Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:12 am
great win, knicks suck in the game and in real life!
Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:39 am
Nuggets Report Card
Overall Record: 4-2
Teams played: Pistons(L), Jazz(W), Lakers(L), Spurs(W), Hawks(W), Knicks(W)
Overall Grade: B+
November Recap
Denver seemed to have started off the season on the wrong foot by losing to the eastern conference champion Detriot Pistons in an ugly 108-95 loss. The Nuggets managed to bounce back on the road led by Kenyon Martin's ridiculous 19 point, 19 rebound game. Things seemed like it was finally going Denver's way, but the Nuggets were handed another blowout loss against a very winnable Los Angeles Lakers team. With a 1-2 start to the season, things didn't look to sharp for the Nuggets.
With such mediocre efforts against the Pistons and Lakers, the Nuggets managed to pull off an early season trade that sent Earl Boykins, Eduardo Najera and Linas Kleiza packing their bags to Toronto in exchange for sharpshooting Morris Peterson and rebounding big man Pape Sow. Morris Peterson's perimeter shooting seemed like the perfect fit for the team, lifting the team to a huge win in his first game against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. Morris Peterson seemed like the sparkplug off the bench that Denver was missing, and the trade to Toronto seemed to revitalize the Denver team to an impressive three game winning streak to end the month of November.
The Nuggets then went on to cruise their way to easy victories the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks. The Atlanta played an integral part in the development of rookie Julius Hodge, who suprisingly got the role of starting point guard, which was even more suprising. Overall, the Nuggets struggled a bit by getting off to a 1-2 start, but a very solid trade and a renewed effort on both ends of the court helped Denver finish with a solid winning streak to give them momentum heading into December.
Player Report Card
Centers
Marcus Camby: B+
Overall, Marcus Camby has been doing what he has supposed to have been doing; swatting shots and grabbing rebounds. Camby is averaging 11 points and 11 rebounds, which is expected of him, but he should find more consistency on his rebounding and although he is swatting 1.5 shots per game, that number of blocks is not very Marcus Camby-esque.
Nene: B-
Being moved to the bench has obviously hindered Nene's numbers, but he's still posting solid numbers off the bench. Nene also has been blocking more shots recently, but at the same time, his rebounding numbers have decreased from being a double-digit rebounder to averaging 7.7.
Power Fowards
Kenyon Martin: A
Kenyon Martin has done nothing but impress this season after a mediocre game against Detriot to start the season. After grabbing only 5 boards against the Pistons, Kenyon Martin has been an ogre on the glass, getting 5 consecutive double doubles. As evidence of his fantastic play, Kenyon Martin leads the league in offensive rebounds and is fourth in blocks. Analysts have even gone to dub K-Mart the "Ben Wallace of the West".
Francisco Elson: C
He's barely found minutes behind the big man rotation of K-Mart, Camby and Nene, but its not like the expectations were high for him anyway.
Small Fowards
Carmelo Anthony: A-
Melo has been a steady scorer for the Nuggets, leading the team with 20.3 points a night. For a player of Anthony's caliber, you would expect him to shoot more than 42% from the field and he should get to the line more often. Also, it wouldn't hurt to bump up that mediocre 1.6 assists per game. Hopefully Carmelo doesn't revert to pre-George Karl Carmelo and fall into bad habits again, but Carmelo has maintained a steady scoring punch and rebounding which is what we mainly expect of him.
Julius Hodge: B-
Although he's listed as a small foward, Hodge's expertise goes beyond that. Despite playing behind 'Melo, Johnson and Peterson, Hodge has managed to milk some playing time by using his versatility to play small foward, shooting guard and point guard. Since there isn't much room in the swingmen department, Hodge has found most of his time at the point guard position. He even managed to start one game against the Hawks where he handed out 8 assists. Hodge however, still needs to sharpen his perimeter skills because he's shooting 36%.
Shooting Guards
Dermarr Johnson: B
Dermarr has had a terrible time shooting the ball in the beginning of the season, but his effort and defensive potential have given him the nod at the starting 2 guard spot over veteran Voshon Lenard. Dermarr is facing serious competition from Mo-Pete, but Dermarr has been pushing it up a notch, including the 21 point game in the final game of the month. Dermarr's also average 1.17 steals a night, so opposing teams better watch out for Dermarr's long arms in the passing lanes.
Morris Peterson: B+
Mo-Pete seems to be the catalyst for the three game winning streak that the Nuggets have been on lately. His three point shooting off the bench has really helped Denver's offence and defensively he's as sharp as ever. Peterson's 50% field goal percentage has dropped down to 42%, but to compensate for the decrease, Peterson has raised his three point shooting from 30% to 44%. Peterson was relied on to be a more versatile player for the Raptors, but after joining the Nuggets, Peterson seems to have found his niche by being a role player and dropping three point bombs.
Voshon Lenard: D
Hitting 0 of 7 from three against the Jazz seemed to have killed Voshon Lenard, since he is now a DNP-CD and has been beaten out by Julius Hodge and Dermarr Johnson. The acquisition of Morris Peterson also didn't help out a great deal either.
Point Guards
Andre Miller: B-
As usual, Miller has been passing the ball and distrupting passing lanes extremely well this season since he's leading the team with 8.5 assists per game and 2 steals per game. Andre's poor shooting and high turnover rate has made him somewhat of a disappointment this season, but its not like he's getting any major competition from Earl Watson.....
Earl Watson: F
A flat out disappointing start to the season, Earl Watson has failed to capitalize on the departure of Earl Boykins and even Julius Hodge (who isn't even a real point guard) seems to have beaten him out on the depth chart.
The Unknowns
Bryon Russel, Greg Buckner, Pape Sow: ?
Pape Sow is the only one of the three to actually play a game, but its hard to accurately guage a player who has only played one minute and hasn't even registered a point into the stat sheet yet.
Nugget of the Month
K. Martin
15.8ppg
12.3rpg
1.7apg
0.33spg
2.33bpg
Overall Record: 4-2
Teams played: Pistons(L), Jazz(W), Lakers(L), Spurs(W), Hawks(W), Knicks(W)
Overall Grade: B+
November Recap
Denver seemed to have started off the season on the wrong foot by losing to the eastern conference champion Detriot Pistons in an ugly 108-95 loss. The Nuggets managed to bounce back on the road led by Kenyon Martin's ridiculous 19 point, 19 rebound game. Things seemed like it was finally going Denver's way, but the Nuggets were handed another blowout loss against a very winnable Los Angeles Lakers team. With a 1-2 start to the season, things didn't look to sharp for the Nuggets.
With such mediocre efforts against the Pistons and Lakers, the Nuggets managed to pull off an early season trade that sent Earl Boykins, Eduardo Najera and Linas Kleiza packing their bags to Toronto in exchange for sharpshooting Morris Peterson and rebounding big man Pape Sow. Morris Peterson's perimeter shooting seemed like the perfect fit for the team, lifting the team to a huge win in his first game against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. Morris Peterson seemed like the sparkplug off the bench that Denver was missing, and the trade to Toronto seemed to revitalize the Denver team to an impressive three game winning streak to end the month of November.
The Nuggets then went on to cruise their way to easy victories the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks. The Atlanta played an integral part in the development of rookie Julius Hodge, who suprisingly got the role of starting point guard, which was even more suprising. Overall, the Nuggets struggled a bit by getting off to a 1-2 start, but a very solid trade and a renewed effort on both ends of the court helped Denver finish with a solid winning streak to give them momentum heading into December.
Player Report Card
Centers
Marcus Camby: B+
Overall, Marcus Camby has been doing what he has supposed to have been doing; swatting shots and grabbing rebounds. Camby is averaging 11 points and 11 rebounds, which is expected of him, but he should find more consistency on his rebounding and although he is swatting 1.5 shots per game, that number of blocks is not very Marcus Camby-esque.
Nene: B-
Being moved to the bench has obviously hindered Nene's numbers, but he's still posting solid numbers off the bench. Nene also has been blocking more shots recently, but at the same time, his rebounding numbers have decreased from being a double-digit rebounder to averaging 7.7.
Power Fowards
Kenyon Martin: A
Kenyon Martin has done nothing but impress this season after a mediocre game against Detriot to start the season. After grabbing only 5 boards against the Pistons, Kenyon Martin has been an ogre on the glass, getting 5 consecutive double doubles. As evidence of his fantastic play, Kenyon Martin leads the league in offensive rebounds and is fourth in blocks. Analysts have even gone to dub K-Mart the "Ben Wallace of the West".
Francisco Elson: C
He's barely found minutes behind the big man rotation of K-Mart, Camby and Nene, but its not like the expectations were high for him anyway.
Small Fowards
Carmelo Anthony: A-
Melo has been a steady scorer for the Nuggets, leading the team with 20.3 points a night. For a player of Anthony's caliber, you would expect him to shoot more than 42% from the field and he should get to the line more often. Also, it wouldn't hurt to bump up that mediocre 1.6 assists per game. Hopefully Carmelo doesn't revert to pre-George Karl Carmelo and fall into bad habits again, but Carmelo has maintained a steady scoring punch and rebounding which is what we mainly expect of him.
Julius Hodge: B-
Although he's listed as a small foward, Hodge's expertise goes beyond that. Despite playing behind 'Melo, Johnson and Peterson, Hodge has managed to milk some playing time by using his versatility to play small foward, shooting guard and point guard. Since there isn't much room in the swingmen department, Hodge has found most of his time at the point guard position. He even managed to start one game against the Hawks where he handed out 8 assists. Hodge however, still needs to sharpen his perimeter skills because he's shooting 36%.
Shooting Guards
Dermarr Johnson: B
Dermarr has had a terrible time shooting the ball in the beginning of the season, but his effort and defensive potential have given him the nod at the starting 2 guard spot over veteran Voshon Lenard. Dermarr is facing serious competition from Mo-Pete, but Dermarr has been pushing it up a notch, including the 21 point game in the final game of the month. Dermarr's also average 1.17 steals a night, so opposing teams better watch out for Dermarr's long arms in the passing lanes.
Morris Peterson: B+
Mo-Pete seems to be the catalyst for the three game winning streak that the Nuggets have been on lately. His three point shooting off the bench has really helped Denver's offence and defensively he's as sharp as ever. Peterson's 50% field goal percentage has dropped down to 42%, but to compensate for the decrease, Peterson has raised his three point shooting from 30% to 44%. Peterson was relied on to be a more versatile player for the Raptors, but after joining the Nuggets, Peterson seems to have found his niche by being a role player and dropping three point bombs.
Voshon Lenard: D
Hitting 0 of 7 from three against the Jazz seemed to have killed Voshon Lenard, since he is now a DNP-CD and has been beaten out by Julius Hodge and Dermarr Johnson. The acquisition of Morris Peterson also didn't help out a great deal either.
Point Guards
Andre Miller: B-
As usual, Miller has been passing the ball and distrupting passing lanes extremely well this season since he's leading the team with 8.5 assists per game and 2 steals per game. Andre's poor shooting and high turnover rate has made him somewhat of a disappointment this season, but its not like he's getting any major competition from Earl Watson.....
Earl Watson: F
A flat out disappointing start to the season, Earl Watson has failed to capitalize on the departure of Earl Boykins and even Julius Hodge (who isn't even a real point guard) seems to have beaten him out on the depth chart.
The Unknowns
Bryon Russel, Greg Buckner, Pape Sow: ?
Pape Sow is the only one of the three to actually play a game, but its hard to accurately guage a player who has only played one minute and hasn't even registered a point into the stat sheet yet.
Nugget of the Month
K. Martin
15.8ppg
12.3rpg
1.7apg
0.33spg
2.33bpg
Thu Dec 29, 2005 2:54 am
[C][B]#4 wrote:hey great recap and good win against the knicks. Waiting for ur "report card"
Thanks, and the wait is finally over
great win, knicks suck in the game and in real life!
Yep. They sure do.
Thu Dec 29, 2005 3:05 am
Nice report card man 
Thu Dec 29, 2005 2:37 pm
Nice report card man
Thanks man. It was quite tedious to update this morning because my connection was acting strange on me.