Mark Warkentien is on his way out of Denver after the Nuggets announced they are not interested in renewing the contract of their VP of Basketball Operations. With him will go Rex Chapman, the Nuggets’ VP of Player Personnel, whose contract has also expired.
With a suddenly glaring weakness at power forward, the Denver Nuggets need to make a move to compete in the loaded Western Conference next season.
Bear in mind, of course, that this would not have happened in 2009. The ot-nine Nuggets would have simply overwhelmed the Jazz with the same barrage of offensive firepower that defeated New Orleans & Dallas. But without the commanding influence of one George Matthew Karl manually balancing Denver’s speeding keel, they routinely fell out of rhythm on both ends of the court.
The Nuggets could have won this game (and this series) with consistent effort. When they played hard at both ends they were clearly the beater team. But Utah simply out worked them. Melo was the only one who played hard all the way through (et to Billups?) and he missed time with foul trouble again.
This was just what the doctor ordered for the Nuggets’ hopes to win the Northwest Division. Three starters played less than 29:00 minutes (Nene, Billups, Martin), so everyone should have plenty of energy to run with the Suns tomorrow. A win Tuesday night in Phoenix clenches the 3 seed.
This date with the Blazers proved to be a shot of adrenaline for the Nuggets’ stars, who have failed to rise to the late-season occasion as the playoffs draw near. All you Denver fans owe Portland a big, sweaty thank you. Here’s why…
The Nuggets will be offering a contract to free agent power forward Brian Cook, according to Travis Heath at Hoopsworld.
Amazingly, Karl says he will try to make it back to the Nuggets’ bench for Friday’s game at New Orleans. Radiation treatments to this point have had minor side-effects, but today’s surgery immediately followed by tomorrows Chemotherapy will likely have a more profound effect.
The groove is contagious, and that’s why we saw Aaron Afflalo, Johan Petro and even Anthony Carter making plays throughout a 3rd Quarter where Portland fought tooth & nail to scrape their way back into the game.
Nuggets school Lakers without Carmelo 126-113. Plays & Analysis plus Post-Game Commentary
