Entering the season the Nuggets had what appeared to be a strong core of Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby and Nene.  However, there were some big questions about what they had on the rest of their roster. 

Eduardo Najera was the only known quantity coming off the bench to start the season.  Kenyon Martin was recovering from his second microfracture procedure and how much or how long he could play was unknown.  Many people expected to make a mere cameo appearance before having something else go wrong.  J.R. Smith had been publicly benched in the 2007 playoffs and experienced a tragic offseason.  Most Nugget fans would have probably preferred a public execution of J.R. as opposed to seeing him on the court. 

Newly acquired Steven Hunter and Bobby Jones were question marks.  How they would fit into the Nuggets system was a mystery.  Yakhouba Diawara was a good defensive player, but offensively had not been able to translate his interior game from college to a perimeter game at the NBA level.  The point guard situation was in flux with both Chucky Atkins and Anthony Carter injured.  The only other somewhat reliable player off the bench other than Najera was Linas Kleiza, but he had not done much other than have a handful of nice games.

Fast forward to April of 2008 and Kenyon Martin started 71 games and was still ticking.  J.R. Smith was considered one of the top sixth men in the NBA over the second half of the season.  Linas Kleiza had taken another step forward and was providing a higher level of productivity than the previous season.  Eduardo Najera was not just a scrappy player, but had added a pretty consistent three point shot to his arsenal.  Nene was available for a few games and provided a good boost when he was on the floor.

On the other hand, not everyone on the bench proved to be a success story.  Kuba Diawara played frequently early in the season, but his complete lack of offense, even for a team with several scorers, was too difficult to swallow.  Steven Hunter shattered his previous career lows in both games played and minutes.  He was only given the chance to play major minutes once all season even though he played well in that game.  Chucky Atkins was hurt for much of the season and then ineffective upon his return.  Bobby Jones was cut loose only to be brought back after having four other teams kick his tires.  The already forgotten Von Wafer was abysmal as he failed to make a single three pointer for the Nuggets this season.

With all of that as prologue the question at hand is what do the Nuggets do with the players who basically added nothing to the team this season?  Someone has to fill out the bottom of your roster.  Should the Nuggets hang on to these guys or should they look to replace them for someone else.

Before we analyze the Nuggets bench to determine who should stay and who should go, I better share my thoughts on my philosophy on how to best fill the last five or so spots available on the roster so you can tell where I am coming from. 

I believe the bottom slots should go to young players with potential to develop into something.  Whether they are second round picks or undrafted free agents, there are always talented players sitting around the scrap heap.  Examples of these types of players currently on the Nuggets roster are Bobby Jones and Taurean Green.  For Denver to allocate any more than three roster spots for players like that who may not play much during the season when they have injury risks such as Kenyon Martin and Nene might be dangerous, but you would never catch me carrying a Eric Piatkowski or Kevin Ollie on my team.

That being said, let’s take a look, player by player, at the bottom of the Nuggets roster and try to figure out who should be back, and who should move on.

Chucky Atkins (24 G, 14.6 MPG, 4.7 PPG, 2 APG, 31.6 3P%)

I was very outspoken about the Nuggets addition of Chucky Atkins.  You can sum my thoughts up as basically what a waste of money as well as a roster spot.  Yes, Chucky had a nice year last season in Memphis, but it came out of nowhere at the age of 32.  Memphis was not sad to see him leave and neither were the Lakers or Wizards before that.  I have heard mention of a player option for a third season on Chucky’s contract, but as far as I can tell he signed a two year deal.  To me, that makes Chucky a $3.4 million expiring contract. 

There is no reason to waive or buy Chucky out at this point.  He will be back and George Karl will probably try to find a spot in the rotation for him as long as he can stay healthy next season. 

The only area of Chucky’s game that impressed me at all was his ability to run the pick and roll.  As long as he can set up his teammates with easy shots, he should be on the floor for a few minutes here and there.  If he can somehow regain his stroke, which I see no reason why he cannot be counted on to hit 35-37% of his threes he would be a solid back up point guard. 

Then of course, it will be interesting what that $3.4 million can help accomplish next February at the trade deadline.

Verdict:  Keep him and either trade him or enjoy the savings of his expiring contract

Yakhouba Diawara (54 G, 10.1 MPG, 2.8 PPG, 1.1 RPG, 31.8 3P%)

When Kuba was a rookie George Karl proclaimed that he had the potential to be a Bruce Bowen type lockdown defender.  Well, Kuba is a good defender, but as impotent as Bowen is offensively, Kuba is far worse. 

His offense is limited to shooting open threes and perhaps scoring on a post up once every other month.  He cannot drive, he cannot set his teammates up and he does not rebound. 

There was some hope for Kuba early in the season as he finished November shooting 45.2% from three point range.  Then he only made seven of 35 threes over the remainder of the season.  Yep, 20%. 

Needless to say that is not encouraging.

Kuba is currently not under contract and I would have no problem with Denver bringing him to training camp next season to see if he has made any progress, but I would not give him a guaranteed deal.

From what I have seen, I do not think Kuba has what it takes to make it in the NBA.

Verdict:  I have seen all I need to see, b-bye

Bobby Jones (25 G, 8.9 MPG, 3.4 PPG, 1.1 RPG, 39.1 3P%)

One of the big mistakes I thought the Nuggets made with their bench this season was casting Jones off early in the season.  Fortunately, the rectified that mistake by bringing him back at the end of the season, which makes you wonder why he was waived in the first place. 

I have gone on record of saying I like Bobby Jones.  He is a solid defender.  He is aggressive going to the basket.  It seemed that within the first minute or two that he was on the floor in every game he played he was called for a charge, but he would always settle down after that. 

Jones also improved his three point shooting this season hitting 39.1% of his threes as a Nugget though he only 34% overall for the season.

Jones is without a contract at the moment, but I would like to see the Nuggets offer him a guaranteed deal for next year as long as it is in the neighborhood of the league minimum.

Verdict: Bring him back, I am intrigued 

Steven Hunter (19 G, 6.3 MPG, 2.1 PPG, 1.0 RPG, 0.32 B, 53.6 FG%)

I mentioned that one of the problems I had with the Nuggets bench was their release of Bobby Jones, well here is the second.  Steven Hunter should have been playing at least 12 minutes a game. 

Marcus Camby clearly lost his edge in the second half of the season and was a mere shadow of the player that some thought should have been an all-star (even though they were wrong).  Camby played 390 more minutes than he had ever played before and six hundred more minutes than his second highest minutes played total.  As I have pointed out before, that is an extra 11 or 12 games worth of minutes Camby played this season.

Does anyone else think Hunter could have helped prevent that from happening? 

Hunter is a proven rebounder and shot blocker, he also showed he is adept at running the floor and most importantly, not taking 20 foot jumpers.

I will never understand why Hunter only played double digit minutes once this season.

He is under contract and has two years left at more than $3 million a season. 

Verdict:  Let him play!  Let him play!  Let him play!

Taurean Green (9 G, 3.3 MPG, 1.1 PPG, 0.3 APG, 33.3 3P%)

Taurean Green was acquired in exchange for Von Wafer at the trading deadline.  Wafer was supposed to be the young prospect for the Nuggets heading into this season.  Now Green takes that spot. 

We really have not seen enough of Green to know what Denver has in him.  He certainly has the ability to become a very good back up point guard or perhaps even a fringe starter.  Sounds like the kind of player I would like to have rounding out my roster.

The Nuggets hold a team option on Green for $711,517 and I would be shocked if they declined it.

Verdict:  Keep him around until he proves he is no good

(Thanks to Hoops Hype for the salary information)

If we were able to track George Karl’s approval rating with Nuggets fans it may be small enough to help President Bush feel a little better about himself.  There certainly are fans who believe George has done as well as could be expected with a roster full of miscreants.  However, most Nugget fans believe Karl is allowing the inmates to run the asylum.

Over these next few paragraphs we will analyze how George Karl handled this team and come to a determination of whether or not he should be coach of the Denver Nuggets again next season.

The first area I took great umbrage with George Karl this season was his propensity for not only allowing excuses to be made for bad performances, but actually fostering an environment where that mindset could take root. 

The Nuggets, like many other teams, did have a handful of injuries early in the season.  Anthony Carter, Chucky Atkins and Nene were not available early on.  Steven Hunter missed a few games here and there as did Kenyon Martin.  At the time I wrote I hoped Karl did not allow anyone to use those injuries as an excuse for why they lost a game, or games, because once you allow excuses they are an ever present crutch to explain away poor play.  The Nuggets turned that crutch into a walker early in the season.

Not only did George allow the players to use injuries as a walker, he did too.  On numerous occasions he stood in front of the cameras and claimed over and over that they were being held back by injuries.  Denver was doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances.  Needless to say, I was gravely disappointed.   Did Rick Adelman allow his players to make excuses when they lost Yao Ming?  Houston is a team that has struggled with injuries, yet somehow managed to earn home court advantage in the playoffs thanks to a strong mental attitude towards the loss of key players.

Looking back, how big of a deal was it that Chucky Atkins was hurt for most of the season?  He could not even get back on the court when he was healthy!  Yet, his name was mentioned as if he was a potential MVP candidate early in the season as a reason why they were losing games.  Some fans still throw his name into the mix when listing injuries that derailed the season.  The injury to Chucky was actually a very good thing as it kept his sorry can off the floor and forced Karl to play J.R. Smith.

This reliance on injuries as an excuse for poor performance also manifested itself in the monthly lowball goals that Karl placed on the team.  These monthly goals always fell somewhere between a joke and an embarrassment.  By the end of November, which was the easiest month for the Nuggets in my opinion, his goal was to win 10 games out of 17!  I wrote before the season that Denver had to win 13 and probably 14 of those games to have home court advantage and be a threat to get past the first round.  Well I was wrong.  Not even 14 wins in November would have earned the Nuggets home court advantage in the playoffs, yet Karl was tickled pink that they won ten.

This brings me to another issue I have with George Karl and that is his belief that the first 20 games of the regular season is basically an extended training camp.  The reason I found that so preposterous was the list of new players they had to work into the lineup at the beginning of the season that had not played for George Karl:

Mike Wilks

That is it.  Although despite coaching basically the same team as he coached the year before, he acted as if how they all fit together is a big mystery.  Does that inspire confidence or a sense of urgency in your team when you label the first 25% of the season as an extended training camp?

Unfortunately for the Nuggets, Karl carried his nonchalant attitude throughout the entire season.  Never once would he admit the Nuggets were facing a must win situation and he never inspired any kind of urgency which was so obviously lacking all season. 

That nonchalant attitude extended to the bench and was the primary reason most fans are out for his blood.  Everyone has seen George sitting on the bench looking out at the court with a blank stare sucking on God knows what.  We never saw him yell at his players, nor did he ever yell at the refs. 

I believe a stoic attitude on the bench can be an effective way to coach as long as the message the coach is sending is, do not worry, we are still in control here.  Coaches that flip out over everything, hello Mike D’Antoni, are less inspiring.  In fact, coaches that are known for keeping their composure can make pretty effective statements, to players or refs, when they do flip out. 

On the other hand, stoic coaches who are constantly stoic no matter what may be happening can lose the respect of their players.  First of all, players know there is no real consequence for not playing the way the coach asks them to play.  Secondly, they take the job of lobbying the officials into their own hands.  Guys like AI, Melo and J.R. Smith tend to yip at the refs a little too much as it is.  Add in the fact they know their coach is not going to do it and we get what we have seen over the past year or two.  Wisconsin does not have enough cheese to go with all of the whine we have witnessed.

As I noted earlier in the season, and as others have pointed out since, Karl played under one of the best stoic coaches ever in Dean Smith and he claims that Coach Smith’s influence is the reason he coaches the way he does.  However, it seems clear that Karl has mellowed considerably as he aged.  We all remember the coach once hailed as “Furious” George.  There is no trace of that man left.  Now, that is entirely a bad thing.  He certainly had strained relationships with a few of his star players in the past due to some of his old tactics, but it seems like Karl has completely abdicated all of the fire and brimstone that used to serve him well.

Those are some pretty extensive shortcomings and it is not even an exhaustive list. 

The only thing I can come up with in Karl’s defense is that this team is clearly difficult to manage.  George was so concerned about the players’ fragile mental state that he believes he cannot coach them he way he really wants to.  The Nuggets clearly do not do what they are asked to do.  Obviously, Karl does not come out and say, “Alright, for the first eight minutes of the second quarter we are going to give up a lot of uncontested layups on defense and make sure you take the first jumper you see on offense, no matter how bad of a shot it is.”  Karl is constantly imploring them to play defense and to move the ball on offense only to see the players go out and make little or no effort to implement his instructions.  As Karl has pointed out during the season, there is only so much a coach can do.  Much of it is up to the players.

Even though the disinterest the players have shown in Karl’s coaching can be used as reasons to hold him blameless for how they played, it is clearly a double edged sword.  The other way to look at it is just another example of his failings as the coach. 

To me almost all of these issues boil down to George Karl’s inability to challenge this team.  Maybe he cannot do it, maybe he is afraid to do it or maybe he does not care enough to.

Last week we found out that Karl will be back coaching this team next season.  Several players have come out in support of him.  It may be good news that he has even said that he will demand more of the players next season.  My question is why did it take a playoff sweep to get to that point?

He can claim that he will make the players more accountable next season, but there is a problem with Karl trying to turn himself into the dictator again.  My wife is a teacher.  One thing teachers know is you can always start off tough and become less strict, but you cannot start off soft and then become stricter.  The kids simply will not buy it.  If kids do not respond to that how type of shift how much more will NBA players, the biggest babies of all, chaff at that kind of transformation.

The sad thing is Karl started off strict.  He had the guts to come in and bench anyone who was not getting the job done the way he wanted them to.  Melo found himself watching quite a bit and he responded.  Carmelo took a big leap forward offensively when George Karl took over the Nuggets.  He has become much less willing to slash minutes the past couple of seasons, yet another sign of his softening.

You have probably gathered by now that I am not looking forward to George returning to coach the Nuggets this season.  However, I do buy into the belief that these guys are difficult to coach.  If you ask me to name a coach who could come in and demand the players’ respect who is actually available, I do not think I could.  Jeff Van Gundy?  Rick Carlisle?  There is no way you could bring in a rookie coach either.  He would end up stuffed in a laundry basket with his whistle duct taped in his corn hole.

The bottom line is no matter how badly some of us would like to see it I do not think a coaching change would make much of a difference with this team next season.  Nugget fans will have to hope that the players are shocked into enough humiliation by their pathetic ouster at the hands of the Lakers that they will see the need to buy into their coach’s demands.

I suspect that we will know early on in the season if next season will be a better one than this one although I fear it is a question to which we already know the answer.

Typically I prefer to put very little thought into my posts because then if they suck at least I have a good excuse.  However, there are so many different issues facing the Nuggets heading into the offseason I decided I better put together a plan for how I could best address it all without too much overlap from post to post.  We all have had enough of talking about the same problems over and over from the regular season.  We all need a break from that during the summer.

Over the next few days we will take a magical journey analyzing everything from coaching issues to player personnel issues to the overall philosophy that dives the Nuggets.  At the end you will be left wondering how on earth it took me an entire day to come up with a comprehensive plan to cover those obvious issues, but just keep in mind, I did other things other than develop my plan like eat, sleep and chastise my children.