After much speculation (and blatant hysteria) in and around Nuggets Nation this afternoon, Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke finally broke the silence and went on 104.3 The Fan, a local Denver radio station, to address the topic at hand. (You can listen to the interview here under “Drew and Scott hour 3 5/24/13.” Kroenke comes on at about the 45-minute mark.)

Every person has their own set of ears and interprets the world around them differently. But for everyone who listens to the above interview there should at least be some form of a consensus about the tone and direction that we can agree on. Kroenke did not seem confident in his ability to retain Ujiri. Instead of expressing his desire to keep him, he explored every possibility of what life would be like without him. Instead of sounding optimistic in his ability to re-sign Ujiri, he sounded slightly perturbed and jumpy about the future of his franchise. But above all else, instead of comforting Nuggets fans and reassuring them that he’d do everything in his power to bring Ujiri back, Kroenke instead left the door wide open for Toronto to come in and steal him away saying it’s entirely up to Ujiri to decided what he wants to do.

That is some certified, Grade-A crap.

The Nuggets are the ones with the power right now. They’re on the exact same playing field as Toronto except they have the upper hand. They’re the ones who Ujiri is coming off a three-year deal with. They’re the ones who Ujiri has built a team from the ground up with. They’re the ones who Ujiri has established a culture with. They’re the ones who Ujiri just won Executive of the Year with. And most importantly, they SHOULD be the ones who want Ujiri more than Toronto!!!

There is still so much we don’t understand as fans. Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors. Perhaps Ujiri really isn’t the genius we all think he is? But that’s totally beside the point. What we do know is that whatever the Nuggets have had the last three years — it’s worked. Perhaps better than any other team in the league, things are working. For once in this franchise’s history excellence is within sight. The idea of a championship isn’t just an unreachable dream, but an actual reality — and one not too far out of the Nuggets’ grasp. So why on God’s green earth would Josh Kroenke risk this over the sake of a few dollars? At worst, the difference between what he perceives Ujiri is actually worth and what Toronto is offering him is only pocket change compared to the budget he receives each year to run the team. The Nuggets annually spend over $70 million on players alone. How in the hell can you justify low-balling the man who constructed the greatest regular season team in Nuggets history and current Executive of the Year?!?

Unfortunately for Nuggets fans, this is a precedent that’s already been established in the past. As Woj mentions in his article, the Kroenke’s have a long history of low-balling their general managers no matter how good they’ve been. But this? This is nothing compared to previous instances. This goes far beyond replacing one good general manager with another. This would be inexcusable on every level. It would be idiotic and stupid and pointless and bad business and just plain wrong (unless, like I already mentioned, Kroenke knows something we don’t about Ujiri; in which case, only time will tell). If you can’t swallow your wallet, and pride along with it, and shell out a million or even half a million more per year to keep the best general manager in the league, then you don’t deserve to own a professional sports franchise, and you certainly don’t deserve fans like us.

But again, this situation is fluid. It’s important to realize nothing has happened yet. For the time being Kroenke deserves our respect and optimism. And whatever decision is made, it’s important we attempt to understand all aspects of where Kroenke is coming from.

In the meantime, hold tight. The next several days could be a bit nerve wracking.

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Prior to coming to Denver, Ujiri worked under Colangelo from 2008-10 as director of international scouting and later as assistant GM. According to SportsNet.ca’s Michael Grange, the Raptors have not fully eradicated Colangelo from the team, and should Ujiri be hired both the executives’ roles will have switched with Ujiri taking the responsibilities of head GM and Colangelo playing the part of the assistant.

For Nuggets fans this dilemma has a plain-as-day resolution: sign Ujiri to the contract he deserves and do not hesitate in the process. Make him the top paid GM in basketball and get on with life. There should be no delay; there should be no thought put into even considering letting him go. Good NBA GMs don’t make a lot of money when contrasted with players and in actuality are fairly underpaid considering how responsible they are for the direction of the team. Paying a couple million bucks more to retain the reining Executive of the Year is THE no-brainer of all no-brainers this off-season for the Nuggets. This is not a matter of frugality; it’s a matter of common sense. Let’s just hope the Kroenke’s feel the same way.

Stay tuned as more information comes to light. And as always…

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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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Members of the All-Defensive First Team include: LeBron James, Serge Ibaka, Tyson Chandler, Joakim Noah, Tony Allen and Chris Paul. Members of the All-Defensive Second Team include: Tim Duncan, Paul George, Marc Gasol (even though he won Defensive Player of the Year), Avery Bradley and Mike Conley.

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Benjamin Hochman (@nuggetsnews) of DenverPost.com has reported that just on the heels of George Karl winning Coach of the Year, Masai Ujiri will also receive a prestigious NBA honor by being named 2012-13 NBA Executive of the Year:

The passionate Ujiri will be rewarded for his work Thursday, when he is named the NBA executive of the year, a source told The Denver Post on Wednesday night. Ujiri, the first African-born general manager in major American sports, put together the Nuggets’ roster, a squad that won 57 games — the most in Denver’s NBA history.

Stay tuned to Roundball Mining Company for further analysis and reflection on Ujiri’s award and the accomplishments which led to his receiving it after the announcement has been made official.

And in the meantime, if you haven’t yet seen Karl’s heartfelt, emotional press conference held in acceptance of his COY award, it really is a must-watch, irrespective of any opinion on whether the Nuggets would be better off with or without him:

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After failing to advance past the first round as a three seed many Nuggets fans have been focusing on the negative aspects of the latter half of this season, including myself. This award should serve as a reminder for just how incredible the 2012-13 Denver Nuggets regular season really was. I think I speak for most everybody when I say Karl and his squad totally outdid themselves in the regular season. Breaking the Nuggets all-time single-season wins mark of 54 games was one thing, but beating that record by three full games was simply phenomenal — as was the 15-game win streak… and the franchise record 38 wins at home… and pretty much everything else that happened in the regular season.

Earlier in the year when asked how he felt about winning Coach of the Year, Karl responded jokingly saying, “I’m not sure I want that legacy,” and continued by asking, “Have you seen what happens to guys who win coach of the year?” Karl was referring to the recent trend of Red Auerbach Trophy Award winners to be fired the year after taking home Coach of the Year honors. The list includes Avery Johnson after the 2005-06 season, Sam Mitchell after 2006-07, Byron Scott after 2007-08 and Mike Brown after 2008-09. It should be noted, however, that Karl’s contract expires at the end of next season. He still has three more years of single-season options after that, but if the Nuggets did decide to let him go (say, after another first-round loss, for example) he wouldn’t technically have been fired.

But, of course, this is all speculation. The future is still wide open and for all we know Karl could steer the Nuggets to another Western Conference Finals appearance — which would be much needed. In the meantime, this award serves as a fitting reminder for just how incredible the 2012-13 Nuggets season truly was.

Congratulations, Coach Karl.

You deserved it.

Randolph came on strong towards the end of the season, where he was a great source of paint points and rebounds when Faried went down. His defense, however, is inconsistent at best and Randolph is prone to forcing up bad shots and falling apart on the offensive end. Because JaVale McGee suffers from a lot of the same stuff and neither one of them can pass, it’s tough to bring both off the bench and George Karl has avoided even messing with it for most of the season.

With Golden State switching to guerilla tactics after the David Lee injury, this series is now small ball all the time and Randolph may have found himself a niche role against the Warriors zone defense, which they’ve favored for important stretches of the first two games.

Here are just a few examples of how Randolph has demonstrated his ability to successfully attack the zone.

Play 1: Made 5-ft jumper in the lane (and one)

As the play starts, the Warriors are zoned up and focused on the possible pick and roll action on the strong side with Iguodala and Faried. Randolph has just set a down screen for Brewer and notices the gap in the middle of the zone. He waits until Iguodala is ready to pass and shoots the gap.

Carl Landry is slow picking up Randolph but contests the shot. Randolph’s length is too much for the 6-9 Landry and he scores the short jumper and the foul. Good patience and execution by Randolph flashing to the middle of the zone while the Warriors stand around trying to figure out what the play is.

Play 2: Made layup at the rim

As the play starts Randolph has already been very active on this possession, faking a screen for Miller and darting through the paint to clear up the middle on the left side of the floor. Miller elects to pass back out to Lawson, who attacks the middle of the zone and gets the first step on Curry.

Because of his activity early in the possession, Randolph has disappeared behind the entire Warriors zone. Golden State has no idea he’s been hiding behind the baseline right under the rim.

Randolph beautifully follows Lawson’s drive, creeping up from the baseline just at the right moment for Lawson to hit him with a pass underneath the rim. He gets perfect position and Lawson delivers. Landry contests but he’s way out of position and Randolph drops in the bunny. Once again great patience and good hustle early in the possession leads to the shot.

Play 3: Awkward post-up, floater blocked by Ezeli, shot clock violation

This one doesn’t end as well but demonstrates how Randolph continually looked to attack the zone.

The play starts with Golden State zoned up and Ezeli protecting the rim. Notice the bad spacing by Denver and the obvious gap in the zone. Randolph sees what’s up and decides to attack it from the baseline again.

The problem on this play is Iguodala dribbling left against Curry, away from the basket which doesn’t threaten the zone long enough for Randolph to sneak in from behind again.

Iguodala should have attacked the zone, but he still recognizes Randolph flashing middle and delivers the pass. Unfortunately, Randolph steps up further than he needs to and without any misdirection before the play, Ezeli has already read it.

By the time Randolph gets the ball, Ezeli is all over him and Golden State has 3 players at the rim ready to rebound. Randolph has the drop-pass for Faried underneath but he’s only thinking one thing: score. He tries a few post moves on Festus Ezeli, who is all over him and blocks the shot easily. Golden State loves Anthony Randolph shooting this and will take that all day.

This play ends badly, but could have easily resulted in another bunny at the rim with a little more hustle and execution from everyone. Randolph’s effort allows Denver to get the ball deep in the paint against the zone despite his teammates standing around and not making any real effort to run offense.

As you can see, Randolph could be useful against Golden State’s zone, should they continue to use it. There’s also no doubt the Warriors have studied the tape and will be watching out for Randolph sneaking up behind the baseline on them.

Playoff series are all about matchups and adjustments.  Randolph wasn’t expected to have a big role in this series but I also doubt the Nuggets expected this much zone either. Look for the chess match to continue in game three as both sides look wherever they have to in order to gain the edge.

It’s too bad this isn’t the regular season anymore.

Behind closed doors, both teams are immersed in the hard data that belies the notion that this is a close series. It’s been a one-sided affair by almost any metric you want to use. If we are to judge Denver’s first two playoff games as a whole, then the fair conclusion is that Andre Miller’s heroics are the biggest reason this series is less one-sided that the numbers say it is.

Golden State has dominated the series offensively, relying heavily on a small lineup with Harrison Barnes at the four which Denver has yet to find an answer for. There is an element of overly hot shooting to the Warriors’ recent offense (74.3% eFG in game 2), but that offense has merely maintained the comfortable cushion they’ve had all series. Golden State’s defense and dominance of the paint is what got them there.

For the record, I think there is only so much Karl can do when the effort and individual focus of so many different guys comes into question. Playoff energy and effort should be a given at this point, and there’s no doubt Golden State is winning the battle of wills and are collectively playing with much more confidence than the Nuggets. But the fact they have done so shorthanded and on the road further proves Karl can’t continue to coach this series as he has, leaning on “trust” guys with the faith that home-court mojo and “teamness” will carry-them past mismatch problems on the perimeter.

Clearly we can’t look at the series like that anymore. Golden State has moved into the driver’s seat with home court advantage and the onus is on Denver to react to a small lineup that thoroughly exposed them on both ends. At this point, the margin for error has eroded and coaching adjustments need to become a reality for Denver to gain any momentum in this series.

Two playoff games is a large sample size and Denver is fighting losing battles on too many fronts. Here are a few of the most obvious adjustments we should expect to see addressed in game 3.

Start Faried

It’s already been reported that this one’s a given, and I’m not surprised. If Faried is going to have success in this series, his best shot is against Harrison Barnes in the starting five.  He has not come off the bench since early in his rookie season and his energy in the starting lineup has been a huge part of the Nuggets’ identity all season.

If he can’t go he can’t go, but starting should be a given for Kenneth. It’s where he belongs and Denver has always had enough bench depth to protect themselves should he get off to a bad start.

Golden State owns the glass in this series, holding Denver to just a 15.5% offensive rebound rate. Denver led the league in that category with a 31.4% mark in the regular season. I am not thrilled about seeing Faried switched onto any of the four three-point shooters in Golden State’s new starting lineup, but Denver is stuck here. They have no choice but to live with him on Barnes and that means starting.

Don’t Start Andre Miller

This one was truly the hardest to understand. Karl “adjusted” to Mark Jackson’s now infamous small-ball with a second-half starting lineup of Lawson, Miller, Iguodala, Chandler, and Koufos. Golden State went on an immediate 10-1 run against this lineup to assert total control of the game.

This lineup, which Karl started in the second half, went 0-5 with 4 turnovers and allowed Golden State an offensive rating of 163.6 in game 2. It does not get any worse than that. That was just a five minute stint, but this was supposed to be the Nuggets’ big adjustment to get themselves going in the biggest game of the year. They had an entire halftime to gameplan and that’s what they came up with.

That is concerning. Defensively, that lineup doubly exposes the problem of dealing with the Warriors’ length. It’s bad enough to try and hide Lawson’s defense from the rangy backcourt of Curry and Thompson, but with Miller also out there you are essentially conceding open space to one of them. Denver tried to address this by putting Miller on Harrison Barnes but that didn’t work either, as Barnes exploded for 17 of his 24 points in the second half.

Mark Jackson’s gamble of starting his best lineup from game one and daring Karl to beat it the same way paid off. If Denver thinks they can play that game, they’ve already lost.

Bench Koufos

In many ways, Koufos’ plight mirrors that of the Denver Nuggets. He’s built himself a solid career with a workmanlike attitude and commitment to playing the right way. Then, we get to the playoffs where raw physicality and brute strength win out, and Koufos’ novel approach to big man play ends up looking like a useless gimmick.

I am not one for overreaction, but Koufos has been beyond terrible in this series. His game two performance should go down as one of the worst in Nuggets playoff history. In 14 minutes, he recorded only two rebounds and a steal. Both of those rebounds came off of errant airballs that were on their way out of bounds. That means Koufos’ effort failed to produce a single meaningful stat in the biggest game of his career. I do not believe that is something you can brush off as a bad game.

Koufos is expected to provide toughness down low, but he hasn’t looked fit to stand in the same gym as Andrew Bogut, who has hardly broken a sweat in 53 carefree, dominant minutes of this series. Bogut had a pretty poor game 2, getting whistled for some careless illegal screening and fumbling a number of easy passes that would have led to bunnies at the rim.

Even so, Koufos has been totally helpless to keep Bogut from dominating the paint on both ends. Offensively, he does not register on the Warriors’ radar and Bogut doesn’t even feign interest in guarding him outside the paint. Of course all of this is secondary to Koufos’ simple inability to put up any sort of fight against the Warriors in the paint. Koufos has played 40 minutes in this series and has more personal fouls than defensive rebounds.

In this series, he has no role against the physical Bogut or the “four-out” spread offense of Golden State. He has already failed to provide toughness and stability to the Nuggets defense and the simple fact is you can’t allow Bogut to keep seeing such a ridiculously easy matchup.

I strongly believe Koufos should not be the starter anymore and jump to the end of the line as another big body off the bench. It’s unfortunate, but the matchup demands adjustments and this is one the Nuggets simply can’t afford to ignore.

For the season Lee is averaging 18.5 points (52 percent from the field), 11 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. Against the Nuggets in the regular season he averaged 23 points (56 percent from the field), 10 rebounds and five assists per game. With Kenneth Faried on the floor, outside of rebounds, David Lee’s numbers were up across the board in contrast with his regular season averages. Conversely, Faried’s numbers were down when Lee was on the floor. In short: Lee was a tough matchup for Faried. This was evident throughout each game when the Warriors and Nuggets met in the regular season. Faried typically struggles against crafty, offensive-minded power forwards like Lee on defense and can become passive on offense as a result.

But while the player most likely to replace Lee in the lineup isn’t much different (Carl Landry), the stats say Faried fares better against him than Lee. In the 80 minutes Landry has been on the floor with Faried this season, his averages across the board are down except for assists and personal fouls. Unfortunately, Faried’s offensive stats are also down with Landy on the floor. The good thing for Faried is that Landry is nowhere near the player Lee is. With Lee, Faried simply could not afford to be taken advantage of time and time again in the post. Though talented, Landry will not be able to expose Faried with the frequency Lee could.

Without Lee, the Warriors chances of defeating the Nuggets seem ostensibly bleak. Lee accounted for nearly 25 percent of his team’s offensive production in the regular season, nearly one third of its rebounds and 20 percent of its assists. He led the league in double-doubles and made the All-Star team for the second time in his eight-year career. Though the Warriors may rally behind Lee’s absence and coalesce even more, it’s extremely difficult to imagine them overcoming the deficit already bestowed upon them.

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