Nuggets Draft Review

Draft Review: Round 1 - Round 2 - Grade - Analysis - While the Nuggets didn't improve much during tonight's draft, they didn't get any worse either. I don't see any future stars coming out of the team's draft picks this year, but it is doubtful it will produce any Nikoloz Skitishvili type busts either. They did about as well as can be expected for a team with absolutely nothing to do today. ___________________________________________________ John Elway Day update: - Thanks to everyone who's joining in the movement with us. Some great Denver Broncos blogs have joined in to raise awareness. Check them out at BroncoTalk and My Denver Obsession. Thanks for the support fellas! - We are still working on some bar spots to celebrate Elway Day, but if you need some new Elway hotness to celebrate with then you're in luck. We received an email from Jason Patterson, owner of Timeless Sports at the Flatirons Mall in Broomfield, who wants to participate in the Elway Day festivities. They will be offering all John Elway items autographed and non-Autographed that day at 21% off (7+7+7 = 21%). For more information you can contact them by phone at (303) 410-0068, or by email info@Timeless-Sports.com. It looks they have Champ Bailey coming to the store on the 8th also, so it's a good weekend to head up there and check it out. ______________________________________________________ Other Draft Notes - - One thing is for sure, this draft definitely made things a lot more difficult for the Nuggets to win the Northwest Division next year. - For the second year in a row Portland nailed the draft. Got Oden, got rid of Randolph to make room for Oden and Aldridge. They did have to pick up Steve Francis in the deal, so hopefully he can teach himself to pass before the start of the season. The Trail Blazers also picked up Channing Frye and Josh McRoberts during the draft which leaves them extremely stacked up front. I don't think they are done making moves yet. - The Celtics got over on the Sonics in the Ray Allen deal. Here's what I don't understand if you're the Sonics. You draft a dynamic 3 man in Kevin Durant. You then trade the best shooter in the league, Ray Allen, to Boston for Jeff Green (who's basically just like Durant only not near as good), another 3 man in Wally Szczerbiak, and now you are trying to re-sign your other dynamic 3 man in Rashard Lewis. So you now have Lewis (who scored over 22 ppg last year), Wally (who averaged 15 ppg last year), and the #2 and #5 pick in the draft who all play the exact same position. We know they can't put Durant at the 4 spot since he can't do a push up, or at least he can't without putting his knees on the ground. So either they are making another trade, or they are planning on playing Golden State style of ball next season and spreading everyone out to rain 3's. And the Celtics just became a contender in the East. Of course, if you put me, Forty Duece, a Yorkshire terrier and Ray Allen on a team we'd contend in the East. The East blows. But Ray Allen averaged a career high in points last season, and a player like him (a scorer who relies on his jumper) can keep playing well into his mid-30's... ask Reggie Miller. - At some point around pick #40, the 2nd round of the NBA draft has become a joke. For the past few years teams just use these picks to take a flier on some tall Euro who might be a player in the next few years, instead of taking a proven American college player. An example of this is the last pick in the first round Petteri Koponen. Koponen was the 3rd leading scorer of his Finnish Basketball League TEAM, at 12.5 ppg. Not in the entire league, just on his team. In comparison, my former teamate at CU and one of my best friends DJ Harrison also played in the Finnish League. DJ was the 5th leading scorer in the league at 19.4 ppg, averaged nearly 10 rebounds, and was second in the league in player efficiency rating (a huge stat in Europe, it's kind of like Hollinger Stats). So why is this foreign kid a first round draft pick and DJ isn't? Because NBA GM's and talent scouts are retarded that's why. US players who don't quite make the NBA consistently go to Europe and DESTROY the competition. Yet these lesser players that they dominate end up in the NBA.... makes sense I guess if your a GM of an NBA franchise and you want to populate your team with dudes like this. ______________________________________________________ In other Nuggets news: - I was reading Gilbert Arenas' blog on NBA.com and came across this in his last entry: Starting a Rumor I had seen Melo in our arena. Carmelo is doing a documentary of him working out for the Olympics back in D.C. When I saw him, for some weird reason I thought he was traded to us. I wish. He’s going to be in D.C. for about two weeks working out before he goes back to Denver. He works hard. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy that other NBA players think Melo is a hard worker. - Allen Iverson's lawsuit hearing began today. It sounds like AI is a victim of his fame in this one. From what I can tell, some guy got his ass beat at a bar and Iverson was there, so he is suing him for $20 million. I don't think AI has anything to worry about.