2013 Denver Nuggets Midseason Report

365 days ago the Nuggets went into the All Star Break on a 2-12 slide.  Midway through the 2012 season we were 20-20, suffering from a rash of injury related losses, and I had never been more optimistic about the team’s future. 

You’ll notice that in the previous paragraph I used the past tense verb, had, when I said that I had never been more excited about the teams future, because this year, the Nuggets are 33-21 heading into the All Star Break.  12 games OVER 500 and that’s before you factor in a late-midseason three game slide that consisted of:

1.     A triple-overtime heartbreaker that ended prematurely when Andre Miller suffered an apparent heat stroke.  What’s important about that game is that we had won an astounding 9 contests in a row when we made our way into Boston Garden.  It took the Celtics THREE overtimes to beat us at home.  Could they win four games in a seven game series?  Absolutely not.

2.      A gut-wrenching exhibition where Ty Lawson rimmed out a game winning buzzer beater.  What’s important about that game was that George Karl gave Anthony Randoph, and Julian Stone some HUGE minutes.  Also, our trap defense will be a huge asset against Memphis in the first round of the playoffs.  Can our first team trap like that? 

3.     A blowout in Brooklyn.  NOTHING was important about that game, it was a fluke.  Brooklyn isn’t a city or a state; it’s a borough!  I can’t wait to see Lena Dunham courtside with like Jay-Z and Rudy Giuliani.  Ya’ll mother fuckers make me sick. 

Enough with the bad, let’s focus on the good.  In January and February, the Nuggets won 9 games in a row.  We slumped into the All Star breaking winning 9 of our last 12 games.  SLUMPED INTO THE ALL STAR BREAK WINNING NINE OF OUR LAST 12 GAMES.   

GOD IT FEELS SO GOOD TO SAY THAT!!!!  The 2012-2013 Denver Nuggets are good.  Scary good.  We’re fucking scary good.

It goes without saying that a big part of our scary goodness is linked to the blockbuster trade that sent Andrew Bynum to Philadelphia, Aaron Affalo and Al Harirngton to Orlando, and brought Andre Iguodala Denver. 

Mostly because he’s the closest I’ll ever get to seeing a real life centaur, I’ve followed Iguodala’s career closely.  In all fairness, it’s MUCH easier to idolize Iggy when he isn’t anchoring your favorite team.  I have to say that it is absolutely maddening to watch the horseman shoot free throws, and that is doubly true in crunch time, but are the Nuggets a better team with Iguoldala at their core?   Yes.  Absolutely yes.

In the 2012-2013 Season we have also seen Ty Lawson mature into an all star caliber point guard.  True fans have surely blocked this from their memory, but every so often, immature Ty Lawson would give us a night where he grabbed a steal, went 2-14 from the floor, 0-4 from behind the arc, dished out 6 dimes, grabbed a rebound, and shot two of four from the charity stripe.  I truly believe that those 6-1-6-1 stat lines are a thing of the past for Lawson.  I’ve watched enough hoops to separate contenders from pretenders, and while he may not be shooting like a superstar (yet) Ty Lawson is the real deal. 

Kenneth Faired was a sold first round pick in his rookie campaign, maybe even a late first round steal for the Denver Nuggets.  This year, he is something else entirely.  I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen such improvement between the first year and a second year in the career of a player, not sure that I’ve ever seen such intensity, and I’m continually impressed with Faired’s basketball IQ. 

We all know the biggest knock on the Manimal has been his defensive positioning, but no one ever wants to talk about his positioning on offense.  The boy can cut!  Add that to an unquenchable hunger for the ball, and we have a Rising Star (pun intended, note the uppercase letters).  I hope Kenneth Faired wants to make a home/ career in Denver, because teams are going to be offering this rebounding sensation mad money when his rookie contract expires.

Danilo Gallinari could be the player that we thought he was when we gave him the 42 million dollar contract.  I still don't like him, unless he's making threes, and I HATE the Big Game Hunter nickname.  Italian Ice is way better.  Really, I just don't understand his rim game, sometimes his takes are so strong, some times his takes are pure garbage.   

I don’t want to get redundant here, but along with every casual fan, die-hard fan, beat writer, annalist, etc., I am completely in love with Andre Miller.  All this professor bullshit is played out (especially with the continued speculation that off the court, Miller is well, “special”) but when Miller has it going on, he can score at will.  Kevin Durant and Andre Miller have the same kind of bluster, and that swag is excellent for a team that can at times seem hesitant when it comes to open perimeter shots.  I can stomach the triple over time loss to the Celtics, shoot the ball till your fucking arms fall off Andre.  

Corey Brewer and Javelle McGee have been a lot of fun to watch.  The two of them have a maddening tendency to build up a little momentum, and to slingshot far outside the conceivable maxes of their playing ability, but on defense, McGee protects the rim like some kind of athletic chastity belt, on offense, Javelle is capable of making the lob city erected by the Los Angeles Clippers look like a humble New England borough.  Brewer is a tenacious defender, a hyperbolic overdrive feature on a run and gun team that sometimes (WRONGLY) seems as if it is speeding out of control.  

When you Google Wilson Chandler, the first thing that comes up is "Wilson Chandler Injury." It's a real shame, because when Chandler is healthy, he is a real asset to this team.  Right now, Wilson is our X factor, a la J.R. Smith.  I hope he can stay on the court.  I hope that he learns to love our fair city.  

I know it will sicken everyone reading this blog, but please, indulge me while I compare myself to a NBA player.  Basketball is bar none my favorite sport, but much to my chagrin, thus far in my young life I have found that I am much more skilled at games involving clubs and racquets.  As a coping mechanism, I’ve developed surprisingly solid basketball fundamentals, a strong defensive game, and an accurate 3-point shot. If you slag on defense, and I’m playing with people who know how well I can shoot, I will make 7 threes from the top of the arc, and send your team back to the whiteboard. 

Here, we have Kosta Koufos, an unremarkable player with solid defensive fundamentals who needs to be covered in man defense at all times.  This type of player can make or break at five-man squad.  Earlier this year, George Karl made a joke about teams guarding Koufos while he was standing out of bounds. 

That joke probably wouldn’t do very well at a comedy club, because if a defender came off out of bounds Koufos, he would wiggle his way to the rack for an uncontested dunk, or a semi contested hook shot.  Koofus throws a wrench in the gears of would be defensive rotations, and makes double-teaming inside the perimeter all but impossible.  His game isn’t pretty, but if I know one thing about hoops, it’s that basketball is not a beauty contest. 

I love Timofey Mozgov.  I love his size, love his tenacity, love his big man baseline J, and I love his fractured English.  I feel like a real traitor typing this, but have enough respect for our roster, and for our master plan to see that Koofus and McGee are better fits for our 2012-2013 squad. 

It kills me to see a young NBA superstar languish on our bench.  We need to free Mozgov so that he can get some minutes on a team with a big man deficit.  If we need to wave him, let’s wave him, if only for the sake of fans like me. 

Evan Fournier has an Andre Milleresuqe no hesitation 3 pointer that I'm very fond of.  The only difference is, and you can call me crazy here, but from my vantage it appears that Fournier actually leaves the ground when he shoots.  Thus far, the young Frenchman has not been called for traveling, and I’m excited that he may have discovered some type of basketball loophole.  Only time will tell.

If Anthony Randolph is a project on its last legs, it would have been great to have him 6 years ago.  I don’t think his circumstances are a dire as the analysts like to pretend.

Jordan Hamilton is really long, and from what I’ve seen, he has great hustle.  Who else wants to see him wrestle a snake?   

With that, we have the sum of all parts, the 2012-2013 Denver Nuggets.  Both Andre Miller and Masai Ujiri have been unbecomingly modest when describing this teams championship hopes.  When you consider their predictions you have to consider that Andre Miller likes to keep a low profile (he reportedly requested that he not be a captain on this years squad) and Ujiri appears to be a god damn sand bagger (if he didn’t think we were contending, he would have made a move before the trade deadline.  Clearly, Ugiri gives negative fucks about keeping this squad together.  We have A LOT of assets).

I’m speculating there, but I have literally never been this excited about the Nuggets.  I honestly don’t see anyone beating us in four of seven games.  When we lose, we are losing to bad teams, and lately we have been suffering some really tight losses.  Our 2012-2013 squad is better than our 2008-2009 squad (sorry Chauncey). 

So fuck it, I’m going to get crazy with this prediction.  I love what we’ve been building in Denver.  I really hope this isn’t the only time I get to make this prediction, but I’m ready to grab this fucking bull by the horns. 

The 2012 Denver Nuggets finish with 55 wins, and secure a 3 seed in this year’s playoffs.  They sweep the Utah Jazz, out run the San Antonio spurs for a 6 game series victory, and gut out a tough Western Conference Championship where they defeat Oklahoma City in a hard fought 7 games.  The Denver Nuggets will go on to sweep an aging, beleaguered Miami Heat to win the 2013 NBA Championship. I BELIEVE!

Let’s go Nuggets…