OT: What is Denver's excuse?

[THE HCP]

All this shit about us "underachieving" or so n so didn't step up. Shit, I would love to hear what Nugget fans have to say about their shitty end to the season. I dam sure don't want to hear about injuries!

 

[Nikolokolus]

Dantley will probably get blamed for this one.

 

[Mamba]

I feel bad for Karl. He had that team rolling...

and then....

they just fell apart piece by piece.

 

[OddEnormous]

All this shit about us "underachieving" or so n so didn't step up. Shit, I would love to hear what Nugget fans have to say about their shitty end to the season. I dam sure don't want to hear about injuries!

Um, who gives a fuck?

 

[oldmangrouch]

As I said several days ago, I don't consider Utah winning to be a big upset. There's a good chance Sloan would have out-coached Karl, and he certainly had the edge with Karl gone.

 

[Nate Dogg]

I don't care about Denver's blame game. the Portland Trailblazers need a team overhaul including Rudy. He's been my biggest disappointment this season.

 

[THE HCP]

Trying to put all this, "end of the world- we are failures-I can't believe we didn't win the championship" shit into perspective.

 

[julius]

I don't care about Denver's blame game. the Portland Trailblazers need a team overhaul including Rudy. He's been my biggest disappointment this season.

A team overhaul?

Good grief man, they had massive injuries and still won 50 games. They basically didn't have their best player and still took the first round to 6 games.

Overhaul my ass.

 

[handiman]

A team overhaul?

Good grief man, they had massive injuries and still won 50 games. They basically didn't have their best player and still took the first round to 6 games.

Overhaul my ass.

4 of the 6 being runaway losses... (Game 6 was close for a few minutes due to a flurry of 4's by Rudy and Martell, but it was a borderline blowout most of the way.) A +10 point differential is hardly a close series.

Last year's playoffs raised a concern and this year's solidified it: this team is too easy to prepare for in a 7-game series, regardless of personnel. That's both offense and defense, but especially offense. As long as you can physically match up with this group, they're too predictable to pose many challenges to an aggressive defensive rotation.

So yes, I would agree, an overhaul should be closely looked at, if not absolutely needed.

 

[SheedSoNasty]

When you think about it, OKC, Dallas and Denver didn't do any better than Portland.

 

[LittleAlex]

When you think about it, OKC, Dallas and Denver didn't do any better than Portland.

They did much, much worse.

Dallas had every single player on their team playing at a high level and got curb stomped by the Spurs. That is a huge choke job.
OKC did better then Dallas but at the end of the day couldn't get a win in LA against a team that appeared to be sleepwalking through the series until game 5. Keving "Micheal Fucking Jordan" Durant goes 5 for 23 in an elimination game. That's pathetic. Way to choke scoring leader.
Denver has the most reasons to have lost but they still had their two best players (Billups and Mello) healthy for the whole series. Neither dude showed up. Karl would have made a huge difference though. Loosing Nene was a real blow.


The Western Conference first round losers, in order of fan depression after the loss, should be Dallas, OKC, Denver then Portland.

 

[julius]

Panicky teams over-haul in situations like this.

Think about this folks (or those who think we need to over-haul).

Brandon Roy, arguably the 2nd best player in the series, was a non factor for all but 1 game due to an injury.

Batum was hurt and wasn't nearly as good as he normally is. Joel is out, Greg is out.

But most importantly, as I already said, Brandon Roy was out basically for the whole series. You take the best player off of any team (and limit their best wing defender to a shell of himself) and you'll see they look significantly worse than they really are.

let's say the Suns were without Amare, or Nash. Should they "overhaul" their team?
You don't overhaul teams in their 2nd year of being in the playoff hunt, especially after they had as many injuries as they did this year. You might tweak somethings (probably Rudy and or Webster will be traded), maybe you change the style of offense, but you don't overhaul.

Should Denver overhaul? they went from WCF's, to 1st round and out WITH HCA. Overhaul the Nuggets!!

 

[STOMP]

Kenyon Martin & Chris Anderson hauling around their legs like crutches. Nene lost mid-series... their excuse seems pretty obvious. Of course Utah has some injuries as well. Boozer has been great all year and he gashed them inside averaging 22.5 points on 60% shooting and 13+ boards.

STOMP

 

[craigehlo]

Defense. Plain and simple.

Denver didn't have any defensive answers for DWill and Boozer, both of whom had a MONSTER series. Plus all the Utah role payers stepped up and gave some great contributions.

Utah would be insane to let Boozer go after what he did in round 1.

 

[handiman]

Durant goes 5 for 23 in an elimination game. That's pathetic. Way to choke scoring leader.

The main reason I wanted Oden over Durant is I've had reservations about Durant's big game mentality ever since Texas' flameout in the tourney.

 

[craigehlo]

The main reason I wanted Oden over Durant is I've had reservations about Durant's big game mentality ever since Texas' flameout in the tourney.

Even with that, they had a chance to win at the final shot. Durant is a gunner, but he's a master of getting to the FT line already. He averaged over 10 attempts per game in the playoffs.

From Real GM:

Kevin Durant undoubtedly struggled in his shooting from the floor during Oklahoma City's first round series against the Lakers, going 7-24, 12-26, 8-24, 6-12, 5-14 and 5-23 in the six games. Those shooting numbers gave Durant a 35.0% field goal percentage (38.6 eFG%) for the series.

But Durant's ability to draw fouls and get to the line was invaluable. He 9-11, 5-6, 12-13, 9-11, 5-6 and 14-15 in the six games.

 

[e_blazer]

Even with that, they had a chance to win at the final shot. Durant is a gunner, but he's a master of getting to the FT line already. He averaged over 10 attempts per game in the playoffs.

I'd love to see Roy spend some time this summer watching video of how Durant does that. When he drives to the hoop, Brandon often doesn't seem to draw enough contact from his man to get rewarded with the foul call. I think the refs are tired of his act where he throws up his hands, let's out a grunt and expects to get the call.

 

[huevonkiller]

They did much, much worse.

Dallas had every single player on their team playing at a high level and got curb stomped by the Spurs. That is a huge choke job.
OKC did better then Dallas but at the end of the day couldn't get a win in LA against a team that appeared to be sleepwalking through the series until game 5. Keving "Micheal Fucking Jordan" Durant goes 5 for 23 in an elimination game. That's pathetic. Way to choke scoring leader.
Denver has the most reasons to have lost but they still had their two best players (Billups and Mello) healthy for the whole series. Neither dude showed up. Karl would have made a huge difference though. Loosing Nene was a real blow.


The Western Conference first round losers, in order of fan depression after the loss, should be Dallas, OKC, Denver then Portland.

Dallas had their stars playing decently (Dirk, Caron in the last two games). I don't see them as a great team or anything. They're not too young or deep either.

Durant got to the line, but yeah his numbers still sucked.

 

[OddEnormous]

Trying to put all this, "end of the world- we are failures-I can't believe we didn't win the championship" shit into perspective.

I don't understand. Am I supposed to feel better that some random team lost their playoff series?

 

[BGrantFan]

I'd love to see Roy spend some time this summer watching video of how Durant does that. When he drives to the hoop, Brandon often doesn't seem to draw enough contact from his man to get rewarded with the foul call. I think the refs are tired of his act where he throws up his hands, let's out a grunt and expects to get the call.

Brandon needs a few more shoe commercials and "future of the NBA" accolades to get those calls. Durant gets breathed on and it's a foul. It's embarrassing that OKC didn't get higher than an 8th seed this year considering their lack of injuries and their advantage in getting Durant to the line more than anyone else in the NBA, by far.

 

[BGrantFan]

I don't understand. Am I supposed to feel better that some random team lost their playoff series?

Not sure. I'm not irate about losing to PHX. You seem to be defensive about HCP feeling the same way. Why is this?

 

[jlprk]

I am so shocked. The most experienced NBA head coach, Jerry Sloan, outcoached the most junior head coach. Adrian Dantley isn't just a rookie head coach, because a rookie would have gotten the whole season to learn his craft. Dantley became a substitute rookie head coach a month before being thrown into the fires of the playoffs. So he's even lower than the most junior rookie head coach in the league.

Remember this when a McMillan defender posts, "The players, not the coach, win games. It doesn't really matter who the coach is."

 

[THE HCP]

I think it had more to do with role players for the Nuggets not stepping their game up then Dantley's lack of coaching experience.

 

[OddEnormous]

Not sure. I'm not irate about losing to PHX. You seem to be defensive about HCP feeling the same way. Why is this?

Fail

 

[LittleAlex]

Even with that, they had a chance to win at the final shot. Durant is a gunner, but he's a master of getting to the FT line already. He averaged over 10 attempts per game in the playoffs.

From Real GM:

These all gifts from the officials. Nothing more and nothing less. Dude goes to the line way more then a jump shooter should.

I am not going to give KD credit for gettting calls no one else outside of Kobe and LeBron get.

 

[Nikolokolus]

These all gifts from the officials. Nothing more and nothing less. Dude goes to the line way more then a jump shooter should.

I am not going to give KD credit for gettting calls no one else outside of Kobe and LeBron get.

He drives quite a bit, even though he does take a lot of jump shots (he shoots just as many jumpers as Brandon fyi) ... watch him some time, he probably deserves about 80% of the calls he gets, which is just about right for the league's scoring champ.

 

[maxiep]

Denver's issues were not just of losing Karl, but the architecture of the team. It was a typical Whitsitt model: Acquire the most talent you can without regard to character, chemistry or fit and have one vet to keep the lid on the explosive combination. JR Smith flat-out quit on this team. Melo got frustrated. Nene just didn't show up. The players tuned out AD. Everyone pointed fingers at each other.

Jerry Sloan got under the skin of the Thuggets and never let them breathe. He knew they'd get frustrated and do stupid things. The talent on this team doesn't matter when the opponent knows how to light the fuse.

Character matters.

 

[julius]

Denver's issues were not just of losing Karl, but the architecture of the team. It was a typical Whitsitt model: Acquire the most talent you can without regard to character, chemistry or fit and have one vet to keep the lid on the explosive combination. JR Smith flat-out quit on this team. Melo got frustrated. Nene just didn't show up. The players tuned out AD. Everyone pointed fingers at each other.

Jerry Sloan got under the skin of the Thuggets and never let them breathe. He knew they'd get frustrated and do stupid things. The talent on this team doesn't matter when the opponent knows how to light the fuse.

Character matters.

One could argue, based on what you said, that the 09 Nuggets were like the 2000 Blazers. They kind of didn't pay attention to how to build a team, but just threw together a bunch of players. Their Pippen is Billups, their Rasheed is Martin, and their Damon is JR Smith (conversely, their JR Rider was Iverson...though our Rider wasn't traded for Pippen, whereas Iverson was traded for their Pippen).

Who is their Steve Smith? Not sure.

Anyway, their team went to the conference finals like the 2000 Blazers. Had loads of promise for the next season, but kind of had a similar finish to their season this year, that we did in 2000-2001. A lot of promise, only to fizzle out at the end, a complete and utter mess of a team. I don't think it's a coincidence that they have their own trader Bob (and former trader Bob clone) in Warkentein.

Denver should try to build around Billups and Anthony, and jettison some of the idiots on their team.

 

[Draco]

I don't care about Denver's blame game. the Portland Trailblazers need a team overhaul including Rudy. He's been my biggest disappointment this season.

What are we really going to get for Rudy this summer? Probably not much more than an early second round pick.

Last year he was a deadly accurate 3ball shooter. He had a horrible season, but I don't want to give him away for nothing. With Andre and Bayless poor outside shooting Rudy will have a place next year as a guard who can space the floor. I'd rather see if he can bounce back a bit than dump him for nothing.

 

[oldmangrouch]

Denver's issues were not just of losing Karl, but the architecture of the team. It was a typical Whitsitt model: Acquire the most talent you can without regard to character, chemistry or fit and have one vet to keep the lid on the explosive combination. JR Smith flat-out quit on this team. Melo got frustrated. Nene just didn't show up. The players tuned out AD. Everyone pointed fingers at each other.

Jerry Sloan got under the skin of the Thuggets and never let them breathe. He knew they'd get frustrated and do stupid things. The talent on this team doesn't matter when the opponent knows how to light the fuse.

Character matters.

I don't entirely agree with that.

Nene is a nice complimentary piece. IMHO, his shortcomings have nothing to do with character. KMart is a jerk, but his health is more of a detriment than his occasional dirty play. Smith is just immature, and the jury is still out on whether he can be a contributor on a really good team. Anderson is annoying to the other team, but I don't see any indication he is a problem in his own locker-room.