Thread: The Official Denver Nuggets Thread!

carol, really?

you should leave the sarcasm to us-- you aren't very good at it. . .

Originally Posted by dogfish

what's the over/under on how many games gallo plays before he's hurt again?

How many games is the preseason?

Friday night was the best loss in Brian Shaw’s short career with the Nuggets. It was simultaneously the best night Danilo Gallinari had in a year-and-a-half. Those two scenarios are intertwined.

The Nuggets had been, and will continue to be, cautious with Gallinari. But in returning from a marathon torn-ACL saga, he answered a lot of questions and alleviated a lot of concerns about what kind of player he’d return to be – in just 14 power-packed minutes.

The line: 17 points and four rebounds in 14 minutes. Gallinari shot 5-of-9 from the field, 2-of-4 from the 3-point line and 5-of-7 from the free throw line. It was as if he never missed a beat. But perhaps just as important were his rebounds, because they lent credence to the constant assertions that his surgically-repaired knee was at least as good, if not better than before he injured it.

rest - http://blogs.denverpost.com/nuggets/...s-hopes/11746/

At this time last year, the Nuggets appeared to be a solid playoff team, but injuries derailed everything. The win total sank from 57 to 36, and the Nuggets never contended for a playoff slot. According to the injury data compiled by Kevin Pelton, the Nuggets lost 10.1 wins because of player unavailability, more than all but two teams.

The wounded are returning, and once J.J. Hickson and JaVale McGee get on the floor -- Shaw says they are "very, very close" -- the Nuggets' roster will be as deep as the one that won all those games. Former Nugget Arron Afflalo is back thanks to an offseason trade, and Shaw calls rookie Gary Harris "probably our best perimeter defender already." The Nuggets should field a 15-man roster chock full of legitimate NBA players.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story...status-2014-15

The Nuggets have added some D but unless Faried gets traded which I don't see happening, teams are going to continue to kill us in the paint. I hope that Harris gets some playing time this year. It's going to be hard with the crazy depth we have at the 2 guard. I still think he's a diamond in the rough.

Excitement has replaced skepticism in the Mile High City.

"If we are a healthy team, we are a very good team, that's why everybody is so excited in Denver," said forward Danilo Gallinari, who is equally excited about his impending return from an ACL injury in April 2013 that sidelined him all of last season. "All of my teammates are very excited because we all believe we can do some damage in the Western Conference. We all really believe in this team. We have many players that played with each other for many years, so we all know each other pretty well."

Health is obviously the key. Gallinari, JaVale McGee, Nate Robinson and J.J. Hickson are all returning from season-ending injuries, and stud point guard Ty Lawson missed 20 games. The Nuggets never had a full team and patched together 36 wins last season in Brian Shaw's rookie season as a head coach, not a terrible total considering Denver's horrible luck.

This will again be a team built to run with Lawson at the point, increasingly confident power forward Kenneth Faried, and bigs McGee and Hickson both inclined to get up and down the floor. Complementing that group nicely will be shooting guard Arron Afflalo in his return to the Nuggets after spending the last two seasons with Orlando.

rest - this is a national article, not a local article - video on link
http://www.nba.com/preview/2014/DEN/index.html

Watching the first half of tonight's game...

The Nuggets are legitimately three-deep at every position on the floor, which is unbelievably unique in the NBA. But I worry about some things when Lawson and Faried aren't on the floor, because I think it's clear they are the two best players on the floor for the Nuggets (I don't think that's really debatable, no matter how much I want to man-crush on Gallinari when he's playing good).

PG - Lawson, Robinson, Foye
SG - Afflalo, Foye, Harris
SF - Gallinari, Chandler, Gee
PF - Faried, Arthur, Hickson
C - Mozgov, McGee, Nurkic

That's not necessarily a direct depth chart, just to show how Shaw could mix and match, and you can move Gee and Gallinari to SG if you want to go big, or Foye to SG if you want to go small, and Faried, Arthur and Hickson can all play center if you go small.

So, the versatility of the roster is excellent.

But Robinson struggles getting the team into any sort of legitimate offense when the 2s are spelling the starters, and without Faried, this team is going to struggle to rebound. I like the half court offense I see from Shaw. I've seen a lot of 1-4 high, and variations, thus far tonight, and I like that offense, but Robinson looked clueless trying to get into any sort of set late in the first. Lawson works that offense perfectly, because I think it lends itself to the pick and roll.

Mozgov is playing excellent thus far, and I've seen Faried final tally which is awesome. If he is 22-17, that far surpasses my expectations, but I suspect he'll end up being a 18-10, which is still fantastic.

So, quite suddenly, I think this becomes a must win. Gotta get your wins against the top teams when you can, especially when their best two players are on the bench in street clothes.

@denvernuggets: Tonight's starters:

Lawson
Afflalo
Gallinari
Faried
Mozgov

#Nuggets

Should be starting 5 most of the year.

Nuggets lost to OKC. That's not good. OKC has a patch work line up. Not good...

So much for OKC sucking it up!

Originally Posted by aberdien

So much for OKC sucking it up!

No one said that here.

Congrats, you beat a lottery team.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

Should be starting 5 most of the year.

sorry, but. . . or until gallo breaks again, whichever comes first. . .

seriously though, shouldn't they limit his minutes, and start the more-defensive-minded and slightly-less-fragile wilson chandler? and use gallo as their top scorer on the second unit?

i'll hang up and wait for your response. . .

Originally Posted by dogfish

sorry, but. . . or until gallo breaks again, whichever comes first. . .

seriously though, shouldn't they limit his minutes, and start the more-defensive-minded and slightly-less-fragile wilson chandler? and use gallo as their top scorer on the second unit?

i'll hang up and wait for your response. . .

I think Gallo's game fits better with Lawson, Afflalo and Faried than it does with Robinson, Foye and Arthur/Hickson.

Mostly because Foye and Robinson control the ball even more than Lawson and Afflalo, which gives Gallinari some chances to work in space off the wing/elbow. The spacing is also better with the ones, and Gallinari works best in that space on the right wing. Robinson and Foye are both pretty unstructured and find themselves dribbling in and out of trouble. Best to spread Chandler all the way into the corner waiting for a 3 and let both of them work than have Gallinari demanding the ball at the elbow.

They could, and should still limit his minutes...I think it should just be as a "starter."

Important game tonight for the Nuggets. They did not play well at OKC and Sacramento is playing well. Kings beat the Clips last night. Cousins had 34-17 and Darren Collison is playing well.

Oof.