Perspectives of a Colorado Curmudgeon on topics ranging from Basketball to Music to Science & Religion to Travel to Memories, touching on a bit of everything.
I turned off the TV before half-time of Friday night's game versus Cleveland and LeBron. The Nuggies were down by 20 and headed for another loss. Admittedly the season is young, but I will bet dollars to donuts that the Nuggets will win even fewer games than they did last year. Here is a major reason why:
It's coach Brian Shaw telling Ty Lawson what to do - got it backwards in my opinion. I have written previously about the woes of the Nuggets so won't repeat myself here because my views have not changed, particularly about the ownership. Another prediction - Shaw will be gone before the end of the season. I certainly hope that George Karl is enjoying some Schadenfreude.
Recently one of my cousins opined that I really wasn't much of a Curmudgeon, so I thought I had better pick it up a few notches. Recently one of the things I am fond of is taking the Denver Nuggets ownership/"leadership" to task. As in this guy:
That image in and of itself should tell you something - this 34 year-old guy did not become president of the Nuggets because of his abundant knowledge of and expertise in basketball. Daddy supposedly made his billions on his own, but it doesn't hurt that mommy is a Walton.
You can click on the Nuggets Group Topic on the right hand side of this blog, but I believe that I correctly analyzed the Nuggets season after they played just two game - read it here.
Kroenke's post-season analysis, as reported in the Denver Post - "Kroenke happy with Nuggets." I guess when you have boatloads of money, you can still find happiness in abject failure. A few comparisons:
2012-2013 2013-2014
Record 57W - 25L 36W - 46L
At Home 38W - 3L [Best in NBA] 22W - 19L
Conference 3rd of 15 11th of 15
Playoffs Yes No [first time in 10 years]
Kroenke gives the usual platitudes about how great the first year coach and the first year general manager did their jobs, that the team would likely have done much better if it had not been for injuries, and that sometimes you have to take some steps backward to move forward. Well, as I noted, they certainly did take the steps backward, and I can't see that there will be much forward movement for next season. At least there are a lot of former Nuggets participating in post season play this year - in fact, a team made of former Nuggets coached by Karl would likely have whooped this years Nugatory Nuggets. Let's hope Josh doesn't dismantle the Avalanche as he did the Nuggets.
One more New Year's Resolution - I will not write any more about the Nugatory Nuggets unless they reach the playoffs or do something newsworthy like firing Shaw and rehiring Karl. The Camera headline stated that the Nuggets hit rock bottom last night in their embarrassing [and boo-worthy] loss to the pitiful Philadelphia 76ers. Wrong. They are on their way to the cellar, a slot currently held by Utah, and it should not be too long before the Nuggets settle to the bottom. In addition to last night's worthy-of-a-bag-over-the-head performance, apparently Andre Miller let Shaw have it court-side for sitting him the entire game. The current 8 game losing streak is the longest such run in 10 years. I feel sorry for the players since the current catastrophe is much more due to management than the team.
It would appear as though about 75% of Nuggets fans are hitting the recreational weed a tad early [it's not legal until January 1]. During the recent embarassing loss to middling Memphis, a real time poll indicated that 75% thought that the Nuggets would end the calendar year above .500. Well perhaps the 120-99 loss to the Grizzlies shook a few out of their haze. If they had been paying attention, they would have noted the previous loss to lowly New Orleans as well as the Nuggies 5 [now 6] game losing streak. They also might have looked to see that the Heat come to town tonight, and if one loses to Memphis by 21, one can only hope that Miami will show a bit of holiday mercy.
I have predicted that the Nuggets would be a sub-500 team this year, and they are right on course. Last year's Nuggets went 57 and 25, but the sage ownership decided drastic changes were needed. Idiots. This year's version could go 25 and 57. Rocky is more entertaining that the Nuggets.
And he has a pretty good shot!!
POST-MORTEM Well, Miami's version of holiday mercy was much like a cat playing with the mouse that it has caught, letting it feel like there was a chance, that there was a bit of hope, but knowing full well that when it came time, there would be no doubt as to who would be the winner. With about four minutes to play, the Heat awoke from their sleepwalk and put the game away. And once again, the high point of the evening was Rocky sinking his half-court, backwards, over-head shot on the FIRST try!
Yes, the Mc-Nuggets are tasty morsels that even the lowliest of NBA teams can feast upon them. I previously wrote about what I saw as a certain decline for the Nuggets, and although they are currently above .500, I stand by my prediction that they won't be there at the end of the season. Last night's loss to the bottom-of-the-pack Utah Jazz was about as bad as it gets.
The above pics show only one reason for the loss, although it was a major one - Gordon Hayward. He had his way with the Nuggets, and here is a real gem - Hayward and the Jazz back-court scored 53 points, and Denver's back-court scored 0. That's right, zero, zip, nada, the big goose-egg, etc. And, continuing a very bad trend, the Nuggets shot only 14 for 24 from the free-throw line whilst the Jazz were 19 for 20. I think that I could shoot 50% at the charity strip with my eyes closed.
Last year, the Nuggets lost three home games the ENTIRE season. They just lost their third last night, which means 6 and 3 at home, and 13 and 9 over all thus far. I think that is not indicative of how their record will end because they haven't been playing any good teams - a lot of tough games are coming up soon and it is doubtful that they will win half of them.
I said it previously, but will say it again - the change from a run-them-out-of-the-house style to a walk-it-up-and-watch is disheartening. Good grief - it's a mile high in Denver and as last year showed, you should be able to wear down any team that comes to town. Denver still has some fast guys, but I don't see much emphasis on quickly getting the ball up the court. Everyone tells me what a great coach Brian Shaw is, but I haven't seen it yet. Last night, the third quarter crew was clicking, getting the lead back after being down by 16. Shaw substitutes [not unreasonable] but his choices were very dubious, particularly going with Lawson who missed several games because of a hamstring pull, and had a grand total of 0 points for the evening.
Hopeful that the Nuggets will prove me wrong - not holding my breath. Go Avs!
Yeah, yeah, I know that the pro basketball season is only two games old, but I know bad, as well as boring, basketball when I see it. Ever since the organizational debacle at the end of last year's Nuggets season, I have suspected that this year would not be a pretty sight.
Let's start with their first huge [and dumb, but that's implicit in all of my comments] mistake - firing George Karl:
Karl has always been a coach that can get the most out his roster, and last season was no different. Without any superstars [and thankfully with Carmelo gone], the Nuggets had 57 wins, the most in their history, the best home record, 38 and 3, in the entire NBA, and Karl passed the 1000 win mark which only 6 other NBA coaches have achieved. Karl was named the NBA Coach of the Year, and after 8+ years in Denver, he was rewarded not with a contract extension but with a pink slip. Sure, the Nuggets lost to a red-hot Golden State team in the first round, but they also lost Danilo Galinari to a torn ACL. I cannot add too much to what Coach Karl had to say after he was dumped:
“I don’t have a lot of bitterness other than I don’t
understand. But not understanding — when you are working in a world of
millions, millions, and millions of dollars, there’s a lot of things I
don’t understand.
“There’s a lot of contracts we give players that I don’t understand.
There’s a lot of trades that I don’t understand. There are a lot of
decisions I don’t understand
“I can’t deny there’s an anger and frustration. But there’s much more celebration in my heart than anything else.”
One of the main reasons that I loved to watch the Nuggets-of-the-past is that they "played basketball" and by that I mean they played a fast-paced, share-the-ball game. Without the typical NBA "superstar" ball hog, the Nuggets truly played team ball and proved that a team can win doing that. They also understood that a fast-paced game at 5280 feet would ultimately wear down nearly all opponents. That strategy produced 38 home wins and only 3 losses - and my prediction is that the new Nuggets style of walk it up, pass to the big guys down low, and let them back it in will result in more home losses than wins this year.
Second blunder:
This is Masai Ujiri, holding his 2012-2013 NBA Executive of the Year Award as the General Manager of the Nuggets. Gone. He and Karl seemed to have a solid relationship, and perhaps he saw the writing on the wall and took the GM position with the Toronto Raptors. Nuggets probably could have kept him for $3M a year - peanuts in the pro sports world.
Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, .......steps backwards, all based around the change from the Karl coaching style to that of the new head coach, Brian Shaw, who came from the Indiana Pacers. I think that this image sums it up:
Actually the Denver Stiffs and some of their website commentary are right on - like this one "Reality bites - Nuggets lose to Portland - Look like grunge. The Nuggets got rid of up-tempo players like Corey Brewer and Kosta Koufas, and defensive [and occasionally offensive] - minded Andre Iguodala, and brought in some slow giants who I had never heard of. They have a couple of the quickest high-energy guards in the NBA in Ty Lawson and Nate Robinson, and they get to walk it up the court and pass into the slow giants and then stand around and watch. Running is rare and a well-executed pick-and-roll happens only on occasion. At least the Nuggets still have Andre Miller who knows how the game should be played - unfortunately he's about 100 years old. Dre and Brian Shaw played in the league at the same time, and Shaw has been a coach for several years.
Enough curmudgeontary for now - perhaps I will be proven wrong, but I sincerely doubt that. The Nuggets are no longer a good team and are no fun to watch. My prediction is that they will be lucky to play .500 ball and if they make the playoffs, it will be as a very low seed. So stay tuned to see how this season plays out.
ps - should give credit where credit is due - thank the Kroenkes for this mess. At least the Avalanche is winning.
As I became acquainted with the Pepperdine students in this year's Heidelberg program, I was struck with a resemblance. Pepperdine Student Matt Hall and Denver Nuggets Player Danilo Gallinari. Agreed??
Much ado has been made over Blake Griffin'smonstrous dunks, and they have become the benchmark for being'posterized.' For over a year, Griffin's dunk over Timofey Mosgov,then of the New York Knicks, has been the standard, and "Mosgov'd" became part of the NBA lingo:
Then, probably as a relief to Mosgov, Griffin's recent dunk over Kendrick Perkins has set a new standard - note how he uses his left arm to leverage himself right over Perkins:
And then last night, Mosgov, who is now a Nugget courtesy of theCarmelo Anthony trade, got the final word on Griffin. At about the 30 second point in the video below, watch Griffin approach for another big-time slam, and watch Mosgov stop him cold. From that point on, the Nuggets rolled and blew out the Clippers in LA.
But, the main focus of this post is a spectacular play by Rudy Fernandez of the Nuggets. IMHO monster dunks should be EXPECTED from somebody who is 6 feet 10 inches, weighs 251 pounds, and can jump. But Fernandez' play below requires a lot of skill, basketball smarts, and a bit of luck. Time is running out at the end of the quarter, the in-bounded ball goes to Corey Brewer who puts up a prayer that is way wide to the right - but watch how Rudy circles from the left, goes past the basket, and tips it in left-handed [Rudy is right-handed] with just a moment left on the clock.
Admittedly the Dallas Mavs are not the same team that won the NBA title last year - as Dirk Nowitzki said, they are old, slow and out of shape. However, the Nuggets performance last night was truly impressive. They played an exemplary first half, lead by as much as 30, and cruised to victory in Dallas. Here's the AP writeup:
DALLAS (AP)
Ty Lawson and the Denver Nuggets opened their season with a performance that sent a clear message to the rest of the NBA.
Not about them. About the Dallas Mavericks.
The reigning champions have quickly become a team everyone wants to play. There's no telling which is worse right now, their offense or defense, their conditioning or chemistry, as they were drubbed for a second straight game, losing 115-93 to the Nuggets on Monday night.
Dallas gave up 20 straight points in the second quarter and had a stretch of 14 straight missed shots during a 9:52 drought between baskets. It was so bad that their player of the game, Sean Williams, threw up when he left the court.
Williams, the 13th and final guy off the bench, was so gassed from scoring 12 points in 11 energetic minutes that he vomited in front of the team's bench. Teammates and owner Mark Cuban laughed, and fans in the area gave a light-hearted standing ovation while an usher mopped up the mess.
Williams wasn't sick, just not quite in game shape because of the lockout. Of course, the way things are going for Dallas, plenty of jokes were made about that being an editorial statement about their performance.
"We look old and slow and out of shape - a bad combination," said Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 20 points and sat out the entire fourth quarter for a second straight game, yet another indication of how bad things are going. "I still think this team has a lot of potential. But we have to turn the corner."
The Mavs trailed by 33 in the third quarter, a day after being down by 35 in the third quarter against Miami. Counting a pair of preseason games against Oklahoma City, Dallas has been behind by at least 23 points in every game since being crowned champs.
There are plenty of reasons to choose from: an overhaul of their rotation, the shortened training camp and other teams being motivated to take them down.
"We're not comfortable with each other on both ends of the floor," Shawn Marion said. "We're trying to get acclimated and you can tell it's not flowing the way it should be and there's going to be some bumps."
The challenge for coach Rick Carlisle is finding the right combination of players. He's trying to squeeze in Lamar Odom, Vince Carter and Delonte West to replace Tyson Chandler, J.J. Berea and others, all with little practice time. Carlisle already has seen a lack of trust on defense, and that throws everything else out of whack.
"We're going to recharge tomorrow, have a hell of a practice on Wednesday and then we've got to go up to Oklahoma City and we're going to have to play a lot better," Carlisle said. "I've got a lot of work to do."
The Nuggets hope this was an indication of what they can be like when they have everything clicking, regardless of the foe.
Lawson made 8 of 9 shots in the first half, and finished with 27 points. Andre Miller and Al Harrington each scored 18 points off the bench, and Denver's deep, athletic roster scored on 19 of its 25 possessions in the second quarter.
"We've been jelling real quick," Lawson said. "I knew we'd come out strong. ... That's when we're good, when we get out and run. It's my job to make sure the tempo is fast and guys are running in those lanes."
Denver made only 12 baskets in the second half, but it hardly mattered. The Nuggets led by 27 at halftime, and stretched it during the third quarter.
"It's way too early to get crazy but it felt good," Nuggets coach George Karl said.
Dallas was so out of sync that fans were booing before halftime. The jeers came when a turnover near midcourt turned into a three-on-none fast break for Denver. The Nuggets had enjoyed so many easy baskets at that point that they didn't even bother doing anything fancy, with Gallinari softly tossing the ball to Harrington for a routine dunk that made it 65-41.
For Dallas, Jason Kidd scored 12 points, Carter scored 11 and Rodrigue Beaubois scored 10. Aside from Nowitzki and Kidd, the other three starters (Marion, Brendan Haywood and West) scored a combined 11 points.
Odom scored three points, making only 1 of 10 shots.
"We look like a team that's new," he said.
Williams played with as much intensity as he could muster because this is his second time in the NBA. After being told he wouldn't return, he's trying to prove he has staying power. Leaving the way he did isn't the kind of mark he's trying to make. Williams actually started losing it while on the court. He caught it in his mouth and hustled off with his cheeks full. He couldn't make it to the tunnel, or even a trash can.
"It was awkward, man, pretty awkward," he said. "It's never happened to me before - not ever, even in a practice."
NOTES: Dallas is 0-2 for the first time since 2006-07, which is also the last time the Mavs were coming off a trip to the NBA finals. That team actually went 0-4, yet wound up winning 67 games. ... Denver got Rudy Fernandez and Corey Brewer in a trade from Dallas during training camp. Fernandez scored eight points and Brewer had five. ... The Mavs forced a shot-clock violation on the opening possession of the second half and drew one of the biggest cheers of the night. They ended up keeping the Nuggets below 30 points in the quarter, yet Denver grew its lead anyway. ... Kenyon Martin, a Dallas native and former Denver star, watched from the stands. ... West started at shooting guard instead of Carter, who started on opening night. Jason Terry replaced West to start the second half.
It's about time for Mark Jackson, color commentator for ABC/ESPN NBA basketball, to start eating some crow. Ever since the Nuggets traded Carmelo Anthony and Chauncy Billips for a group of younger but highly talented players, Jackson has been singing the praises of Melo and pooh-poohing the Nuggets. During today's game between the Nuggets and the Lakers in LA, Jackson continued the same blather, and noting that the Lakers are the hottest team in basketball since the All-Star break. It wasn't until there were about 8 seconds left in the game and the Nuggets were up by 5 that Jackson finally conceded that Denver looked pretty good. Earlier in the game, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen pressed Jackson on how the Nuggets were doing quite well whilst the Knicks continue to struggle, and pointed out that the Nuggets were playing tough defence and sharing the ball [not two of Carmelo's strong points]. Breen asked if Jackson would rather have a superstar or a good group of players at the end of a tight game, and Jackson continued his devotion to the superstar - "You don't have to draw up a play - just get him the ball and stand back." So it was only fitting that at the end of the game, the Lakers went to their superstar, Denver doubled him up, and Kobe put up a couple of bricks; meanwhile, several Nuggets scored key baskets down the stretch. Final: Nuggets 95 - Lakers 90.
There are probably some folks out there that are gloating about this, but let's just say that yesterday's game outcomes warmed the cockles of my heart. ESPN carried the double header of the Magic visiting the Knicks and the Spurs visiting the Nuggets, and watching both games was great fun. The early game saw the Magic and Knicks stay neck-and-neck until crunch time, and the Knicks folded while Dwight Howard continued to shine. Chauncey showed his age, and neither Melo or Stoudemire could hit anything. Magic 111, Knicks 99. In the second game, the Tim-Duncan-less Spurs shot the lights out for three quarters and led by as many as 14. However the Nuggets pulled it back to even in the fourth quarter, and when crunch time came, the Nuggets kept hustling and working together and the Spurs shots started to miss the mark. Lawson and Felton continued to fly down the court, and Al Harrington was numb - 27 points with 5 three-pointers. Nuggets 115, Spurs 112.
The Knicks are now below .500 at 35 and 36, which amazingly keeps them in 7th place in the East. That record would put them in 12th place in the West. Denver's record of 42 and 29 places them in 5th in the West. The Knicks have lost 7 of their last 8, and are not doing so great after the trade whilst the Nuggets are 11 and 4. Among the many interesting things about the big trade and the ensuing success of the Nuggets are the perspectives of the New York press and ESPN commentators. Last night, one of the ESPN guys went out of his way to put a positive spin on what's going on, and there is much talk back east about how it takes quite a bit of time for new players to adjust to each other, blah, blah, blah. Well, that is indeed true when the new players are selfish me-ballers. Just look at the Nuggets - it took them exactly one game to "adjust to each other."
I realize that it is still just a short time post-trade and that things could change dramatically. However, at them moment, it is fun to do exactly what one Newsday sports writer said would be happening given the current results - "I can hear the voices in the Rocky Mountains saying 'I told you so'." Indeed we did.
* The Nuggets win again, defeating the Suns 116-97, ending a losing streak in Phoenix that dates back seven years for the Nuggets and back to 1997 for Nuggets' coach George Karl. As the Denver Post pointed out:
The Nuggets, dropped by TNT on Thursday night for a lack of star power, are methodically proving team power can be just as scintillating. They are a raw reincarnation of the 2003-04 Pistons, a bunch that is a fast-breaking, breathtaking sum of its parts. It's a team that is not only making believers out of fans and purists who thought basketball couldn't be played like this with any consistency and win, but by the scouts who cover them. At one point during the game, one gasped: "These guys are really good, man." "I've never seen these guys play like this before," said another, obviously familiar with the iso, pick-and-roll Nuggets. "A really different team."
*After yet another Knicks loss, the New York Times notes:
The Dallas owner Mark Cuban said he was not necessarily happy that Carmelo Anthony is out of the Western Conference because he said the Nuggets improved themselves in the deal. “I think they hit a home run,” Cuban said. In the deal, the Nuggets received Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov from the Knicks. Denver is 6-2 since the trade.
* The CU Buffs are likely to make it into the 68 team NCAA tournament. They beat Kansas State for the third time this season, and will face Kansas next in the Big 12 Tournament. Kansas beat CU twice this season, but the Buffs were close to the upset in both games.
Nuggets win by 40. Admittedly, the Bobcats are not the Spurs, but last night's performance was probably the finest display of team-ball that I have ever seen at the professional level. They played defense, they ran the ball, seven players in double figures, and most importantly, they shared the ball most unselfishly, with a season high of 30+ assists. Here's what Cub Martin had to say about the game, and he sums it up pretty well, with some bold added by me:
The “titanic” clash between two new look teams went down in Denver on Wednesday night. The revamped Nuggets were entering their fifth game with the new cast and their visitors from Charlotte sported a different look, as well. In addition to the Silas effect which took place around the holidays (hiring both Paul as Head and Steve as an assistant), the Bobcats came in with some new faces, no Gerald Wallace and a happy Stephen Jackson, now at home on the wing.
Owners of a 17-14 record since Larry Brown was replaced by Silas, the Bobcats seem to play with a new freedom and one that the assistant Silas noted was initially tricky for some of the players to adjust to. After playing in the structured world of Larry Brown’s Universe, the Bobcats now have the creative license and “freedom to fail,” which players all crave.
The younger Silas even painted a pre-game picture of some of DJ Augustin’s first games with the new staff. Out of habit, the guard was prone to look over to the bench at crunch time for a play call. Those visual requests are now met with a “go ahead; you call the play” reaction from the staff.
Again, a major change.
Of course, the transformation is even more drastic on the other bench as the “Go-Go Nuggets” have adopted a quicker pace and a new-found, team-wide attention to the defensive end of the court. In their first four games (obviously a limited sample size), the Nuggets are giving up 10 less points per game on average. While the “local jury” would probably prefer another month of wins before they return in droves (attendance has been down), there is a new “air of basketball” in the Post-Melo world. A deep team that shares the ball; has no true No. 1 option, but nine or 10 guys who can score 20 on any night. In a sense, the current Nuggets roster is a “Frankenstein” project for the rest of the League. As the big-market teams go “star heavy,” this one is going with a totally different approach.
To the action on the court!
In front of a library-esque crowd of just over 14,000, the Nuggets led from start to finish en route to a lopsided 120-80 win. The victory was their fourth in five games since the trade that sent Melo and Chauncey Billups to Gotham. Like Monday’s win over Atlanta, a new style of play was more than evident and spurred the home team’s impressive performance. The balance was in full effect, again with Wilson Chandler leading the way with 16 points, but seven guys scored in double figures (for the fifth straight), including Ty Lawson’s double-double of 14 and 10 assists. With a mixture of strong perimeter defense and crisp interior passing, the Nuggets jumped to an early lead and enjoyed a strong third-quarter run to turn a 10-point game into a 25-point one.
It was the first half, however, was where the home team set the tone and took complete control. Normally ‘round these parts, this style of winning is achieved by simply trying to outscore their opponent. On this night, the early scoring differential (that held solid through out the night) was a product of a strong detail to perimeter defense. Possession after possession, the Bobcats were forced into settling for long-range jump shots and if not for Matt Carroll’s torrid first-half, the game might have gotten out of hand much earlier. The presence of Wilson Chandler on the wing is the most glaring defensive difference. The newly acquired wing was able to push Jackson deeper on the wing and force him into tough shots. On the offensive end, the home team implemented a quick-swinging passing attack that led to many easy shots and a 63 percent first half shooting percentage. This combination of focus on both sides of the ball allowed the Nuggets to enjoy 62-46 halftime advantage.
For a fan base that has grown accustomed to watching the ball go continually through the hands of Carmelo Anthony, the team’s propensity for sharing the ball was clearly visible. Halftime buzz in the press room centered around the passing and the unselfish nature of this new Nugget incarnation. Those observations were cemented by the six Nugget players who had at least 8 halftime points.
With the win in the books, the Nuggets make the quick trip over the Continental Divide to Utah for a divisional game with equally revamped Jazz. The win puts the Nuggets at 36-26 (only the second time they have been 10-plus over .500 and just 2.5 games behind the Northwest Division leading OKC Thunder. It also puts the Nuggets securely into the fifth spot in the Western Conference Playoff push.
It is all smiles and cheers for now in Denver, but with seven of the next eight on the road against the likes of New Orleans, Atlanta, Orlando, and Miami, we’ll all know a little more about this team very soon.
The Associated Press writer made it sound like a wake. And one of the opening lines, "Anthony was one of the best players in Denver Nuggets history" needed the modifier "if the NBA was a one-on-one league." Great players know when to shoot and when to pass, and Melo only mastered half of that equation. Great players know how to involve the other four professionals on the court, bringing out the best in everyone, and Melo played a lot of back-em-down, jack-it-up while the others stood around and watched. Great players lead their teams to championships - enough said.
I was hopeful that the short-handed Nuggets would pull it together on the day after the trade. They played the Memphis Grizzlies, a team that they are battling for a playoff spot. I watched and I was very pleased - they hustled, they played great defense, they ran the fast break, and most importantly, they played team ball. On nearly every possession, there were 2,3, or 4 passes, working toward the best shot. They shared the ball, and were up by 30 at one point in the game. Awesome. It will be interesting if the talent that had been in Melo's shadow will emerge as a team rather than a group of individuals. Coach Karl has the ability to do this and no longer has to watch helplessly as an anointed one plays his own game.
I may actually watch them now.
Newly-acquired Denver Nuggets (from left) Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov are cheered as they watch their new team defeat the Memphis Grizzlies.
I have previously written about my low regard for the professional version of basketball. Generally speaking, that lack of respect carries over to the individual players as now epitomized by Carmelo Anthony. All season long, Melo and his equally self-enthralled WAG La La Vasquez have been pining for the Big Apple, playing ball at the center of the universe, blah, blah, blah. They finally got their wish with today's trade, and the only thing that makes me a bit sad is that Chauncey Billips was included in the deal. Apparently this was another demand of Megalo Melo. Chauncey is indeed the "hometown favorite." The first time that we saw him play was as an all-star high schooler from George Washington in Denver. The last time we saw him was courtside at the CU Coors Events Center, cheering on his alma mater is a win over Kansas State. Melo will not be missed, but Chauncey will.
