With the 40th season of Nuggets basketball upon us, let’s break down the team by the numbers, with some need-to-ask questions:
3 and 4
Here’s a team full of threes and fours, as in, there are too many forwards. Where are the guards? Even tiny Earl Boykins fancies himself a shooter – the 5-foot-5 point guard threw up the third-
most shots on the team last season. And only Andre Miller averaged more than four assists.
4.9, 2.7
Carmelo Anthony can score. He’s even likely to improve on his 26.5-point average of last season. And he was terrific for Team USA at the world championships in Japan this past summer. But he averaged just 4.9 rebounds last season. And his 2.7 assists per game were far too few.
60,000,000 That was $60 million, a six with seven zeros, the Nuggets gave forward Nene in a new contract. Nene’s career averages are 10.7 points and 6.2 rebounds. For the biggest, strongest guy on the court, Nene should be averaging 20 points on dunks alone, and at least 15 rebounds.
1-on-1
Bird-Magic, Shaq-Kobe. In the pantheon of all-time NBA rivalries, the Nuggets’ best entry this season is Karl vs. K-Mart. Unfortunately, coach George Karl and forward Kenyon Martin are in the same locker room. All parties have a happy face, for now. But c’mon, this isn’t the old Denver Parochial League. Somebody’s got a grudge, and odds are it will surface at some point.
6-7, 235
Now for the positives. The Nuggets’ starting lineup averages 6-feet-7 and 235 pounds. Nene and Martin alone should push around most of the league, save for the Heat’s Shaquille O’Neal. But how this starting five is supposed to be a running team remains to be seen.
7
As in, the Nuggets play their home opener tonight against Minnesota at the Pepsi Center at 7 p.m. The game airs on Altitude.
Around town
Don’t look now, but the nation’s leading scorer in NCAA Division I hockey is in Colorado. But he doesn’t play for national powers DU or Colorado College. Air Force junior center Eric Ehn leads the nation in scoring (18 points in eight games) and goals (10). And the Falcons’ defense continues to impress, allowing just 24.1 shots per game this season, well below last season’s national average of 29.0. Check out Air Force (3-5, 1-1 Atlantic Hockey Association) this weekend as it hosts Rochester Institute of Technology (3-3-1, 3-0) in a two-game series tonight and Saturday at 7 p.m. at Cadet Ice Arena.
The Couch
On: Don’t look now, but that’s the Colorado football team, as in the 1-8 Buffaloes, favored against visiting Kansas State (5-4) on Saturday. Yes, favored. The line started at 5 1/2 points, then dropped to 3 1/2. But the Big 12 game, on FSN at 1:30 p.m., could be an excellent chance for the rebuilding Buffs to double their win total. CU has a respectable running game and a good defense. The odds, in this case, are right on.
Off: There are countless recreational options in any given week, but this weekend’s running schedule offers some exceptionally picturesque races when compared to ho-hum road runs. Saturday, there’s the Harbert Lumber Fall Festival 5K at the Grand Junction Botanical Gardens (970-257-9267) and the Hearth Center of the Rockies Half Marathon, 10K and 5K at Boyd Lake State Park in Loveland (runnersroostftcollins.com). Sunday, try the Family Hike and Trail Race 6K in Cheyenne Canyon in Colorado Springs as it follows the Columbine Trail up to Helen Hunt Falls (tfocc.org).
Weak in review
This week netted another casualty of the BALCO steroids fallout in Trevor Graham, a track coach indicted for obstructing a federal investigation into the Bay Area doping lab. Add him to the list of trainers, reporters and athletes already hunted. And yet, baseball’s Barry Bonds keeps skating by, ready to sign a lucrative free-agent contract for next season.
What we’d like to see
Perhaps more football fans will show up to see Colorado State take on Brigham Young at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins. A paltry 22,011 were in attendance last weekend when the Rams hosted New Mexico. BYU is top 25-worthy, the Mountain West Conference’s best team, and well worth watching.
