We're
coming up on the one-year anniversary of Allen Iverson's debut as a Denver
Nugget, which is a little frustrating, because it's still hard to get a handle
on just how good this Nugget team is. Because of injuries,Cheap Mens Barefoot Nike Free Run+ 2 Grey Yellow, suspensions, and the
issues that stem from constantly having to usher players in and out of the
rotation due to injuries and suspensions,Nike Zoom Hyperdunk 2011 Low PE Mens Shoes Blue Dk.Gry, you can't really judge this team's
relative ranking amongst the league's elite on numbers alone.
The Nugs are 45-38 with Iverson on board, but you get the
feeling that we're going to have to wait until this spring before we figure
these Nuggets out. AI, somehow, still appears to be in his prime, playing
incredible amounts of minutes (40.3, in that thin Denver air) in an incredibly fast-paced
offense (99.3 possessions per game, first in the NBA), and putting up with an
inconsistent batch of teammates without raising a single hackle to the
assembled press.
Carmelo Anthony is a fantastic talent, but he's still a few
years away from his prime, and has yet to discover how to contribute when the
shot isn't falling (luckily for him, it falls quite a bit). The rest of the
rotation is still getting it's act together, Marcus Camby knows what he's
doing, but Kenyon Martin won't be a hundred percent until the playoffs (again,Nike Zoom Lebron VII(7) Kid Shoes Black White,
lucky for Denver), and the rest of the team's shooters are still working their
way towards respectability. There are encouraging signs, Eduardo Najera's
Andres Nocioni impression is working (the forward has re-emerged as an outside
threat), while Linas Kleiza and Anthony Carter are playing some surprisingly
good basketball.
But, as of today, that's only worth 14 wins out of 24 games.
The team's defense is maddening, the team is still second in overall defensive
efficiency, but they've also slept through their fair share of games. Coach
George Karl wants you to believe that things will even out once Chucky Atkins
returns from injury, but Carter's having a career-year, and defensively he's
off the charts. Chucky isn't the answer.
Time is the answer, really. With teams like the Suns or
Celtics, you want to turn the clock ahead, and put them in the playoffs right
now before anything goes wrong. With Denver,
you want to give them a 120-game season so they can figure things out, and hit
the playoffs in stride. Because right now, a year into AI's
introduction, there are so
many kinks that have yet to be ironed out.
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