The Denver Nuggets have been one of the surprise teams in the NBA this season; and nobody saw it coming.
The Denver Nuggets have been one of the surprise teams in the NBA this season; and nobody saw it coming.
It looked like the Nuggets were willing to become "just another team" this summer and hang in the middle of the pack when they traded Marcus Camby to the Los Angeles Clippers. How else do you explain trading a former NBA Defensive Player of the Year (and the only player paying any attention to defense and rebounding on an offensive oriented squad?) It was a cost cutting move and one that disappointed head coach George Karl.
"The team understood we had to make some changes last year in both a basketball and a financial sense," said Karl in reference to the head scratching trade of Camby last summer.
"I'm not going to deny it. There were moments and days in the summer that I was worried. We lose Marcus Camby in a trade that is basically a draft trade and not a basketball trade."
But the Nuggets changed course early in the season and with one transaction, trading Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncey Billups, the team underwent a giant makeover.
At the time of this writing, Denver is 22-9 since acquiring Billups but is past what Karl thinks is the toughest part of his team's schedule. The Nuggets have the second highest win total in the Western Conference behind only the Los Angeles Lakers
Karl has a history of being able to manipulate eccentric and quirky personalities to get the quality production from them. But now he has some help, where it counts, thanks to a players voice, that of a respected leader, in the locker room. Billups is a true floor general and with an NBA Finals MVP trophy on his shelf, and he provides this Denver squad with much needed leadership and championship experience.
"The Chauncey trade was a basketball trade and one that invigorated everybody," smiled Karl when asked if he was energized by the deal bringing Billups back to Denver where the point man starred as both a high schooler and later a collegiate player at the University of Colorado.
Denver now has true point man that as Karl puts it understands all the things he is trying to accomplish as a coach. Billups presence has allowed Karl to do something he has contemplated for some time but was unsure of how to accomplish.
"The players know we have to be a balanced team as the last couple of years we were more offensively tilted," said Karl bluntly. "It was a coaching philosophy similar to Phoenix. Try to run, try to play fast and try to play a style different from other teams in the NBA."
"We were pretty successful with that but I didn't see any ability to win in the playoffs playing that way, at least with the crew I had so, it was back to the old school fundamental nature of lets go defend and also run."
Like grey slacks, blue blazer, a white shirt and a tie, it's nice to hear that the tried and true proven stuff -- playing solid defense and having defense create offense so you can run -- never goes out of style.
"There's a lot more of a security coaching things from the defensive end of the court," nodded Karl.
So while most people are focusing on the likes the Lakers, the New Orleans Hornets, and the San Antonio Spurs as the major players in the west, look out for the Nuggets. Karl had a twinkle in his eye implying that he may have a team similar to the one that made it to the finals in 1996.
Everybody hailed Detroit GM Joe Dumars for making a deal that keeps his team in contention while maintaining salary cap flexibility. Yes, Billups is locked up long term in Denver but so is the other star, Carmelo Anthony. One of the most overrated issues in sports is building for the future since at some point, the future morphs into the present.
Denver is proving that maybe its opportunity to be a viable contender for an NBA title is closer than many think.
