Season Preview: Denver Nuggets

As I mentioned yesterday, I don't know that AI will stay in Denver, if he's not dealt this season, it's likely he won't find any sort of extension coming up and will have to take a pay cut in the lucrative free agency. However, regardless of Iverson's playing possibilities the fact of the matter is, that now, he remains in Denver, and so he figures into how this squad is going to play.

Denver Nuggets

Starting 5:
PG- Anthony Carter
SG- Allen Iverson
SF- Carmelo Anthony
PF- Kenyon Martin
C- Nene Hilario

Off the bench
Guards: JR Smith, Chucky Atkins, Ruben Patterson, Smush Parker, Mateen Cleaves
Forwards: Linas Kleiza, Renaldo Balkman, Nick Fazekas
Centers: Steven Hunter, Chris Anderson

Wait, wait, wait... That's right, I did say Smush Parker and Ruben Patterson. Denver has once again said that its defense is a problem. They hope to once again focus again on improving their defense. Patterson and Parker are here on make-good contracts, meaning, they're not really signed yet. However, they are playing in training camp. Patterson, who was supposed to be a "Kobe-stopper" adds some defensive tenacity in the backcourt, something that Denver has always lacked. While many people believe that Denver's defense went out the door with the delivery of Marcus Camby into the laps of the Clippers, the Nuggets writer at Pickaxe and Roll tell us a different story. I'm a fan of Camby, but I don't really mind Nene either. Kenyon Martin has still proven he can be an effective defensive stopper as well, despite having slowed down with age and knee surguries. The more I think about it, hoping for Nene to be healthy isn't much different from hoping Camby would be healthy for more than 70 games in a season. What the loss of Camby and Najera has done though, is gutted any frontcourt depth that this team had before. Likely we'll be seeing Balkman and Anderson get a lot of playing time should either Martin or Nene become injured, and they likely will be the key reserves in terms of big men.

The concerted defensive effort though will have to begin with the face of the franchise, that is Carmelo Anthony. If Melo can motivate his teammates with the fire he had in the Olympics, then perhaps this club will have something going. Scoring wise, they haven't lost a whole lot as Melo and Allen Iverson are both still on the roster. George Karl has mentioned that should he develop, JR Smith could find a spot in the starting lineup sliding Iverson over to the PG position. While that's not ideal for Iverson, it's not an idea that I'd be completely against, especially since he's playing next to such an effective scorer like Melo. Linas Klieza, after his impressive play in the summer for Lithuania in the Olympics, also has to really step up. He'll be the key sixth man should Smith take over as a starter and likely a key reserve regardless. He's the spark plug off the bench and I think he still has a little to prove in that he's worth more than Ron Artest (as he was the deal-breaker in a possible Artest trade last season).

The reason Iverson starting as a PG works for me is because the alternatives, while serviceable, aren't really great. Currently they'll continue to start Anthony Carter, who while serviceable, has not been outstanding. Chucky Atkins just had surgery and is injury-plagued, and like won't return to playing for a while let alone back in game shape. Smush Parker is... well Smush Parker. He has a shot at cracking the rotation, but there was a reason that he was cut from 2 different teams in the last two seasons. There still is a shot however, though, that he might have cleaned up his act and gotten his game together. Conditioning I believe has always been an issue for him.

Update: Apparently Smush Parker is considered one of the top prospects for this year's D-League draft.