“The Nuggets are 2009 Contenders!” Don’t fit me for my straight jacket….yet.
September 29, 2008 – Dr. J-Water
Why not? Why the hell not? Pretty much every prediction for the 2009 season that i’ve read to date has the Denver Nuggets being the odd man out of the sure to be tight playoff race in the Western Conference. This is understandable, as they did just barely squeak into the playoffs in 2008 (even though they had a 50 win season) and have now traded away their defensive specialist in the paint, Marcus Camby. Hell even my colleague Dr. Dime predicted the Nuggets will just barely make the playoffs and certainly won’t be legitimate contenders. But then I read this and started really thinking about their roster, coach, and events surrounding their team last season. The Nuggets in 2008 faced quite a bit of adversity and yet they still won 50 games. That’s got to count for something right? Hmmmm….
Here is their roster to date heading into the new season:
Starting Lineup
PG – Anthony Carter; Carter will be a starter for first month only because of Atkins knee surgery
SG – Allen Iverson; One of the best scoring guards of all-time, fearless, lives at the free throw line
SF – Carmelo Anthony; Perennial young all-star, an offensive leader for gold medal Team USA
PF – Kenyon Martin; Latter of 2008 he was completely healthy. Fierce defender, rebounder, dunker
C – Nene Hilario; Huge expectations, dealt with health issues incl. cancer. Now healthy, watch-out!
Bench
G – Chucky Atkins; Just had knee surgery, back in 6 weeks, solid floor general they need badly
G- J.R. Smith; lights out shooter, crazy athleticism on both ends, poor shot selection. maturing.
G – Linas Kleiza; Great shooter, fearless to the cup, huge upside potential and one year older.
G – Dahntay Jones; had a good 2007 season, but eventually Boston and Sacramento passed. Nuggets may get to enjoy the fruits of his hard work this season
F – Renaldo Balkman; N.R.G. should be the chant for Balkman. He’s all hustle, rebounds, and garbage points. But successful teams need players like Renaldo.
F/C – Chris Andersen; The birdman can still fly, but is he still flying a little too ‘high’? If not he’ll be a great addition.
F/C – Steven Hunter; What can I say about Hunter that ‘pogo stick’ doesn’t say? Guy is long with ups, and has great timing on his blocks. Good backup with energy.
The Nuggets certainly suffered a loss with Marcus Camby being dealt to the Clippers but that being said it may not be as big a loss as most consider with a healthy Nene. In fact on paper when I look at this roster I think the talent is enough to be a 60 win team this season. If everyone stays healthy and George Karl can motivate this squad to play defense I think this team will be legit. The Nuggets may be half way there after their leader Carmelo Anthony is coming off a Gold Medal Olympic run with Team USA where his main contribution was to rebound, play defense, and pound the ball inside against the opposing bigs. If ‘Melo can bring that type of style to his game this season for the Nuggets his teammates may just follow his lead and up the defensive intensity and scrappy style of play. Couple that with the fact that the window of opportunity is closing on Allen Iverson, Kenyon Martin, and Nene and you might just have enough motivated talent to make a serious run.
Okay, so all you Nuggets haters and doubters you can start fitting me for my straight jacket now. Just don’t be too anxious to put it on me…..not until Spring 2009 if at all!
I think Denver could surprise some people. Anthony, JR Smith, and Kleiza will be improved. And Nene is a lot better than people realize.
Nene and K-Mart are the x-factors, if they can remain healthy, I think the Nuggets have the talent to win 45-50 games.
Great post, so true. Nobody is giving us any credit this year because Camby is gone. Camby was a tough loss but we picked up a few nice additions and our existing roster is improved. We are healthy and the league is finally going to see just how good and dangerous the Nuggets can be on both ends.
I think they Nuggets will win 60 for sure this year.
They are weak weak weak at PG. Don’t see them getting to the finals with Carter or Atkins running the point.
as much as i am a nuggets fan…i don’t see any of this happening, there ARE upside but there’s also the downside, which i think overwhelms it. if Nene and Kmart can stay healthy and can SOMEHOW replace Camby’s work, maybe they can make it into the playoffs…it’s a high doubt especially with the West competition
Sorry Cuzz, Gotta disagree with you J-Water. The Nugz will once again struggle to make the playoffs. If they do at all! Especially since it’s looking like an early season trade of Allen Iverson may be a possibility.
Carmelo’s prediction is absolutely correct the nuggets will win 60 games 0r at least 55! why? because even with camby gone the team is improved they went out and got hard nose players willing to do the dirty work like balkman, andersen and jones plus the vet centre Jwan Howard has join the squad plus with a healthy kenyon and Nene the nuggs will be the surprise of the NBA. If you still cant picture all this consider the fact that Denver finally has a bench and also that the key players have been in the nugget’s system together for a while now. They are championship contenders and the key to winning the championship is if Carmelo is a mvp contender at the end of the season, with that type of effort from him AI and the rest of the nuggs will be nba’s 2009 champion