Amigos' NBA Previews: Denver Nuggets

Recent Past They were pretty awful for a nice stretch there a few years back, but more recently they've been pretty consistently decent to pretty good, racking up the one-and-done playoff appearances. Last year was the exception, as the Nuggets were able to make it to the Conference Final, testing the favored Lakers before ultimately bowing out in six games.

Offseason Not that much happened, but the most significant event was Linas Kleiza leaving for Olympiacos. Kleiza was a nice bench player who could at times be quite dangerous, but really he's not a huge loss. Oh, Dahntay Jones left, too. They got Ty Lawson through the draft/dealing, who everyone that follows college basketball seems to like. Malik Allen and Arron Afflalo joined, too. So, you know. Meh.

Probably lineup Chauncey Billups, J.R. Smith, Melo, Kenyon Martin, and Nene Hilario as the starting five. Anthony Carter, Afflalo, Balkman, and Birdman as key subs. I guess.

General Outlook ...the Nuggets are fucking thin, aren't they? I mean, Christ. You look at that, and they have a pretty damn solid, very dangerous starting five. A five that can really play with just about anybody. But off the bench...Birdman's nice at times, and a couple of those other guys can sort of contribute, but there really just ain't much there. That's something that could definitely hurt, even overlooking potential injury problems. I mean, obviously I'm not an expert or anything, but shouldn't a team playing at such altitude really be more inclined (heh) to make sure they have a good bench? Not that it's that simple, of course, but it seems like this could be something they really use to their advantage late in games. But with that bench...it seems that any potential advantage will be negated. But we'll see.

Anyway, analyzing the players individually, they've got a deadly point guard that was anointed the second coming of...John Elway, in basketball form, upon joining the Nuggets. Now, in reality, Billups suffered a pretty big dropoff between 07-08 and 08-09, but he was still able to bring a sort of calm, veteran, legit pointguardness to a Nuggets team that had a tendency to let things sort of get out of control. And then, of course, he fucking lit things up in the playoffs. So, if he can do it again, maybe he is the second coming. Of whoever.

As for...the rest, it's pretty nice. Melo's postseason was superb last Spring, and if he can play like that with anything resembling some kind of consistency the Nuggets will be (even more of) a pain for every damn team in the league. I mean, how do you guard this guy? Anyway, they also have the enigma that is J.R. Smith, who can kill either team when he is on the court. And then you put K-Mart's douchyness (but still solid power forward play) next to the pretty excellent Nene, and you have a high energy starting five that can really present a variety of problems. You throw Birdman in as the legitimate sixth man, then sort of hope the rest of the team doesn't fuck things up too much. I guess.

If they were a hiphop act Black Sheep. As Dres and co. were to the Native Tongues, the Nugs are to the Association. Overlooked, perhaps not as significant, but still pretty damn good, and quite capable of impressing.

Guessing how they'll do I sort of expect them to fall back just a bit this season, but you never know. I'll say they end up around the five spot, and tip them as a team likely to win in the first round. Without even considering their likely opponent. Acus I'm awesome like that.