It was different from the normal NBA Finals analysis that has filled that space lately and something that many people probably saw and blew right by.

That tweet is below:

Spoke to Stu Jackson about competition committee recs. among them: proposed new ban on offensive players standing out of bounds

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) June 12, 2013

You see many people will see this and wonder why there even has to be a rule for this. That many teams wouldn’t think of doing it.

After all if a player is out of bounds it makes offense even harder since they can’t touch the ball at that moment.

But as most people who follow the Nuggets may know, for them this rule matters.

The strategy was shown in a few articles this year most notably by Mike Prada (Point #3 here) and Lowe himself (footnote #8 here).

The strategy makes sense. Since the Nuggets don’t really have any big capable of stretching the floor vertically or horizontally from 8 to 15 feet they need to find another way to create spacing and room at the rim for someone like Ty Lawson.

By staying out of bounds they do just that, forcing their defenders underneath the rim so that the Nuggets bigs cannot step into the paint for passes or offensive rebounds uncontested.

With the speed of Lawson or the finishing ability of Iguodala that extra half a second or half a step that they are able to gain on the opposing bigs gets them much easier looks than if the Nuggets bigs were in bounds and trying to find some place to be instead.

As fellow RMC writer David said when we discussed this a bit yesterday, we don’t know if the strategy was Karl based and therefore would remain Karl exclusive so in the end the rule may not matter at all.

But with a Nuggets offense that can tend to struggle in the half court as it is, anything that may upset that is a big deal and the lack of this spacing option could be just that meaning this rule is one that the Nuggets and their fans should be following as it develops.

Masai Ujiri is gone, and the whole of Nuggets nation grieves. After all, the Nigerian-born GM accomplished the seemingly impossible — after trading the team’s superstar he practically skipped the obligatory rebuilding stage and constructed a roster capable of championship contention. He did everything his own way and is rightfully being applauded for excellent front office work. I am just as sad as anyone to see Ujiri depart, but make no mistake — he is not taking an unblemished record with him to Toronto.

When you make a bad decision as a GM, it can often trigger a domino effect of consecutive blunders. That was precisely the case when Ujiri decided to flatter his free-agent-to-be center with a 5-year $67 million extension. I’m sure I don’t need to argue for why overpaying Nene was a terrible decision, but I will anyway.

Masai committed about an average of $13 million per year on a player in his late twenties, who had an injury history, a tendency to take games off, little interest in defense and averaged 14.5 points and 7.6 rebounds in the previous season. For the sake of the argument, let’s ignore Nene’s flaws and focus solely on his numbers.

His 2010-11 numbers were close to his career-highs, so it was safe to assume that at his age he would not get better. Just to illustrate my point, here are a couple of veteran big men who put up similar numbers this season and their 2012-13 salaries.

Glen Davis – $6.4 million – 15.1 points, 7.2 rebounds

Marcin Gortat – $7.26 milllion – 11.1 points, 8.5 rebounds

Luis Scola – $4.5 million – 12.8 points, 6.6 rebounds

Now, obviously, every player’s contract is based on subjective evaluation and not just numbers. For instance, Marc Gasol’s numbers are quite similar to the above-mentioned players, but his defensive prowess, leadership and intangibles drive up his market value. Nene, on the other hand, lacked most of these impalpable qualities.

There is no question Nene got overpaid, but Ujiri was forced to make a decision. He is an intelligent man so it was hardly a grave miscalculation. He was fully aware of the fact that he was overpaying the Brazilian but didn’t want to lose him for nothing.  And thus Denver fans cringed.

Masai quickly realized his mistake and once again did something that defied logic — he managed to trade Nene’s seemingly untradable contract. As JaVale McGee made his way into town, most Denver fans rejoiced. McGee was on the right side of his twenties, athletic and looked like a better fit for a transition based offense. JaVale finished the regular season strong and put up two monster games against the Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs, as Denver lost in game seven.

And then came the bomb. Ujiri re-signed McGee to a 4-year $44 million contract. It was perhaps not as painful as the Nene contract, but this season it proved to be almost equally detrimental.

This season JaVale averaged 9.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2 blocks in 18.1 minutes of play and took home a $10 million check for his efforts. He will make another $34 million over the next three years.

McGee is only 25. He could still get better and is an amusing presence, but while his humorous and often incomprehensible tweets are of great entertainment value, he has made more Shaqtin’ A Fool appearances than shown actual signs of improvement since joining the Nuggets.

Perhaps it’s not all on JaVale. Just like an infant, a young basketball played can only learn through the trial and error method, and for that you need to play big minutes. Then again, can you really blame George Karl for limiting JaVale’s minutes to around 18 per game? After all, JaVale perpetually — willingly or not — traumatizes his coach with his inexplicable actions on the floor, leaving Karl with his face buried in his hands in disbelief.

Ujiri has been fantastic in finding the right trades for Denver. The Carmelo trade aside, Masai got rid of Al Harrington and Arron Afflalo and landed Andre Iguodala, who has been instrumental to the Nuggets’ success. But he did make the mistake of overpaying Nene, and then refused to yield and let go of JaVale, as he wanted to protect his investment. To Masai’s defense, he was in a tough position, and many wanted JaVale back after how he finished the season before going into free agency, but not at that price.

If Iguodala was to opt out and re-sign with Denver, the team will not have enough cap space to make any big free agent signings this summer. However, if McGee’s contract was not on Denver’s books, the team could add a very good free agent, who could be more of a factor and perhaps even get the Nuggets over the top next season. Sadly, that is not the case. While McGee is tradable, it’s hard to see any team taking on three years of his contract.

When a general manager, no matter how good, ends his tenure with a franchise, he always leaves a stain behind. Sometimes, that stain is of Rashard Lewis proportions, other times it’s barely noticeable, but it’s always there. JaVale McGee is the stain that Ujiri leaves behind, and his successor will do what every newly appointed GM has to do — get equipped with a pair of rubber gloves and a sponge and start scrubbing.

Follow me on Twitter: @VytisLasaitis

– Kalen

Our friend Brian Smith is organizing a 24-hour hoops marathon for the Hoop Dream, an organization dedicated to teaching basketball and building courts in Africa.  The event will run for 24 hours starting this Friday, May 31st at 5pm through Saturday June 1st.

Check out the details below. You can use the map we’ve embedded to find directions.

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop 24 Hour Pick Up Basketball Marathon

Dates: Friday May 31^st at 5pm – Saturday June 1^st at 5pm

Location: The Central Christian Church of Denver (map below)
3690 Cherry Creek South Dr. Denver, CO 80209

Traditional pickup basketball, show up, get put on a team or form one with other participants. Music and possible DJ apperances, food on a first come, first served basis. Pancake breakfast Saturday morning.

We will have a “film room” where we will be projecting some basketball movie and documentary classics.  Open to all ages and skill levels, The Denver Rolling Nuggets Wheelchair basketball team will be joining us on Saturday afternoon.

There is a suggested $5 donation.

Basically, we want to get people passionate about basketball out to one place to learn a bit about The Hoop Dream, so that they might feel compelled to share it amongst other basketball fans/players who might become involved or help us with the networking to businesses and possible donors.

View Larger Map

I have been told by Brian that groups and spectators are welcome. If you’re interested in connecting with other Nuggets fan for a good cause, check out this great event.

Live, love, hoop!

More on The Hoop Dream

Web: thehoopdream.org
Facebook: The Hoop Dream Team
Twitter: @thehoopdream
Instagram: THEHOOPDREAMDOTORG

The Nuggets finished with the fifth-best offense of the 2012-2013 season in terms of offensive efficiency. It was a record setting year with Denver securing a franchise-best 57 wins and the most points in the paint scored in a season in NBA history. Denver has now had a top five offense for five years in a row, but their fall to fifth represents a decline from last year’s third-ranked team and the league-leading Nuggets offense of two seasons ago.

If we dig a bit deeper we see the effects of horrendous shooting from the perimeter and the free-throw line reflected in the Nuggets True Shooting percentage, which fell all the way to 54.9% this season. While that is a solid figure good for 7th in the NBA, it’s also the Nuggets worst mark since the 2006-2007 season and rather pedestrian compared to what they did with similar talent in years past.

The Nuggets were still the Nuggets this season, but the offense clearly took a step back despite everyone’s best efforts to reorganize as a sturdier defensive unit under Iguodala (and the defense did improve). Denver scored enough points to win most games but it was on the offensive end where the Nuggets saw most of their flaws exposed, both with the roster and the style of play.

It’s pretty remarkable that a team with no shooters and inexperienced, unskilled big men still managed a top five offense and 57 wins. Looking at the numbers it’s clear the Nuggets had a plan to maximize what they do best and executing that consistently covered up many individual flaws. I took a look at what else can be gleamed from the Nuggets offensive numbers this past season and here are five revelations, if you will, as we wait to see how the Nuggets try to improve in the draft, free agency and beyond.

1. Andre Iguodala’s shot selection must improve

Andre Iguodala’s 74.3% shooting at the rim this season was second only to MVP Lebron James among players with more than a handful of attempts. You would expect the second-best finisher in the league to thrive in an offense like Denver’s but Iguodala struggled to score throughout one of his worst offensive seasons yet. Iggy’s 52% True Shooting this year was a career low and his 15.2 PER was the lowest he’s posted since the 2005-2006 season.

A big reason Iguodala struggled to be efficient was his shot selection. Take a look at his shot distribution relative to the rest of the Nuggets in the regular season and the playoffs (chart shows FGAs)

Iguodala was a super-elite finisher at the rim and he was above league-average efficiency from three. Unfortunately, Iguodala rarely got to the rim and he took the most two-point jumpers out of anyone on the team.

If the Nuggets are able to retain Iguodala, another year to recalibrate his shot selection should help tremendously. He showed more familiarity with the offense as the season went on and if he simply aligns his shot selection with that of a typical Nuggets player, he’ll get results. Denver’s offense is proven to work for players like Iguodala and he started to figure it out in the playoffs.

2. The Nuggets really couldn’t shoot from anywhere

Denver blew away the rest of the NBA with 62% shooting inside of five feet. From every other zone on the court, Denver was below league average efficiency.

The lesson here is that the Nuggets simply didn’t give their offense a chance to reach its potential due to personnel issues.

It’s hard to compete without a single player who is a good bet to make an open three. Denver had no role players like that and it was evident in the playoffs. To make matters worse none of the rotation mainstays shot the ball well either. Gallinari, Lawson, and Iguodala all had subpar shooting years.

Expect the Nuggets to add shooters, and I emphasize the plural there. The fatal flaw on this roster is that they simply didn’t employ enough players who can make shots and it hurt them all year long. The Nuggets were able to live with that imbalance all season but it became impossible to hide in the playoffs.

3. Andre Miller killed ball movement

Take a look at the graphic above to see how the Nuggets offense performed with and without Andre Miller on the court. It’s self-evident that the offense was faster, more efficient and more productive with Andre Miller on the bench.

The most telling statistic is the assist ratio. Denver was significantly worse in this area when Andre Miller took to the court.

The Nuggets’ assist ratio without Andre Miller was 18.3, which would have been the fourth-best mark in the league. It dropped all the way to 17.6 with Andre Miller, which would have put the Nuggets outside of the top ten, right behind the Orlando Magic.

For a team so reliant on ball movement to generate offense, that is a hugely precipitous decline. I can’t stress how important it is to keep the ball moving in Denver’s offense, which doesn’t feature a go-to scorer who can bail out the team when the ball gets sticky.

Miller pounded his way to a slower pace and a good individual assist rate, but he played so much it actually ended up hurting the Nuggets’ passing in a big way.

4. One-dimensional bigs

This past season, JaVale McGee had the lowest assist rate in basketball with a pretty hilarious 3.3% of his possessions ending in an assist. Not far behind was Kosta Koufos at 5.0%, which makes him the fourth-worst center in that category (behind McGee, DeAndre Jordan and Brook Lopez).

Kenneth Faried is listed as a small forward for some reason, but his 7.7% assist rate ranked as the sixth-worst in the NBA at that position. Faried is a power forward so his mark isn’t as bad as Koufos or McGee, but it was still well below average.

The point here is Denver gave almost all of their minutes at power forward and center to three players with terrible hands. If the ball went into ANY of the Nuggets’ big men, it never came back out.

There is nothing wrong with covering up your big men’s flaws. There is no law that states you need bigs who can pass in order to compete. Denver did a good job getting their big guys to fill a role but the problem is they were all asked to fill the same exact role.

This is another example of extreme roster imbalance that the Nuggets were somehow able to live with all the way up until the playoffs.

If the Nuggets want to develop their big men into complete players who help on both ends, they must change course now. JaVale needs more development on both ends and the Nuggets should bring in at least one dynamic big who can help the offense in more ways than one.

5. George Karl runs a great offensive system

The problems the Nuggets had on offense were not for lack of trying or a lack of direction on the part of the coaching staff. As I explained earlier they had a lot of issues with personnel that severely limited what they could do on that end of the court.

The fact Denver still had one of the very best offenses in the league without a single top-20 scorer is incredible. It’s a testament to the system implemented by George Karl’s coaching staff which simply works brilliantly and gets consistently good results year after year.

All season long, the Nuggets bought into that and executed which helped them survive without fundamental skills like shooting. But a team without shooters can’t contend for championships and it’s easy to lose sight of that in the midst of the sting and disappointment of another first round exit.

But writing is different. I never say “thank you” to anybody in writing. Sure, I say “thanks” at the end of the e-mails I pester our writers with, but that’s really a way of saying “goodbye” and “thanks you for putting up with my pointless ramblings,” more than anything. Then again, perhaps that’s exactly what I do here. Writing pointless things that are “TL;DR” is kind of my calling card, and for whatever reason a good amount of you stick around to put up with it. For this, I — or rather, we — are incredibly thankful. We are grateful and we are appreciative. We really, really are. I hope each one of you who reads this understands that level of gratitude all our writers have towards the RMC community. You are without question one of the best, most loyal, and informed blogging communities in the NBA and all of sports. This is not debatable. Just look at the incredible insight you post in the comments section of each and every article. It’s f*ing incredible, and something we don’t take for granted. Not for one second.

So, without further ado, I’d like to extend my most sincere level of admiration towards you, the reader, and say these two words: Thank you. No, really, THANK YOU! I know we’re not the most flashy, nor the most timely, nor the most refined blog on the Internet, but we try. And for you to be there with us as we improve means the world to us. RMC is hoping to undergo some changes this summer so we can make this an even better place for Nuggets fans to convene. We really do want to make this the best blog it can be so that readers like you can enjoy a more comprehensive Nuggets experience instead of just listening to us talk all the time. In the meantime we’ll continue to recap the 2012-13 season and ramp up our NBA Draft coverage shortly thereafter.

Thanks again, and as always, GO NUGGETS!!!

– Kalen

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.

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.

Over the last several days the above photo has been making the rounds on Twitter, often with humorous commentary attached. While I’ll fully admit that there’s an element of comedy involved in seeing a giant photo of JaVale’s face on any motor vehicle, there’s also a large portion of this story that’s being overlooked. Because although it’s hard to glance at the above photo and be moved by JaVale’s ruminating countenance (given how goofy he is in real life), the fact is, his face is on that van for a reason, one he likely doesn’t get enough credit for.

This van is parked somewhere in Flint, Mich. Though many people may not be aware, JaVale McGee is actually from Flint. His mother was born there and raised JaVale there as well. As you can see, the van’s logo on the passenger door says, “Do The Right Thing Youth Center.” That’s the same organization JaVale McGee has spent countless hours lecturing and coaching underprivileged, poverty-stricken children about the values of school, learning and simply doing the right thing, so to speak.

“JaVale is a big asset to the city of Flint, period,” says Robbie Brown, founder of the Do The Right Thing Youth Center. “He comes back all the time and helps out with the kids at the old schools he used to go to. JaVale heard us making a lot of noise in the city of Flint and came back and gracefully helped us.”

According to Brown, JaVale has had a big hand in helping the Youth Center create its own AAU basketball team, which allows inner city youth to play in competitive tournaments across the country all while making stops at educational facilities like museums, colleges and court rooms along the way. JaVale’s also established his own customized system of standards for children of the Youth Center which aids them in achieving goals both inside and outside the classroom.

“He created the five lifelines to where the kids have to live up to certain guidelines in order to play on a team, in order to get a jersey, in order to get some shoes — all these things matter to JaVale,” says Brown. “He gets these kids when they’re in school and out of school. When they don’t turn in homework you get a lifeline taken away from you. If you’re not working hard at practice you get a lifeline taken away from you. And you get a total of five and at the end of the year he rewards everyone, especially those who have the most lifelines remaining.”

In addition to his work in Flint at the Youth Center, as well as in other areas of the city, JaVale also hosts an annual turkey giveaway in San Bernardino, Calif., where the city’s Boys and Girls Club feeds over 1,000 families and disabled veterans during Thanksgiving.

Moral of the story: JaVale will likely continue to make very questionable decisions on the floor. He’ll likely continue to get under Karl’s skin and his minutes will likely continue to stay limited until he becomes more cerebral with his approach to the game. And you can make fun of him all you want for that. And Shaquille O’Neal can feature him on Shaqtin’ a Fool from here till eternity. But next time you want to make fun of JaVale for having his photo on the side of a youth services van, just remember how many vehicles your photo is plastered on thanks to all the philanthropic strides you’ve made in your hometown.