They made their bed, now it is time to lie in it. The NBA trade deadline has come and gone and the Denver Nuggets front office sat firmly on their hands. Their refusal to give up "valued" assets like Anthony Carter, Joey Graham, Johan Petro or madingly inconsistent J.R. Smith likely cost them. It cost them their chance at reaching up and grabbing the 1st seed away from the Lakers and it will cost them in their stated mission of reaching the NBA Finals.
This is a front office that likes to make deals, typically deals that move them right out of situations. They usually trade themselves right out of draft nights...Think of the last time they actually KEPT a player they drafted (hint, his name is Anthony, Carmelo). They like to trade players for useless items (See Camby, Marcus) and on occasion they like to do things that help but don't complete the team (Billups, Chauncey). Not doing anything today shows that they are not truly interested in a championship run. If they were, they would realize that now is the best time to do something because this team is close. Yet they stand pat. The front office let 3 big money player exceptions expire this season, meaning that they gave away Camby, Hunter and Atkins for free. It is suggested that E.Stanley Kroenke is tightening the payroll purse strings, which is ridiculous! You have a team that is a player away from winning it all Stan...Stop dumping money into European soccer and help Denver get over the Laker hump!
The team is again walking into a gunfight with a knife. Last year their big man trio of Birdman, Nene and Kenyon Martin were beaten, pounded and dominated by the Lakers group of Gasol, Bynum and Odom. It happened then, what is supposed to make us think it won't happen again? Last season the Nuggets were fully healthy, while this year Martin and Andersen are both dealing with nagging, lingering injury issues. Andersen hasn't been nearly the spark off the bench that he was last season, meaning another beatdown by L.A. is entirely possible. What makes us believe that this team is better than the one from last season that lost 4-2 to the eventual NBA Champions?
So where do they go from here? Frankly, probably nowhere. They'll be lucky to hang on to the 2nd seed in the West, and will likely fall to # 3 or 4. The window for this team to win it all is rapidly closing and they will never have a better chance than they have this year. Now they have to put all their eggs in the basket of Nene and J.R. suddenly becoming the models of consistency (not going to happen) and sit with their fingers crossed, hoping that one of their big men doesn't get hurt. But fear not, they'll be able to grab someone off the waiver wire! At least that is what they want us to think...
It is absolutely ridiculous to believe that Denver will be lucky enough to grab a released contributing player off the scrap heap before the March 1st deadline. Who is going to be available? The name Drew Gooden is being tossed around, but what happens if the Clippers keep him? Gooden was so good with Dallas...Wow was he impressive! He would make all the difference, wouldn't he? Uh, no. And don't start with Zydrunas Ilgauskas, he will run back to the Cleveland flock once he is bought out by the Wizards. So the roster is what it is and it is what it will be...Not necessarily a good thing.
When the Nuggets are again run out of the playoffs the message will be "There is always next year..." It is time for us Nuggets fans to ask how many "next years" does this team truly have left? With an aging point guard, aging and injury prone power forward and center and a front office that is completely unwilling to do anything, the opportunity to compete for a title could end rather abruptly. And if it does, the Nuggets have nobody to blame but themselves.
Well said. They had to do something, and did nothing. JR Smith's stock will never be higher, he'll never be a starter and it's a shame they didn't turn him into something that would help the Nuggs beat the Lakers.
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