested in getting either of them?

Will they work with Verizon?

yes

Free throw shooting

This is starting to really piss me off. They just get worse and worse from the free throw line every game. Also the turning point of last night’s game was when Vince Carter made those 2 consecutive three pointers in the second quarter

Coincidentally

The moment I turned the game off…

http://www.theonion.com/video/knicks-trade-jeremy-lin-for-selfish-asshole-who-pl,27394/

funny Onion link

Knicks Trade Jeremy Lin For Selfish Asshole Who Plays Knicks-Style Basketball

Too much analysis of this loss. We lost because team did not have their feet

WE were missing 21 feet vs Dallas and you cant win a basketball game without feet.

(Apologies if you already read this idea last nite. Just thought it bore repeating)

Fair point

But it wasn’t the result of the game that bothered me at all. The fact that the Mavs have a scheme and we don’t bothers me.

this

Is what bothers me as well, our blatent lack of adjustments

agrre with both above points

both are criticisms of coach. I agree and thats why I dont believe that Karl is a good coach.

I also agree with some comments on our lack of intensity, pride etc. We had a whole lot of players hungry for minutes and yet the energy was lacking.

Hell, knock a Mav on his butt, dive for a loose ball, a couple of technicals

Was it too OK for some players that we were about to lose and by plenty?

OT

anyone else kind of disappointed Manimal didnt get chosen for the Dunk contest?

Was he trying to get in?

not sure

just thought he would be a great fit for it. good hops, has already shown a propensity for big dunks.

I agree. But if he didn't try then I won't be disappointed. LOL

Yes

I thought he would have been excellent in it

A few things I've noticed over this slump

1. Gallo is already the man on this team. Without him, all we have is dribble drive with Ty and our bigs slipping screens. Short of someone randomly taking over a game, there’s not a lot else that we have on a regular basis.

2. Ty is going to be more of a work in progress than we thought. Given that he still hasn’t really been given the keys to the car yet (as he still defers to Dre and always will until we get a backup PG, not a starter playing backup)

3. Speaking of Dre, I don’t think there is any doubt that he doesn’t really want to be here and should be shipped out. I’m guessing Masai is working on that at the moment.

4. Same with Bird. Helps that he’s looked good the last few games.

5. I think that the slump will get worse before it gets better. We have 5 games before the ASG: at Memphis, at OKC, Minn (on B2B), at LAC, and SAS (on B2B) and 1 game after the ASG (at home against Portland) to close out February. The average winning percentage of these teams at the moment is .604. Throw in the Rockets and Spurs games in the beginning of March and our next 7 games are against teams with a win% of .616. This is not fairing well for us at the moment. We’re slumping hard and there isn’t much relief in sight. Not to be overly pessimistic about the games, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see us only win 1 of these games. I could see us end up with a losing record after the Spurs game on March 4.

6. Even if we do get a losing record, don’t expect GK to be fired. I am as frustrated as the rest of you about the numerous things wrong with him but trying to bring in a new coach now would not be beneficial to this team. He is at the very least going to ride out the season baring a 20 game losing streak.

7. That being said, after the Spurs game on March 4, we have a 9 game home stand against teams with an average winning percentage of .483 and not one of those games is a back to back. Play every other day from March 5 (the second of a b2b) to march 21. This stretch also coincides with Gallo’s return and probably Ill Will’s return, as well as the trade deadline, which I have to assume we will be active in.

8. After the 9 game home stand we have a 7 game road trip against teams with a combined winning percentage of .425. The only good team we will be playing on the trip are the Bulls. At this point in the season, I’m assuming the Jazz will have traded Al Jefferson and D12 will be gone. The other games are against the Wolves, Raps, Bobcats, and Hornets. I am predicting a 12-4 month of March.

9. April appears to be a bit more difficult, but not nearly as bad as February. We play the presumably D12 less Magic, the Warriors, the Suns, the Wolves and the Rockets twice, along with the Hornets, Lakers, Clippers, and Thunder. I think we ride the momentum of March into April and have another 12 win month.

While the issues that we have are glaring (no half court offense, horrific defense against the 3, GK’s numerous coaching flaws) there is still hope for this season fellow Stiffs. Lets let Gallo, Nene, and Moz get healthy and reinserted to the lineup. Lets continue with Operation Sweep the East.

Gallo, please come back. We miss you

also this

Big Bieber

by hope

do you mean make the playoffs and lose again in the first round?

i’ve seen that movie before…

LEEDS - February 16, 2012 via Android app reply

Not at all

I said a few days ago that I thought we could be the Memphis from last year. Make it out of the first round and probably give a higher seed hell in the second, while getting good playoff experience for the young guys.

great take, great read

the Gallo thing is huge (and by “thing” I mean injury). His stats are good but his rewal value is so much greater than his basic stats. Thats why B-reference consistently shows a huge positive gap between offense and defense (a good thing)

His stats arent on star level but his effect is.

But dont lose sight of Moz’s value. His activity and height make him a pest for opponent bigs. His presence put other players in their optimal position – KK off bench, Nene at PF, Al only playing small positions, much fewer minutes for our raw rookies.

At this point, my only real aim is to place a little higher than 8th seed so we dont have to start with OKC

LongWindedHank - February 16, 2012 reply

Thanks for this excellent read

Wish it were more positive, but then it wouldn’t be so excellent, which is to say ACCURATE.

Is it just me

or has Andre just been horrible lately. At the beginning of the season, he was really into the games and playing well. Lately it’s as if he doesn’t even care.

Ngsfn - February 16, 2012 reply

I agree

We need to trade Miller immediately. The dude just looks disinterested and is affecting the team.

+2

I like the guy, but he’s hindering Ty’s development and Karl loves him WAY too much. There’s been too many games where Dre is on the floor in crunch time regardless of how terribad he’s playing (reminds me of Felton in last years playoffs).

Salary cap question

I know we will probably resign chandler, but how much cap space will we have to spend in the offseason assuming we don’t make any more moves?

If we did have room

Who would you recommend us getting (Not trying to condascend, just haven’t looked at the incoming free agency class in a while)?

Salary Cap ? you say, my specialty

First, the cap number has yet to be determined for next season, but for our purposes lets assume it remains at the current cap number of $58 million. The Nuggets currently stand right at the cap number (just about $750,000 over actually).

Second, we need a similar player to Chandler who signed a new deal last year to estimate how much Wilson will get. Sadly, Jeff Green would have been the perfect synonym to Chandler, but his contract was voided due to his heart condition. So lets take Luc Mbah a Moute and Marcus Thornton. Mbah a Moute got a 4 year deal worth just about $20million. Thornton got a 4 year deal worth about $30 million. By the laws of convenience and laziness I’m going to guess Chandler falls in the middle of that, 4 years $25 million, or just over $6 million a year.

Sooo, the answer is:

Denver’s only expiring contract of consequence (Demare Carrol’s corpse doesn’t count) would be Andre Miller (who I would guess is unlikely to return) whose contract is at $7.8 million. Rudy Fernandez is also a RFA with a qualifying offer of $3.1million If Denver resigns Chandler at $6.5 million a year, extends a QO to Fernandez and does not amnesty the Birdman (Which I actually expect they will when they sign Chandler to avoid paying as much luxury tax) Then they will be roughly $1.5 million under the cap, enough to sign squat. If they do amnesty Bird then they will have around $6million, and if they do not extend a QO to Fernandez and amnesty Bird then they will have around $9million, pretty much enough to take a shot at anyone not named Deron Williams or Dwight Howard

…wheeeewwww

LongWindedHank - February 16, 2012 reply

Thanks: this is why we read Denver Stiffs

Someone asks a question that demands a detailed, knowledgeable answer, and either a moderator or a fan answers it. Slightly informed fans like me take advantage of very informed ones like you. Really appreciate it.

Good work

Next question: who is worth going for not named Deron WIlliams and Dwight Howard?

We have $56.3 committed to 11 players next season

We’re only going to have the MLE or a little over that amount, if we do amnesty Bird/trade our first round pick. Unless we dump another contract (Harrington), think it’s probably unlikely we’ll even use the MLE.

nugzin2040 - February 16, 2012 reply

Free agents

I would like us to go out and try to sign Goran Dragic and Nicolas Batum

batum wants to start

5baker5 - February 16, 2012 reply

plus we'd have chandler,gallo,brewer at SF

5baker5 - February 16, 2012 reply

i could see dragic

batum maybe too expensive

I like Dragic

holyMonkey - February 16, 2012 reply

How about

Dragic and Carl Landry?

What are your guy's thoughts about Lamar Odom

He's playing better

Would be a good asset, but he’s also older. Signing him to a long-term deal when he has as much wear and tear, probably wouldn’t be wise.

nugzin2040 - February 16, 2012 reply

Too many forwards.

Kevin L - February 16, 2012 reply

Laker cooties.

No thanks.

love4nuggets - February 16, 2012 reply

/snort

And by Laker you mean Kardashian

That too!

love4nuggets - February 16, 2012 reply

Since it appears I'm the only one here

I was messing around with the trade machine and came up with this

4 Team trade between Nuggets, Lakers, Rockets, T-Wolves

Nuggets get Goran Dragic
Lakers get Miller, Beasley, and Scola
Rockets get Pau Gasol and Wes Johnson
T-Wolves get Kevin Martin

Dragic is not a very good player IMO

unless we get a 1st rounder that’s a bad deal for us

and

I don’t think HOU is willing to give up K Mart jr. AND Scola for Pau

Well

Houston was willing to give up Scola and Martin in the failed CP3 deal which was nixed by the league. Plus Houston still wants gasol very badly

My opinion

I think it’s a very good deal. If you remember when he was with the Suns, Dragic was very good and plus he got to learn from one of the all time great point guards. I think it’s a good move because we get rid of Miller and his pissy behavior

Yea I'm all for moving Miller

but I’m not sure Dragic is much better than Stone, and I know Stone is WAAAAAAYYYY better on D and still has upside

Stone

He might be good on D but the guy is a rookie and Karl won’t play him. Plus he’s 6’6. Also dragic has only one year left on his deal as well so we can give it a trial run.

ok you convinced me

I’ve just been thinking, why did we bring Dre in if he wasn’t going to be the starter? We know he wants to.Why make Ty the starter if he still can’t be “the man” at the pg spot? Dre has been a successful starting PG for quite some time, and Ty has never really been a starting PG. Maybe we should still be playing Ty off the bench if we have a proven vet that our coach loves who has spent the majority of his career starting.