Denver Post sports writer Chris Dempsey posted his Nuggets Mailbag each Thursday during 2006-07 Nuggets season on DenverPost.com. This is a special offseason installment.
To drop a question into the Nuggets Mailbag or visit DenverPost.com’s .
So Portland gets the first pick in the draft while Seattle ends up with the second. Are the Nuggets facing big trouble in the future with ?
— Finn, Arvada
Finn – There is no doubt the Northwest Division became a tougher place to win when the lottery pingpong balls came up aces for Seattle and Portland. And, barring a trade, Oden and Durant will both be in the Pacific Northwest, looking to breathe some life into those moribund franchises. And yes, it makes the division tougher to win. And the potential for Seattle to get a big-time coach heightens the difficulty. But no one said winning in the NBA is supposed to be easy.
The Nuggets still figure to have one of the Western Conference’s better teams next season, and, remember, there will still be some sort of a learning curve before Oden and Durant reach their optimum levels. The Nuggets will have to deal with them, but Portland and Seattle will have to deal with Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson as well.
I’m flabbergasted that George Karl tried to lay the fact that the Nuggets were down 3-1 vs. the Spurs in the playoffs at the feet of J.R. Smith. Why does Karl find it necessary to feud with players? Be it “The Glove,” Ray Allen, Smith, ‘Melo or K-Mart, it seems Karl isn’t happy unless he’s calling out players publicly and tearing a team apart from the inside.
— Greg, Madison, Wis.
Greg – It’s in George Karl’s nature to be gruff publicly, something that sometimes he regrets later and sometimes doesn’t. It depends on the situation with him.
In the case of J.R. Smith, afterward Karl expressed equal parts regret and defiance, saying at times it’s beneficial to get after players publicly – which I agree with. But part of the problem with how he handles those situations is that he rarely balances it out. When players receive accolades or play well, he’s not as quick to praise publicly as he is to criticize. For instance, when Carmelo Anthony was named third-team all-NBA, he was nowhere to be found for a quick, positive comment. I think a bit of that goes a long way, especially in situations where he has shaky relationships with players who see more negative than positive.
Will the Nuggets have ended up losing in the playoffs this season to the eventual NBA champs?
— Mark, Denver
Mark – Yes. In all of the disappointment of a fourth-straight, first-round exit from the playoffs at the hands of the Spurs, I think it was lost that the Nuggets probably lost to the best team in the NBA. And while losing is never good, especially for a franchise desperate to take the next step like the Nuggets, it’s tough to find too much harm in losing a series to what figures to be the NBA champions.
Chris – What about a Kenyon Martin-for-Vince Carter trade?
— Nick Brownlee, Seattle
Nick – I wouldn’t look for any trade involving Kenyon Martin alone for three reasons. First, he is still owed $60 million on his contract. Second, he is twice injured – microfracture surgery on both knees – and hasn’t proven his health and productivity on the court. Third is his perceived reputation for being a bad apple in the locker room. Positive answers to the last two concerns would make him more tradable, but the money is the biggest obstacle. And in the case of the trade you proposed, New Jersey would never trade a top-20 NBA player for an injured commodity.
Assuming Martin is healthy, how does the Nuggets’ starting lineup look for next season?
— Chuck S., Colorado Springs
Chuck – I would expect Kenyon Martin to start the season coming off the bench. The Nuggets are going to try and ease him back into the every day rigors of the NBA to keep him healthy, coming off of his second microfracture knee surgery.
So everything being equal, look for the same starters at the end of last season: Steve Blake, Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Nene, Marcus Camby. Now, obviously, if Camby is moved and Blake accepts a free-agent contract elsewhere, there are two big holes in that lineup. Martin could step in a starter’s role in that scenario, but the general principle remains the same; he is going to be limited to around 20-25 minutes for the better part of the season.
Is there a good chance that we move into the first round of the draft this year? We need a young point guard to develop, and a guy like Darren Collison would help our defense a whole lot. What do you think?
— Jeff Sarceno, Longmont
Jeff – I wouldn’t necessarily say the chances are good, but the Nuggets wouldn’t mind getting into the draft. That might be best accomplished by trading Marcus Camby for some combination of players and picks. What the organization will not do is give Camby away, even though they need to clear some cap space.
They are prepared to develop Von Wafer, a promising guard who averaged 21 points and shot 45 percent from 3-point range in the D-League last season. Anthony Carter, who the Nuggets signed at the end of the season, may be an option, but the subject of who the point guard will be next season is a fluid subject right now.
Chris Dempsey recently completed his first season on the Nuggets beat. To drop a question into his Nuggets Mailbag or visit DenverPost.com’s .
