No Blood No Foul

If you watched the playoffs back in May and June, you can see that the Denver Nuggets need depth at the center position. While there’s been talk of working a deal for Jeff Foster (and I like that possibility), I think Kurt Thomas represents an excellent opportunity to grab a championship-caliber veteran player without giving up much of anything (a.k.a Steven Hunter - no offense).

Kurt Thomas would be a great Denver Nugget

Here’s what I like about Denver trading for Kurt Thomas (aside from the fact that Thomas is a better player than Steven Hunter): Read the rest

Here’s what the Lakers-Nuggets 2008-2009 Western Conference Finals are going to look like:

Point Guards - Billups and Carter vs. Fisher, Farmar, and Brown. There’s an awful lot to like about L.A.’s trio of point guards. Brown is lightening quick, Farmar is a talented shooter and capable player, and Fisher is big, strong, and clutch. Denver’s Anthony Carter is a good game manager and a great defender, but I don’t think he’ll be able to match the point output from Brown and Farmar. Lucky for Denver, Chauncey will easily outplay Fisher. Advantage: Nuggets.

Shooting Guards - Dahntay Jones and J.R. Smith vs. Vujacic and some guy named Kobe. If the series lasts 7 games, there will be 1 game where J.R. Smith almost matches Kobe offensively - ONE. Most of the time, Kobe will double up J.R.’s scoring. When you add in Kobe’s defensive abilities and his superman powers, he wins the match-up all by himself.

Having said that, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jones managed to get under Kobe’s skin a little in this series. In fact, the best thing Jones can do is figure out a way to get Kobe suspended (sounds like a crappy job). Advantage: Lakers (and it’s big). Read the rest

Linas Kleiza should be relishing this time - it’s exciting to be competing in the playoffs, especially when your team looks like it can make it all the way to the Conference Finals. Playing with Chauncey and K-Mart in their primes, with a surging Nene, a strong Melo, and a surprisingly potent bench in Carter and Anderson, Kleiza has got to be loving life.

Unfortunately, these days will be over soon. Kleiza’s days as a Nugget are coming to a close. The reasons?

• Chris Anderson - The Bird Man is playing out of his mind, and Denver’s only option will be to resign him. If Anderson continues to put up tremendous performances in playoff games, he might just demand the full mid-level. My guess is that Denver pays Anderson $10-12 million on a fully guaranteed 3 year deal. Considering how close the Nuggets are to exceeding the luxury tax threshold without Anderson’s new contract, Anderson’s gain is Kleiza’s loss.

• Kleiza has been over-hyped by his coach. Karl loves to talk about how versatile and dangerous L.K. can be, yet most of us haven’t seen it in this season. Sure, in years past L.K.’s presence was instrumental (Melo’s 15 game suspension back in the 06-07 season, subbing for K-Mart and Nene on and off for the last 3 seasons, etc.), but this year George Karl raised expectations for L.K. so much that he was bound to dissapoint. Read the rest
  

All the talking heads and analysts have already said the Nuggets win the series, and I think that’s likely as well. Denver simply has too much to overcome the Mavs:

• Billups vs. Kidd - This will come down to Billups being able to score in transition. Kidd is slow, and if he’s out of position because he’s trying to pull down a rebound, Billups is going to get an easy look. Since Billups matches Kidd in terms of playmaking, and since Kidd’s offense is pretty poor, Kidd needs to keep Billups from scoring a lot (like he did tonight) to win the matchup. Billups is the guy in this series, but it’s going to be close. Read the rest
  

A report on Yahoo Sports today says that the Phoenix Suns are considering moving Amar’e Stoudemire. Rumors abound that Amar’e is dissatisfied with his new coach, his reduced offensive role, and the fact that people keep asking him to play defense. This shouldn’t come as a surprise - the knock on Amar’e since he joined the NBA has been his attitude.

Still, it must be said that Amar’e can flat-out ball. The guy has moves, an excellent mid-range game, and he can finish. If the Suns really are interested in moving Amar’e for a combination of youth and expiring contracts (as the report on Yahoo suggested), there are only a handful of teams that have a legit opportunity to land Amar’e. Read the rest