[Izulde]

Regret, oh so damned bittersweet regret, is filling me right now. Why oh -why- did I trade Marcelino Augusto? Our Vinson/Hill trade was the only one of the first month.

Well, we'll see how things go from here on out.

Miami's got to win sometime, but it won't be against us as Jonte Jones rambles for 37 points and 12 rebounds and Mateen Yeaton scores 34 in our 126-103 win. Julius Austin and Al Thornton score 12 and 11 points off the bench. I'm thinking David Jackson needs to shoot more, but Jim O'Brien isn't really listening. He's too distracted trying to turn this team around.

Our win streak hits 4 as we come from behind to barely nip Orlando 120-118. Jonte Jones scores 31 and that's the highlight. I'm sorely tempted to try and trade for a new starting SF, because David Jackson is foul-prone and much more effective on the bench. Unfortunately, I don't have the salary or ammunition to do that yet without upsetting the balance of our other starters.

But maybe we don't need to. We destroy Washington 115-80 as Mateen Yeaton's magnificient with 34 points and 13 rebounds. Jonte Jones scores 26 and Kenny Graham gets 12 points and 12 assists. At this point, maybe I should just let it go, let this team get used to each other.

Our string of victories ends, as expected, in a 101-88 loss to the Raptors. Jonte Jones produces 23 points and 17 rebounds, Kenny Graham 19 points and 10 assists, but they sic David Anyan on Mateen Yeaton, forcing our star into a 5/21 night. I hate how Sam Mitchell plays matchup chairs like that against us.

That was also the first two games of our East Coast road trip from Hell. 104-96 loss to the Knicks comes as Jonte Jones can only produce 15 points and 16 rebounds and Victor Gipson's 18 points and 10 rebounds can't go with Kenny Graham's 23 points and 13 assists for the win. Mateen Yeaton's having back problems to boot.

A doubleheader against the 76ers and Celtics proves most welcome. We pounce Philadelphia 100-80, Jonte Jones tearing things up with 25 points and 18 rebounds, Kenny Graham netting 18 points and 15 assists. Nolan Hill has his best game to date in a Nuggets uniform with 18 points off the bench. We bomb Boston 111-95 thanks to Jonte Jones again with 24 points and 13 rebounds, though Kenny Graham deserves equal due with 29 points and 14 assists. Nolan Hill scores 11 off the bench and this pair of victories is important because it's proving we can win with a gimped Mateen Yeaton.

I don't know if Miami's still looking for a win or not, but we trounce them 111-88 on Jonte Jones's 32 points and 11 rebounds and Kenny Graham's 23 points and 17 assists, guaranteeing us a winning record on the road trip. Unfortunately it's only a 4-3 margin as the Magic beat us 119-108, wasting Jonte Jones's 34 points and 20 rebounds, Victor Gipson's double of 14 points and 11 rebounds, Kenny Graham's of 18 points and 11 assists and Nolan Hill's 12 bench points.

We snap back for a 114-87 hosing of the Suns keyed by Jonte Jones with 20 points and 17 rebounds, Victor Gipson with 17 points and 12 rebounds and Kenny Graham with 13 points and 13 assists.

A crucial division game against the Supersonics results in a 104-85 loss where everyone played like shit and I'm not going to mention the highlights because I'm too pissed.

Fortunately, Christmas is pleasant as we grind out a holiday sweep, 3 points to each win. 104-101 over Dallas, Mateen Yeaton and Kenny Graham combining for 27 and 23 points a piece, Nolan Hill and Tzvetan Kishishev stepping up from the reserves with 15 and 12 points respectively. Marcelino Augusto blitzed us for 31 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks, while Zelipe Gama garnered 15 points and 12 assists. The 958-95 victory against Golden State came thanks to Jonte Jones and Mateen Yeaton each breaking 30 points, Jones with 30 and 22 rebounds, Yeaton with 35. Kenny Graham kludged together 14 points and 14 assists.

I'm going to be totally honest here. We're really missing Zelipe Gama's ability to cause disruptions on defense. I mean, Kenny Graham's doing well running the offense so far, but he just doesn't have the -it- factor on the other side of the floor and he's as frustrated by it as we are.

And so, in the end, there's just one thing we can do.

Denver Nuggets receive
PF Mike Vines
Sacramento Kings 2023 2nd round pick

Sacramento Kings receive
PG Kenny Graham

What this means for the Nuggets
He's no Marcelino Augusto, but Vines is an excellent player and a torrid defender, who famously gave the Brazilian superstar fits in the second round of the playoffs last season. He instantly steps in at PF, allowing Victor Gipson to move to the 6th man role. Of course, this also means Nolan Hill now becomes the starting Nuggets PG and while he's acquitted himself well with increased minutes, we're not sure he's a starter just yet.

What this means for the Kings
Sacramento desperately needed a true PG after dealing Carlton Goree to the Raptors and along comes Graham, the three-time defending All-NBA 1st Team PG in their laps. The only problem is, this leaves the Kings with an extremely weak frontcourt and we know how well -that's- working out for the Celtics this season.

Winner: Denver
As strange as it may seem, the team getting the All-NBA player is the loser in this instance. Graham just did not fit the Nuggets system at all and GM Jestor pulls off a brilliant move to shore up Denver's frontcourt. We'll wait and see what Hill does or maybe there's another trade in the offing.

There may in fact be one soon, but I want to see what we have in Hill first.

Early returns are promising we blow out the 76ers 105-75. Mateen Yeaton scores 32 and Nolan Hill distributes 13 points, 13 assists and 0 turnovers. Obviously we're not expecting that out of him every night, but it's awesome to see. Mike Vines had 12 points and 9 rebounds in his Denver debut, offsetting an atrocious 2 for 7 night with shutdown defense on Tyrus Thomas, holding the 76ers star to 4 points on a 1 for 5 night.

New Year's is a festive, happy occasion as we get a convincing sweep of the Los Angeles teams. The Lakers can't counter 37 points from Mateen Yeaton, 17 points and 15 rebounds from Jonte Jones and 11 bench rebounds from Victor Gipson in our 105-90 win. I should also point out that Nolan Hill had 12 assists to one turnover, despite taking a shot only once all night, which he hit. A gritty defensive game on New Year's Day saw us prevail 91-71 over the Clippers, Mateen Yeaton's 23 points bailing us out along with 14 and 12 bench points respectively from Victor Gipson and Sabit Suker.

So where are we now? 20-11, a leading the Northwest by a half-game over the Jazz and a full game over the Trailblazers, who crashed and burned to an 18-11 record. We're also currently holding the #2 seed in the West, Sacramento on top at 20-8, 3.5 over the 18-13 Warriors. The Mavericks are 18-12, in front in their division by 4.5 because the Southwest sucks hard this year, kind of like how the Pacific was before Golden State actually got good.

Toronto and Orlando are fighting out for the top seed in the East, the Raptors at 23-9 and the Magic 21-8. The Nets really fell off during the month and are in third place in the Atlantic, just like the Trailblazers. New York's inserted themselves as the sandwich team, 2 back of the Raptors. Atlanta's surprising me by still hanging on to second place in the Southeast, 3 behind the Magic. Detroit, 19-11, isn't missing Kenny Graham at all as they're 2.5 half up on the Bucks.

Miami's 4-29, so they picked up a few wins and Boston's 4-27. I had someone ask on The Gold Mine, the Nuggets blog I write in a la Mark Cuban, just why the Celtics are doing so terribly. I'll post my answer to Jon here.

"The Celtics decided to start Will Baron at SF and combined with Ben Searcy at PF, they have two guys who don't play defense. At all. Baron's not grown into his potential yet and Searcy just sucks. In my opinion, they should move Baron to PF and start Andre Iguodola at SF, but for some bizzare reason, they're not doing that.

It doesn't help that Jermaine Butler, their starting PG who's honestly a good 2, but a semi-sucky 1, has had nagging injuries, especially all during December.

Lebron James is doing quite well as expected, but they have a grand total of -1- guy on the bench that can play C, 2 that can play PF and one of them's Paul Fisher, who I cut. The biggest problem, I think, is that nobody on the starting five can play defense well. I mean, King James and Spencer Hawes, who's been Boston's starting C for forever, do a decent job at it, but not great.

If they moved Igudola to SF and shifted Baron to the four, they'd at least have a legitimate stopper in the starting lineup and they could pick up a lot more wins. Unfortunately, at this point, I think their season is lost and the C's front office is probably thinking they're better off tanking."

I may need to make another deal at some point, because as much as I love Nolan Hill, he's too inconsistent in whether he feels like shooting that day or not to be a starter at this stage in his career.

Speaking of guards....

Paulinho Buboltz/Mateen Yeaton Comparison

Paulinho Buboltz
2013 Stats: 82 games/77 starts - 17.0 PPG 9.5 APG 3.0 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.2 SPG
2014 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.1 PPG 8.7 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.4 SPG
2015 Stats: 55 games/48 starts - 14.1 PPG 8.3 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.2 SPG
2016 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 18.3 PPG 8.1 APG 3.3 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.5 SPG
2017 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.1 PPG 8.5 APG 3.0 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.2 SPG
2018 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 20.5 PPG 8.3 APG 3.2 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.5 SPG
2019 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 20.6 PPG 8.1 APG 3.5 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.5 SPG
2020 Stats: 28 games/28 starts - 18.7 PPG 7.1 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 0.9 SPG

Mateen Yeaton
2013 Stats: 82 games/81 starts - 23.3 PPG 2.4 APG 5.2 RPG 1.8 BPG 1.6 SPG
2014 Stats: 82 games/80 starts - 23.2 PPG 3.6 APG 5.2 RPG 1.7 BPG 1.3 SPG
2015 Stats: 82 games/81 starts - 23.6 PPG 2.4 APG 4.5 RPG 1.6 BPG 1.5 SPG
2016 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 25.0 PPG 3.1 APG 4.5 RPG 1.9 BPG 1.8 SPG
2017 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 24.4 PPG 3.2 APG 4.9 RPG 1.9 BPG 1.6 SPG
2018 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.8 PPG 2.4 APG 4.2 RPG 1.5 BPG 1.2 SPG
2019 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 23.3 PPG 2.5 APG 4.7 RPG 1.5 BPG 1.6 SPG
2020 Stats: 31 games/31 starts - 23.2 PPG 2.4 APG 4.6 RPG 1.6 BPG 1.5 SPG

I should also add that the Pacers continue to suck and Buboltz is their only truly good player. He's not cut out for that kind of role and he's really been pressing, hence the lowered numbers.

Although this is going to be largely an irrelevant exercise given their age disparity, I'll track it for academic purposes.

Marcelino Augusto
2020 Stats: 30 games/30 starts - 28.1 PPG 9.0 RPG 2.6 APG 2.3 BPG 1.3 SPG

Jonte Jones
2020 Stats: 31 games/31 starts - 21.9 PPG 11.4 RPG 2.6 APG 1.4 BPG 1.3 SPG

....Yeah. Good thing we've got Mike Vines as a stopper.

Oh, that reminds me. I almost forgot.

D-League
Jamie Keams has been punted to the 6th man role in Colorado, but in 12 games (4 starts) he's averaging 8.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.2 blocks and 0.6 steals. Terrible shooter, hitting just 41% in the D-league. He won't get a contract back next year.

Bakersfield is -dominating- the West this year. They're 11-2 and the Timberjacks are in second place at 7-6, four games back.