[Izulde]

I have no idea what to expect out of this year's Nuggets. We're a curious blend of really young and really old and that type of mishmash is hard to get a read on.

We kick off with a 114-101 win over the Lakers engineered by Jonte Jones's 21 points and 14 rebounds, Paulinho Buboltz's 25 points and 14 assists and 14 and 11 points respectively from benchmen Carlton Goree and Tzvetan Kishishev. None of the rookies impress, but that's perhaps to be expected.

Our opponents score 101 points, but once again we win, topping the Timberwolves with 120 points of our own. Paulinho Buboltz is brilliant for 30 points, Mateen Yeaton scores 25 and Jonte Jones adds 20 points. Carlton Goree and Jameel Williams pace the bench with 12 and 11 points a piece.

Utah whips us 114-95 as we can only muster 23 points from Jonte Jones and 11 bench points from Carlton Goree. The rookies have been flat out awful in the early going.

Two close games in the first doubleheader of the year and we get a split. The Jazz beat us again, 96-91, as 17 points and 17 rebounds from Jonte Jones, Mateen Yeaton's 22 points and Paulinho Buboltz's 18 points and 11 assists can't redeem us. But we rebound for a 109-100 victory against Seattle the next night, Vinston Henry scoring 26 to team up with Jonte Jones's 28 points and 15 rebounds, Mateen Yeaton's 23 points and Paulinho Buboltz's 14 points and 19 assists to scrape it out.

A solid 100-85 win over the Pistons is keyed by balanced offense, Jonte Jones's 19 points and 19 rebounds and Carlton Goree's 11 bench points. Darren Hare has yet to appear in a game, I've noticed.

We lose 101-92 to the Kings in Sacramento, Jonte Jones's 25 points and 15 rebounds our lone highlight. I'm getting the sense that we're just not that good this year and we'll be a borderline playoff team, if that.

But as long as we have our core of Jonte Jones (24 points, 19 rebounds), Mateen Yeaton (28 points) and Paulinho Buboltz (19 points, 12 assists) we'll be good enough to do things like beat Toronto 105-93.

On the other hand, when we're seeing things like 22 points from Mateen Yeaton, 15 points and 18 assists from Paulinho Buboltz and bench showings of 12, 11 and 14 bench points from Carlton Goree, Tzvetan Kishishev and Winston Smith and still losing 116-106 to the Bulls, it's a reminder that a) we're really a .500 team this season and b) once our core group retires, things are going to get ugly in a hurry.

Rough 125-122 loss to the Mavericks, ruining 34 points and 10 rebounds from Jonte Jones, 36 points from Mateen Yeaton, Paulinho Buboltz's 14 points and 22 assists and the 14 points off the bench we get from Carlton Goree.

A 108-95 victory over the Nets on Mateen Yeaton's 25 points, Paulinho Buboltz's 19 points and 16 assists and Winston Smith's sensational 18 points off the bench helps staunch the bleeding, but there's no illusions here.

Fortunately the win train picks up with a doubleheader sweep. Jonte Jones brutalizes the Spurs for 31 points and 15 rebounds, Mateen Yeaton adds 36 points and Carlton Goree scores 10 as we roll San Antonio 126-99. Houston falls 114-101 as Jonte Jones puts up 22 points and 14 rebounds, Paulinho Buboltz issues 10 points and 10 assists and three bench players reach double-digit scoring: Carlton Goree (12 points), Winston Smith (10 points) and Joem Layne (11 points) in the first noteworthy performance by one of the three rookies on our roster.

Defense gives a 95-83 quashing of the Hornets. Kevin Bradford looks like a #2 pick for the first time all year with 17 points and 14 rebounds, even as he's overshadowed by Jonte Jones (22 points, 10 rebounds). Winston Smith contributes 10 points off the bench.

The month ends on a positive note, a 99-85 victory over the Cavaliers as Jonte Jones fights his way through for 12 points and 12 rebounds, Mateen Yeaton scores 24, Paulinho Buboltz has 12 points and 11 assists and Carlton Goree scores 15 off the bench.

That makes us a respectable 10-5 after one month of play, a game and a half behind 11-3 Portland (We've seen that one before), half a game behind 11-5 Utah and with a half-game edge on 9-5 Minnesota. Crowded Northwest picture so far.

Dallas is just ripping the league up at 15-2 and the hatemail for my having traded Marcelino Augusto grows exponentially by the day.

In the East, Chicago's proving preseason predictions right with a staggering 11-1 mark.

Vinston Henry needs to shoot better than 40.8%. Kevin Bradford has overcome a slow start and is shooting 52.1%, but his ceiling still looks really limited compared to the other high picks and it's not certain he'll even last the year here.