The NBA regular season begins tonight, and I for one couldn’t be more excited. Here are a few story lines for the season that have me excited:
THE NUGGETS -
Of course the Nuggets. For the first time in nearly 20 years, the Nuggets enter a season with a legitimate shot at contending for a championship. We’ve got all the ingredients... star power, good supporting cast, ability to score running or in the half court set. We’ve got strong post play, good perimeter shooting, an excellent returning core and have added some very good role players via free agency... now if we only played in the Eastern Conference.
The way I see it, there are a few keys to the success of this years squad.
1.) Can Melo and AI play together the way they did during the last month of the season last year?
The Nuggets were 22-16 last season with both Melo and AI in the lineup. However, they finished the season winning 10 out of 11 heading into the playoffs and were the hottest team in the NBA. If the Nuggets can transfer that type of play over to this season than they’ll be in great shape, which means that AI is going to have to learn how to defer to Melo.
Carmelo proved once again this summer that his ability to score is greater than anyone on this planet, with the possible exception of Kobe Bryant. He's comfortable in a running game or a half court set, he can score on the block, take his man one on one, and his outside jumper is getting better each season. Iverson is going to have to realize both this and the fact that he is now 32 years old. It may be time for him to give the rock up occasionally. This is a lesson that he seemed to have learned by the end of last season, but then forgot in the playoff series against the Spurs. With the scorers around him on this team, Iverson has the potential to lead the league in assists, hopefully he’s ready to move on to the next phase in his career for the sake of the team’s success.
2.) Can the Nuggets stay healthy and out of trouble?
If the pre-season is any judge, than this looks like it will once again be a problem for the Nuggets. JR Smith has already been suspended for 3 games for his part in a night club altercation (he allegedly poured Moet on a woman, then allegedly apologized only to allegedly change his mind then allegedly spit on her, pull her hair, and tear her dress.... allegedly), and Chucky Atkins will reportedly miss 6-8 weeks to start the season with a severe right groin strain. Atkins was set to replace Steve Blake as the starting PG for the Nuggets. As a result of these two incidents it looks like we are going to be seeing a lot of Yakhouba to start the season! Nothing is more exciting than a defensive stopper who doesn’t stop people. Personally I’d rather see Von Wafer get some PT. At least he showed the ability to put the ball in the hole, hitting 10-25 threes in the pre-season (Yakhouba shot a scorching 3-22!), plus we’d get to say “Von Wafer” a lot, and that certainly isn’t a bad thing.
As for the rest of the squad, our front-court has been notoriously injury prone. But if we can end up with 25 or less DNP’s from Camby, Nene, Melo and K-Mart we will finish in the top four in the Western Conference. That means home-court advantage in the first round and, more importantly, no Spurs, Suns or Mavericks in the first round.
3.) How much of the old K-Mart is left in Kenyon Martin?
After missing the better part of two seasons with micro-fracture surgeries, K-Mart is reportedly healthy again and ready to play. With Marcus Camby and Nene in the lineup, K-Mart will be the first big off the bench and probably only see about 20 minutes per game. I see this as a positive for K-Mart. First of all, it will control his minutes. Even if he is completely healed, it is better to bring him back slowly than to throw him in playing 30 minutes / game. If we can keep him healthy all season, he can provide great defense and a huge amount of toughness that was missing for most of the Spurs series.
If K-Mart and the rest of the frontcourt can stay healthy for the entire season, we will be in pretty good shape.
4.) Can JR Smith mature and become a consistent player?
The only thing consistent about JR in his first season as a Nugget was that he was inconsistent... and that he was immature. He’s had a rough off-season. But if JR can somohow figure it all out, he is a legit NBA player. He has an outstanding (albeit streaky) jumper, and when he is on he completely opens up the offense. Now if he can just refrain from spitting on girls at clubs, wrecking cars, and fighting with tiny former dunk champions than he can really help us win some games.
2006 - 2007 Denver Nuggets
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