What's a guy to do when he has too many disconnected thoughts in his head?
Why, list them with no particular order. Much like the Denver Nuggets rotations through the first three games.
A journey to the center of my mind…
What the heck?
Is it just me, or is it every time the Denver Nuggets win a regular season game there’s a new rumor popping up centered around Carmelo Anthony? First it was the bizarre Yahoo! Sports’ Mark Spears’ interview where it seemed like Melo contradicted himself three times. That story broke immediately following the Utah Jazz regular season opener. Then after the Nuggets beat the Houston Rockets (in impressive fashion), Saturday Oct. 30th, we get Spike Lee spouting off.
I've got two words for you Spike. SHUT. UP. As I said before, tampering is tampering even if it comes in the form of pseudo- tampering. Please do me a favor and go recede into the background and dream about Reggie Miller knocking down a game winning three-point shot in your face.
Big Al and Melo time
I have noticed of late that power forward Al Harrington and Melo work very well on the court together. Melo has deferred to Big Al quite a bit lately and I’m liking the trust Melo places in Harrington on the court. They see somewhat limited time together on the court, but so far they have made the most of it. I’m digging the chemistry.
AAA spells Arron Agustin Afflalo
I’ve been extremely impressed with what I’ve seen from Afflalo so far this season. The hard work he did in the offseason is paying off with increased offensive game and greater court awareness. I liked his performance on Saturday night against the Rockets the most of the three games he’s played this season. AAA struggled offensively but he didn’t let that affect the rest of his game. He played respectable defense against the human flop Kevin Martin and he hit some key layups in the fourth quarter.
Distractions
You have to admire the way the team has dealt with the Melo drama. In a perverse way it seems like this adversity has created a professionalism among the players that didn’t really exist prior to this offseason. Coach George Karl deserves much of the credit for keeping the fellas focused, along with the leadership of Chauncey Billups and, yes, Melo himself. Both players, from what I’ve observed, have kept people focused on the goal of playing winning basketball. One key factor in this, the Nuggets have three “behavior” technical fouls this year (Chauncey, Melo, Shelden Williams) and I seriously thought they would have at least double that by this point.
Officiating
Has anyone else noticed the large number of rookie officials the NBA has hired this season? We all have to learn on the job, but I can think of at least four outright blown calls by the rookie official in Saturdays Nuggets/Rockets game and both teams suffered because of it. I have to wonder if the NBA's new focus on not arguing with officials and/or demonstrating frustration has come at the expense of teaching these new officials the fundamentals of refereeing an NBA game? Hopefully this gets better as the season progresses.
Haters gonna hate
I want all Nuggets fans to remember that, regardless of this Carmelo situation, there are still haters out there. You know the ones. People who, even when confronted with evidence to the contrary still think the Nuggets are populated with ne’er-do-wells and thugs with tattoos. Some are slowly coming around. In ESPN’s J.A Adande’s latest column following the Nuggets he says that one exec described the Nugget’s as “scary” when Chris Andersen and Kenyon Martin both return from injury. Now that is what I like to hear. The Nuggets are a very talented team even without Birdman and K-Mart and I think most NBA teams SHOULD be afraid to play the Nuggets. Just ask the Jazz and the Rockets what they think.
Yet, "haterz gonna hate" and it will continue all season. The vultures will be out and circling the team, even when the Nuggets win games. I will take great satisfaction in watching the experts spin when the Nuggets are in contention all season.
FFF…Fight For Freedom my fellow Stiffs. We are in for one hell of a ride.
FFF (remastered) – Megadeth (via tim0000000)
