Quick, name the young Nuggets point guard... what is his name? You know.. the one who played for the North Carolina Tarheels? He's the one who won a national championship with them.. remember? He also is an amazing passer who gets his team involved, can knock down the open 3, can drive down the lane and lay it in with blazing speed, he has a nice floater as well. Also I bet you wouldn't know it, but he is an underrated defender, and is great at stealing the ball. Still confused? Well would it shock you if I told you that it wasn't just one player? Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton, have become the newest point guard duo sensation since... well, Chauncey Billups and Ty Lawson, but in this following article I will try to explain in my own opinion on why this duo is even better, and why Lawson is fortunate to have another mentor who will teach him how to be a true point guard and be the pass first-shoot second type point guard that he should be. So join me, as we enter a world where speed barriers break and defenders become cross-eyed and the nicknames are more plentiful than missed Al Harrington buckets.
I personally like Ty-Ran-Around-Us, word play at it's finest
Actually, Ray does not have a nickname.. and George Karl wants you to give him one.
So join me and take the jump, as I examine why with our two headed point guard duo, we can beat any team in a playoff series. Don't jump too fast or you might fall into another dimension.
Welcome to those who dared to take the jump with me, where only Cheetahs, Ferrari's and light can exist, so try to catch up as I examine the millions of reasons why our point guard duo is easily the best in the NBA. Quick, I want you to think of the best point guard duo in the NBA.. Chris Paul and.. uhm... Well how about Derrick Rose and...? Hm actually let us take a look at some of the better point guards and who comes off the bench for them..
Chris Paul + Jarrett Jack = Chris Paul is a very good point guard, but Jack is mediocre at his best.
Derrick Rose+ C.J Watson = Rose is arguably the best point guard in the league, C.J Watson is arguably the worst.
Rajon Rondo + Delonte West = Rondo is the best passer in the league, but West is not a true point guard, mediocre at best.
Deron Williams + Jordan Farmar = This one is more debatable, Farmar is a formidable backup point guard and the Nets lead the NBA in assists as of the last 7 games, with the Nuggets right behind them, ironically the Nets have a 5 game winning streak, so this passing thing is pretty cool huh?
Which leads me to TyRay Felson, who is averaging 30.8 PPG and 16.4 APG since his first game, which was the home game against Boston. A reason for this incredible stat is that we have both of these players dishing and scoring all over the court, and often at the same time as well. George Karl's reasoning for this is because it they are nearly impossible to guard for 48 full minutes. A two point guard lineup despite seeing as we have one of the best shooting guard duo's in the league in J.R Smith and Arron Afflalo makes the two point guards on the court even more puzzling, but it is working. Basically what George Karl does is make Lawson and Felton go into a full stop gear the entire game, never losing steam, and tiring the other team out, even if they are not in the thin air of Denver, Colorado. In the past few games, this team has played even faster than the Nash/Amar'e lead Suns team's of the past because Steve Nash had to rest eventually, but this team can keep the pace going the entire game.
The fact that our defense is now in the realms of above average, makes this team nearly unstoppable going on all cylinders. So far since the arrival of the ex New York players we have seen this team go on 5-7 minute stretch's without giving up a single point, as well as going on scoring runs that made what look like a competitive game into a blowout in a matter of minutes. A huge reason for this is TyRay Felson, who leads the team in steals, and has Denver ranked 4th in the league in this particular category in the past 10 games. What this does is cause chaos on both sides of the floor for the poor opposing team,and it lets J.R, Afflalo, Chandler, and Gallo to be be wide open for 3 point shots, and seeing as all of those players are shooting at least 37% from down town, it makes it even more impossible to defend against.
*The Huh*
Ty Lawson needs to teach this dog not to beg for food.
Charlie Sheen approves.
Despite Billups being well known to be a great leader, and a coach among players, I think that Billup's most likely had to give up his keys to Ty Lawson by next year anyway, so that would have been a dilemma, because Billup's still has 2-3 years in him and Lawson was going to take the key's to the starting job eventually. I also believe that Billups is not the best mentor for Lawson at this point in his career because Lawson is naturally a pass first point guard, and Felton not only brings a more polished version of Lawson's game, but he brings the leadership abilities that Billups has. Along with this, Felton and Lawson on the court together in short spurts actually benefits the team, unlike the Billups/Lawson tandem that Karl usually deployed. I think Felton is the perfect role model for Lawson, but unlike most mentor/student tandems, the mentor is still in his prime. So not only are these two players right for each other, but they are also right for their teammates as well, Felton has made Chris Anderson look great, with Chris Anderson shooting above 80% FG since his arrival, Felton has helped Anderson out very well. Lawson is getting everyone on the team involved along with Felton. It is hard to find any particular flaws in their games together except a noticeable one in Portland where Andre Miller kept posting up the smaller guards over and over. However this won't be a problem against the other top tier teams in the league since Tony Parker(another speedster himself), Derek Fisher and Jason Kidd whom hardly have any post up games should pose a problem for our very talented , yet small duo.
After Felton's slow start with us and my foolish assumption that we should trade Felton with Harrington, I now think that we should keep Felton and send Harrington along with a first round pick to a team willing to take on him for a draft pick (Pistons and Mavs come to mind) and keep this duo in tact, this team has few chinks in the armor at this point and is getting better each and every game, but enough with off season politics, let us enjoy Tyray while we can.
*The Intangibles*
For these former tarheels, the Nuggets baby blue should remind them of their roots, and give them the power to defeat any of these so called "power houses".
Thank you for reading.
