Denver Post beat writer Christopher Dempsey digs through his Nuggets mailbag on Tuesdays. Got a question for him? .
Do the Nuggets have any plans to bring on Chauncey Billups in the the front office or on the bench? — Eric, Golden
Eric: The Nuggets would love to bring Chauncey Billups into their front office, but it’s not going to happen this season. Billups has long said he’s not necessarily into coaching, so don’t look for that to happen. Right now he’s taking time off to be with his family, and I’ve been told to expect to see him in some sort of TV basketball analyst capacity for this coming season. Then, the Nuggets will likely revisit that situation in the coming months.
Update, Oct. 14, 3:21 p.m. MT: that Billups has been hired by ESPN to work as a studio analyst this season. He will appear on NBA Tonight, SportsCenter, NBA Coast to Coast and ESPN Radio. Billups will stay in Denver and travel to Bristol a couple times a month during the season for production.
JaVale McGee is still hurting. Ty Lawson is still hurting. Are we going to have to worry about a long list of injured Nuggets players again this season? — Lisa, Aurora
Lisa: I wouldn’t worry about that right now. These players are diligently rehabbing the injuries they suffered last season. And with the possible exception of Lawson, they are headed in the right direction. , but he’s not getting worse either. The trick is to keep him right in that space when the games start coming fast and furiously. He’s just got an ankle situation that he’s going to have to deal with and take proper care of all season long. Could the grind of the regular season cause him to miss a game here or there because of the ankle? Yes, I think that probably should be expected — especially with the high number of games in small spaces of time (back-to-backs and four-games-in-five-nights sets).
McGee is healing and doing more as the days go on, as is J.J. Hickson. The Nuggets will at some point soon have their full compliment of players available to play. Then? Just knock on wood that last season’s massive injuries misfortune doesn’t repeat itself.
What do you think of Kenneth Faried’s extension? My opinion is Josh Kroenke will be paying $23 million dollars in two bigs who can’t throw a rock in an ocean. Faried’s heart, drive and energy is infectious. But his play against Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin has been poor. — John, New York
John: In my opinion, he should have and the one that, in this space and others all summer long, I said he’d get. It cements his place among the hierarchy of Nuggets players, and it slots him in right about where he should be at this point in his career among the NBA’s elite power forwards. He’s making less than the names that you mentioned — though he did not play poorly against any of those players. These were his points and rebounds splits against those teams last season (games played in parentheses):
Minnesota: (4) 14.0/6.5 Portland: (4) 11.5/8.3 Clippers: (4) 17.3/8.3
Faried was flat-out great in the games against Blake Griffin. He rebounded it well against Aldridge and the Blazers, and was above his season average in points (13.7 per game) in the games against Love and the Timberwolves. Could he get better? Sure. But I’d argue that’s precisely what his contract says about where he is at this point; a highly productive player with a bright future whose greatest potential has yet to be reached.
With the spate of injuries the Nuggets dealt with last season and into this season, is there ever any concern about the team’s training staff and their methods? — Jordan, Denver
Jordan: None whatsoever.
Why would JaVale McGee pack on the pounds when he’s recovering from a leg injury? Adding more weight on that leg seems counterintuitive. — Stacy, Denver
Stacy: As a matter of fact I asked him if he thought the extra muscle might put too much stress on his tibia. This is what he said: “No, not really, because I literally have a titanium rod in my shin. It can’t break in half. It’s literally impossible.”
So he’s not worried about it. Part of the situation is, while he was lifting weights he couldn’t run because of the still-healing tibia. So getting in a ton of cardio to burn calories was not possible. JaVale’s never been a huge guy anyway, and he’s dropped pounds like they are going out of style during previous regular seasons from playing so much. I’d expect that to be the case this time around, too. But a stronger McGee isn’t a bad thing at a position where you need the bulk.
Who do you see winning the final roster spot in preseason? — Jeff, Aurora
Jeff: It’s too early to tell right now. We’ll know more about this time next week. But I’ll say this: Alonzo Gee and Marcus Williams have played well to this point. As has Jerrelle Benimon. So certainly Quincy Miller has his work cut out for him, but he had a nice outing against Chicago on Monday, so we’ll see where this all goes from there. The final roster is solidified by Oct. 27.
How much does Kevin Durant’s injury affect the balance in the Western Conference? — Michael, Lincoln, Neb.
Michael: It certainly doesn’t help an Oklahoma City team that has been slowly slipping down the rope the last couple of seasons. The Thunder have teams nipping at their heels anyway — Houston, Portland, the L.A. Clippers to name a few. So its top-two or -three spot in the West was already under jeopardy.
Now, OKC is a good enough team to not fall completely off the map, so this is kind of a two-part question. All it needs to do is tread water until Christmas. Then Durant should be back and all can get back to normal. It could cost them a bit in playoff positioning, but as long as the Thunder hit the postseason healthy, it really doesn’t matter where they’re seeded.
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or at twitter.com/dempseypost
