Last year the Nuggets were rumored to be interested in moving up in the Draft. They were connected to Golden State and took a liking to Bradley Beal, who ended up going No. 3 to the Wizards. Later this year it was revealed the Nuggets were also intrigued by John Henson, who like Beal, ended up being a Lottery pick. These developments proved Masai Ujiri, a draft guru in his own right, will not hesitate to move up if he feels the player he’s targeting is worth the risk. And after one day of Combine action this year, it’s already been reported Ujiri has met with Lehigh guard and projected lottery pick, C.J. McCollum, for a private interview. Per SI.com’s Chris Mannix:

McCollum is interesting for two reasons: First, he has a very similar game to Bradley Beal, whom, as I mentioned above, the Nuggets showed interest in last year. Both are cerebral, undersized shooting guards who can really stroke it from downtown, give 100 percent every night, rebound at a high rate and possess very well-rounded games overall. But while McCollum is undoubtedly a talented kid, his skill set is not exactly a top priority for the Nuggets at this point in time. The Nuggets have plenty of well-rounded players who can score the rock, and though it’s true McCollum is a solid shooter from outside, his 3-point accuracy is nothing the Nuggets won’t be able to obtain in free agency… Which leads me to one conclusion: Ujiri likes McCollum a LOT and think he’s underrated by his counterparts. That’s really the only reason to justify moving up to take him. McCollum has been drawing a plethora of comparisons to 2012-13 NBA Rookie of the Year, Damian Lillard, and if any of them are accurate, then Ujiri has a damn good reason to show interest in McCollum.

For those unfamiliar with McCollum, here’s an excellent breakdown of his game as well as a Combine interview from DraftExpress.com:

The other interesting development to arise from Day 1 at the Combine was this bit of information courtesy of Chad Ford:

If you’ve been following RMC recently you might recall this post I published on April 8 that asked if Ujiri had his eye on a “Greek freak” by the name of Giannis Adetokunbo (who’s recently made it known his last name is spelled “Antetokounmpo,” which is obviously much easier to pronounce). During the Combine broadcast Ford said the team that made the promise to Antetokounmpo was in the late first round. Now, while the term “late first round” is somewhat vague I’d venture to say it generally applies to teams in the 25-30 range, which the Nuggets happen to fall in. And while I’m by no means suggesting the Nuggets are the team to have made the promise, as already outlined in my previous Antetokounmpo post, there are some interesting connections between Ujiri and the “Greek freak” which cannot be ignored. In any case, Ford’s proclamation certainly does nothing to extinguish the already suspicious fire burning between the Nuggets and Antetokounmpo.

Lastly, one of the most intriguing and mysterious prospects in this year’s draft, Steven Adams, had an incredibly good showing during the first day of the Combine. Chad Ford raved about how impressed he was with Adams, as can be seen in the following tweet. Below that is Adam’s DraftExpress video scouting report.

Adams is a guy with a fascinating background (he’s from New Zeland, has 17 siblings, often played against women due to lack of competition growing up, etc.) who was highly touted coming out of high school but who struggled mightily in his first year at Pittsburgh. I watched him numerous times throughout the season and always came away thinking he was a good two or three years away from being able to compete at the NBA level. However, he’s also a really smart kid who grew as the season progressed and showed maturity in his game once March rolled around. But while his athleticism and defensive instincts are elite, his offense and feel for the game are still almost nonexistent — at least, that’s what I thought.

According to Ford, Adams not only showed up at the combine but showed well. He looked intelligent in his interviews and shot the ball as good as any big. If Adams displays even more progress over the next month or so, this is a guy I’d fully endorse the Nuggets attempting to grab even if it means paying to move up in the draft. Much like Andre Drummond last year, his stock is gonna take a hit due to his deficiencies, but his potential is through the roof and likely not as far away as many have thought. In three years, he could end up being one of the most threatening, defensive-minded anchors in the entire league — which is exactly what the Nuggets need to bolster their chances of winning a title.

(If anything significant unfolds on the second day of the Combine, I’ll be sure to post an update. So stay tuned! And as always…)

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9. Re-sign Julyan Stone

Stone has been a member of the Nuggets for two years now, yet he’s more known for his injuries than his play on the floor. Since joining the Nuggets back in 2011 Stone has played in 27 games, only four of which came this season. Still, he’s renowned for his hustle, defensive intensity and court vision, all of which leave Nuggets fans salivating for more. Stone hasn’t had a fair shot at playing in a Nuggets uniform so there’s no way of telling just how good he can be. The Nuggets need defenders, especially at the point guard position, so it would seem quite futile to let him walk for nothing after already investing two years of money into him. At the very least the Nuggets should try and re-sign him to a one-year contract and free up some playing time to see what he’s made of.

8. Let Corey Brewer walk

This one is tough. And I hate saying this. HATE. Hatehatehatehate. Brewer should be a Nugget for a while. He fits the system perfectly, plays phenomenal defense, gives 110 percent almost every night and improved more in two years in Denver than he did his entire career elsewhere. If the Nuggets are able to make a trade and free up a few rosters spots then re-signing Brewer should be a top priority. But if not, it’s likely in the Nuggets best interest to let him walk. Unfortunately the Nuggets are just too stacked at the wing position right now. Guys like Jordan Hamilton and Quincy Miller — who could be studs for all we know — need the opportunity to grow and they’re not gonna find it with Brewer on the roster. Ideally, the Nuggets find a way to move several pieces, re-sign Brewer at a cheap rate and let all the wings duke it out at training camp in hopes that the best man wins.

7. Let Timofey Mozgov walk

Ujiri has gone on record as saying he wants to try and retain Mozgov or at least match whatever he fetches on the open market, but that seems more of a polite gesture than a beneficial basketball move. Mozgov isn’t a high commodity in the NBA and Ujiri has already placed him on the trading block once, making it all the more illogical for him to go out of his way to try and match an incredibly modest offer he’ll likely receive elsewhere. Even if Ujiri does intend to match it’s hard to imagine him getting anything of substance from his potential suitor other than a few bucks cash or a late pick in a very, very distant draft.

6. Find a defensive specialist taller than 6-10

The Nuggets have quite a few players who specialize in defense: Iguodala, Brewer, Chandler, Stone — even Gallinari is underrated in this sense. But once you get past Gallinari, the Nuggets have nobody who can lock people down at the power forward and center positions. Koufos did a fine job all year doing what he was told to do and playing fundamental defense; but if you think Koufos is the answer to the Nuggets’ defensive woes up front, then you either didn’t watch the playoffs or you’re the biggest Kosta Koufos fan ever. If we learned anything in the playoffs it’s that the Nuggets frontcourt — either due to a lack of athleticism, brainpower or a combination of the two — simply cannot defend against intricate offensive onslaughts from their opponent. Finding a big man who can be relied upon in big games to set rock-hard picks, hedge like a mad man and not fall for every pump fake sent his way is one of the more underrated moves being talked about in Nuggets Nation right now. Of course, a really good defensive-minded coach could always fix this issue as well…

5. Trade depth for star power

Ever since the Nuggets traded Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks for every last significant asset on their roster, Denver has been overwrought with fringe All-Stars and really talented role players. At some point the Nuggets have to find a way to parlay that talent into a single star player — sort of repeating the circle set forth by Carmelo Anthony. Players like Pau Gasol and Kevin Love pique Nuggets fans’ interest most, but even a minor upgrade at a certain position would do. Because the Nuggets absolutely have to open up some roster space this summer so guys like Fournier, Hamilton and Miller can get a shot at competing for playing time. That’s three incredibly talented youngsters who have yet to get a real crack at playing significant minutes and that’s not even including the Nuggets rookie this year who could be better than all three! If the Nuggets can’t make a move for a star they’re likely going to see a trend where several of the team’s younger and more promising assets walk for nothing without having had a chance to compete in city where they were drafted.

4. Sign a shooter

It’s been clear for quite some time that the Nuggets need a legitimate outside threat, someone who specializes in 3-pointers and does nothing else at a more high rate. Last year the Nuggets had two of the better outside shooters in the league in Arron Afflalo and Al Harrington, but when Ujiri sent them to Orlando last summer for Iguodala the Nuggets took a hit to their outside shooting that they have yet to recover from. Jordan Hamilton is likely the Nuggets best shooter from downtown yet there’s no telling just how deep he is in Karl’s doghouse. With guys like Chase Budinger, Mike Dunleavy Jr., James Jones, J.J. Redick, Gary Neal, Jodie Meeks, Marco Belinelli, O.J. Mayo, Kyle Korver, Ben Gordon and Mo Williams on the open market, it’s hard to imagine the Nuggets not finding a deadly outside shooter this summer. If Ujiri is really savvy (which, by all indications, he clearly is) he’ll find a way to free up enough cap space and roster room to not only sign one of the better 3-point shooters in this class, but essentially assure him a spot in the rotation next year as well.

3. Get rid of Andre Miller

You see how I say “get rid of” instead of “trade”? That’s because finding a way to jettison Andre Miller is so critical, simply trading him won’t cut it. The Nuggets need to do whatever they can to sever ties with him — end of story. What’s really sad is that this is the second year in a row Miller has made this list (top five both years!) for the exact same reason. It’s also sad to consider that if not for two of the Nuggets most valuable assets being free agents this summer (Ujiri and Iguodala), finding a way to dump Andre Miller would be the No. 1 priority on this list. That’s how bad it’s gotten. And you can say what you want about Karl’s ability to grind out wins in the regular season but his eye for talent and blind loyalty to players he considers his friends is just flat-out ghastly. If Miller isn’t let go, Karl will likely over rely on him yet again next year when he’s one year older, one year slower and one more year closer to being completely incapable of playing anything that even remotely resembles defense in the NBA. The only thing Andre Miller is good for at this point in time is offense, and that’s the last thing the Nuggets need. In addition to Stone, there are also several point guards in the upcoming draft worth considering, as well as free agents who actually fit the Nuggets run-and-gun system rather than walk the ball up the court while the rest of the team runs their asses off.

2. Re-sign Andre Iguodala

Iguodala has a player option on his current contract for one year at a little over $16 million. In an ideal, Nuggets-centric world, Iguodala would re-sign longterm for about half that per season. The problem? Iguodala can probably get more on the open market. He could also probably take his $16 million player option for next year and still find a contract at more than what the Nuggets would feel comfortable paying him. Like it or not, Iguodala is a unique player in today’s NBA. He’s unselfish to a fault, is perhaps the most intelligent and willing defender in the league and has no real glaring weakness in his game (though his jump shot could use some improvement). Guys like him don’t just fall of trees. The Nuggets know this and so does everyone else in the league. If Iguodala likes Denver and wants to be there then the Nuggets are in good shape, but Ujiri still needs to find a way for Iguodala to take a massive pay cut either way. However, if Iguodala is truly set on testing the waters like he says he is, the Nuggets could very well find themselves in a tough spot as the team already has over $50 million locked up for next season. Ujiri has done an outstanding job retaining free agents in the past, but this is without question his biggest challenge to date. If Iguodala walks, the Nuggets essentially traded a first-round draft pick and Arron Afflalo for nothing.

1. Re-sign Masai Ujiri

All the above moves would be great and all, but without Ujiri their chances of being complete diminishes greatly. There is no other way to put it: Masai Ujiri is the single most important asset the Denver Nuggets have at the moment. In fact, he’s one of the single most important assets the Nuggets have ever possessed in team history! Two other times has a Nuggets general manager won Executive of the Year yet neither possessed the type of innate, visionary talent that Ujiri has. He’s been on the job for only three years yet he’s already overcome the biggest hurdle a franchise can face (Melo) and been deemed the best general manager in the league shortly thereafter. I’ve always thought the true sign of a good general manager was how well they draft and in this case Ujiri is better than anybody in the league — bar none. Even other great general managers like Sam Presti in Oklahoma City or R.C. Buford in San Antonio have made pretty unforgivable mistakes in the draft recently, whereas Ujiri’s hit on every pick he’s been presented (Turkyilmaz: TBD). For once the Nuggets appear to be in position to be really good for a really long time, but unless they sign Ujiri, their hopes of winning a championship just aren’t very realistic.

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A little over a week ago the Nuggets season came to a disappointing end in a Game 6 loss to the Golden State Warriors.

Over that time I have thought a lot about how to classify the Nuggets season.

Was it a success or failure? How much can be built on and how much should the team get away from? Can this roster compete for a title with a few tweaks or is there a major change that has to happen?

And finally after watching the Warriors continue their, to steal a term from Matt Moore, nova shooting against the Spurs things started to become much clearer to me.

The season as a whole was a great success for the Nuggets, even despite a disappointing ending.

Before we get to that disappointing ending it only seems right to look back on the regular season.

Things started rough for the Nuggets as they had a brutal early season schedule filled with road games, not the best thing for a team trying to incorporate a new starter with the role Andre Iguodala had as defensive stopper, part creator, part rebound, and really basically part everything.

But eventually things started to work out for the Nuggets and everything turned around once they got home. Everything came together perfectly though and the Nuggets reeled off a fifteen game winning streak that got lost in the historic 27 game streak the Heat had at the same time.

It all resulted in a 57 win season and the three seed in the West, an amazing accomplishment for a team like the Nuggets.

You see, I have been saying lately something that was creeping up in the back of my mind as we got ready for the playoffs here at RMC but I always pushed it to the back of my head figuring I was overreacting a bit. The Nuggets roster, as great as it is set up for the future, had some significant flaws.

The Nuggets couldn’t shoot. They couldn’t defend the three point line. They had a backup point guard who didn’t fit the rest of the team but was given an incredible amount of leeway from the coaching staff. They had three bigs who all did one thing very well and a lot of things average or below. They really had three above average defenders on the roster and one of them was injured late in the season.

But they made it work. They made it work to the tune of 57 wins and that I believed would carry to the playoffs; that they would win a series and push the Spurs in round two.

Then the series started and things became problematic.  It quickly became apparent that the Nuggets ran into the worst possible matchup for them, and then David Lee got hurt and it became worse. Even worse, that horrific matchup shot the ball like they were playing NBA Jam and everyone was on fire.

The Nuggets didn’t shoot well from three in the series. They didn’t defend the three point line well. Andre Miller came in, slowed the game down, played hero ball, missed a lot, got killed on defense and yet was rewarded with more minutes than he should have played. The three bigs all did their one thing well; Kosta Koufos making rotations, Kenneth Faried rebounding, JaVale playing with energy and dunking. But they also did those things they didn’t do well. Koufos playing physical, Faried generating offense or making proper defensive rotations, JaVale playing the pick-and-roll well, none happened, just like for most of the year they didn’t happen. Finally, defensively the Nuggets had no answer for the Warriors perimeter players. Andre Iguodala took turns slowing down one Warrior just so another could pick on Ty Lawson or Andre Miller or Corey Brewer and get hot. Wilson Chandler did all he could to contain players from Andrew Bogut to Steph Curry.

It was a series Danilo Gallinari would have made a huge impact in. The shooting, the defense, the rebounding he would have brought would have made life much easier on Ty Lawson and Andre Iguodala, the two Nuggets who consistently showed up in the series.

But fate intervened and decided it was one of those what if questions that the Nuggets and their fans would have to deal with for the rest of the year. What if Gallo was healthy, would it have mattered? Could this team have gone to the finals, especially now that Russell Westbrook is out?

In the end it doesn’t matter because the injury happened.

But there are questions to be asked, questions that will have plenty of different answers.

What do you take from this Nuggets season? Was the season a success?

To me the answer is clear.

Yes, the season was a success.

The Nuggets started something that seems to have a bright future. They took a team that had significant flaws, flaws that were obvious all season and won 57 games, including 15 in a row. They posted the best home record in the league and did it in a fun way.

They did it because the team played hard night after night, because the team understood its limits and played within them, because the team generally seemed to enjoy playing with each other.

Take it from someone who roots for a team that fails on every one of those points. The Nuggets have something special.

Sure the playoffs ended things on a sour note but most of it wasn’t the Nuggets fault.

They played for the three seed figuring that it would leave them against a Houston team that they would have matched up well with and probably dismissed easily. Instead the Rockets collapsed and the Nuggets worst nightmare wound up in the sixth seed.

Then the Warriors went on a video game like shooting spree and the wounded Nuggets had no answer for it.

But there is incredible hope. The roster has clear building blocks in Ty Lawson and Gallo. If Iguodala returns they would have the best three players on the team locked up for years, and a front office that sure seems to be one you can put faith in.

The foundation is there. Now add a few shooters, a big man who can score a bit besides at the rim, a backup point guard who fits the roster better and a 57 win team gets clearly better.

Success has been tasted by those building blocks and they will be striving for it again. And maybe next year the Nuggets don’t have the injuries late in the year, maybe they get a favorable matchup.

Whatever happens, one thing seems clear. The Nuggets have something special building, and if it continues we all may look back on this year as the start of it all.

In the end this year may be a success to everyone, not just the few that it seems that way to so soon after a disappointing ending.

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I’ve been watching George Karl coach basketball for close to a decade now. During this time it’s never occurred to me that Karl is a great basketball coach. I’ve been frustrated with his decisions more often than I’ve been pleased. There have been times that I’ve appreciated his work — this past season certainly stands out — but not once during Karl’s tenure have I come to the realization that he’s a great basketball coach.

The problem: Many people disagree with me. Lots of people, much more knowledgeable about the game of basketball than I, think of Karl as one of the best coaches to have ever walked the Earth.

This, I cannot understand. I’ve come to appreciate Karl over the years — or perhaps, tolerate some of his methods. I recognize his accomplishments and by no means consider him a bad coach. I know he’s a good coach. But that’s the difference between the divide of fans that currently occupies Nuggets Nation: one side sees him as good, but replaceable; the other side as great, and irreplaceable.

No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot not understand the other side of the argument. Every postseason I’ve watched for the last nine years the Nuggets have collapsed at some level. They never give it all they can. From the early years when Kenyon Martin and Carmelo Anthony got in feuds with Karl on the sidelines, to the fourth quarter of Game 5 in the 2009 Western Conference Finals when the Nuggets flat-lined and never recovered. Even last year when the Nuggets pushed the Lakers to Game 7 in the first round, there was a decisive point around the early part of the fourth quarter where you just knew the Nuggets were going to lose. This feeling — knowing the Nuggets are going to lose — is something I’ve felt throughout Karl’s tenure and often when it matters most. In the world I’ve come to know, great coaches don’t give you this type of feeling. Great coaches win when it matters most. Great coaches spit in the face of adversity and thrive when the chips are down. Karl has never been that type of coach. Yet these are things only I know, because I’ve experienced them. There is no way to quantify the disgust in the pit at the bottom of your stomach; and there is no way to truly quantify how good of a coach George Karl really is.

As long as the Nuggets and the national media endorse George Karl, I feel I’m waging a losing battle. Though I will never concede my position on Karl — after all, it’s taken me nearly a decade to form it — I’m still interested in the other side of the argument and what they see that I don’t. I know that while with the Nuggets Karl has not been a great coach, yet many point to his overall career accomplishments as the reason for his high standing in their eyes. So, in order to put myself in their shoes and see their side of the argument I had to look at Karl’s career prior to arriving in Denver, as that’s supposedly the genesis for much of his “greatness.” Unfortunately for the other side of the argument, I didn’t find too much greatness.

Prior to his stint with the Nuggets, George Karl had a successful career in the NBA but by no means was he on the brink of achieving the incredibly esteemed status he sees today. He had made a trip to the NBA Finals and won 708 games but he’d also been fired four times, lost in the first round of the playoffs as a 1 seed and had numerous feuds with his star players. Today, Karl apologists rave over the number of games he’s won. In fact, that’s their go-to argument when defending him against virutally any criticism thrown his way. However, prior to joining the Nuggets his 708 wins placed him 16th all time between Gene Shue and John MacLeod. Yes, the Gene Shue and MacLeod you’ve likely never heard of if you were born after 1990. In no way was Karl seen as the type of coach he is today, which suggests something monumental must have occurred over his near decade-long tenure with the Nuggets.

The problem?

It hasn’t.

Nearly 40 percent of all the games Karl has won in his career have come while with the Nuggets. Yet in that time he’s advanced past the first round of the playoffs only once. One could argue the only reason Karl’s stuck around Denver as long as he has is because Denver is not Boston, nor Philly, nor New York, god forbid. In Denver, the only expectations Karl’s had have been not guiding his team to complete and utter collapse in the regular season. Yet somehow, someway, over this time the perception of Karl has changed from “Good NBA Coach with 708 Wins, Sandwiched Between Gene Shue and John MacLeod,” to “Great NBA Coach with Over 1,000 Wins and 22 Playoff Appearances.” However, do a little work, read between the lines a bit, and it becomes quite clear that “1,000 wins” is an awful argument for Karl’s greatness — if you hadn’t noticed already.

Here are the reasons:

• At the rate Karl is going he could coach the Nuggets until the year 2022 and have advanced past the playoffs only twice.
• Of the top 10 coaches in NBA history, Karl has the lowest playoff winning percentage of them all.
• Karl has never won Coach of the Year or an NBA championship.
• Karl has lost in the first round of the playoffs 14 of the 22 years (or roughly 64 percent of the time) he’s qualified.
• Karl is one of five NBA coaches to have lost in the first round of the playoffs as a 1 seed.
• Karl was fired twice in his first four seasons as an NBA head coach.
• Karl is repeatedly left off the NBA GM survey of the best coaches in the league (however his offense remains ever so popular!).
• The Nuggets have won only one of their last 14 playoff games on the road.
• 62 teams over the last 40 years have won at least 30 of their final 40 regular season games. Nine of them lost in the first round. Karl coached three of those teams.
• Karl has failed to get out of the first round with home-court advantage four of the 10 times he’s had it.
• Karl has reached  the Conference Finals only four of the nine times he’s had a top three seed in his conference.
• Karl has reached the NBA Finals only one of the six times he’s been a top two seed in his conference.
• No coach in NBA history has lost in the first round more than Karl. The second most first-round loses behind Karl belong to Jerry Sloan and Lenny Wilkens who each have nine.

The above bullet points are not opinion. They are facts. George Karl owns no NBA championship; instead he owns some of the most undesirable postseason records in NBA history. Karl has many regular season wins, yes, but what does he have to show for it? Regular season wins mean nothing if you collapse every year and turn into a different team in the postseason. If regular season wins were the measure of a great coach, then Don Nelson would be the greatest of them all. Don Nelson, however, has no NBA championship. What he does have, is three more Coach of the Year awards and 11 less first-round losses than George Karl — which must be good for something.

All these years Nuggets fans have been in love with someone who does not exist. George Karl is not the knight in shining armor who has saved the Nuggets from the depths of franchise misery. He’s done a fantastic job pulling the Nuggets from obscurity to relevancy (along with other figures, namely Carmelo Anthony), but he has been unable to take them any further. George Karl is a regular season win master and postseason wreck. At some point the Denver Nuggets organization will have to take the next step forward if they desire to be successful in other aspects of basketball besides just winning in the regular season. Of course, because Karl has presided over the most successful era in franchise history many fans erroneously attribute the Nuggets success solely with him. These uniformed types often argue perhaps the most ignorant of all the baseless claims for retaining Karl: that he is THE best option on the market. Oddly enough they’ve been arguing this same recycled point for the last five years or so, during which time the following coaches have become available:

• Larry Brown: Has lost only seven times in the first round. Has lost only twice in the first round as a higher seed in his near 30-year NBA career. Has made it to the NBA Finals three times and won once — without a “superstar.”
• Rick Carlisle: Has made the playoffs nine of the 11 years he’s coached. Has lost in the first round only three times and on his current pace would lose in the first round six times in 22 years, as apposed to Karl’s 14. Has made one less trip to the Conference Finals than Karl in half the time and has already won an NBA championship. Has lost as a higher seed in the playoffs only once.
• Stan Van Gundy: Has made the playoffs every year he’s coached a full season. Has lost in the first round only twice. Has already made three Conference Finals appearances and one NBA Finals appearance in seven full years as an NBA head coach.
• Rick Adelman: Had made the playoffs 16 of his 20 season coaching prior to taking the Minnesota Timberwolves head coaching position. Has lost in the first round eight times. Has lost as a higher seed in the first round only once. Has made the Conference Finals four times and NBA Finals twice.
• Tom Thibodeau: Won Coach of the Year and made the Conference Finals in his first season as an NBA head coach. Tied the record for most wins by a rookie head coach. Became the fastest coach in NBA history to 100 wins.

The above list doesn’t even include bright, young coaches like Monty Williams, Frank Vogel or Erik Spoelstra. It also omits more seasoned but successful coaches like Lionel Hollins, Jeff Van Gundy and Nate McMillan. To think any one of these coaches would have anything but success with the types of rosters Karl has had over the years is ill informed to the highest degree. Other up-and-coming coaches who seem destined for stardom include Golden State assistant Mike Malone — whom Mark Jackson insisted upon having by his side before accepting his current position — and my favorite, Memphis Grizzlies assistant Dave Joerger, whom many feel is responsible for the Grizzlies’ dominance on the defensive side of the basketball in recent years.

After setting out to do my research I was excited — and interested. I thought I was finally, truly going to discover something great hidden in Karl’s past, the reason why people praise him the way they do. I thought I was going to find the logic behind why Karl put a 6-foot journeyman point guard on Kobe Bryant in the Western Conference Finals (which resulted in Bryant shooting 55 percent from the field throughout the series as opposed to 47 percent with A.C. off the floor) and why he would later put perhaps the worst defender in all of basketball on the Warriors’ best player in the first round of the playoffs this year when he already had one of the best wing defenders in the game. But, I found no such evidence. Instead, all I found was more information to corroborate my already less-than-stellar idea of who Karl is as a coach. I had my gut instincts, which I had obtained from nine years of first-hand viewing, and now I had history on my side as well. Gut instincts you can argue with; history you cannot.

The Nuggets loyalty to George Karl is something I will never understand. When most coaches get three strikes, Karl gets nine lives. Had he not had a prior record coming into Denver, had he not had a name to run on and had you simply judged his performance based on his on-court decisions and record, there’s no way on God’s green Earth that the coach who has resided over this franchise for the last 10 years makes it this far. More than anything, Karl is an addiction the Nuggets cannot quit. He’s a security blanket for a franchise too afraid to take the next step in their development as a real-deal franchise and force to be reckoned with. Again, Karl is a good coach. There’s no doubt about that. But he has limitations and succeeding in the postseason is one of them. If the Nuggets want to take that next step, it starts with finding someone who has a proven track record of winning when it matters most. Karl is simply not that man.

But, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about the Nuggets over the last decade it’s that Karl’s going nowhere until Karl decides he wants to go. So, I’ll see you next year at almost this exact same time: same article, different words.

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No one expected a return to the postseason irrelevance of Karl’s previous Nuggets teams, who frequently battled near impossible odds against heavily favored contenders on the road. This team was different. They were the favorites, having built a 57-win three-seed around a young core just one year removed from taking the Lakers to 7 games.

So what happened?

For Nuggets fans, it’s an all too familiar feeling. Another short postseason punctuated by decisive defeat. Another year of regular season thrills fading into yet another unceremonious first-round exit, the Nuggets’ third straight and their eighth in nine seasons under George Karl.

There’s nothing that brings out the worst in the Denver Nuggets and their fans quite like the NBA playoffs. Year after year, George Karl’s Nuggets look unfit to compete on the NBA’s biggest stage and we spend long offseasons trying to reconcile what that means with regards to his hall-of-fame career. The narratives change from year to year but the results do not.

Do those poor results point to Karl being the problem? To answer that we have to weigh Karl’s culpability for constant first-round embarrassment against his uncanny ability to get seemingly every team he coaches into the playoffs consistently. George Karl has overseen the Nuggets’ longest period of sustained success along with a torturous string of first-round exits that haven’t gotten any easier to bear. Would firing him really be a step towards a better future or simply a different one?

I have to admit, for a long time I never understood the Nuggets’ infatuation with Karl, the head coach who seemed to love everything about his job except the actual coaching. His famous laid back demeanor and hands-off approach in games seemed to reflect a man who was disconnected from the inner workings of his team.

Then I got an opportunity to see the Nuggets at work in last year’s Summer League. With it came an appreciation for how the George Karl culture is ingrained at every level of the organization. Everyone I talked to – from coaches to players to training staff – all raved about George Karl and his influence on their work. The level of respect he commands in a gym full of basketball lifers is palpable.

George Karl might not be much of a playoffs coach, but he is an inspiring leader at the head of a large staff who believe in him down to a man. That counts for something. The workplace is humming with productivity and positive energy under his watch.  That mundane day-to-day work is not something fans get to see at the games, but it is an example of how George Karl is more than just the Nuggets’ head coach.

Karl has orchestrated everything from how the Nuggets develop players to how they create value on the court. His methods are unorthodox and require a specialized roster suited to them, which has helped Denver create maximum value out of guys like Corey Brewer and Kenneth Faried. The Nuggets are still only a few years into developing that Karl-centric roster  around a young core that should still be peaking in another 2 to 3 years. There’s an opportunity to continue that process now.

I am not trying to be abstract about it, but Karl really is more to the Nuggets than the coach who can’t win in the playoffs. He is a pillar upon which they’ve built ten years of sustained success. Tearing that down in the name of results would mean a much larger reshuffling of the organization than many realize.

Therein lies the George Karl dilemma. His Achilles heel is the playoffs, which bring out his worst qualities as a coach and an in-game manager.  On the other hand he is the Nuggets’ greatest asset, an iconic basketball mind with a wealth of experience needed to teach this young roster constructed specifically for his zany style of play.

The process is what we talked about right after Game 4, when it started becoming clear how badly the Nuggets were getting dominated. As a fan, I am still upset and seeking answers just as much as anyone. Truthfully, George Karl deserves much of the blame for this series and the lack of any discernible plan to win it. But in and of itself, that is not a good enough reason to abandon the process now.

Fans will continue to point to the latest playoff disaster as proof that change is needed. I won’t necessarily disagree but I do think that change can come from within. Take away Karl’s last crutch in Andre Miller and find ways to add layers of skill and structure on top of all that athleticism. Lay the burden of guilt on the team and trust them to change what they can to avoid the same mistakes. Try to view the offseason for what it is — the next step in the process or the beginning of a long hard search for a new one.

There is a lot that could be said about this one game. But it was essentially a microcosm and extension of the entire series. The Nuggets were never able to establish the upper hand in exerting the hallmarks of their style of basketball: forcing turnovers, scoring in transition, and most especially racking up points in the paint. After averaging 19.8 fast break points and 57.5 paint points per game in the regular season, the Warriors held Denver to just 13.3 and 47.3, respectively.

It’s fair to say that everybody was surprised by the version of Andrew Bogut that showed up. Mobile, energetic and aggressive, he denied the Nuggets inside shots and, for the most part, dominated the glass. He played tough, and his inside presence more than compensated for the loss of David Lee (which in terms of the physicality of the playoffs, and how they specifically match up with Denver, may actually have been addition by subtraction for the Warriors).

But nobody was more unprepared for him than the Nuggets, who were caught totally off guard when Koufos and McGee seemed helpless against him early in the series, and Karl compounded the problem by starting Chandler at center in multiple games. With Bogut controlling the glass, the Nuggets struggled to create transition opportunities, and when they tried to attack the basket, he was usually there to block and alter shots, and essentially prevent any easy scoring.

By comparison, the Nuggets centers were more disappointing than not. Koufos basically withered and disappeared for much of the series, including tonight’s critical elimination game, in which he ended up accomplishing the improbable by having a +/- of -21 in 21 minutes in a 4-point loss. Aside from setting a couple nice screens for Lawson, he was practically worthless. He has now pretty much disappeared in every playoff series he’s played for the Nuggets, and one must wonder if he’s really built for the postseason.

McGee fared a little better over the series. He had bursts of energetic, game-changing play in some (but not all) of the games, and though he continued to be lost defensively much of the time when he got drawn out of the paint, he kept the “Shaqtin” fodder to a minimum. He had one of his better games tonight, where his assault on the offensive glass played a big part in the Nuggets establishing an early lead. All the potential is still there, but he still clearly has a long way to go with fundamentals like simply staying in position and blocking out (only 3 of his 10 rebounds were defensive – Iguodala, by comparison, had 7). Though he made big strides this season, he remains a work in progress.

But the Nuggets’ offensive shortcomings did not only result from transition and paint points. When Gallinari went down, one of the big questions was whether Chandler would be able to step up and fill the scoring void. And for a while through the last games of the regular season, he seemed to be rising to the occasion. Unfortunately, that pretty much all went out the window when the playoffs started. After going for a career high .556 TS% in the regular season, Chandler was held to .458 in this series, and his 3-point percentage dropped from .413 to .310. The Nuggets needed more from him, and he wasn’t able to deliver. In tonight’s game, he shot 5-17 (1-6 from the arc), and if he had come through as the offensive player some hoped he might be, Denver just might have survived this game.

The Nuggets’ inability to make their 3-point shots hurt them badly in this series (except in game 5, when they actually made a few) by concedeing a huge shot value advantage to Golden State, and by destroying their ability to space the floor and create paint points. And Chandler alone was not to blame. One might think that for a player who takes as many 3-pointers as Brewer does, he probably couln’t ball below his season percentage of .296. Yet he somehow managed to brick his way down to .250 this series (including 0-5 from the arc tonight). Lawson also plunged from a regular season .366 to a disastrous .190 against the Warriors. Somewhat surprisingly, the only player whose 3-point shooting actually improved was Iguodala, who jumped from a regular season percentage of .317 to .483 in this series.

Of course, with just six games we are dealing with a small sample size, but it’s enough to drive the point home that the Nuggets are badly missing a consistent, reliable perimeter shooter. It was rumored earlier this season that they are targeting Kyle Korver in free agency, and if they do succeed in landing him it should add a very much needed dimension to their offense (the fact that Gallo should return at some point during the 2013-14 season notwithstanding).

But enough about offense. The real story of this series was the complete and utter collapse of Denver’s defense. To a certain extent it is tempting to cut them some slack for this. Strictly in terms of matchups, of all seven opponents the Nuggets might have faced in the playoffs, the Warriors were probably the worst one, with Denver’s biggest defensive weakness and Golden State’s biggest offensive strength forming a perfect storm of raining 3-pointers. We saw Stephen Curry put in an amazing shoting performance of historical proportions that looked unstoppable by even the greatest NBA defense. And there was not only the unexpected emergence of super-Bogut, but also of rookies Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green. Simply put, the Warriors turned out to be an offensive juggernaut on a scale nobody had quite imagined.

But there are no excuses in the playoffs, and both the players and Karl let the situation get more out of control than necessary.

If Masai Ujiri and the Nuggets front office take only one lesson away from this series, it will hopefully be this: George Karl and Andre Miller are bonded in an unholy alliance that needs to be broken up for the good of all parties involved. When Miller’s on offense, the fast pace Denver needs to play at screeches to a grinding halt, he dribbles away the shot clock usually looking first for his own shot off a post-up, and all the other players stand around. It’s a bad flashback back to the Allen Iverson days (though Miller operates at a slower speed).

But when he’s on defense. Oh, when he’s on defense. Pretty much, the whole system breaks down. There’s not much need for me to rehash here what Matt already broke down (here) and Kalen expanded on (here) in great detail. But everything we at RMC have been saying for a long time about Miller’s defense was exacerbated by orders of magnitude in this series. His hero ball worked to get the Nuggets a win in Game 1 (and then never again after that), giving Karl cover – though he might not need or want it anyhow – to play Miller for too many minutes, play him alongside Lawson too much (an open invitation to Curry and Thompson to fire away like they’re in the 3-point contest), and leave him late in the games on critical defensive possessions. Karl clearly – though to many of us inexplicably – has an infatuation with Miller that goes well beyond any good, rational basketball sense or logic.

Ujiri and Kroenke do not deem yet another first round departure sufficient cause for Karl’s teermination (though many Nuggets fans certainly will). If that’s the case, then we can only hope they’ll understand the importance of trading Miller this offseason in order to discard its weakest defensive link, and prevent Karl from overusing him in the future. At his best, Miller brings some crafty post work and ball distribution. And he has won the Nuggets some games when he’s been on. But in the bigger picture he’s a greater liability than asset, and he’s just not a good fit with the Nuggets as currently constructed.

But not all of Denver’s defensive woes can be blamed on Miller. As Matt wrote about in his Game 6 preview (here), Faried struggled to guard Barnes on the perimeter. As mentioned above, the centers struggled to contain Bogut.

Brewer was a disappointment defensively through much of the series. He usually gambles too much, but he went way overboard with taking too many risks, leaving shooters open, having to play catch-up and go for reach-in fouls (something which got him into early foul trouble tonight). Prior to this series I was somewhat firmly in the “Denver should bring back Brewer” camp. He did a great job early in the season of helping keep the team afloat when Gallo and Ty were slumping, he’s a hard worker and he’s a great person. But at the very least, I’d be looking to lower the price tag on a re-signing if I were Ujiri.

It also must be acknowledged that Lawson, too, was one of the weakest defensive links in this series. Despite some big successes on the offensive end, Lawson ended up after Koufos (-0.43) with the second lowest +/- per minute (-0.22). Even granted that +/- is an imperfect stat, and is dependent on which players someone is sharing the floor with (when Iguodala was resting on the bench, usually Miller was in alongside Lawson for the double whammy), that’s an extremely poor number, and it’s there above all because Lawson got torched at the arc.

But this is where it comes back to Karl’s blind Miller love. And being that both Kalen and Charlie have posts on Karl in the works, I’m going to make just one simple point here: Players like Lawson and Faried are flawed defensively. Thatt’s in part inevitable (Lawson’s height) and in part something they need to work on (Faried’s awareness). But despite that, they’re also incredibly important to the success of the team. They need to be in the game, and given that’s the case, their defensive vulnerabilities need to be masked by the players around them.

In my opinion, the biggest coaching failure by Karl in this series was not trusting Evan Fournier with the larger role he’d proven worthy of late in the regular season. Not only is Fournier a much better fit with Denver’s offense, given his speed, slashing abilities and the fact he doesn’t stop the ball, he’s also a far better defender than Miller. It’s impossible to know if, had Karl trusted his rookie as Mark Jackson did his (which paid off bigtime for him), it would have changed the series enough to alter the outcome of at least one Nuggets loss. But the fact that we didn’t even get to see him try it at poisnt of games when Miller was clearly struggling is, to me, a fairly unforgivable offense.

This game, this series, this season – all we are left with now are the implications they all have for how the Nuggets will approach this offseason and their longer-term future. We’ll see how events unfold in upcoming weeks, and whether this failure (and it is a failure) will negatively impact Denver’s chances of retaining Iguodala or signing free agents. The “Fire George Karl” debate will indubitably rage on. And Ujiri and Kroenke will have to survey a large array of tough choices, more than they probably thought they would have just two weeks ago.

This season was one hell of a ride, and as disappointing as its closure has been, there is a lot to be hopeful about for the future. I for one remain (until given good reason to doubt him) in the “In Ujiri We Trust” camp, and here’s to hoping he’ll use Denver’s flexibility and deep trove of assets to assemble a team that will reach greater heights next season.

And as always, thanks so much for reading, and stay tuned to Roundball Mining Company for furtheer analysis of this playoff series, where things stand now, and where the Nuggets go from here.

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Unfortunately for the Nuggets, despite a victory in Game 5, doing those things may not be possible together. One of the important parts of the Nuggets playing with two bigs is Kenneth Faried playing Harrison Barnes on the defensive end. But Faried has struggled a bit in that role as his unfamiliarity of defensive rotations has allowed Barnes to get a lot of open shot attempts, some he has knocked down and some he hasn’t. The following are four examples of the problems Faried has had, three makes and a miss, from Game 5 when Barnes had 23 points.

Barnes 1st 3:

As you can see on Barnes first made three he caught the ball with Faried way too far away. There is just no way for Faried to get to Barnes in time to make any difference on his shot. Get used to this type of distance, it happens a lot.

Barnes 2nd 3:

This picture comes from before Barnes catches the ball. Before the picture Faried was randomly wandering the lane before jumping over to double Klay Thompson. The problem? As you can see by the arrow Harrison Barnes is nowhere close to Faried. And as the next picture will show that is a pretty big problem.

Barnes caught it and no Nugget was close enough to make a difference. And he drilled it.

Barnes 5th 3:

Another pre-catch photo for this one. Faried is too far into the lane on this play. With most defensive systems it is Lawson’s responsibly to drop down and bump Bogut, slowing him down enough that a big can recover. After all, if Bogut catches on the move where Faried is now is too deep into the lane to help anyway. Faried has his head turned to Barnes, a cardinal sin of defense, and the result after a deflection is the following.

There is the catch. Again no Nugget that close as Barnes enters into his shot. Again he drilled it.

The problems are not just on the makes though. Barnes has missed some open looks, keeping the numbers lower than they could be, which should scare Denver. An example of a Barnes miss that came off a perfectly clean look.

Faried lost Barnes in transition and was dropping too far in the lane to be able to recover once the pass was caught. Barnes missed but it was a wide open miss.

The Nuggets biggest problem is that the matchup is not one they can really exploit because Faried does not possess a post-up game and he has not been all that effective on the offensive glass where he is averaging just two offensive rebounds a game. If the Nuggets are essentially willing to punt on the Curry matchup in order to limit the rest of the Warriors they cannot afford to lose individual matchups. And if Faried continues to be lost defending Barnes they have the potential to not just lose it, but get blown out in it. If Barnes goes for 20 plus points again in Oracle Arena the Nuggets may be in a lot of trouble when the fourth quarter rolls around.

The  pictures are from video on the NBA media site. Please follow me on Twitter.

Saying the Golden State Warriors are hot and there’s nothing anybody can do about it is lazy and incorrect. The Nuggets won 10 more games than the Warriors in the regular season. They defeated the Warriors 3-1 when they met throughout the course of the year. And three of those games came in the early part of the season when the Nuggets were struggling to stay above .500 and had 22 of their first 32 games on the road. Granted, the Warriors were a totally different team then too. They had a healthy David Lee.

Fastforward to the end of April. The Nuggets dropped only three games in a two-month span leading up to the playoffs. (To put things into perspective, the Nuggets have lost three games in a row since the playoffs started.) Meanwhile, the Warriors dropped 12 games in that same amount of time, including three of their last six. But somehow, someway, when the playoffs began the Warriors suddenly transformed into The Best Team Ever.

The problem? Average NBA teams don’t suddenly go all superhero on you just because they felt like it, just because they wanted to, because they secretly held that metamorphic power all along and were only waiting for the right time to unleash it. The Hulk doesn’t turn into the Hulk unless prompted. Superman doesn’t start sawing boulders in half with his eyes unless he has a damn good reason to. For most of their lives Superman and Hulk are nothing more than the mundane Clark Kent and Bruce Banner. And they’re perfectly content with that. But what you absolutely, positively must keep in mind at all times when in the presence of Clark Kent and Bruce Banner is that they’re still capable of doing incredible things — just like every NBA team (sans the Bobcats, maybe) and many players throughout the league.

For those with innate superhero powers (i.e. Steph Curry) the playoffs are a robbery, a kidnapping, an injustice which must be rectified. Their game will always climax when the season is on the line and the lights shine brightest. As an opponent your mindset should be to shut them down, but in reality your goal must be to mitigate what predetermined damage is bound to occur. That goal, however, cannot be compromised. When in a battle with a superhero what will ultimately get you killed is pushing their buttons. Or in NBA terms: letting them do what they want.

Through four games this series, George Karl has let Steph Curry and the rest of the Golden State Warriors do exactly what they want. The Warriors like to shoot, so Karl abides by designing a defense that provides them open shots. Mark Jackson likes to give fiery sermons, so George Karl counters by preaching calmly as if nothing is wrong when his team’s actually on the brink of a meltdown. Worst of all, Golden State has a player with superhero powers, and knowing this, Karl decides to do the last thing on earth you’re supposed to do when facing a superhero, which is give them a reason to transform. That reason is Andre Miller.

Steph Curry is dangerous for essentially two intrinsic reasons: (A) his quick release, and (B) his accuracy. If you give Steph Curry a smidgeon of daylight, he’s gonna make you pay. Knowing this, you’d think Karl would chose to guard Curry with one of his two best perimeter defenders, either Andre Iguodala or Corey Brewer. These players understand the nuances of defense and what it means to guard a jump shooter with proximity. Instead, Karl chose to guard Curry for large part of Game 4 with his worst individual defender (one of the worst in the league) who’s clueless about the value of spacing when defending a shooter with a quick release, as can be seen below.

1. The following screenshots unfold in a few seconds time. Curry dribbles up the floor with Miller guarding him, executes a simple crossover dribble and gets past Miller with minimum effort. By the time he reaches the top of the key (which is about 10 feet from when he started his crossover), Miller isn’t even close to being able to contest his shot. And once in the key, Curry draws the Nuggets help defenders his way which leaves other men wide open, whereupon he makes an easy pass to an open man for an uncontested shot or takes a fairly open shot himself. Easy as pie.

2. The following is virtually the exact same play as the one seen above. Curry starts off at the top of the arc with Miller guarding him one-on-one. There’s movement down below but nothing to impede on Curry’s sole focus, which is to take Miller to the rack. After a few dribble crossovers, Miller is spent. He then lazily shifts his feet straight forward, placing his body weight on his heels, which allows Curry to score a routine, uncontested teardrop in the lane.

3. For the third time in just a few minutes span in the third quarter, Curry yet again finds himself guarded one-on-one by Miller at the top of the arc. And for the third time, Curry routinely crosses over Miller, drives left and penetrates the lane with ease. This time Curry even marches all the way in for a scoop layup as his teammates have confused the Nuggets big men with trivial shuffling down below.

4. Of all the times Miller was schooled in the third quarter, this might be my favorite. Here we see Curry bring the ball up with three Nuggets defenders in front of him. Realizing he’s screwed, Miller raises his hand up and begs in a pantomime fashion for help from somebody, ANYBODY!!! With the baseline ripe for penetration, Curry fakes that way and instead hesitates with a behind-the-back dribble that nearly sends Miller into another dimension. By the time Miller is able to stand fully upright again Curry is already in shooting motion. And instead of at least getting a hand up, Miller puts both in his pockets, cocks his head back and waits for the sweet splash he’s become all too familiar with over the course of the season.

Throughout the game seven of Curry’s 10 field goals came by way of isolation. In only two of those instances was a pick even set and in those situations Curry didn’t use the pick to explode towards the basket or shake his defender for an open shot. In fact, he didn’t even use the pick at all. Instead, Curry dribbled until he was once again face to face with his defender, almost as if he preferred to humiliate them all by himself. And aside from two of those isolation baskets, all were defended by none other than matador maestro, Andre Miller.

Nuggets fans are in quite a state of disbelief right now. There looks to be no light at the end of the tunnel. They’re frustrated with George Karl, and rightly so. But this series is not over yet. Until the Warriors advance, the Nuggets will continue to remain the better team in the eyes of many. But if things are to change, it starts with George Karl. He did an incredible job of coaching this team to 57 wins and a three seed in the regular season; there’s absolutely no reason why he can’t turn this sinking ship around and dispel the stigmas about superstars and uptempo offenses he’s been talking about all year. But if he’s to find himself on the good side of history (instead of the bad, which is where he usually resides this time of year), then things have to change. Karl has to change. No more Andre Miller on Steph Curry. No more playing roulette with the lineup. No more lackadaisical defense. No more letting Golden State do exactly what they want!

As the great Jim Croce once said: You don’t tug on Superman’s cape.

If Karl tugs any harder, he’ll get what’s coming to him.

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For all the good the Nuggets did in game 3, they still can’t defend the Golden State Warriors, whose offense sure came back down to earth – all the way from 74.3% eFG in game 2 to 57.5% in game 3. That just won’t get it done in the playoffs. Obviously there’s a lot to worry about but as bad as the Nuggets’ issues have been, they still have a chance to essentially hit the reset button on the series with a win tonight.

While we wait to see if the Nuggets can seize that opportunity in a pivotal game four, which is obviously huge, here are some bullet point thoughts on what worked and what didn’t in game three.

• One of the biggest stories of the game was Harrison Barnes getting 43 minutes, the most out of any Warrior in game three. Mark Jackson is committed to going small with him but also shifted him to the three at times with Bogut and Landry manning the four and five. That is a slower, less explosive bench unit that Denver should be able to take advantage of. They haven’t done so because the Nuggets can’t guard Barnes. He’s shooting 57.6% as the Warriors’ fourth-leading scorer in the playoffs.
• The Nuggets are having Chandler help off Barnes and will stick Andre Miller on him when the benches are in. Denver can live with offense going through Harrison Barnes but they’ve given him way too much confidence early in this series. He cannot be allowed to see the volume of wide open threes he’s getting, which is why his efficiency is through the roof. We’ll have to see if Denver makes an adjustment here. The Nuggets put Chandler on him at the end of the game and Stephen Curry was able to get Barnes switched onto Andre Miller. Barnes drilled the cold-blooded pull-up right over him. The fact Golden State got him the switch and let him attack that matchup at the end of a close playoff game shows the kind of confidence they have in Harrison Barnes right now.
• The Nuggets were able to test Kenneth Faried’s stamina and he held up pretty well. He played almost the whole fourth quarter and just having a productive big in the game seemed to reinvigorate the Nuggets’ attack. If Kenneth can give the Nuggets 35 minutes a night for the rest of the series it would be huge.
• I was surprised to see Kosta Koufos come in off the bench late in the first quarter. The Nuggets put him on Carl Landry with mixed results, Landry finished with 19 points on 17 shots. He has played limited minutes but Koufos still can’t produce. He’s gone scoreless for two straight games and recorded only one legitimate rebound in that stretch.
• I’m not sure what the Nuggets are hoping for out of Koufos. They imagine him as a defensive minded big but he is not exactly physical and doesn’t have a skill set suited to this series.  When both teams go small he looks way out of place. There was a particularly bad sequence where Jarrett Jack ran into a soft trap from Koufos on the perimeter and Jack put him on a leash all the way to the rim for a layup. It just seems like Denver should go with one of their more active bigs when they are small.
• That being said, if the Nuggets are going to stick with Koufos it makes sense to start him. He and Faried started 80 games together this season and Koufos is going to play limited minutes whether he starts or comes off the bench. He was just pulled out of the starting lineup in game 3 though. Will Karl make another big adjustment or try to make it work with Koufos off the bench? As I said before, going small with Koufos is something Denver did not experiment with during the regular season. They are getting poor results with it now.
• Anyone who’s closely followed Nuggets games for the last two years saw that second half collapse being set up in the first. Andre Miller had a rough start, getting to the spots he wanted but missing a couple of easy finishes at the rim. You wonder if Miller does not miss those layups perhaps he doesn’t keep forcing the issue in the second half. Karl knew he didn’t have it going and still put him out there in crunch time hoping for a change. Denver clearly had another option with Corey Brewer but I think we have to accept the fact Karl isn’t willing to consider sitting a cold Andre Miller in the playoffs under any circumstances.
• The problem with playing Brewer over Andre Miller is the offense. Miller has been really good in isolation and can create his own shot against the Warriors if need be. Brewer on the other hand is prone to chucking, especially when the Warriors are daring him to shoot this much. Golden State is on top of this matchup, Jarrett Jack in particular. When Jack guards Brewer they are giving him tons of room on the wings and daring him to take that three off the first pass. Denver doesn’t want to get into a quick shooting contest with Golden State, especially not with Brewer. However if you are Corey Brewer, what can you do? If they leave you that open, you have to take the shot.
• It may just come down to rebounding. We’ve mentioned it before but Denver was the top offensive rebounding team in the league during the regular season. They have lost the rebounding battle three straight times and the Warriors are beating them at their own game on the crucial offensive boards. If that does not start trending the other way, Denver cannot win this series. They were elite in that area and simply aren’t good enough at everything else to make up for the sudden, shocking deficiency there.