April 18, 2014 edition
End of one year, start of a New Year thoughts, ponderings, and ramblings…
Being a Denver Rocket/Nugget lifer, I’ve earned my stripes the hard way and can stand up and yell loud and strong if I do not like what is happening.
In short, back in my youth during a Cub Scouts night during a Nuggets pre-season game I ran to the bench and got Coach Larry Brown’s autograph. My partners in crime were not so lucky; security shoo’d them away before securing the valued treasure that I have long since lost along with my Johnny U football.
Also, during Year 1 of the Rule of Westhead, I attended 35 games… ‘nuff said… these stripes have been earned.
After watching… kind of… the Nuggets this season, I have zero idea what they are trying to do. On the plus side, though they are now in salary cap Hell (does Masai get credit for that too?), the Nuggets do have a lot of assets available for trade. If you put your hatred of JJ and Foye aside, both have demonstrated on more than one team, they are legit rotation players in the league. Chandler will not be an All Star, but he is a solid player who should be traded now because I still believe he never wanted to be in Denver in the first place (that’s not a bad thing, don’t be so sensitive).
I know those who choose to hate Carmelo Anthony regardless of anything else will hate to read this; but congratulations to Melo. Hidden inside of a very frustrating season, Melo delivered a career year; leading the league in minutes played as well as appearing in 93% of regular season games. Melo finished 5th in the league in efficiency rating with a Efficiency Score of 24.09 (his career high). Only Durant, LeBron, KLove and CP3 had higher scores than Melo. To put in perspective, Melo’s highest rating as a Nugget was 14th during the 2009-10 season; and the highest rated Nugget during George Karl’s final year in Denver was #24 (Ty Lawson ). So, really who’s responsible for what?
The point, why I scrape at this relatively fresh scab? Alex English will likely always be the greatest Nugget; however, the greatest players who played for the Nuggets were in order… David Thompson, Dan Issel, and Carmelo Anthony. Sorry to disappoint!!!
And, congratulations to this year’s entries into the (not NBA) Basketball Hall of Fame. Again, the Hall disappoints in not selecting Spencer Haywood. Removing Haywood’s NBA career, and misdeeds, his accomplishments in the 1968 Olympics and his one glorious season for the Denver Rockets in the ABA were of epic-Roy Hobbs mythology.
In the eyes of the NBA, Haywood’s true crime keeping him out of the Hall was not the landmark ruling granting underclassman the right to play in the NBA… the Spencer Haywood rule that the NBA refuses to call it; it may be who Haywood beat in the process. A member of the losing side representing the NBA was a young lawyer named David Stern.
I guess similar to Pop from the Longest Yard, Haywood punched the prison guard who eventually became warden.
Quick Thought... if Kiki, as rumored, somehow miraculously, secure the Pistons job... will his first action be signing Skita to a free agent contract?
