The second most important player on the Nuggets has been re-signed. JR Smith just became one of the best value players in the league. A 20ppg scorer with a lethal perimeter and slashing game for MLE money …

I disagree on Denver being a bad situation. There’s only one bad apple in Denver and that’s Iverson, remove him and everything is rosy.

George Karl has actually gotten through to JR Smith, forget whatever reputations say, he’s the guy, he’s the one, he got through to Smith. George Karl has his ear and the results from Smith, the development, has been superb. I was worried about Smith leaving Karl before he was ready, and he’s not ready, that would have been dangerous for him. Staying with Karl? That’s fantastic for JR Smith.

Denver will be solid defensive team next season. Nene and Kenyon are going to hold down the paint, I expect their interior D to improve. Again Iverson is the big problem here. Carmelo is actually making strides on the defensive end …. and JR Smith has shown intent and effort on the court defensively which is the first step. Now if they could only get a good defender at the point (Anthony Carter is not that) they’d have a solid starting team defensively.

There’s only one problem in Denver. Remove him and everything changes for the better. Addition by subtraction. Allen Iverson is a cancer to that team, he’s eating away and tearing it apart. It’s a revolting situation.

Denver is one of the best places for JR Smith … as long as Iverson isn’t there.

Who, nothing personal, but you seem to never agree with any post thats ever up here. How do you have such extreme viewpoints about every topic? not saying that’s a bad thing, because debate is the key to quality conversation, but I don’t see how you can argue that denver will be a solid defensive team. They were less than solid with Camby so what’s your reasoning behind them being solid on D now that arguably the best all around defensive center is gone?

Because I don’t rate Camby as an elite defender. Because Camby hasn’t left a vacuum in the squad … he’s being replaced by a good defender in Nene who’s returning from injury.

Camby was the fourth best post defender on the squad last season behind Nene, Kenyon, and Najera. He’s a below average one-on-one defender and regularly gets lit up by opposing big men.

His help defense is also overrated. He regularly stands back and allows penetration so he can pad his block per game stats. Unlike someone like KG who jumps out and contests the penetration, contests the dribble, then forces a lower percentage shot, and contests that shot too. Far too often Camby allows the slasher to come right down the lane and take a high percentage look and he gives up a heck of a lot more points than he saves by doing this. He’s a very good weak side shot-blocker, an elite one, but his overall help defense is not at the same level.

The decline of Camby’s defense from his Knicks days is a tragedy. The fact he won the DpoY is a joke.

Nene is a far superior one-on-one defender. He’s an excellent post defender and he’s a solid help defender. He’ll be alongside another player in Kenyon Martin who’ll have similar traits. That’s the basis of a very nice interior defense. The problems are still out on the perimeter and that will hold Denver back from becoming a good defensive squad.

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I also expect the perimeter players to play better defense with the knowledge that Camby isn’t back there to clean up mistakes. That know they don’t have that DpoY anymore, and that they need to play better defense because of that.

By a solid overall defense I mean comparable to what they had last season which was a solid defense. They ranked 10th in defensive efficiency which flatters them but they were a slightly above average defensive team. Slightly above average being solid.

JR Smith what joke. This was the guy that let Kobe score 49 points in a playoff game. After that game Kobe was better than his airness! :(

Who, first of all, Camby, or any other NBA player is not capable of covering the whole forecourt defensively by himself. Camby was amazing considering defensively he had between little and literally no help. This team isn’t close to making the playoffs without him.
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“I also expect the perimeter players to play better defense with the knowledge that Camby isn’t back there to clean up mistakes. That know they don’t have that DpoY anymore, and that they need to play better defense because of that.”
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Do you actually think Iverson, Anthony, or Smith care who’s anchoring the defense?? Anthony looks at NBA defense like he looks at snitching. Iverson’s defensive consists of cheating a passing lane about twice a game. Smith’s defense? The cowardly lion comes to mind.

The signing of Smith gives them a shot at 150ppg in the Moe/Westhead offense they’ll have to run to win any game. The lost their only two decent defensive players. Smith will thrive in that offense and thrive in the nonexistent defense. From a stats standpoint, it couldn’t be better for Smith. He’ll average 25ppg.

Steve, while I agree with you that Smith would be better off almost anywhere else, I’m sure glad it isn’t here. He’s been exposed to the legendary thug Iverson, Snitchmeister, and Martin for way too long. Rivers’ history with character people is poor. (Which makes me wonder about the Miles signing.)

There was an article on the Rocky Mountain News awhile ago, it had a prediction for the Nuggets win total next season and it picked 48 wins. I think that’s a good ball park for them. They’re going to be very similar to last season.

I think the first seven playoff (top 6 last season plus Portland) seeds are fairly secure as long as they avoid injuries. From there I see likely three teams vying for the 8th seed, Nuggets being one of them. Dallas are my favourite for the 8th seed.

Finleyskyhook,

I do expect all of Denver’s players to change their defense following the departure of Camby. That doesn’t mean they suddenly become good defenders, they won’t. That means I expect them to gamble less because they don’t have an elite shot blocker back there. Every one of their major players has admitted to taking more chances defensively because Camby is back there, of course they’re going to change their approach now that he isn’t there … and that will help.

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Nuggets should start Smith alongside Iverson in the backcourt. They’re getting nothing worthwhile from Anthony Carter. The point of coupling Iverson with a point is to improve ball movement offensively, but Carter isn’t aiding that, he isn’t good enough. They should start Smith to give them an added weapon. They’ll still have Kleiza to lead the bench.

Hopefully Chucky Atkins can get healthy. They need his shooting to space the floor.

Rocky Mountain News is about 18 wins off, Who. Karl will be watching Coby’s games by mid-season. Doug Moe will take over and the only thing that will change with this team is that they will score a lot more points. So will their opponents. I predict that the Nuggets will struggle to have a higher win total than the Grizzlies, OKC, and the Clippers.

There is no way this group of thugs and malcontents win 48 games with their entire defense playing on the east and west coasts.

A further thought, Who. You expect Iverson and Anthony to change their approach to anything? You’re kidding, right? You think that one of the biggest coach killers in NBA history is going to suddenly care about defense? Team play? What makes you think that will change?

I find your posts good with some deep thinking. There are no depths of thought that make me think Iverson or Anthony care about anybody or anything other than who they see when they look in the mirror.

If Linas Kleiza developed some consistency I’d think thats the best thing the Nuggets have going for them. Iverson and Anthony just don’t work as a tandem, and in the ever-competitive Western Conference, its hard to see Denver making the playoffs. I don’t think that the Nuggets will merely win 30 games with such offensive talent, Finkel, thats a bit of an overreaction – at least 40 seems more appropriate. But I do think their porous defense will keep them from becoming anything more than a nothing team in the West with some brilliant offensive highlights and high scores sprinkled in. Good to see this sparked so much debate.