Roundball Mining Company - Denver Nuggets Blog

Denver Nuggets Sign Shelden Williams; Resign Anthony Carter

July 14, 2010
by Jeremy

According to @NBAonESPN the Denver Nuggets have agreed to terms with Shelden Williams and resigned Anthony Carter. I have not seen any info on the contracts yet. We know Carter agreed to his typical one year veterans minimum deal. Williams could have been signed with either a minimum contract or the biannual veterans exception which would be a two year deal starting anywhere up to $2.18 million.

Williams was a player I thought Denver should have looked into last season as he is a good defender and rebounder who could be had for cheap. His signing is good news from a defensive standpoint. However, he is a little undersized and while he adds some girth he does not have the length to handle the Lakers’ twin towers. Plus, when everyone is healthy he will be the fifth big and is not likely to see significant minutes. As with Harrington we will take a look at what Williams brings to the table in the coming days.

The Nuggets should just sign Carter to a six year veterans minimum deal because we know as long as he can run he will be a Nugget. With the growth of Lawson Carter should only see the court when either Chauncey or Ty are injured. However, as we saw last season his play suffers when asked to play too many minutes too many nights in a row.

Denver Nuggets Sign Al Harrington

July 13, 2010
by Jeremy

My post about how Denver was one of only two teams yet to add a player to their roster since the end of the 2009-10 season (Cleveland is the other) was interrupted by the announcement that they had come to terms with Al Harrington on a five year, $34 million contract which appears to be a full midlevel exception deal (which has been confirmed by Marc Stein in a new edition of the article).

My response is taking action for the sake of taking action is not always the right thing to do.

(more…)

The Denver Nuggets are the 2010 Northwest Division Champions

April 14, 2010
by Jeremy

Thank you Phoenix. The Denver Nuggets may have blown their shot at the third seed and a matchup with the battered Trail Blazers, but things could have been much worse. The Utah Jazz will be a difficult opponent, but add in home court advantage and the fact Utah has not been great down the stretch, and Denver has more than a good chance to advance. Chris Tomasson is reporting the Nuggets will open at home on Saturday at 8:30 Mountain (Editor’s Note: It was apparently changed to Sunday - see below).

You can count on an avalanche of coverage over the next few days as we prepare for game time. Head on over to Salt City Hoops for all the Utah Jazz info you can stand.

Update: Here is the preliminary schedule:

Game 1 - Sun April 18 Utah at Denver 10:30PM TNT
Game 2 - Tue April 20 Utah at Denver 10:00PM NBATV
Game 3 - Fri April 23 Denver at Utah 10:30PM ESPN2
Game 4 - Sun April 25 Denver at Utah 9:30PM TNT
Game 5 * Wed April 28 Utah at Denver TBD TBD TBD
Game 6 * Fri April 30 Denver at Utah TBD TBD TBD
Game 7 * Sun May 2 Utah at Denver TBD TBD TBD

The Nuggets and Avalanche are both scheduled to play at the Pepsi Center on Sunday and Tuesday. Could be interesting. I smell a steel cage match between Stern and Bettman before both games to see who gets the arena.

Update to the update: Games one and two have been moved up a day (these times are Mountain):

Game 1 - Sat April 17 Utah at Denver 8:30PM ESPN
Game 2 - Mon April 19 Utah at Denver 8:30PM TNT
Game 3 - Fri April 23 Denver at Utah 8:30PM ESPN2
Game 4 - Sun April 25 Denver at Utah 7:30PM TNT
Game 5 * Wed April 28 Utah at Denver TBD TBD TBD
Game 6 * Fri April 30 Denver at Utah TBD TBD TBD
Game 7 * Sun May 2 Utah at Denver TBD TBD TBD

Anticipating Victory for the Karl Family

April 13, 2010
by Jeremy

As a father of two, I know how special even the most minor accomplishment or achievement your child might enjoy is. Conversely, every bump on the head or skinned knee feels like a tragedy. Most parents pour their soul into their children and that amount of investment is incalculable. I can only imagine how that sense of investment and connection is amplified after the difficulties George Karl and Coby Karl have shared together.

The addition of Coby to the Nuggets will undoubtedly provide George Karl with a tremendous mental, physical and emotional boost. As significant as that is to the recovery of a cancer patient and the ability for his son to be near him during this difficult time they can both draw satisfaction from the fact that Coby Karl was not brought to Denver as an elixir to treat his father’s broken body.

Coby is a very good basketball player and deserves to be in the NBA. He may not be a great athlete. You will never see Coby in a dunk contest, nor will there ever be highlights on SportsCenter where he breaks an opponents’ ankles. The man can simply play basketball and we saw a glimpse of that ability in his impressive performance in the Las Vegas Summer League as well as his time in the D-League and for a few games with the Golden State Warriors.

His many talents consist of the ability to shoot out to the three point line, he takes care of the ball and is smart as you would expect the son of a coach should be. He is nearly always in the right place at the right time and is a very adept passer. He is probably not a player a contending team would want starting for 82 games, at least not yet. However, he is a player who will give his all and do whatever his team needs him to.

While both George and Coby would probably like this to be a basketball story, as we saw in the emotional scene just off the 18thhole in Augusta, Georgia on Sunday, sometimes sport has a way of combining excellence on the field of competition with inspiration off of it.

I do not know how long Coby will play for Denver, or what his father’s future is with the organization. I do know we are fortunate to witness one of those rare occurrences where a sport can help provide victory and strength to people who are hurting. Hopefully the result is spectacular both on the court and off.

Kenyon Martin Might Practice on Tuesday

April 5, 2010
by Jeremy

The AP is reporting Kenyon Martin has been scheduled for “limited practice tomorrow” by the Denver Nuggets. There is still no date set for his return, but this is a big step in the right direction. He has been running without a setback for a few days and if he can continue to progress he may be able to reach his goal of returning prior to the beginning of the post season.

There is also mention of possible lingering tension from the April Fool’s Day popcorn prank between Kenyon and J.R. Smith. J.R.’s driver, Laquan Johnson, has taken the fall although the fact that Kenyon and J.R. have supposedly talked since the incident it sounds like J.R. was more involved than he would like for Kenyon to know. Ryan Schwan of Hornets 24/7 recalls that that the popcorn prank was a staple of Hornets players when J.R. was in New Orleans. Add in a history of questionable decision making on and off the floor by J.R. and Schwan thinks J.R. was the “mastermind” of the plot.

As long as they come to an understanding along the lines of do not mess with Kenyon I think everything will be OK and we can expect Kenyon to agree to play in the playoffs.

Keeping Things Lively in Denver

April 5, 2010
by Jeremy

There is rarely a dull moment in Denver anymore. On Thursday they returned to their winning ways with a big win over Portland, saw Chris Andersen suffer an ankle injury, some foreign object flew into his mouth and the team had to deal with a locker room meltdown. Next Denver said all the right things about not taking the Los Angeles Clippers lightly, only to take them lightly causing a near disastrous first 18 minutes, we found out George Karl will not be able to come back from his cancer treatment unless Denver can make it out of the first round and news that Kenyon has begun running to test out his knee.

Aside from the Nuggets earning their first two game winning streak in over two weeks, I think the best news was actually the tantrum Kenyon Martin threw after his Range Rover was filled with butter popcorn on April Fool’s Day.

Do not get me wrong, yelling at and threatening your teammates after a big win is not something I prefer to have happen, but it was what Kenyon said that caught my ear. In an effort to coax information from those listening on who pulled the prank Kenyon exclaimed, “How ’bout if I don’t play in the playoffs until somebody tells me who did it.”

I learned in political science in studying deterrence that in order for a threat to be effective it must be credible and you have to be capable to pull it off. For instance the credibility comes from there being some kind of logic or connection between what behavior you are attempting to prevent and what you are threatening to do. For example, if I tell my daughter that if she does not turn down the television I am going to burn the house down, she immediately will realize that the chances of me burning down our house are remote. Therefore the threat is not a deterrent because it is simply not credible.

Secondly, the party attempting to deter someone else from doing something must be capable. Again, using the example of my daughter and the blaring television set if I tell her to turn it down or I will get iCarly canceled and removed from the air, she knows regardless of how badly I want to do it I am not capable of pulling off such a stunt and therefore my threat is without merit.

I would imagine you are wondering what my point is. Kenyon attempted to use his return as a threat to spur those around him to provide him with information. Kenyon did find out who was responsible for the joke and though his threat may not have carried much water I suspect it failed the credibility test as opposed to the capability test. In other words, it sounds to me like Kenyon fully expects to return and play in the post season.

It may not be much to go on as the official word is that no one knows if he can play again this season or not. Still I think it shows his mindset as well as the mindset of his teammates. Combine this threat with the fact that he is running and doing something other than peddling on a stationary bike and I am optimistic that he will at least attempt to return in the next couple of weeks.

Whether or not the comeback is successful is another story.

The Re-Return of Ty Lawson?

The other piece of really good news from this weekend was that Ty Lawson played 28 minutes and hopefully put the backup point guard spot in a strangle hold for the remainder of the season. Of course, we thought we had reached this point when Lawson played 20 minutes in Dallas last week, but then only garnered eight minutes against Portland on Thursday. At some point, with playoff positioning, and perhaps the season, on the line Adrian Dantley will stop trying to throw bones to Anthony Carter and let Lawson play.

There was a scary moment against the Clippers where Ty bumped his left shoulder and came out flexing and rotating his arm, but it certainly did not seem to have any kind of negative effect on his play.

George Karl Nearing End of Treatment

Again we send out our best wishes to Coach Karl as he has reached the end of his radiation treatment and only has one more round of chemotherapy remaining. The physical toll of what he is going through is still very high, but with treatment coming to an end his body can begin to recover. Get better coach and keep fighting!

Brian Butch Come on Down!

April 4, 2010
by Jeremy

The Denver Nuggets finally signed some big man insurance. They passed on players like Mikki Moore and Jake Voskul and signed center Brian Butch of the Bakersfield Jam for the remainder of the season. Butch played his college career at Wisconsin closing out his senior season in 2008. In 2008-09 he played overseas and signed with Bakersfield this season. He has posted very good numbers in the D-League, 17.7 points and 11.9 rebounds, and had a very impressive March boosting his averages to 18.5 points and 15.7 boards.

I honestly do not know much about Butch, but Ridiculous Upside does a great job covering the D-League and has some insight on Butch complete with video highlights.

I would not expect Butch to play much, he is likely just an insurance policy, but it is entirely possible he could take a few minutes from Malik Allen against teams with size. Perhaps the real story is that Chris Andersen’s ankle will keep him out of commission longer than we had hoped, but that is only speculation.

An interesting aspect of the story is Butch’s contract reportedly contains a non-guaranteed salary for 2010-11. I would imagine it is for the league minimum, or close to it, but it still could be a small trade chip to be used this summer.

Hopefully, with Bakersfield losing a top notch athlete it will make things easier on Taft.

Update: Scott over at RU has posted his thoughts on the call up for Butch and he thinks Denver pulled the trigger on the wrong guy.

Let the Carmelo Anthony Free Agency Rumors Begin

March 24, 2010
by Jeremy

I was not expecting to write about this today, but an article in the New York Post has speculated that the New York Knicks could target Carmelo Anthony in the summer of 2011.

Anthony, who headlines the 2011 free-agent class, visits the Garden tonight with the powerhouse Nuggets, looking to duplicate the 50 points he hung on the Knicks in Denver on Nov. 28 in a 128-125 win.

Knicks president Donnie Walsh has been on a campaign to alert the team’s fans that all the cap room does not have to be filled this July, when the Knicks have space to sign two maximum free agents.

If they sign one maximum guy such as James or Joe Johnson and re-sign David Lee, they’ll probably be in position to have enough room for another maximum player in 2011, with Eddy Curry’s $12M coming off the books after next season.

“We got this thing [cap] down under, and now have to manage our cap to the best of our ability, taking into consideration what could be available to us as we go on [each summer],” Walsh told The Post yesterday.

Walsh admits he’s not going to waste money on a free agent he’s not crazy about just to fill up their 2010 cap space.

“I won’t,” Walsh promised. “Without in any way encouraging you to write about the names of the 2011 free-agent, class, yes. Of course. We’re looking at it over a five-year period.”

It is misleading to say Carmelo is a free agent in 2011 as he is under contract through 2011-12 and would have to terminate the lucrative final season of his contract in order to be a free agent in 2011. I posted my thoughts about the chances of Carmelo heading to New York in the Daily Dime (box three) because if we do not speculate about it, we are not using the Internet to its fullest potential.

One point I did not have enough room to really expand on is that we do not know what these two teams will look like in 2011. Who knows who the Knicks add between now and then. I am sure they will get at least one very good player this summer plus they are no longer giving their draft picks away.

On the flip side, Denver could look drastically different as well. Chauncey is playing very well this season, but it is unlikely that he will continue at this level as he ages. Kenyon is struggling with knee problems and who knows what happens to him. The Nuggets are going to be far enough past the luxury tax level next year they will need the Sword of Omens to see it. There is a legitimate chance they choose to make another salary dump trade this summer. All of those are within the realm of possibility and would damage the quality of the Nuggets and thus it is possible that in a little more than a year the Knicks could be the better location from a competitive standpoint.

I do not expect all of that to happen, but if the Nuggets are not going to spend money, that could be a big red flag to Carmelo.

I know what you are thinking, you do not want this post to end, but do not worry, we have as many as 15 months to two years depending on the coming labor strife of this kind of speculation to percolate.

Pulling for Plateletes

March 9, 2010
by Jeremy

We found out two pieces of news about Kenyon Martin today. His patella tendon injury does not appear to be a season ending and he has already received an injection of platelet-rich plasma. Both of those tidbits could not be more vague.

While the Nuggets announced that Kenyon “is expected to return” at some point this season, there is no timeline. No week to ten days or two to four weeks. Expected to return makes me a little bit queasy. I have expected a lot of things to happen that did not happen. I expected the girl I took to homecoming to dance with me. I expected to graduate college in four years. I expected Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra to make my summer the best one ever.

I would like to think if something is expected to happen the chances of it occurring are better than 50/50. Then I thought about weather forecasts and if there is only a 30% chance of rain or snow they expect rain or snow. Cold the chances of Kenyon playing again this season really be as low as 30%?

Of course, I am being a little silly. If the team says they expect Kenyon to play again this season, I believe them, but still, the lack of a more specific prognosis is not encouraging.

After a little digging, and by digging I mean I conducted an internet search and clicked on at least three links, the reason why the team cannot give us more specific information on Kenyon’s return is because the platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment is a bit of an unknown.

According to Scientific American, which has a really official looking website and might even be a real magazine with subscriptions and everything, is a procedure that has displayed anecdotal success, but is yet to be proven to be more effective than alternative treatments, such as laying on your couch, in legitimate clinical trials.

The procedure involves removing some of your own blood, separating the platelets, thingamabobs from your own blood that your body utilizes to heal itself, and then injecting them into the injured area. The treatment was originally “developed the mid-1990s to aid bone healing after spinal injury and soft tissue recovery following plastic surgery.” More recently the procedure showed signs of speeding the healing of tendons that suffer from microscopic tearing leading to chronic tendinitis especially in locations where there is not a surplus of blood flow.

As mentioned above there have not been any official studies involving humans to prove or disprove the effectiveness of the treatment. Dr. Dennis A. Cardone from the Hospital for Joint Diseases at New York University claims that sometimes patients believe it worked and sometimes it was completely ineffective. Overall he cites a success rate of “maybe around 60 percent.”

If Dr. Cardone is right, perhaps we are looking at a 60 percent chance of Kenyon returning to the floor again this season and thus a 60 percent chance Denver will be a team to reckon with in the playoffs.

Honestly, Denver can handle life without Kenyon for a few games here and there. If they are forced to play without him for a prolonged period of time I think you can kiss any shot at the second or third seed goodbye and perhaps even home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Kenyon is certainly a limited player, but he is the Nuggets’ best rebounder and a very versatile defender. In addition to his defensive abilities, he is a very good passer and was always a threat to score 18 or 20 points. As long as Kenyon can return healthy for the playoffs the Nuggets will still have as good of a chance as anyone to unseat the Lakers although the road will be much more difficult.

The Nuggets have been linked with players such as Mikki Moore and now we can add Jake Voskuhl and Brian Cook. How much do you want to count on any of them at this point in the season? If our worst fears end up a reality and Kenyon is unable to play again this season I am afraid the Nuggets season will be irreparably damaged as well.

Kenyon’s platelets have gotten him through two microfracture surgeries. Hopefully they can come through one more time.

Thrashing the Thunder, Melo vs Durant, Adding Bigs and Some Links

March 4, 2010
by Jeremy

Box Score | Highlights

What can we take from the Denver Nuggets 119-90 dismantling of the Oklahoma City Thunder? The Nuggets were certainly due for a breakout game and the Thunder apparently forgot to drink their energy drinks this morning. The Nuggets certainly rediscovered their ability to pass, score in the paint and run the floor. However, Oklahoma City did not put up much of a battle.

In an attempt to document the expected conflagration between Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant Royce Young from Daily Thunder and I were asked to carry on an email conversation for the Daily Dime. Unfortunately, for Royce, the game was a disappointment, but we still managed to compare and contrast Melo and KD. (In case you missed it David Thorpe provided his own in depth breakdown of how Melo and Durant match up earlier today.)

After the duel between the two superstars failed to materialize Nuggets fans were still treated to some good news. Chris Andersen looked healthy again. Just two days after moving around the floor in Phoenix like an octogenarian he was spry and bouncy. All the evidence I needed to see came when Andersen stepped away from his man to challenge Russell Westbrook as he approached the rim from the right baseline. When Birdman met Westbrook in the air the point guard dished off to Birdman’s man Nick Collison. Andersen landed, recovered and leapt in time to block Collison’s point blank shot before it started on its way down. It was an impressive play and hopefully a sign that Bird’s chronic patella tendinitis will not be a problem in the near future.

As far as all the regular things we fret over from game to game such as pick and roll defense, rotations and offensive tactics, with the lack of competition I do not think there is anything to draw any hard and fast conclusions.

I guess there is one other thing we can say and that is Kenyon stop shooting from outside the paint. Please, you are killing me. He bricked a three pointer so badly off the backboard that security had to put the ball out of its misery to ease its suffering.

With little to reflect on as far as game action instead of calling it a night we will turn our attention to a question from drewjay. Should Denver be preparing to welcome Mark Blount to the team?

With the Nuggets searching for big man depth the bought out player field never quite materialized. As much fun as it was to daydream about Zydrunas Ilgauskas coming to Denver to hit shots and be really tall, there was never any real chance of that happening. He has played his entire career in Cleveland. They kept him around early in his career when it appeared he would never be able to run from one end of the floor to the other without breaking his foot and this is the best Cavs team, perhaps ever. There was never any chance he would end up anywhere else.

I had hopes of Drew Gooden becoming available, but after conflicting reports as to whether or not the Clippers were going to buy him out we found out the Clippers wanted him to stay. It makes sense for the other LA team to try to win as many games as possible to appear as a better destination for free agents. Had Gooden not been shipped from the Wizards to LA he likely would have been bought out, but alas it was not meant to be.

So who is left? Umm…how about Mark Blount and Mikki Moore? Any takers?

Considering the way the Nuggets are spending money, or should I say not spending money, the only way they will bring in another player is if that player is significantly better than one, or both of the Nuggets spare bigs, namely Malik Allen and Johan Petro. It is clear that Karl does not trust either one. They only get significant playing time when someone in front of them is injured or during blowouts.

I cannot see Blount enticing the Nuggets at all and I cannot imagine a player who has been played 15 minutes over the past 13 months coming onboard and earning any more trust than Allen has. However, with Moore there is certainly smoke. As Chris Tomasson has reported Moore is recovering from surgery to remove a bone spur on his right heel and could be ready to play be mid March.

Moore is no spring chicken at the age of 34, but he has only played in 557 games and as long as he is healthy could provide an upgrade over Malik Allen. If Moore does come to Denver it will certainly not be to play 20 minutes a night, but as a fourth big who can run the floor, bring energy off the bench and most importantly give Renaldo Balkman a run for his money in the bad hair competition he is probably worth the gamble.

Heck according to the video below Moore is a deadly shooter, great finisher, has an excellent post game and is an all around dominate force (you have to watch it simply to see where on the backboard the ball hits the backboard as he banks a turnaround jumper at the 50 second mark).

If the Nuggets pass and decide not to sign anyone I am not going to lose a second of sleep. I would much prefer not signing anyone to signing Blount. However, signing Moore would be a cheap move with little downside.

Sticking with news from Tomasson he has reported that Carmelo received an IV this morning and that he was slightly dehydrated which could help explain some of his lackadaisical play. If Melo plays like he did tonight after getting some fluids, I say hook him up to an IV every morning.

John Hollinger explains why Chauncey Billups’ 43.9% shooting percentage is historically misleading.

One more link to pass along although it is a little outdated. Sebastian over at NBA Playbook breaks down a lob play the Nuggets ran at Golden State to help ice the game last Thursday.

Additional Game 61 Nugget

Arron Afflalo hurt his thumb and reported had it x-rayed following the game, but he claims via twitter that he is fine and will play Friday.

The Return of Game Stats

I finally updated my spreadsheet and the advanced stats on the right sidebar after only three quarters of the season have passed.

Pace Factor: 98.6

Defensive Efficiency: 100.0 – OKC produced a Nuggets opponent season low FG%, 32.5%, and EFG%, 37.3%.

Offensive Efficiency: 120.6 – 30 assists on 44 makes

Record	53 - 29
Pythagorean Record	56.5 - 25.5
Projected Pyth Rec	56.5 - 25.5
Defensive Efficiency	104.7
Offensive Efficiency	108.7
Pace Factor	97.3
Field Goal %	47.0%
Opp Field Goal %	45.6%
Effective FG%	51.1%
Opp Effective FG%	49.5%
True Shooting %	56.3%
Opp True Shooting %	53.5%
Def Rebound Rate	72.8%
Off Rebound Rate	26.0%
Total Rebound Rate	49.6%

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