Restoring the Glory: A Modern-Day New York Knicks Dynasty (DDS:PB)

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by boberot

Sounds like you've got the Nuggets on track. I have a feeling you won't be able to get enough value for your boy Heimlich. *heh, heh.* I tried to move a slightly older TJ Ford in my "dynasty" and had a hell of a time.

Just curious -- have you messed around with the salary cap at all?
Good luck . . . .

Nope I haven't. The only thing I've done is remove the 90-day rule and left it at 60 days in terms of able to be traded, as it makes more sense to me.

And this is an odd team... and I may not be done wheeling and dealing yet.

[Izulde]

Los Angeles Lakers receive
PG Calvis Graham
Golden State Warriors 2015 2nd round pick

Golden State Warriors receive
SF Rodney Brown
SF Ben Larson

What this means for the Lakers
The 24 year old Graham is the single-most talented young passer in the league today. He won't be a main offensive option, but there's none better under 25 at distributing the ball and there's a good chance he'll be one of the top PGs in the league when he's done developing. His acquistion allows the Lakers to move Jordan Farmar down to the 6th man role. The second round pick is a sweet cherry icing.

What this means for the Warriors
Al Harrington is 34 years old and isn't going to be around much longer, so Brown takes over as the 6th man and is the heir apparent. Unfortunately, the 23 year old Brown isn't that good and the 25 year old Larson, while able to play 3 positions, is roster filler.

Winner: L.A. Lakers
Golden State got absolutely reamed on this one, as the Lakers give up virtually nothing to upgrade the weak link in their starting five in a major way.

Ugh. That is not what I needed to read about. Not good at all.

I can't just stand idle and watch the Lakers improve without making a move ourselves.

David Anyan's arrival in Toronto has created a big problem. Namely, he can only play SF, so the Raptors are unable to have the lineup they'd like of T.J. Ford/David Anyan/Andrea Bargnani/Chris Bosh/Greg Oden and instead are forced to make someone the odd man out. In thiis case, it's Bosh and he's absolutely livid about it.

So I call the Raptors up and see if we can negotiate some kind of deal. I put together a package that I think is a fair agreement, but they won't do it, arguing that they're wouldn't be getting an equal value exchange.

I make myself hang up to avoid bitching the bastards out. Fine, let them have Bosh be a malcontent and a distraction for the entire season. I didn't really want an undersized center anyway, as they're too easily abused by the bigger men in my opinion.

It's a position I ponder rethinking after we get blown out 109-86 by the Heat at home. Everyone played terribly except for Brandon Brooks, who led the team with 17 points off the bench.

We dispell the Magic 104-86 in our next game, Mateen Yeaton and Kyle Smith scoring 21 to go with Patrick Pastner's 21 points and Emeka Okafor and Dan Jacobson double-double with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 14 points, 13 rebounds respectively. It's something I'm going to go back and forth on all month I think.

More magician maraudering ensues as we vanquish the Wizards 116-91. Mateen Yeaton is mystical with 25 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks, Emeka Okafor assists with 10 points and 15 rebounds and our bench underlings are great; Steven Caspers with 14 points and Phillip Gill with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

24 points a piece from Mateen Yeaton and Kyle Smith aren't enough to prevent our getting dino-stomped by the Raptors 110-90. Patrick Pastner was held to 0 points as Toronto straight up trashed us. Why oh why won't they trade us Bosh?

It puts me in a grumpy mood as we kick off our annual December East Coast trip with a 102-90 defeat of the Knicks. Not even watching Mateen Yeaton and Patrick Pastner combine for 23 and 21 points to knock New York around can cheer me up, nor can Brandon Brooks's 10 bench points. Kyle Smith has been so erratic lately that I'm tempted to trade him, but Paulinho Buboltz illustrates what happens when you do that.

We score 94 points in both games of the back-to-back and in both cases, it's enough to earn us the win. Mateen Yeaton and Kyle Smith take care of Philadelphia with 25 and 24 points respectively and not even Al Jefferson can save Boston against Mateen Yeaton's 25 points, especially not when Patrick Pastner's scoring 20 in the same game.

Just when I'm beginning to relax a little under the winning, Miami and Orlando drop us on back-to-back nights. Dan Jacobson with 21 points and 15 rebounds, [b]Patrick Pastner with 22 points and Emeka Okafor with 10 points and 12 rebounds isn't going to be enough when Nigel Abel is raining 43 points of hellfire on you in a 113-104 loss, even with Brandon Brooks valiantly putting up 10 bench assists. As for the Magic? Three people came to play: Mateen Yeaton (20 points), Patrick Pastner (24 points) and Dan Jacobson (10 points, 17 rebounds) and they weren't enough.

After we lose 97-90 to Phoenix at home for our third straight loss, despite 22 points from Mateen Yeaton and Patrick Pastner and 11 points and 11 rebounds from Emeka Okafor, I've had enough. I don't have the patience to wait for Kyle Smith to grow up and get more consistent, not when Emeka Okafor is getting up there in years and I want him as one of my favorite players to have a ring before he retires.

I then run into the absurd notion that teams in last place in their divison still entertain dreams of making a run for the title. Hello! I know it's still early, but you guys aren't going anywhere!

These frustrations only bring me to greater headache and frustration. The wise thing would be to wait, but the truth is, I'm absolutely miserable with how this team is right now and I don't care if it costs us a title, I want to shake it up so it looks more like a team I can be happy with.

Desparation leads me to call Indiana and beg the Pacers to trade me Paulinho Buboltz back. I throw everything except Mateen Yeaton at them and the GM laughs hysterically for a good 10 minutes before answering, "No. Not now, not ever. You should've thought of that before", and hangs up on me.

I'm in full-fledged despondency, but continue to trudge along.

And then a beautiful thing happens.

A shiny, shimmery deal winnows its way through the net of my despair and lo, a trade is struck!

Denver Nuggets receive
PG Cherokee Waterman
Cleveland Cavaliers 2015 1st round pick
Cleveland Cavaliers 2017 1st round pick

Cleveland Cavaliers receive
SG Kyle Smith

What this means for the Nuggets
Denver's mired in a three-game losing streak and has looked by and large off-kilter from their usual offensive gameplan. Most of the blame has been laid at the feet of Larry Brown and his staff's decision to start Mateen Yeaton at PG after GM Jestor signed summer league superstar Smith to a five year deal. No more, as the Nuggets take Waterman, a thoroughly average, but intelligent guard to make the salaries work and get two 1st round picks, all of which are gravy on top of the fact that they'll now be running Brandon Brooks at PG, who's a natural there and will be moving Kirk Hinrich up to the first guard off the bench as Denver's front office intended at the beginning of the season.

What this means for the Cavaliers
Steep price for the 9-15 Cavaliers to pay, but Smith gives Cleveland what they've been searching for ever since Lebron James came to town: a legitimate scoring option besides King James. Lebron's still young enough at 30 that Cleveland can hope to make some noise and with the 22 year old Smith sizzling with potential, the Cavs could see the playoffs again as soon as this year, blunting the sting of losing two future 1st rounders.

Winner: Draw
This is exactly the kind of deal that both teams needed in a major way. Even if the Nuggets end up with non-lottery picks, the peace of mind the Denver front office will get from a more natural lineup is worth it and as for Cleveland's front office, they can finally tell Cavs fans they've at long-last completed their Holy Grail quest; to find King James a worthy knight.

I want to cry, I feel so relieved right now.

We celebrate in the Coffee Capital with a 95-83 win over the Supersonics. Emeka Okafor looks five years younger as he takes Player of the Game with 25 points, 17 rebounds and 6 blocks. Mateen Yeaton cheerfully scores 20 in his natural SG role, Dan Jacobson sings a gleeful 11 points and 16 rebounds and Brandon Brooks contributes an understated 11 points and 11 assists.

Christmas cheer and carols abound as we fa-la-la-la our way to a beautifully-wrapped 111-91 victory at home over the Mavericks on Christmas Eve. Brandon Brooks plays the perfect Santa, dishing out passes for presents on his way to 19 points and 14 assists and Mateen Yeaton and Patrick Pastner are his matching helper elves, outfitted with 22 points a piece. Christmas Day sees a serene 106-97 victory in California, Mateen Yeaton sunny in Oakland with 27 points, Brandon Brooks fantastic with a perfectly paired 12 points and 12 assists and Kirk Hinrich revived with 10 reserve points.

The holiday spirit carries over into a 112-96 home win against the 76ers, Mateen Yeaton the most festive of all with 32 points. Phillip Gill is downright cheerful himself with 16 bench points.

We're all so much happier that even the 100-89 loss to the Lakers that stops our rejuvenation can't wholly discourage us. Brandon Brooks has a good showing of 19 points and 13 assists and Patrick Pastner leads us with 20 points as we fail to solve the puzzle this New Year's Eve night. I think we can still find the solution by the time the playoffs come, though.

New Year's Day is a fun-filled 104-89 romp over the Clippers. Patrick Pastner gets his first double-double in what seems like forever with 28 points and 10 rebounds, Brandon Brooks scores 13 and hands out 17 assists and Steven Caspers, one of our most underrated bench players, is tops among the reserves with 12 points.

And so, this January 1st, we're still tops in the Northwest at 21-10, a comfortable 3.5 games ahead of the Jazz, who are doing just fine without David Anyan, thank you very much. We're chasing Dallas, who's 22-8 for the #2 spot, but I don't anticipate us or anyone catching the 23-5 Lakers before the end of the year for the top seed.

The Raptors had Chris Bosh on the trading block earlier in the month, but were still being jackasses about what they wanted for him. I'm not sure if they've traded him yet or not. In any case, they're still in front in the East at 23-9, but the Pistons have surged to 22-8 and are right behind them. In a no suprise at all story, the Bobcats already look well on their way to yet another Southeast title. as they're 18-10 and the Heat, while good against the old us, are 16-17 in second place.

Indiana's fallen to 15-13, perhaps karmic revenge for not letting us get Paulinho Buboltz back. It's a close race thus far in the East for everything outside of the top 3 spots.

So close, in fact, that the New York Knicks, at 14-16, are within striking distance of a playoff spot.

Now that's saying something.

The Cavaliers, despite the much-celebrated acquistion of Kyle Smith, have gone 1-5 since he came to town. That's perfectly all right by me.

I've heard, as most people have, of the old saying about "addition by subtraction" and understood instances where it applied.

But I never realized just how profound and powerful an effect it can have on a team. Now I know and the rest of the reason is looking much, much brighter and sweeter as a result.

One more thing.

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: 28 games/28 starts - 21.2 PPG 8.2 APG 3.3 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.4 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: 31 games/29 starts - 20.3 PPG 6.0 APG 5.0 RPG 1.5 BPG 1.1 SPG

I discovered a big reason why the Pacers are struggling. Tony Parker, last year's 6th Man of the Year, is out with a torn ACL. It also doesn't help that Ben Gordon is having his worst year since I joined the NBA, averaging 23.5 points on a career-worst 47% shooting.

Funny parallel strikes our teams again, by the way. We go and get Utah Sixer Brandon Brooks and the Pacers sign a Utah Sixer from the D-League on November 24th, snapping up B.J. Whitehead.

It's awesome how this game works sometimes.

[Izulde]

Miami Heat receive
PF Sean Bergmann

New Orleans Hornets receive
C Ryan Sweetwyne

What this means for the Heat
Miami lacked defensive big man punch on the bench and Bergmann, while not exceptional, gives the Heat an upgrade on the defensive end at reserve PF.

What this means for the Hornets
Sweetwyne never developed like Miami anticipated when they drafted him at 1.16 in 2011 and lost his starting job to Tang Zhengdong in training camp. That said, he gives New Orleans rebounding, which the Hornets greatly lacked, particularly on the bench.

Advantage: Draw
Both teams shore up a weak spot, but this isn't a dynamic trade by any means.

Orlando Magic receive
PG Brent Short

New Orleans Hornets receive
SG Joe Jupiter

What this means for the Magic
Orlando had zero PG depth to speak of before this deal and Short, while Short, gives the Magic a legitimate passing PG and a new 6th man. He also could allow for a smooth transistion from a Conley/Nelson backcourt to a Short/Conley one. Excellent free-throwing shooting and very good defense make him a great acquistion as well.

What this means for the Hornets
The Hornets, in contrast, are stacked at PG. Jupiter is roster filler, but he's also an expiring contract, unlike Short, who has three years left on his deal. The difference is only $800,000 and change, but every little bit of payroll flexibility helps, especially when the team's not likely to challenge for a playoff spot this year.

Advantage: Orlando
Big pickup for Orlando, a minor move for New Orleans.

Houston Rockets receive
PG Javaris Crittenton
Chicago Bulls 2015 2nd round pick

Chicago Bulls receive
SF Kevin Sarchet
PG Jason Zinn

What this means for the Rockets
Crittenton finally gets a chance to be a starter, something he's deserved for a long time. Houston will put him at SG for now and after Jason Terry's possible retirement or free agency defection after this season, he'll shift to PG (provided he re-signs with the Rockets himself). Just an absolute banner pickup for the Rockets, who now have a dangerous passer in their starting five again.

What this means for the Bulls
Sarchet's in his second season and the 21 year old was a second round pick of the Rockets last year (57th overall). His lone skill is good defense, which isn't a bad thing, but he's not a major improvement, either. Zinn was the Rockets 2nd round pick this year and he's so terrible, he can't even start on a D-League team.

Advantage: Houston
A new starter -and- a likely high 2nd round pick for crap is always an advantage to the team with the better starting five.

It's funny how often Crittenton's changed teams in his career. He's one of those guys that has the talent to be a legitimate NBA starter, but for one reason or another hasn't caught the right breaks until now. I wish him good luck in Houston.

Which is ironic because one of the teams we play in the back-to-back to kick off January in earnest is the Rockets. But before we play them, we bounce the Spurs 102-92 in San Antonio as Mateen Yeaton scores 33 and Dan Jacobson is briskly efficient with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Then it's Houston's turn to lose, 103-95. Mateen Yeaton continues to look much more at ease back in the SG role, scoring 32, while Dan Jacobson gets 12 points and 10 rebounds, Phillip Gill doubles off the bench with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Kirk Hinrich leads the reserves with 12 points.

Another doubleheader follows and we win both in squashes. We depose the Kings 95-72 as all five of our starters play terrific games: Mateen Yeaton first and foremost with 33 points and the other four with double-doubles, the first time that's happened with any of my teams. So congratulations to Brandon Brooks (14 points, 14 assists), Patrick Pastner (11 points, 10 rebounds), Emeka Okafor (11 points, 16 rebounds) and Dan Jacobson (15 points, 14 rebounds). Even sweeter is when we blow out the Lakers 113-98 the next night, the decimation of the Purple and Gold led by 30 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 blocks and 5 steals from Mateen Yeaton, 22 points from Patrick Pastner, 20 points and 10 assists courtesy of Brandon Brooks and 10 bench points from Kirk Hinrich.

I worry about a letdown against Minnesota in our next game, but we crush the Timberwolves 102-80, Mateen Yeaton the top scorer with 24 points and Emeka Okafor and Dan Jacobson doubling with 16 points and 10 rebounds and 12 points and 12 rebounds respectively. Thabo Sefolosha surprises with a nice 10 points off the bench.

We've yet another January doubleheader next and win the first game with ease, pummeling Golden State 104-78. Mateen Yeaton is first again with 27 points and Dan Jacobson gets another double double, this one good for 12 points and 15 rebounds. But the real dagger in the heart was Kirk Hinrich's 17 points as a reserve. Unfortunately, our win streak comes an end the night after in a 95-84 loss to the Sonics in Seattle. Mateen Yeaton scored 22, but that was our only highlight of the night.

I'm not overly concerned until we lose 108-104 to Memphis at home a couple nights later. Mateen Yeaton had another 22 points, Kirk Hinrich 17 bench points, but I'm noticing an alarming trend for certain people, namely Brandon Brooks, to take a lot of ill-advised 3 point attempts, which is hurting us in games like these. Maybe Larry Brown will move Hinrich back to the starting lineup.

I feel immensely better after we inflict a 99-72 whipping on the Mavericks in Dallas. A nice, balanced attack shows off highlights of 24 points and 16 rebounds from Dan Jacobson, 14 points and 15 rebounds from Emeka Okafor, 10 points and 14 assists from Brandon Brooks and the nice icing of 10 points from Phillip Gill of the second unit.

It's a nice segue into the rest of our road trip, which involves a trek through the Central Divison cities in two sets of back-to-backs. We slaughter the Bulls 92-66 as Dan Jacobson has a torrid night of 24 points and 20 rebounds, Mateen Yeaton his second with 21 points, and eviscerate the Pistons 91-75 as Mateen Yeaton and Brandon Brooks switch up their usual roles, Yeaton the doubler with 13 points and 12 assists, Brooks the primary scorer with 21 points.

Visiting Milwaukee is always nice, as it's a short drive from my hometown of Racine, especially when we beat the Bucks, as we do in the third game of the Central road trip, 108-100. Patrick Pastner scores 26 and Emeka Okafor and Dan Jacobson do their doubling tandem as they so often do, Okafor with 15 points and 11 rebounds, Jacobson with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Kirk Hinrich bolsters the cause with 14 points off the bench. The next night is the most hyped game of the road trip for obvious reasons, as we're headed to Indiana. Unfortunately for the Pacers, they're way overmatched here and go down 114-93. Brandon Brooks scores 22, Dan Jacobson gets 14 points and 10 rebounds and Kirk Hinrich chips in 15 points with the second team. All five of our starters scored at least 11 points in the trouncefest.

January concludes with yet another back-to-back. We put away the Knicks 117-104 behind three players with 20+ points: Mateen Yeaton (22), Brandon Brooks (20 points, 11 assists) and Kirk Hinrich (A blistering 21 points off the bench. Throw in Emeka Okafor's 17 points and 11 rebounds and not even Carmelo Anthony's 32 points could save New York, nor could their holding Patrick Pastner to a big fat 0 points. The final game and night of the month was our toughest contest in a long time, but we eked out the 94-90 victory over the Trailblazers in Portland. Mateen Yeaton scored 32 points, Brandon Brooks garnered 12 points and 18 assists, Dan Jacobson impressed with 13 points and 22 rebounds and Kirk Hinrich sniped Portland for 13 points off the bench.

All in all, an excellent month for us, as our 34-12 record gives a six-game cushion over the 28-18 Jazz in the Northwest. More significantly, we've surged ahead in the #2 seed race, as the Mavericks are 28-16. The Lakers still hold court with a 36-7 mark, but that's to be expected and, perhaps more importantly, the Purple and Gold didn't increase their five-game lead over their closest competition for that top spot.

I'd be really worried if I was Dallas right now. Not only are they lagging in their record, but they're just a half-game ahead of last year's West Conference champions, the Grizzlies, who are determined to show last season was no fluke.

In the East, Detroit continues to defy expectations with a 34-12 record, a game ahead of the 33-13 Raptors for the top of the conference. Boston's crashed and burned to a 23-23 record, while Indiana's picked themselves back up to a 26-18 showing and are now in third place in the Central, a game and a half behind the Bucks.

Charlotte's also fallen and the Bobcats have dropped so far, in fact, that for the first time in ages, they're in second place in their divison, as the Heat had a searing January to soar to a 26-21 record, a half-game in front of 23-19 Charlotte.

The Knicks are still very much alive at 21-24, while the Cavaliers have really started to jell, moving up to 18-26 after a very nice January.

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: 44 games/44 starts - 20.0 PPG 8.8 APG 3.2 RPG 0.6 BPG 1.4 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: 46 games/44 starts - 21.6 PPG 4.7 APG 4.9 RPG 1.6 BPG 1.3 SPG

[Izulde]

Philadelphia 76ers receive
SF Andres Nocioni

Indiana Pacers receive
PG Maurice Williams

What this means for the 76ers
Nocioni is the very definition of mediocre, especially at age 35, but he can still play every position except for C, an important versatility for Philadelphia, which doesn't have that many players capable of handling more than two spots.

What this means for the Pacers
Williams is an end of the rotation player, but he can handle the ball and score better than most of Indiana's reserves and gives them additional depth at the guard spots, something they lost a great deal of when Tony Parker went down for the year with a torn ACL. He obviously doesn't replace Parker, but he provides insurance in case something should happen to one of their other guards.

Advantage: Indiana
Although both teams got some safety netting here, Williams is a superior player in every way to Nocioni except for versatility and that superiority of talent means more for the Pacers than average multiplicity means for the 76ers.

Detroit Pistons receive
PG Zelipe Gama

Miami Heat receive
SF Tayshaun Prince
Detroit Pistons 2015 1st round pick

What this means for the Pistons
Gama may only be only able to play the point, but he's a dynamite playmaker, giving the Pistons two terrific 23 year old PGs in Gama and Kenny Graham, the starter.

What this means for the Heat
Prince is an $8 million expiring contract, valuable in and of itself, but he also becomes the single best defender on Miami's bench, one that's able to play every spot except PG. Given how exceptionally the Pistons have been playing this year, the 1st round pick is likely a late one, but it's more ammunition to use elsewhere.

Advantage: Draw
Excellent acquistions for both teams. The trade would tilt in favor of Detroit, but they're now committing $20 million a year to two guards, one of whom is a backup and furthermore, they're being held to that for the next three years at least.

Miami Heat receive
SG Steve Neal
New Orleans Hornets 2015 2nd round pick

New Orleans Hornets receive
SF Rashard Gardener

What this means for the Heat
Miami continues to stockpile draft picks after picking up Detroit's 1st rounder in the earlier trade. Neal's stuck at the bottom of the bench, but he has some potential to develop into an excellent defender. Normally that'd be a good thing, but when you were the 6th overall pick in the draft as Neal was in 2010 by the Grizzlies, you can't help but get a bust label put on your head.

What this means for the Hornets
A lot of versatile players being traded about this month and the 23 year old, 2nd year Gardener is one of them. He can play four spots, with the exception of SG and the second round selection (taken at 2.7 by the Heat last year), shows great potential on D, much like Neal.

Advantage: Miami
The Hornets overpaid for Gardener and the Heat go from promising young defensive stopper to promising young defensive stopper, snagging a 2nd round pick in turn.

Miami Heat receive
PG Derrick Attaway

Golden State Warriors receive
SG Rupert Jones

What this means for the Heat
Third trade of the month for Miami and they replace the lost Zelipe Gama with the #6 overall pick in this year's draft in Attaway. Derrick's an average guard who doesn't appear to have much ceiling and, much more dangerously for Miami, the rookie's had well-publicized run-ins with the Warriors coaching staff and is quickly developing a reputation for laziness.

What this means for the Warriors
Jones was the Heat's first round pick in 2010 (13th overall) and thus far the 23 year old hasn't amounted to much in his four and change years in the league. He looks to have some potential to develop into a sniper, but his defense is even more porous than Attaway's, which is horrendous. Jones is also is reportedly a lazy player, but contrary to Attaway, he's an easygoing team player.

Advantage: Golden State
The Warriors deal talent for team chemistry, something that doesn't matter as their season is long since lost anyway. Meanwhile, the Heat acquire a cancer who could undo all their other hard work in building an otherwise sensational team. Golden State plays it a lot safer and so "wins" the trade, though we don't like this deal for either team.

Hell of a move by the Pistons in picking up Gama, who I coveted myself and tried to trade for when shopping Kyle Smith around. Oh well, I think we're doing pretty well for ourselves anyway.

Golden State proves that shipping out talent, no matter how mercurial, sometimes isn't a good thing as they lose by 36 points to us in February's first game (109-73). Mateen Yeaton scored 26 and Kirk Hinrich added 16 bench points as we held the Warriors to 1 of 11 (9.1%) on 3-point shooting.

We get a chance to put some more distance between us and the rest of the teams in the Northwest in a divisional doubleheader and we take full advantage in netting the sweep. The Jazz go down 101-83 as Mateen Yeaton gets 28 points and 10 rebounds, Emeka Okafor is everywhere with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 6 blocks, Brandon Brooks scores 20 and Kirk Hinrich again leads the reserves and shows my wisdom in keeping him by scoring 16 off the bench. Minnesota, who always plays us tough, nonetheless falls 88-83 in the Twin Cities as Mateen Yeaton puts up 24 points, Dan Jacobson is a board-gobbler with 15 points and 20 rebounds and Brandon Brooks is cooly efficient with 12 points and 10 assists. My boy Caron Butler dropped 20 points on us off the T-Wolves bench and he's been averaging 14 points as a part-time starter/6th man in Minnesota. Nice one-year mid-level exemption pickup he was for the Timberwolves.

Our next game gets a national television spot because it's against Kyle Smith and the Cavaliers in Cleveland. They promptly go out and embarass us in front of all America, winning 100-80 and snapping our win streak. Lebron James just missed a triple-double, finishing with an amazing 30 points, 13 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals to be the one who beat us. Of course, we played like crap on our end, a couple of weak double-doubles from Emeka Okafor (10 points, 11 rebounds) and Dan Jacobson (10 points, 14 rebounds) and 12 reserve points from Kirk Hinrich our lone highlights.

Last year's team, which didn't strike me as having intenstinal fortitude, might've gone into a swoon after that loss. This year's squad goes and knocks out New Jersey 127-106, Kirk Hinrich the lead pugilist with 29 points, 14 assists and 5 rebounds off the bench. Mateen Yeaton was the flamethrower with 32 points and yeah, the Nets scored in bunches, but their bench was anemic against us.

An East Coast back-to-back completes our schedule before the All-Star break. Mateen Yeaton has one of the most amazing games I've ever seen against Atlanta: 46 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, a block and 4 steals. Needless to say, we crushed the Hawks 105-81, as Emeka Okafor did his part with 10 points and 12 rebounds and Brandon Brooks ran the offense well with 10 points and 15 assists. We head into the All-Star break on a sour note, though, shooting 35% from the floor and 15.4% from 3-point range to lose 85-78 to the Bobcats. Dan Jacobson had 10 points and 17 rebounds, Phillip Gill 10 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, but it was just an ugly, ugly game.

Kirk Hinrich makes it the final round of the 3-point competition, but fails to defend his title. At least he acquitted himself well on it.

The Rookies beat the Sophomores 97-81 as Ray Fields scores 23 points en route to Game MVP. Not that I really care, as no Nuggets play that game.

I do care about the All-Star Game, though, which is won by the West in a thrilling 103-102 contest. Despite the loss, East guard Gilbert Arenas was MVP with 22 points. Mateen Yeaton was named a starter for the West, finally ending years of drought for my teams. He had 8 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 5 blocks in 25 minutes. In other former players of mine news, Ben Gordon got his traditional All-Star reserve but no PT invite.

It felt like Mateen Yeaton was just relaxing and taking it easy during the All-Star game, which turns out to be good when he blisters Boston for 38 points in a 102-74 victory our first game back from the break. Patrick Pastner added 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Mateen Yeaton is on fire against in Memphis with 32 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks and a steal, but everyone else plays like crap and the Grizzlies knock us around 89-77.

It's quite fortunate for Patrick Pastner that the trade deadline was the night of the Memphis game, because I noticed after reviewing the statistics that he's only broken 40% shooting from the field once in his career, his rookie year and that, while he's shooting 41% from the floor this year, he's been shooting in the 30s every other season. I would've traded him, but the deadline just passed me by.

We lose 99-90 in New Orleans despite 11 points and 15 rebounds from Emeka Okafor and 12 points, 11 assists from Brandon Brooks. I'm practically livid with the losing streak, but at the moment, there isn't really anything I can do about it.

We bounce back with a 110-79 demolition of the Hawks to end the short month, Mateen Yeaton on the prowl with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Emeka Okafor and Brandon Brooks provided excellent support with 17 points and 12 rebounds and 14 points and 15 assists respectively.

41-16 has us in front of the Northwest and the Utah Jazz by 5 games. The third-place team is Seattle, holding steady at 28-28. I'm shocked at Minnesota's 28-30 record. Yes, Kevin Garnett's 38, but he's still got game, particularly in rebounding and defense and Kelvin Moody is as good as ever.

We've narrowed the gap slightly on the Lakers, who are 44-12 and have a huge advantage in playing in the conference's weakest division. How weak is it? The Purple and Gold are 10-0 against their divisionmates and second-place Sacramento is 24-35.

Dallas and Memphis are still fighting it out for the Southwest, with the Mavericks on top by half a game at 36-20.

Toronto and Detroit are essentially tied for the top seed in the East and it's going to be one of them that gets it in all likelihood, as both enjoy at least an 11 game lead in the division (12.5 in the Raptors case). The Southeast now has the Bobcats in third place, with the Heat (34-24) on top by four games over the Magic.

Boston's regained some form and are 31-27, second place behind Toronto. The Pacers are treading water at 31-25, a half-game out of the second place spot held by the Bucks. Cleveland's meteoric play cooled off, but they still played a lot better than they have in recent years, inching up to 22-34, so we're probably going to end up looking at a later lottery pick, most likely in the 9-12 range unless the balls bounce in our favor.

New York's 27-30, which puts them tied for 3rd place in the Atlantic, the highest they've been this late in the season in years. About time all those high draft picks did something.

There's one player scoring over 30 points a game and it's not Lebron James (he's in third place). Instead, it's Nigel Abel of the Heat, a 24 year old 5th year player, taken with the 5th overall pick in the 2010 draft by the Hornets. I've mentioned before how stupid it was for New Orleans to let him go, and it's ringing even truer now that he's one of the franchise players in the league. Gilbert Arenas is second, averaging 28.1 points. Ben Gordon's fourth with a 25.3 point per game average and Mateen Yeaton is 9th with 22.6 points.

The young kids are really starting to take over the league. First Abel and then Kenny Graham, 23 years old in his 4th season, leading in assists with 12.3. Graham was taken with the 13th overall pick in 2011, who then, as reported, traded him along with a 2nd round pick to the Pistons for Rico Wolfe and Raymond Badu. Gee, who do you think won that deal?

In fact, let's pull up the trade discussion when that deal happened.

December 2013

Detroit Pistons receive
PG Kenny Graham
Golden State Warriors 2014 2nd round pick

Golden State Warriors receive
SG Rico Wolfe
SF Raymond Badu

What this means for the Pistons
Graham, 22 years old, in his 3rd season after being taken at 1.13 in 2011 by the Warriors. He was something of an attitude problem in Golden State, which is why he's being traded, but his talents are delicious. Already one of the top passers in the league, he's having a breakout season offensively, averaging 16.3 points and he's working on developing his shooting all the more. Needless to say, he instantly becomes Detroit's starting PG, something they needed. The 2nd rounder's just a small cherry for the top.

What this means for the Warriors
The 21 year old, 2nd season Wolfe is raw, but has some potential, particularly on the defensive end (taken 1.24 last year by the Pistons). He can play PG/SG/SF and may see some time thanks to that versatility. The 24 year old Badu, Detroit's 2nd rounder last year, is a throwaway type, particularly given he can only play SF.

Advantage: Detroit
Attitude problems or not, Graham has all the makings of being a star in this league and this 2 for 1 deal is extremely heavily weighted to the 1, especially when the bonus 2nd rounder looks quite high indeed.

I should've known there'd be a flurry of activity after the quiet of the first month. I'm really impressed with Detroit's ability to rob Golden State for Graham, even though he may be unhappy given that the Pistons aren't that much better than the Warriors right now.

The Pistons are definitely better now and Graham's averaging a career high 19.7 points in addition to the 12.3 assists. No attitude problems either, as he's thrilled to be on a winning team.

Two other players are in double-digit assist averages; T.J. Ford (10.8) and Dwayne Wade (10.6). Paulinho Buboltz is 6th with 9.1, Brandon Brooks 11th with 8.5.

Greg Oden is tops in rebounds at 14.5 a game, followed by three players averaging over 12 boards--Jonte Jones (12.5), Andrew Bynum (12.4), and Andrew Bogut (12.1). Dan Jacobson is 8th with 11.

Andrei Kirilenko has reasserted himself as -the- dominant blocker in the league, averaging 4.2 rejections, followed by Josh Smith in Charlotte with 3.5. Emeka Okafor is 9th with 2.9, Dan Jacobson 17th with 2.2.

For the first time in years, nobody's averaging 2 steals or more a game. Rookie Leland Peterson, the 5th overall pick of the Wizards, and Chris Paul are averaging 1.9 to lead the league.

Peterson should run away with Rookie of the Year honors, because he's not only leading the league in steals (well, tied), he's first in his class with points by a considerable margin, averaging 13.8 a game. Derrick Attaway is second with 11.6, followed by Shannon Drayton, younger brother of Minnesota Timberwolves starting PG Major Drayton, with 11.3 and Mark White rounding out double-digit scoring with 10.2 points.

Derrick Attaway is first in class assists with 5, followed by Leland Peterson with 4.4. Jimmy Johnson is tops in rookie rebounds, averaging 5.1, followed by Mark White (4.7) and Shannon Drayton (4.2).

Blocks also is headed up by Derrick Attaway (1.5), with Jimmy Johnson and Leland Peterson tied for second with 1.1 rejections. Steals is Peterson as already mentioned, but Derrick Attaway and Shannon Drayton are both averaging a swipe a game.

For our own, lone rookie, Lindsey Williamson is averaging 9.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.1 blocks and 0.7 steals, still starting at SF for the Colorado Timberjacks, who are 19-16 and in 2nd place in the D-League West, a game behind one of my old D-League stomping grounds, the Anaheim Cats.

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: 56 games/56 starts - 19.3 PPG 9.1 APG 3.0 RPG 0.6 BPG 1.4 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: 57 games/55 starts - 22.6 PPG 4.2 APG 5.2 RPG 1.6 BPG 1.4 SPG

Interesting note:
Paulinho Buboltz scored a career-high 48 points November 7th this year against the Timberwolves, while Mateen Yeaton scored his own career high of 46 points against the Hawks on the 13th of this month.

[Izulde]

Houston Rockets receive
PF Sean Bergmann
Miami Heat 2015 2nd round pick

Miami Heat receive
SF Samaki Hall

What this means for the Rockets
Bergmann's stay didn't last very long in Miami, 2 months and 10 days to be exact. He nearly doubled his minutes with the Heat, but will go back to very small amounts of PT with the Rockets and doesn't particularly strengthen Houston in any way. Bergmann, by the way, was taken with the 19th overall pick by the Pacers in the 2012 draft and hasn't shown much. Likely late 2nd round pick as well.

What this means for the Heat
Hall, in his 4th season, 26, was taken with the 26th overall pick by the Rockets in 2011. He's mediocre in just about every facet of the game, save for a sweet outside shot and good FT shooting. His greatest asset is his ability to play all 5 positions, versatility which can only help Miami as they throw different looks at opposing teams.

Advantage: Miami
Not an exciting move for either team, but Hall appears to be the greatest value in this exchange, so we'll default to the Heat as winners.

Houston Rockets receive
SG Duez Walker

Portland Trailblazers receive
SG Jermaine Stokes
Houston Rockets 2015 2nd round pick

What this means for the Rockets
Walker's a pretty good all-around player, but after an intriguing rookie year with the Nuggets (taken 23rd overall in 2012), he's been relegated to the end of the bench in Denver, then Portland and now the same in Houston. Like Bergmann, his stay with his new 2014 team was extremely brief.

What this means for the Trailblazers
Stokes isn't as polished as Walker, but he has the potential to be, particularly since he for some reason is getting the PT that Walker doesn't get. That and the icing of the 2nd rounder make this minor exchange a good one for Portland, who now has a bevy of 2nd round picks in the upcoming draft.

Advantage: Portland
The 2nd round pick is worth more than Duez's polish, particularly since Stokes is getting the opportunity to develop through playing.

Milwaukee Bucks receive
SF Courtney Jones

Phoenix Suns receive
PG JJ Alvin

What this means for the Bucks
Jones is 27, in his 5th season and a former 2nd round pick (2.7 by Atlanta in 2010). He's still got some upside, primarily as an offensive threat and could develop into a nice sparkplug off the bench.

What this means for the Suns
Alvin's 25 and in his 3rd season (taken with the 21st pick by the Bucks in 2012). He's got some very good ballhandling skills and injects the Suns' bench with backcourt youth, important when one considers that Leandro Barbosa, Boris Diaw and Gerry McNamara are all in their 30s.

Advantage: Milwaukee
This would be a draw, except Alvin's only signed through this season, whereas Jones is signed through the next three years.

The trade deadline was surprisingly void of any activity this year, as the Bucks and Suns had the latest deal on the 16th. Of course, if I'd seen Patrick Pastner's abysmal FG shooting percentage earlier.... ah well.

Very enjoyable 99-79 victory over the Pacers to kick off March. Dan Jacobson was dominant with 22 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists and 6 blocks, Emeka Okafor had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks, while Patrick Pastner and Mateen Yeaton joined Jacobson in breaking 20 points with 23 and 21 respectively. Cherokee Waterman gave us a surprise bonus of 10 assists off the bench. Anything out of him is gold, because he was just a salary working player in the Cleveland trade.

Of course, we were helped by the fact that Ben Gordon joined Tony Parker in street clothes after breaking his toe February 24th. The Pacers season could take a downturn in a hurry with both those guys out. I mean, Nate Robinson is now the starting SG for crying out loud.

Mateen Yeaton scores 30 as we put away the Clippers 114-105 on the road. Brandon Brooks doubles with 14 points and 19 assists and Kirk Hinrich contributes 11 points to lead the reserves. I really love our guard play these days.

28 points from Mateen Yeaton, 18 points and 11 rebounds from Emeka Okafor and Kirk Hinrich's 10 bench points are enough to keep the winning alive, 104-92 over the Traiblazers. I can't help but wonder what Portland would look like if they actually had a bench worth talking about, as their starting five, even sans Brandon Brooks, is still very good.

Having a long stretch of days off always makes me nervous and we show why in coming out flat in a 105-86 loss to San Antonio to snap our victory parade. Mateen Yeaton scores 32, but our defense takes a nap and even 12 points and 13 rebounds from Emeka Okafor and 10 points and 10 boards out of Dan Jacobson can't overcome that we got ravaged by the Spurs starting five, including 23 points and 10 rebounds from Tyrone Dotson, he who got the fat check to re-sign with San Antonio. We come back to life on the end of the back-to-back though, whipping the Suns 105-88. Mateen Yeaton has one of his great all-around games with 28 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and 4 steals, Emeka Okafor grabs 15 points and 13 rebounds and Brandon Brooks fires it up with 17 points and 11 assists.

Mateen Yeaton singlehandedly declaws the Bobcats with 32 points, although credit's due to Brandon Brooks's 29 points and Phillip Gill's 10 bench points as well in the 112-99 thrashing.

Mile High Denver turns into the Great White North Pole as both teams shoot 37% in our next game, a home contest versus the Clippers. Superior rebounding netted the Red and White the 91-79 victory. Our lone player of worthy note was Brandon Brooks with 23 points.

The ice melts against the Bucks and we come back for the 95-75 win, Mateen Yeaton scoring 24, Emeka Okafor liking 15 enough to have 15 points and 15 rebounds and Brandon Brooks directing the offense with 12 points and 13 assists.

The homestand continues with a 103-92 victory over the Wizards. Patrick Pastner leads the way with 25 points, Dan Jacobson doubles with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Kirk Hinrich is tsunami off the bench with 20 points.

We have five games in a row at home for this stretch and it's the fourth game that proves the sweetest, a 113-107 triumph against the Lakers. Patrick Pastner scores 22 points, Mateen Yeaton does even better with 36 points, Brandon Brooks gets 12 points and 15 assists and Thabo Sefolosha is the shiny sparkplug with 14 bench points. Pretty impressive considering Dan Jacobson's limited in his effectiveness by a knee injury. And this was with 35 points and 15 rebounds from Andrew Bynum and 16 bench points from Vince Carter. So it makes me feel good about matching up with the Lakers in the postseason, if it comes to that.

The last game of our homestand is a 93-82 victory over the Kings, keyed by 20 points from Patrick Pastner and some hot bench play of 11 and 10 points respectively from Kirk Hinrich and Cherokee Waterman. Waterman's still way overpaid, but at least he's been making some contributions. A 4-1 showing in the five-game home stretch is pretty good and honestly what I expected, particularly given we were playing the Purple and Gold for one of those games.

Then we get lazy on the road and flat out suck against the Suns in losing 105-89. Mateen Yeaton scored 21 and Phillip Gill topped the reserves with 10 rebounds, but it was just a wretched game. Not cool at all.

We lose by one single mother-fing point in OT against the Jazz (116-115). Deron Williams violates us for 42 points, completely negating 28 points from Mateen Yeaton, 26 points and 11 assists from Brandon Brooks and 11 points with the second team from Kirk Hinrich. UGH with a capital U-G-H. Our chance at the top seed probably just vanished with those two losses.

At least we sweep the back-to-back to end the month, beating the Spurs 99-80 and the Trailblazers 106-99. San Antonio couldn't stop Mateen Yeaton (33 points) or Patrick Pastner (27 points), who had great support from Emeka Okafor (12 points, 13 rebounds, 5 blocks) and Brandon Brooks (10 points, 11 assists). Our victory in Portland was more of a team effort with 27 points from Mateen Yeaton, 20 from Patrick Pastner, 19 points and 10 rebounds from Emeka Okafor, 11 points and 16 assists from Brandon Brooks and two bench players in double-digit scoring: Phillip Gill (10 points) and Steven Caspers (11 points).

52-20. 10 games left in the year and nothing's for sure, except that the Lakers have long since clinched the Pacific with a 56-16 record (the second place Kings are a preposterous 26 games back). Utah is chasing at our heels, just four games behind, while the Grizzlies have overtaken the Mavericks by 2.5 games and are 47-24 atop the Southwest.

Nine teams with winning records with those 10 games (roughly speaking) left to go. Right now, it's the Timberwolves at 37-36, who would be going home. Like I said, the Northwest is a brutal division, with only Portland (31-41) holding a losing record.

In the East, Toronto's clinched the Atlantic at 55-17 and the Pistons have done the same in the Central with a 52-20 mark. Miami's leading the Southeast at 41-33, but the Magic and Bobcats are 2.5 and 4 games back respectively, so I wouldn't count them out yet.

Indiana's fallen apart since Ben Gordon went out and are 34-37, in danger of missing the playoffs. The Knicks are 34-37 as well, ironically, while the Cavaliers just exploded, racking up 9 wins this month to improve to 31-40. Not cool at all for our 1st round pick hopes. If they continue to stay hot, Cleveland could force us to a late lottery pick, or worse yet, actually make the playoffs.

[Izulde]

Things kick off splendidly with a back-to-back road sweep. Our defense puts a stranglehold on the Grizzlies in a 90-73 win that all but guarantees us the second seed and Mateen Yeaton does the heavy lifting on offense with 28 points. Emeka Okafor and Dan Jacobson net double-doubles of 15 points and 17 rebounds and 10 points and 13 rebounds respectively to further tighten the clamps on Memphis. The Hornets are crushed 116-74, Patrick Pastner the main exterminator with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Helping him were Mateen Yeaton (26 points), Emeka Okafor (12 points, 10 rebounds), Brandon Brooks (11 points, 10 assists), Phillip Gill (11 bench points) and Steven Caspers (10 bench points).

I smell a trap in the first game of our next back-to-back, as we're on the road in Minnesota and the Timberwolves are fighting for their playoff lives. Unfortunately for the T-Wolves, we shoot a 101-75 silver bullet in their hearts, Kirk Hinrich taking over with 22 points off the bench after Mateen Yeaton played scanty minutes due to foul trouble. Dan Jacobson had 11 points and 12 rebounds and Phillip Gill got 10 bench points for his second consecutive double-digit scoring game. Seattle gives us a tougher time of it the next night, but we prevail 99-85 on the strength of Mateen Yeaton's 20 points, 18 points and 11 rebounds from Emeka Okafor and all five startings reaching at least 11 points, the lowest one being Brandon Brooks, who made up for those 11 points with 17 terrific assists.

We guarantee ourselves of finishing no worse than .500 in the final 10 games by knocking out Golden State 104-85. Patrick Pastner leads all scorers with 29 points, Mateen Yeaton is just off that with 25 points and Phillip Gill and Kirk Hinrich lead the reserves with 10 and 11 points respectively.

A rematch against the Hornets sees a 107-74 blowout that runs us to 6-0 and guarantees a winning record for the last phase. Mateen Yeaton does it all by himself practically in scoring 38 points, Steven Caspers this game's top reserve with 10 points.

The first game of the ensuing doubleheader worries me, as we're against the revenge-hungry Grizzlies. But it's another stunning slaughter, 101-72. Mateen Yeaton scores 29, Emeka Okafor gets 10 points and 16 rebounds and Dan Jacobson abuses Memphis for 18 points, 15 rebounds and 6 blocks. Our closest game in a long time comes against the Rockets the subsequent evening, but despite Emeka Okafor's goose egg, Mateen Yeaton, Brandon Brooks and Patrick Pastner all hit 20 points or more with 26, 21 and 20 respectively, carrying us to a 102-94 win and an 8-0 mark in the final slate.

One more back-to-back. Can we reach perfection? The Suns burn and burn in Phoenix, doing their damndest to scar our undefeated mark, but they fall just short, losing 98-94. Brandon Brooks fends them off with 18 points and 15 assists, while Emeka Okafor and Dan Jacobson play the inverse game with 10 points and 12 rebounds and 12 points and 10 rebounds respectively. Kirk Hinrich does his usual scoring off the bench with 13 points. The Trailblazers go down with barely a whimper, 87-73. Mateen Yeaton leads both teams with 23 points, Patrick Pastner scores 21 and double-doubles come courtesy of Dan Jacobson's 12 points and 11 rebounds and Brandon Brooks's 13 points and 11 assists. Our best reserve? Surprise, surprise, Kirk Hinrich with 11 points.

But was our incredible 10-0 run, 12-game winning streak altogether, enough to get us the #1 seed?

After our victory, we don't know.

We're 62-20.

The Lakers are 61-20.

The Purple and Gold beats the Trailblazers 96-89. Now they're 62-20, too.

Now who wins the tiebreaker?

I don't know, but until I do know, here are the top teams in each conference by record.

West Conference (with Predicted Tiebreakers)
1. Los Angeles Lakers (62-20)
2. Denver Nuggets (62-20)
3. Memphis Grizzlies (52-30)
4. Utah Jazz (52-30)
5. Dallas Mavericks (49-33)
6. San Antonio Spurs (45-37)
7. Houston Rockets (44-38)
8. Minnesota Timberwolves (42-40)

Those aren't easy 7 and 8 seeds by any means and it's hard to say which one I would rather face.

East Conference (with Projected Tiebreakers)
1. Toronto Raptors (63-19)
2. Detroit Pistons (59-23)
3. Miami Heat (45-37)
4. Boston Celtics (43-39)
5. Milwaukee Bucks (43-39)
6. Orlando Magic (43-39)
7. Philadelphia 76ers (41-41)
8. Charlotte Bobcats (41-41)

Looks like a weak field for the Raptors to just breeze right through.

The Knicks missed out on the playoffs by only a couple games, finishing 39-43, their best showing in literally years. Cleveland finished 33-49, which gives them either the 7th or 8th worst record, depending on how their tiebreaker goes with the Hawks. I'll definitely take a Top 10 pick, with a fair shot at moving up.

Nigel Abel was our only 30+ point per game scorer this year with 31, and having him and Dwayne Wade in the same backcourt will make them dangerous in the playoffs. Gilbert Arenas was second with 27.8, Ben Gordon 4th with 24.8, Mateen Yeaton 6th with 23.2.

Three players in double-digit assists: Kenny Graham (11.9), Dwayne Wade (10.8) and T.J. Ford (10.5). Brandon Brooks finished 6th with 9 even, Paulinho Buboltz 8th with 8.7.

Greg Oden ran around with the rebounding title at 15.1 boards per game. Jonte Jones and Andrew Bynum tied for second with 12.3. Dan Jacobson was 14th with 10.4.

Andrei Kirilenko resoundly returned to 4 blocks a game average with 4.2 and two players averaged more than 3 rejections a game: Josh Smith (3.4) and Kelvin Moody (3.0). Emeka Okafor was 9th with 2.5.

Rookie Leland Peterson captured the steals title outright with 1.9 a game. The others don't even merit mention, in my opinion.

A lot of attrition in the rookie points category. Leland Peterson won the rookie average title with ease with 13.4 points a game. Shannon Drayton was the only other rookie to finish above 10 points per game with 11.1.

Leland Peterson took the first-year assists title, too, with 4.4, Derrick Attaway second with 4.1. Jimmy Johnson got the highest rebounds per game as a rookie with 4.8, followed by Shannon Drayton with 4.1. Mark White just missed out on 4 rebounds a game with 3.9.

Blocks went to Derrick Attaway with 1.2 a game, but Leland Peterson was right behind with 1.1 and Jimmy Johnson just behind LP with a block a game even.

You already know who won rookie steals, but Shannon Drayton also had over a swipe per game with 1.2.

If Leland Peterson doesn't win Rookie of the Year, the voters are on crack. He not only won every rookie category save for two, he led the league in average steals and the two rookie categories he didn't win, he was 5th (rebounds) and 2nd (blocks).

Speaking of rookies, Lindsey Williamson completed the D-League regular season averaging 9.9 points, 6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.2 blocks and 0.9 steals. The Timberjacks made it to the postseason as the #2 seed in the West, where they'll be playing Los Angeles in the first round.

Congratulations, Lindsey! He's also reportedly made considerable strides in his game and should be able to compete for a legitimate bench spot next season.

And then the news comes back.

The Denver Nuggets are the #1 seed in the West!!!!!

[Barkeep49]

Whoo!

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

Whoo!

Whoo indeed. That's another milestone I can tack on to my GM resume.

[Izulde]

This is the first time since I've carried an NBA team to a #1 seed and there's a ton of pressure that comes with the top ranking. Even more so in this year's case, when the media says it should've been the Lakers who received first billing, even though they were upset in the first round last year by the Kings.

And yet, I feel really, really good about this team. Are we good enough to win the title? Well, I don't know about that. I mean, there's still the Raptors in the East, hungry to avenge themselves of narrowly losing the chance to defend their title last season and the West has a number of good teams in the playoffs this year.

But I think there's a good chance we can maybe get back to the Finals...

"The smartest thing GM Jestor did was to trade away Kyle Smith to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Probable Top 10 pick in the next draft and extra 2017 1st rounder aside, shifting Smith allowed Mateen Yeaton to move to his natural SG position and ushered in the era of Brandon Brooks at PG. The offense flourished under the change and the defense was particularly effective for most of the season. Denver ended the year on a 12-game winning streak to steal the top seed away from the Lakers and they're on fire right now.

But one certainly can't discount the Timberwolves, not when Minnesota has traditionally played Denver tough and not when the T-Wolves are hungry to avenge late-season embarassments and replicate Sacramento's feat last season.

Point Guard
Brandon Brooks vs. Major Drayton
Brooks is a clockwork 11-12 point, 9 assist average guy in the regular season year in and year out. He runs the Nuggets offense extremely well and is a very good defender. The big question: How will he react to the glare of the playoff spot? His last and only postseason appearance was in 2009 with Portland and he was extremely underwhelming in the five-game opening round loss.

Drayton's a lot like Brooks, with two noticeable exceptions. First, he's nowhere near as good a defender, though he does have playmaking ability with stealing the ball that Brooks doesn't have. Secondly, he's proven that he can be a solid playoff performer, a trait that makes this position matchup much more even than it might otherwise be.

Advantage: Draw

Shooting Guard
Mateen Yeaton vs. Monta Ellis
Yeaton showed off a consistency this year that he's lacked in previous seasons and the All-Star starter looks particularly intense and focused. While his defense is generally considered average, his ability to steal the ball and his 6'8 height that gives him the major advantage in shotblocking make Mateen dangerous on the defensive end. But after averaging a disappointing 18.8 points in last year's playoffs, he has to prove that he can be a true postseason warrior.

Ellis averaged a career high 16.2 points a game in the regular season, but he's clearly outclassed in every way against Yeaton. Unlike last year, when the Nuggets star had to go up against good one-on-one defenders in San Antonio's Joe Johnson and Dallas's Josh Howard, Ellis is only average and furthermore, gives up 5 inches to Yeaton.

Advantage: Denver

Small Forward
Patrick Pastner vs. Kevin Garnett
Pastner drew a lot of fire for his poor shot selection in recent years, with the result that he focused on improving it this season and had career highs in points per game with 16.1 and FG % with 41.2. He's a very good all-around player, but not really exceptional in any area, either.

At 38 years old, Garnett's lost a few steps and averaged a career-worst 13.1 points in the regular season. But don't count KG out, as he's still a sharp defender with excellent rebounding technique and, unlike Pastner, he knows how to be patient with his shots. He likely can't take over a game anymore like he could in his prime, but underestimate him at your own peril.

Advantage: Draw

Power Forward
Emeka Okafor vs. Kelvin Moody
Okafor's role in the Nuggets offense is clearly defined: Play exceptional defense, gobble up rebounds, block shots and if you get some points, great. Okafor just missed a double-double this year, averaging 10.9 points and a career-high 9.6 rebounds. He's going to be an important part of Denver's interior defense.

There's no question Moody's one of the biggest stars in the league at 25. He averaged 20.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3 blocks in the regular season, besting Okafor's 2.5 average rejections. He's a prolific scorer and has taken over Garnett as Minnesota's primary offensive option. In addition, he's one of the best rebounders in the league. His defense is above average, but nowhere near Okafor's brilliance.

Advantage: Minnesota

Center
Dan Jacobson vs. Kyle Jordan
10.4 was a magical number for Jacobson this year, as he averaged both 10.4 points and 10.4 rebounds in the regular season, his second straight season of a double-double average. He's an excellent defender and shotblocker, a very good rebounder, and, more frighteningly for Denver's opponents, he continues to work hard at improving his offensive game, even though the averaged out numbers don't necessarily show it.

Jordan's a great shotblocker that uses his burly size (282 lbs) and great technique to make up for his lack of height at 6'9", is a very good rebounder in his own right and finds ways to score points around the rim, having averaged 10 points a game for the past three seasons. That said, he's still much shorter than the 7'3 Jacobson, even if he is bigger in terms of proportion (Jacobson weighs in at 290) and he's merely average on defense.

Advantage: Denver

Bench
Kirk Hinrich averaged 6.7 points, but the number's misleading, as he was an end of the bench player while Kyle Smith is on the team. He's one of the best 6th men in the league and could start at either guard spot for a vast number of teams. He's an offensive sparkplug, both in terms of points and in running the offense. Phillip Gill still hasn't fulfilled his considerable potential, but the 22 year old 4th year player shows flashes of brilliance, particularly in scoring and rebounding, to keep hoping that he'll reach it someday. Thabo Sefolosha and Steven Caspers are the stoppers on the bench. Sefolosha, much-loved by the Nuggets front office for years, is a proven playoff performer, while Caspers is one of the most underrated reserves in the NBA, able to play good defense and provide an occasional outpouring of points.

Former Nugget Caron Butler and fellow Racinian to Denver GM Jestor averaged a breathtaking 13.8 points a game and can play every postion except C. He's a skilled ballthief and plays good defense as well. Jarrod Owens is arguably the best defender in the league not starting and Bobby Simmons is another very good, versatile defender.

Advantage: Draw

Final Thoughts
The problem for Minnesota is that it appears they don't have enough offense. Kelvin Moody will get his points and Kevin Garnett could do well with the motivation that his career's in its twilight, but outside of those two and Caron Butler, there's really nowhere to generate the points needed to overcome a glaring mismatch at SG, where the Nuggets just happen to have their best shooter in Mateen Yeaton or the ability of Patrick Pastner and Brandon Brooks to at any time cut loose with a barrage of 20 points. And then there's the problem at C, where Kyle Jordan is going to have a hellish series against Dan Jacobson. While the Timberwolves have the defensive ability on the bench to reduce Denver's reserves to a trickle offensively, the disparity in the starting fives is simply too much.
Prediction: Denver in 5

I'm glad they think we'll do so well. To be honest, I have to say this matchup does generally favor us and maybe this series can be a confidence booster for Mateen Yeaton.

Game One
Awful. Simply awful. When 2 of your starters score 5 points or less, you know it's going to be a long night. And it was, even though Mateen Yeaton scored 21 and Kirk Hinrich added 15 points off the bench. Major Drayton shredded us for 28 points and 12 assists, Kyle Jordan embarrased Dan Jacobson with 21 points and 10 rebounds, Kelvin Moody netted 17 points and 12 rebounds and Caron Butler finished off the beating with 11 points as the leading Timberwolf reserve. This is probably the most god-awful game I've ever seen any of my teams play in the postseason.
Final - Minnesota 104 Denver 86

Game Two
We'd better snap out of it here. Leaving Denver with a 2-0 hole would put a huge crimp in our plans to show we deserve the top seed. Monta Ellis scores 22 points and Kyle Jordan continues to look ridiculously good with 13 points and 16 rebounds, but our defense otherwise shuts Minnesota down. Patrick Pastner double-doubled with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Mateen Yeaton led us with 19 points, but the real key to this victory was holding the Timberwolves to 37.2% shooting and having all five starters score at least 10 points. A critical series evener, to be sure.
Final - Minnesota 76 Denver 91

Game Three
After how iffy we've played at home, I'm dreading the Target Center. What follows is the closest game of the series thus far, the Timberwolves feeding off the home crowd for a furious fourth quarter rally. Monta Ellis scored 25, Major Drayton dished out 10 points and 13 assists and Kelvin Moody highlighted with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Minnesota also held 3 of our starters to under 10 points and no Denver subs scored double-digits. So how did it end, you ask? Mateen Yeaton took over and had his finest postseason hour, rising above them all for 31 points and Brandon Brooks was his faithful sidekick with 20 points and 10 assists. We withstood the T-Wolf rage and came away with a momentum-changing four-point victory and the series lead.
Final - Denver 98 Minnesota 94

Game Four
The beauty of our backcourt continued, Mateen Yeaton scoring a masterful 30 points, but the real breathtaking performance was that of Utah Sixer Brandon Brooks, who orchestrated a near triple-double of 24 points, 13 assists, 9 rebounds, a block and a steal. They were the court-dancing pair, the celestial great ones on this starry night, as the only other noteworthy performance on either side was 15 points by Caron Butler as the Timberwolves 6th man. Two heroes accomplishing great things on their quest for playoff redemption, three Denver victories and just one more win needed to close out the round.
Final - Denver 97 Minnesota 85

In the rest of the playoff landscape, Toronto dispatches traditional playoff upstart Charlotte in four games and the Utah Jazz guarantee an all-Northwest second round by strangling our old nemesis, the Dallas Mavericks, in a surprising sweep. Of the rest, I dare not speak at this time.

Game Five
A wolf, when cornered, will put up the sort of fight that imperils the life of its opponent. Now imagine an entire pack of Timberwolves fighting for their playoff lives and for Kevin Garnett's quest for a ring. Kelvin Moody was brilliant with 19 points, 18 rebounds and 6 blocks, Monta Ellis had his third 20+ point game of the series with 24, Major Drayton landed 13 points and 10 assists and Jarrod Owens provided 12 points off the bench. Minnesota led us for three quarters of play and things looked headed for a Game 6, maybe even a Game 7. But Brandon Brooks would not brook that, scoring 22 points in the game and Phillip Gill picked the perfect time to break out with a 12 point, 10 rebound cavalry performance. We thundered back in the fourth quarter of play and broke the state of Minnesota's heart in stealing victory by a single point. So much for a Timberwolf miracle. We, the Nuggets, long for our golden glory and will let no one stop us.
Final - Minnesota 91 Denver 92

The defending champion Celtics betray their fluke title by falling to the Bucks in five, but that result and our own triumph over the Timberwolves mean nothing.

Because the world is asking one question.

Whither the lustre once the birthright of the Purple and Gold?

The Lakers, long considered the NBA's royalty, are dethroned again, upset for the second consecutive season in the first round. The Rockets take off for the 4-1 upset, leaving the Lakers organization, their fans, and the basketball world to ponder if the ages of Showtime I and II majesty are now merely cobwebbed history.

All the other series go to the full limit. Miami beats Orlando in seven games and I'm shocked it took the Heat that long, considering how heavily favored they were. Detroit, who I thought a humongous paper tiger, just barely edge past the 76ers. And finally, San Antonio pulls off the upset in knocking out the defending West conference champion Grizzlies.

Even with the Lakers gone, the road ahead is not going to be easy. But I can sleep tonight knowing we avoid one of our two mortal enemies in the second round.

[Autumn]

Wow, a really exciting season. It seems you've got all your puzzle pieces this time, including some great team chemistry and defense.

Yeaton seems to have really lit up the second half of the season, I wonder what his points average was for the second half? Seemed to really ramp up. His good play in the first series suggests maybe he's ready for primetime now.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Autumn

Wow, a really exciting season. It seems you've got all your puzzle pieces this time, including some great team chemistry and defense.

Yeaton seems to have really lit up the second half of the season, I wonder what his points average was for the second half? Seemed to really ramp up. His good play in the first series suggests maybe he's ready for primetime now.

Yeah, the season was a little depressing starting out and then got more gloomy until I ditched Smith. It's amazing how well we turned things around after that deal.

I'm not sure what his PPG were for the second half, but you're right, Yeaton really did turn it around. Again, I think part of that was because of the Smith deal and him going back to SG.

As for the playoffs, he did average 22.6 points a game in his last postseason with Indiana, so he's certainly capable of it... but that's been the only time he's averaged 20 points or more in the playoffs.

This is a really fun team right now and I'm going to enjoy the rest of the playoffs, no matter where we finally end up.

[Izulde]

Exciting news from the D-League playoffs, where the Timberjacks clobbered the Sea Dogs 93-77 despite a heroic 30 points from Andrew Clay, a 27 year old former 1st round pick of the Spurs (23rd overall in 2010 draft). Clay for some reason is listed as having 0 years of experience, even though he played very sparingly for the Spurs and Hawks from 2010-2014 and also played in the D-League each season. Lindsey Williamson did well in the victory: 6/12 for 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block. So the Timberjacks go on to the conference championship.

Utah's an interesting opponent. They've had some measure of success, making the playoffs in 2007, 2009 (won the Northwest Division), 2013 and this season, but as I can't find my playoff records, I'm not sure how far they've advanced each year. (OOC Note to Self: Suggest Playoff History in Alamanac)

We've never played them in the postseason since I've been here, unlike the Mavericks, who we would've faced had the Jazz lost.

But enough of me rambling. I'll let my favorite press do the talking.

"And so the Nuggets will have to continue fighting through its own division on their quest for renewed glory. The Jazz look impressive in sweeping Dallas and Utah's said to have a chip on its shoulder after all the criticism they received for letting David Anyan go in free agency.

Utah also looked good in the regular season against Denver, but most of their success was when Kyle Smith still wore a Nuggets uniform. Denver's restored team chemistry and strong play since then mean that a much closer look at the matchups are required.

Point Guard
Brandon Brooks vs. A.J. Dunkley
Brooks was incredible in the opening series, exorcising the ghosts of his other, lone playoff series with Portland by averaging 17.4 points, 8.8 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 2 steals. He and Mateen Yeaton have an instinctual understanding and awareness of each other on the court and have become the best backcourt in the West. GM Jestor said in an interview before the first game of the postseason that had he still been the Knicks GM in 2008, he would've passed on Ronny Smith and Kelvin Moody to take Brooks. Now that Jestor has his man, we're starting to see why.

Dunkley is a phenomenal passer with good ballhandling and terrific ball-stealing abilities. 23 years old, taken by the Jazz with the 9th pick in the 2011 draft, he's been improving his offensive game and production each year and could be one of the better PGs in the league in another year or two. The weak spot is his medicore defense. Against a player as hot as Brooks, that spells trouble. Dunkley averaged 14.5 points and 6.8 assists against the Mavericks.

Advantage: Denver

Shooting Guard
Mateen Yeaton vs. Deron Williams
Another postseason demon banisher, Yeaton averaged 23.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.6 blocks against Minnesota and appears to have finally hurdled the mountain in his path. Or was it merely a function of having a pedestrian defender guarding him in the opening round?

There'll be a partial answer as Williams is a little bit better than average, but not necessarily good defender. What Williams -does- bring is excellent passing skills and a good shot, along with a 20.4 points per game in the regular season, the first time in his career he's reached the hallowed 20 point average mark. However, he wasn't very involved against Dallas, averaging 16.5 points, 4.8 assists and 2 steals. If the Jazz want to win, Deron's going to have to step it up in scoring, a task that may be a tall order, as he, like Monta Ellis in the last round, surrenders 5 inches to Yeaton.

Advantage: Denver

Small Forward
Patrick Pastner vs. Andrei Kirilenko
Pastner averaged 12.8 points, 6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.4 steals and a block versus Minnesota, precisely the kind of all-around game the Nuggets anticipate from him, although Denver would like to see more points out of him and a better shooting percentage than 39.3.

That's not likely to happen against 6-time Defensive Player of the Year Kirilenko, who's had a surprising outpouring of offense in averaging 16.3 points, 7 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 3.3 blocks against Dirk Nowitzki of the Mavericks. The Russian's going to make Pastner's life hell and shut down one of Denver's bigger offensive weapons.

Advantage: Utah

Power Forward
Emeka Okafor vs. Carlos Boozer
Okafor contributed just 6.2 points a game against Minnesota, but as we've said before, his role is defense and rebounding and he did a good job of that in the opening series, averaging 8.2 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 2 blocks against Timberwolf superstar Kelvin Moody.

He'll have another offensive powerhouse to shut down in Boozer, who's a fantastic shooter and a very good rebounder, averaging a team-high 21.8 points and 12.5 rebounds in the Dallas series. That said, Boozer is turnover-prone and, like Williams, has only slightly above average defense and any extra offense Denver can generate out of Okafor is that much better for the Nuggets, especially with Pastner liable to be shut down.

Advantage: Utah

Center
Dan Jacobson vs. Andris Biedrins[/u]
For all Jacobson's heralded defense and shotblocking abilities, the undersized Kyle Jordan made him look downright silly at several points during the opening round. However, Jacobson did still see his way through to 12.4 points, 9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in the first series. But there's now lingering questions about whether Jacobson can be a productive postseason player, especially since these totals represent career highs.

Biedrins was once a marquee signing for the Nuggets, but he was shipped off two months into the season to the Jazz for Mehmet Okur and Utah's 2014 2nd round pick. He's got great rebounding skills, but he's been a terrible disappointment offensively, has subpar ballhandling and is another one of Utah's slightly above average, but not truly good defenders. The only reason Biedrins averaged 11 points, 10.5 rebounds, a steal and 2.3 blocks against Dallas (and indeed, the only reason Utah swept the series), was because Jonte Jones broke his finger in the opening game. All of that said, Andris does have the size at 7', 240 lbs to go toe-to-toe with Jacobson.

Advantage: Denver

Bench
It's hard to get a read on the Nuggets reserves because of the terrific defenders Minnesota had on their bench, but Kirk Hinrich averaged 7 points a game and Phillip Gill made his presence felt with 6.8 points and 6.4 rebounds, throwing in close to a block a game besides.

At 36, Mike Bibby isn't the textbook PG he once was. But what he is, is an explosive 6th man the equally offensively of fellow aging PG Kirk Hinrich. He averaged 11.8 points and 4.5 assists versus Dallas and will play a key role in this series as well. Unfortunately for Utah, he's the only bench player really worthy of mention.

Advantage: Denver

Final Thoughts
On paper, this is looking like a possible Denver sweep. But Andrei Kirilenko will singlehandedly create major hassles for the Nuggets offensive scheme and Deron Williams, a far more accomplished player than Monta Ellis, should have a dynamite series against the average defender himself Mateen Yeaton. It won't be a sweep, but in the end, Denver's depth gives them the edge.
Prediction: Denver in 6

At least we're still favored.

Game One
After our opening loss against Minnesota, I've learned to take nothing for granted. It was a pretty good, pretty scrappy game. Utah got 10 points and 20 rebounds out of Andris Biedrins, 20 points and 10 assists out of A.J. Dunkley and 15 bench points from Mike Bibby. But it wasn't enough, as Mateen Yeaton scored 26, Emeka Okafor bulldozed his way to 13 points and 10 rebounds and Kirk Hinrich countered Bibby with 16 bench points of his own, netting us a comfortable win.
Final - Utah 81 Denver 97[/i]

Game Two
This is the best defensive game we've played all season, holding the Jazz to 31.2% shooting. Andris Biedrins was the lone Utah highlight with 12 points and 16 rebounds and was more than matched by Mateen Yeaton's 27 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 blocks and 4 steals, to say nothing of 21 points and 11 rebounds from Emeka Okafor. Utah's definitely looking drained out there as we take the easy 2-0 lead.
Final - Utah 72 Denver 95

Game Three
If the Jazz are going to get back in this, they need to show some life here. A victory is extremely important yes, but far more critical than even that is to illustrate some ability to even keep a game close before their home crowd. Deron Williams puts up 26 points, A.J. Dunkley scores 20 and Carlos Boozer gets 17 points and 11 rebounds, but even the revival of their top three players isn't enough, as Emeka Okafor continues his amazing series with 17 points and 16 rebounds, Mateen Yeaton scores 21 and we get enough points from everyone else, including a nice 19 from Patrick Pastner to win by a surprisingly large margin and push the Jazz to the edge of elimination.
Final - Denver 98 Utah 84

Game Four
If the Jazz play out of their minds, they can avoid the sweep, but honestly, with as flat as they've looked all series, I don't see that happening. And it doesn't, as we not only hold Utah to 37.2% shooting, but Mateen Yeaton has an absolutely amazing 41 points to deliver the big knockout blow. Dan Jacobson finally stepped up with 12 points and 16 rebounds and Kirk Hinrich topped it off with 10 bench points. The Jazz starters were just terrible, so much so that two bench players were the only, lonely Utah highlights; Mike Bibby with 13 points in 8 minutes and Taj Gray with 10 points.

It's a satisfying sweep, although I'm a little concerned that Brandon Brooks didn't have a breakout game and our bench didn't dominate nearly as much as I thought it would. On the other hand, Mateen Yeaton looks positively inspired out there and Emeka Okafor's got that fire in his eyes as well.

San Antonio beats the Rockets in 5 games, setting up the Western Conference final matchup I most didn't want outside of the Lakers. We've beaten the Spurs in the playoffs before, but they're always hell to play against.

Detroit pulls off a major stunner in upsetting the Heat in 5 games as well. Although technically not an upset due to seeding, with the Pistons the #2 team, betting was heavy on Miami due to Dwayne Wade and Nigel Abel on the Heat.

But that's nothing compared to the buzz generated by the Raptors/Bucks series.

Milwaukee shocked everyone by jumping out to a 3-1 series lead on Toronto. The Raptors responded as I thought they would, clawing their way back to force a Game 7.

But then the Bucks, largely a collection of unsung heroes, hold Greg Oden to just 3 points and frustrate the Raptors all night in an incredible, home-crowd embarassing, 94-82 victory to pull off the playoffs' biggest upset.

Chris Bosh went on such a tirade in an interview after the game (He scored 10 points off the bench), that the betting pool is officially open as to where he'll end up next season. He's been complaining bitterly all year about being forced to the 6th man role and there are rumors that his unhappiness about David Anyan's arrrival and disruption of the Raptor lineup wrecked Toronto's chemistry.

Ironically enough, Anyan was the only Raptor to reach 20 points in Game 7, scoring 23 and grabbing 9 rebounds. On the other hand, he turned the ball over 5 times.

It's going to be one of hell of an East Conference Finals matchup betweeen the two Central teams.

[Izulde]

It feels good to be back in the West Conference Finals and I do think we've got a chance to advance for a try at it all.

No such luck for Lindsey Willamson's Timberjacks, as the Anaheim Cats came from behind in the fourth quarter to beat Colorado 84-81. You can't blame Williamson for the loss; he was 7/11 for 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. Just a very good year for him overall, though I'm inclined to think he'll be back in the D-League next season, as I don't quite see him as being there yet.

So all eyes are on us now in the Nuggets organization. And rightfully so.

"The Nuggets are finally back in the Western Conference finals and they've done it despite having just one player who's played as much as three full seasons in Denver (Dan Jacobson). It's a testament to just how shrewd GM Jestor was in the total remake of the Denver roster and his foresight in letting George Karl fly straight into the hell of professional basketball known as the Knicks and signing Larry Brown, a head coach far more suited to the young Nuggets.

The battle with the Spurs promises to be an exciting one, as the two teams have a considerable stretch of playoff history since Jestor's arrival in Denver. No matter who wins, it's likely to be a close, thrilling series.

Point Guard
Brandon Brooks vs. Julian Wright
Brooks wasn't as explosive against Utah as he was versus Minnesota, but don't let that fool you. He's still averaging 14.6 points, 8.3 assists and 2.1 steals in the playoffs and to leave him unchecked is to invite danger.

San Antonio continues to insist on the ill-suited Wright as their PG. Sure, he's a defensive stalwart and his 6'8 body creates matchup nightmares for the opposition, but he can't pass very well, nor shoot efficiently, in spite of what his 11.1 points, 6.6 assists and 1.2 blocks in the playoffs might say.

Advantage: Denver

Shooting Guard
Mateen Yeaton vs. Joe Johnson
Yeaton has been electrifying in this playoffs, averaging a breathtaking 25.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.8 blocks. He appears to have finally broken through the difficulties he had in previous seasons and, should Denver make it to the Finals or win it all, he stands a very good chance of being named Playoff MVP.

On the other hand, Johnson shackled Yeaton all during their series last year and he has the ability to do it again. He's also averaging 20.6 points, 5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.3 steals. In short, he's an even more complete player than Yeaton and will cause problems all series young.

Advantage: San Antonio

Small Forward
Patrick Pastner vs. Paul Pierce
It's PP vs. PP and while Pastner increased his points per game in the playoffs with 14.6 and is averaging 6.6 rebounds and 1.3 steals besides, his biggest task will be trying to shut down his dopplegangler.

Because the 37 year old Pierce has been masterful in the playoffs, shrugging off age and turning back the clock to average 21.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and a steal a game this postseason. If there's a weak spot, it's his declining, mediocre defense and his fading quickness resulting in poorer ballhandling skills. Even with Denver's PP having much better defense and ball security, the superior is obvious.

Advantage: San Antonio

Power Forward
Emeka Okafor vs. Tyrone Dotson
Okafor, like Pierce, is finding new life in the playoffs and was absolutely incredible against the Jazz, raising his postseason averages to 9.7 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. He's been a tyrant on defense and a rebounding machine.

Dotson was coveted by the Nuggets during the offseason, but the Spurs ponied up the cash to keep him. What's interesting is that he seems to be highly overrated, with his deficiencies coming to the forefront as a starter. He has below-average defense, isn't a comfortable shooter, turns the ball over a ton and is foul-prone. That said, he's a good rebounder, still has some upside, and is a decent blocker, averaging 7.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks thus far in the postseason. But he's going to get absolutely schooled by the veteran Okafor.

Advantage: Denver

Center
Dan Jacobson vs. Hilton Armstrong
Familiar foes, here. Jacobson's averaging 10.2 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in the playoffs and played much better defense versus the Jazz. On the flip side, he's shown only very rarely flashes of being able to be a critical part of the offensive gameplan, something he may well need to rectify here against the Spurs.

Armstrong keeps finding ways to retain his starting job for the Spurs. Maybe it's his good rebounding technique or maybe it's that he's got equally good defense, but he still manages to hang on to it despite being nowhere near the others in his lineage (David Robinson and Tim Duncan ring any bells?). He is, however, averaging 10.1 points, 12 rebound and 2.1 blocks in the playoffs and generally has looked better in the postseason than the regular season. He'll need to bring every bit of his game against the much bigger Jacobson.

Advantage: Draw

Bench
Kirk Hinrich is still plugging along, averaging 7.6 points and Phillip Gill continues to be a noteworthy force, averaging 5.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and almost a block.

Quincy Douby's stellar playoff reputation is intact, as he's averaging 7.5 points. Paul Fisher is averaging almost 3 points and 3 rebounds in under 9 minutes and plays exceptional defense, but for the most part, this is a very weak bench, particularly due to the lack of anyone who can pass the ball.

Advantage: Denver

Final Thoughts
Joe Johnson and Paul Pierce will turn this series into a white-knuckle slugfest, a contest so epic, it'll be one for the ages and the history books. But Brandon Brooks is even better than Kirk Hinrich was a year ago and the Nuggets' superior bench will see them through to the NBA Finals once more.
Prediction: Nuggets in 7

I'm so nervous about this matchup as to be terrified. But I think we can do it. As they said though, it'll be close, damned close.

Game One
It's absolutely deafening here in Denver for Game 1, the crowd more frenzied and amped than I've ever seen them. The noise level absolutely discombobulates the Spurs, while our team feeds off the energy and blows San Antonio out. Shawne Williams was the lone Spur highlight with 10 bench points, while on our end, Emeka Okafor had 10 points and 11 rebounds and our huge advantage in bench depth was in full force, as Phillip Gill was amazing with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks and Thabo Sefolosha showed why I fell in love with his clutch prowess with 14 points. This victory left me and all the other Denver fans watching pumped.
Final - San Antonio 79 Denver 105

Game Two
The Spurs now consider Denver a house of horrors, as they shot just 36.1% this game. Once again, Shawne Williams was the only Spur able to do anything with 16 points as a reserve. Emeka Okafor continued to take advantage of Tyrone Dotson with 14 points and 17 rebounds, Mateen Yeaton broke through Joe Johnson for 22 points, 2 assists, 6 rebounds, 6 blocks and a steal as Player of the Game and our bench maintained its masterful play. Kirk Hinrich scored 10 points and Phillip Gill just missed a double-double with 8 points and 10 rebounds. Another pummeling and a beautiful 2-0 series lead as we switch venues.
Final - San Antonio 81 Denver 104

Game Three
I'm a little concerned how we'll react to being in San Antonio. The Spurs are desperate to regain some semblance of respect and get back in this series. And San Antonio did come out swinging, their offense discovering itself again in the comforts of home. Joe Johnson, Julian Wright and Paul Pierce all scored over 20 points, with 23, 21 and 22 respectively, but we more than countered that as we shot 57.7% as a team. Patrick Pastner came out of nowhere for 33 points, Dan Jacobson had 12 points and 16 rebounds, Mateen Yeaton scored 26 points, Brandon Brooks double-doubled with 10 points and 13 assists and Kirk Hinrich orchestrated 16 points to lead our great bench in another stomping of the Spurs. San Antonio is now officially on the brink.
Final - Denver 114 San Antonio 93

The victory isn't wholly without cost, though. Brandon Brooks picks up a sore hand and Mateen Yeaton sprains his toe. Fortunately neither injury is serious and I'm just hoping to close out the series next game so we can avoid losing anybody.

Game Four
The decibel level in San Antonio mirrors that of Denver in Game 1. The Spurs faithful want to avoid their team bowing out with an embarrasing sweep. And they do it with an incredible second-half rally that just leaves me shaking my head in a mixture of awe at San Antonio's resilience and disgust at our own defensive laspses. Paul Pierce saved the Spurs with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals and Shawne Williams scored 13 points to continue as San Antonio's only productive bench player in this series. We had game efforts from Emeka Okafor (15 points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks) and Brandon Brooks (13 points, 13 assists), but we fell one bloody bucket short of the sweep. There was no excuse for allowing a 14-point lead to evaporate or to surrender 32 points in the 4th quarter.
Final - Denver 88 San Antonio 90

Even more aggravating, Detroit sweeps Milwaukee, so they'll be fully rested against whoever they face. But maybe that means they'll be rusty, too.

Game Five
We're back home now and we should have an easy win to finally close this thing out. But San Antonio's suddenly reborn, shooting 50.6% and boasting 7 players with 12 points or more. Tyrone Dotson has 12 points and 10 rebounds, Hilton Armstrong 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Quincy Douby and Shawne Williams erupt off the bench for 18 and 17 points respectively. We thoroughly waste 30 points from Patrick Pastner, along with 18 points and 14 rebounds from Emeka Okafor. Suddenly we're the ones who have the boom lowered on us and look absolutely dazed and confused.
Final - San Antonio 112 Denver 96

Game Six
I am now officially nervous again. Our 3-0 series lead now sits at a precarious 3-2. We need to win here. A Game 7 is far too dangerous to risk, both in terms of losing the Finals ticket and risking injury to one of our stars. But the Spurs have it all now; the momentum, home crowd, 19 points, 18 rebounds and 4 blocks from Hilton Armstrong, 22 points from Julian Wright and 11 and 15 bench points from Shawne Williams and Quincy Douby. All we have is 10 points and 11 rebounds from Dan Jacobson, 17 bench points from Kirk Hinrich and the sinking feeling that the injuries to Mateen Yeaton and Brandon Brooks are bothering them more than we thought. We're absolutely destroyed and now I'm simply praying for a Game 7 miracle.
Final - Denver 79 San Antonio 102

Game Seven
This is it. Our entire season hinges on this battle before our home crowd. Win and we get another shot at title glory. Lose and we'll have some very hard questions and soul-searching to face this offseason. ...33.3%. That's all we can shoot. Mateen Yeaton has 11 points and 10 assists and Kirk Hinrich valiantly summons 15 bench points, but that's all. Shawne Williams, the hero of the series, takes home Player of the Game with 21 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. Hilton Armstrong gets 12 points and 15 rebounds and Quincy Douby scores 13. We play like shit, we look like shit and we feel like shit.
Final - San Antonio 94 Denver 72

What a vomit-inducing way to end the season. To go up 3-0 and then waste it in the best year we've had since I've been here.

I don't even go for the press conference. I lock myself in my office and stare at the walls, hearing again the team doctor's warning all those years ago.

"Don't trade for Yeaton! He's injury-prone!"

How prophetic those words now seem.

[boberot]

Aint that a bitch . . . .
That one really stings.

[RedHawk00]

Ouch man, i guess now we hope for a lottery miracle...

[Izulde]

boberot: That was a kick in the balls, for sure. Kind of put a damper on my morning.

RedHawk00: Pretty much it, though watch, the balls will bounce completely the wrong way and we'll end up with the 12th pick or something.

[Izulde]

I'm so dispirited by our loss to the Spurs, I don't even have the heart for travel. Worse yet, the curse of insomnia plagues me and so it's with bloodshot eyes that I watch the previews of the NBA Finals and the games late at night, on tape delay, because watching them live would push me into the netherworld of insanity.

I do, out of habit, write up my own thoughts on the Finals showdown.

Detroit, who I considered all season long the paper tiger, has proven far more fleshy and meaty than I figured and face off against the Spurs in the Finals. It's a matchup nobody predicted and to be honest, the ratings aren't so hot, much to the NBA brass's chagrin.

Point Guard
Kenny Graham vs. Julian Wright
Stealing Graham from the Hornets was the best move the Pistons have made since the '80s. He's developed into that brilliant a player and he's only 23. Expect accolade after accolade to be heaped upon him in the coming years, all of which are going to be in Detroit, as he loves it there. A breathtaking magician with the ball and a pleasing shooter, his defense is even pretty good. Easily one of the top 5 PGs in the league right now. He's averaging 16.6 points and 9.3 assists in the playoffs.

The fact that the Spurs are in the Finals with a natural SF with poor passing skills as the starting PG boggles the mind and destroys every bit of conventional wisdom that screams the need for a textbook PG at the spot. I could very easily see teams copying the Spurs model of having superior swingmen and letting everything else take care of itself, especially if they win. Wright's averaging 12.3 points, 6.6 assists and 1.3 blocks. Simply bizzare.

Advantage: Detroit

Shooting Guard
Rajan Rondo vs. Joe Johnson
Rondo could start at PG for a lot of teams in the league, that's how good his passing skills are. Talk about diametrically opposed franchises in that regard for this Finals. He's also a lockdown defender and terrific ballthief. Like Emeka Okafor for our side, any points he brings are bonus. 12.3 points and 1.2 steals are a nice bonus, I'd say.

Johnson's averaging 17.2 points a game, almost 4 rebounds and assists and 1.1 steals a game in the playoffs. His bigger size will help against Rondo and his own defensive prowess will limit extra offensive productivity out of the Pistons SG, but Johnson's also got back spasms, which could potentially limit his effectiveness in the Finals.

Advantage: Draw

Small Forward
Marcel Mance vs. Paul Pierce
Mance's natural position is C, though he's better suited to PF. 25 year old former #5 overall pick by the Hornets (2009) draft, didn't pan out to the high selection, but he's still got some upside and could end up a better version of Patrick Pastner, good all around, but not a master at anything. Averaging 12.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.3 steals and a block a game in the playoffs.

Pierce has a huge intangibles edge here, hungry to beat his former team and finally get a ring for himself besides. He's come alive in the playoffs, averaging 19.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals and I have every suspicion that if the Spurs win, it'll be largely because of him. I also anticipate he'll retire immediately afterwards if San Antonio takes home the title.

Advantage: San Antonio

Power Forward
Jermaine O'Neal vs. Tyrone Dotson
O'Neal's no longer the dominant post player he once was, but even at 36, he's still a solid all-around performer who needs to be respected. 11 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks for the playoffs.

Dotson's only averaging 7.6 points, 5.9 rebound and 1.6 blocks this postseason and he's going to get absolutely brutalized by O'Neal. Honestly, between Dotson at PF and Wright at PG, it's still a miracle that the Spurs are even here to play for the title.

Advantage: Detroit

Center
Tim Davis vs. Hilton Armstrong
Davis is very much an under the radar young center thanks to a guy named Jonte Jones. But it's given him the motivation to work even harder. Taken 5th overall by the Pistons in 2011, the 23 year old is the best defensive center in the game period, with the best inside shot of anybody in the entire NBA. What's frightening is that he's still got some ceiling on his defense and he's working on developing his scoring instincts. That ethic's been evident in the playoffs, as he's leading the Pistons with 20.4 points and 10.4 rebounds. Casual NBA fans may have regarded him lightly before now, but after this magnificient postseason, he's finally on the map.

Armstrong's boosted his playoff averages to 10.9 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. Like much of the rest of the Spurs lineup, his presence makes it a real mystery as to just what the heck San Antonio is doing here.

Advantage: Detroit

Bench
The trade that netted the Pistons Zelipe Gama also gave them a ridiculously strong pass-first backup PG. Detroit was also helped out by us, as Mike Miller is playing his 6th man role to perfection in the playoffs, averaging 10.6 points. The hole in the Pistons bench is the lack of a defensive stopper.

Everyone's of course buzzing about Shawne Williams, San Antonio's savior against us, who's averaging 12.1 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks after that series. I call it a fluke. What isn't a fluke is Quincy Douby's clutch reputation, as he's averaging 8.5 points off the bench in the playoffs. As noted before, nobody that can pass the ball effectively, though.

Advantage: Draw

Final Thoughts
This is going to be a blowout. I hadn't realized the Pistons were actually that good until I looked closely at them. I see a sweep.
Pistons in 4

Game One
So much for the sweep. Julian Wright scores 23 points, Hilton Armstrong puts up 14 points and 13 rebounds and Quincy Douby adds 13 points from the bench. The score is fairly close, but by and large Detroit looked completely out of it, with nobody stepping up and taking charge for the Pistons.
Final - San Antonio 98 Detroit 91

Game Two
Complete reversal of Game 1 as the Pistons wake up in a hurry and destroy the suddenly inept Spurs to leave Detroit with the series knotted up. Tim Davis leads all scorers with 26 points and Kenny Graham doubles with 16 points and 11 assists. Amazing how low in individual highlights this series has been so far.
Final - San Antonio 84 Detroit 111

Game Three
Tim Davis serves notice to the sellout crowd in San Antonio that he's not going to allow any more Spurs miracles. He's everywhere in this game, final lining with 22 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. Rajon Rondo scores 21, Kenny Graham dishes 14 and scores 14 and Quincy Douby leads the reserves with 10 points. For the Spurs, Hilton Armstrong gets a weak 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Shawne Williams shows up far too late to make a difference with 14 points and 8 rebounds off the bench.
Final - Detroit 103 San Antonio 83

Game Four
The game wasn't as close as the score looks. San Antonio's two-headed dragon of Joe Johnson and Paul Pierce finally rise out of their slumber to score 24 and 21 points respectively and that's all the Spurs really needed. Detroit got poor doubles off of Tim Davis (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Kenny Graham (10 points, 11 assists), along with 11 points from 6th man Mike Miller. All those 1s and 0s add up to a binding binary loss that again ties up the series.
Final - Detroit 96 San Antonio 103

Game Five
The Big Mo' Game is won by the Pistons as Tim Davis erupts at home for 24 points and 12 rebounds, while [b]Kenny Graham was equally electric with 20 points and 15 assists. Good fight by the Spurs though, as Joe Johnson scores 25 and bench warriors Shawne Williams and Quincy Douby acquit themselves well with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 14 points respectively. Ultimately, it isn't enough to stave off the shove to oblivion's thin line, where San Antonio now totters.
Final - San Antonio 94 Detroit 103

Game Six
Closest game of the series, as both teams leave it all out on the floor in San Antonio. Paul Pierce has 11 points and 11 rebounds, Hilton Armstrong 12 points and 13 rebounds. Joe Johnson scores 20 and Quincy Douby emphatically stamps his clutch reputation with 19 points to lead the second team. But the Spurs fall just short, as Jermaine O'Neal puts up an impressive 14 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists, Tim Davis scores 20 and Mike Miller leads the bench with 11 points. But it was Kenny Graham who ultimately sealed the deal and delivered home the championship for the Pistons with 21 points and 11 assists, securing the four-point victory despite a frenzied, crowd-inspired final quarter dash by the Spurs.
Final - Detroit 99 San Antonio 95

Congratulations to the Pistons and congratulations to the Spurs, too, for making it a much tighter series than anyone could've anticipated.

[Izulde]

A lot of drama surrounding the lottery this year. We're originally slated with the 8th pick in the draft, given a 3.5% chance of moving on up into the promised land of the Top 3.

It's even more intense to sit in the room as the balls are drawn after our disappointing loss in the West Conference Finals.

So here they come, one by one.

14. Seattle Supersonics (+0)

Good. Expected, but good.

13. New York Knicks (+0)

Been a long time since the Knicks were this far back in the lottery and they happily stay there.

12. Sacramento Kings (+0)

I feel a little sorry for Kings fans. It seems like they're the perennial borderline team, either just barely sneaking in the playoffs or sitting on the outer limits of the lottery. But then again, they do have last year's upset over the Lakers to still savour.

11. Indiana Pacers (+0)

Rough luck for the Pacers with Ben Gordon getting hurt for much of the year and derailing their season. They're not lucky here, either, staying right in place. On the other hand, they didn't slide down either, and we're now guaranteed a Top 10 pick.

10. Portland Traiblazers (+0)

Tough spot for the Blazers. Their bench has a ton of young guys that are mediocre and developing to begin with, and given how the draft classes tend to run, they'll probably end up with something similiar here. On the other hand, there have been some great players in recent years who have been mid-to-late lottery picks, so who knows?

9. New Jersey Nets (+0)

And just like that, we lock into at least the spot we were slated at.

I lean in and grip the arms of my chair, gritting my teeth and forcing myself to stare at the name that comes up next.

8. Denver Nuggets (+0)

Sorry, you are not a winner. Thanks for playing. Please try again.

7. Atlanta Hawks (+0)
6. Phoenix Suns (+0)
5. New Orleans Hornets (-2)
4. Chicago Bulls (-2)
3. Washington Wizards (+2)
2. Golden State Warriors (-1)
1. Los Angeles Clippers (+3)

The conspiracy theorists scream the next day that it's a fix to make sure attention stays in L.A. I don't see it that way. It was a pretty low movement lottery, all things considered, and the Red and White just had the balls bounce properly.

Besides, it's not like we can't move up if we really want to. There's more than enough ammunition for us to do so.

2014 NBA Awards

MVP
Andrew Bynum - Los Angeles Lakers - 20.5 ppg 12.3 rpg 2.9 apg 2.7 bpg 0.7 spg

Defensive Player of the Year
Andrei Kirilenko - Utah Jazz - 11.3 ppg 6.6 rpg 3.1 apg 4.2 bpg 1.5 spg

Rookie of the Year
Leland Peterson - Washington Wizards - 13.4 ppg 4.4 apg 3.3 rpg 1.1 bpg 1.9 spg

6th Man of the Year
Shawne Williams - San Antonio Spurs - 12 ppg 7.6 rpg 1.6 apg 1.6 bpg 0.7 spg

Coach of the Year
Flip Saunders - Detroit Pistons

For the first time, I don't disagree with any of those awards. Each one of these guys was very well deserving.

All-NBA 1st Team
PG Dwayne Wade - Miami Heat
SG Lebron James - Cleveland Cavaliers
SF Rudy Gay - Memphis Grizzlies
PF Kelvin Moody - Minnesota Timberwolves
C Andrew Bynum - L.A. Lakers

All-NBA 2nd Team
PG Gilbert Arenas - Washington Wizards
SG Mateen Yeaton - Denver Nuggets
SF Carmelo Anthony - New York Knicks
PF Dwight Howard - Orlando Magic
C Greg Oden - Toronto Raptors

All-NBA 3rd Team
PG Kenny Graham - Detroit Pistons
SG Nigel Abel - Miami Heat
SF Andrei Kirilenko - Utah Jazz
PF Tyrus Thomas - Philadelphia 76ers
C Yao Ming - Houston Rockets

All-Defense 1st Team
PG Leland Peterson - Washington Wizards (An 1st Team Defense member as a rookie!)
SG Kevin Martin - Sacramento Kings
SF Andrei Kirilenko - Utah Jazz
PF Emeka Okafor - Denver Nuggets
C Greg Oden - Toronto Raptors

All-Defense 2nd Team
PG Dwayne Wade - Miami Heat
SG Tracy McGrady - Sacramento Kings
SF Rudy Gay - Memphis Grizzlies
PF Tyrus Thomas - Philadelphia 76ers
C Andrew Bynum - L.A. Lakers

All-Rookie 1st Team
PG Leland Peterson - Washington Wizards
SG Angelo Mascoe - Seattle Supersonics
SF Shannon Drayton - Chicago Bulls
PF Jason Everett - Phoenix Suns
C Chris Driver - L.A. Clippers

All-Rookie 2nd Team
PG Derrick Attaway - Miami Heat
SG Justin Richler - New Jersey Nets
SF Mark White - Houston Rockets
PF Brian Bender - Detroit Pistons
C Jimmy Johnson - Utah Jazz

Nice to see us pick up a couple awards. I disagree sharply with Driver over Johnson as the 1st Team Rookie C, though, as Johnson had the far better stats and played on a better team. But maybe it's karmic retribution for having Jimmy Johnson be your name, that bastard Dolphins-destroyer.

Utah Sixers Report

PG Brandon Brooks - Denver Nuggets
You know his story because you've been following us all season long. His final stats: 82 games/59 starts 11.6 ppg, 9 apg, 3 rpg. A very solid presence for us in the lineup and he's signed through the next two seasons. Barring an amazing change of circumstance, which is quite possible in this world, I foresee him as the starting PG here in Denver for at least the next two years.

PF Kelvin Moody - Minnesota Timberwolves
Started every game for the T-Wolves and his first-ever 1st Team award does a lot to take the sting off of a disappointing end to the season. He broke 20 points for the first time, averaging 20.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 3 blocks and a steal per game. Unquestionably one of the best PFs in the league right now, although I suspect he's going to inherit the Kevin Garnett Curse, where he's the top player and a premiere talent in the league for years, but never gets a ring. Although come to think of it, Lebron James is in danger of suffering the same fate.

SF Julius Austin - Miami Heat
Lost his starting spot to Jon Wilson. Appeared in 78 games, starting just 25. As a result, his numbers were way down - 5.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, a block and a steal. There were some rumors floating around that we almost executed a deal to bring him to Denver, which is half-true. We were negotiating with the Heat on it, but couldn't come to an agreement we liked. I foresee Austin, now 30, as descending into a backup for the rest of his career.

C Rudy Braun - New York Knicks
Now a mid-bench player, he appeared in 66 games, averaging a surprising 5.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in a shade over 16 minutes a game. One of the most disappointing project players ever in my opinion, but I suppose there's something to be said for the fact that he's still hanging in the NBA on an improved Knicks squad.

PF B.J. Whitehead - Indiana Pacers
Started exactly one game for the Golden Birds in the D-League before getting signed by the Pacers, where he had his most successful season since 2012 with the Rockets. He appeared in 68 games, averaging 5.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 19.5 minutes a game as the Pacers' 8th man. He's had a pretty good career for a late 2nd round pick (he was taken with the 27th pick in the 2nd round by Houston). My guess is that he'll bounce between the D-League and the NBA over the next few seasons.

SF Brian Robertson - Free Agent
No love anywhere. Not even an inactive spot with a D-League team to collect $35,000. I have to wonder just how long he's going to hang on.

B.B. Dyer, in our annual meeting, is pleased with my assessment that we'll make a deep playoff run. It's the most I've ever promised an owner, ever, but I have faith that we'll manage it.

On the other hand, looking at our roster, we've got 12 guys on it and we're already $17 million over the cap. We've got at least one high draft pick coming in, if not two first rounders period and unless I make some kind of a trade for salary cap purposes, there's no way I can get it between the $10-15 million range.

So I take a breath and with just a little nervousness, admit to B.B. our financial situation, going into the particulars. He frowns and says he has no problem paying out some money, but he's not willing to go to that level.

Great. So now I have to find a way to cram our payroll into a small window. Takes a lot of enjoyment out of preparing for this draft, let me tell you.

On the other hand, it's the perfect time to go shopping.

The first team I call up is Toronto, where I try to work something out to land Chris Bosh. Unfortunately, I'm limited by the straitjacket our wonderful owner put me into, so it's nothing doing.

We crunch numbers, we call up different teams and have discussions, but the market's looking pretty bare. I throw everything I have at the Mavericks to try and get Jonte Jones, but they refuse to budge unless I'm willing to talk about Mateen Yeaton and I can't do that.

But then we find a deal and make it and it's an interesting one.

Denver Nuggets receive
SF Ron McPherson
C Eddy Curry
New Orleans Hornets 2017 1st round pick
New Orleans Hornets 2016 2nd round pick
New Orleans Hornets 2017 2nd round pick

New Orleans Hornets receive
SF Patrick Pastner
PG Cherokee Waterman
Denver Nuggets 2014 1st round pick (#29)
Cleveland Cavaliers 2017 1st round pick

What this means for the Nuggets
Pastner's poor shot selection infuriated the Denver front office and GM Jestor is said to have been much enamored with McPherson, who brings scoring and defense, but can't rebound. It's uncertain as to if McPherson will be able to take off the starting SF spot or if Phillip Gill, who's shown considerable talent on the Nuggets bench will slide in. Curry gives Denver's bench more scoring punch and even at 33, he can still get some rebounds and play some day. More importantly for the Nuggets cap situation in future years, he's an expiring $9.8 million contract. The 2nd round picks provide extra trade bait for Denver, as Jestor has a long-established philosophy as using 2nd round selections for that purpose and who knows which will be the better 2017 1st round pick out of Cleveland or New Orleans? Dealing the 29th pick also helps the Nuggets to alleviate the cap crisis they currently face.

What this means for the Hornets
The Hornets already had a young SF they love in 24 year old Rick Harris, (6th overall pick in 2011), making McPherson expendable. Just where Pastner will fit in the lineup is anybody's guess, but he gives the Hornets the sort of very good all-around young player they lacked. Waterman gives them another option at PG to go with 2nd year Ray Fields, the franchise future. Perhaps the biggest key to this trade is that it allows the rebuilding Hornets to get younger and with the extra late 1st rounder, continue to work on that foundation. They'll certainly need to find a C in free agency or the draft, though, as they now have none worth speaking of.

Advantage: Draw
There's certainly attractive things about this deal for both sides, but also drawbacks. The difficulty for Denver, an expected championship contender, is that Gill is still developing and if the coaching staff can't bring him up to speed or if they don't feel comfortable with McPherson starting at the 3, that's going to be an area of major weakness come playoff time.

A fair assessment of the trade, though I was surprised when Larry Brown told me afterwards they were thinking of putting Gill in Pastner's spot. As much as I love Phillip, he doesn't have the ballhandling ability to do well at SF and McPherson, while not an exceptional rebounder, brings so much more there that Patrick didn't, he should be starting.

But it's not in my hands, as I'm only the GM.

I do love our bench now, though. Between Curry, McPherson/Gill and Kirk Hinrich, the scoring and defending (except in Gill's case) won't stop when our starters are taking a break.

I have the feeling that the Cavaliers will do better than the Hornets in a couple years. Cleveland's got a nucleus in John Aylsworth, Lebron James and Kyle Smith that is going to be deadly as they get used to playing with each other and as Smith continues to develop. Sean Pryce is an extremely promising young PF as well and could be the defensive stopper they need.

Larry Brown gets a 3 year, $5.6 million per year contract extension just before the coach hiring frenzy. It's a million a year less than he's making in his final season, but he told me he wants to get another ring before he calls it quits.

I try to extend the assistants as well, but even when they say they're willing to take a pay cut, and even when I offer them the same as what they want, they say that isn't what they want and get mad about it, so I just leave it be. Maybe they were all drinking last night or something.

Head Coaching Contracts
Scott Skiles - Chicago Bulls
Frank Johnson - New Orleans Hornets
P.J. Carleismo - Golden State Warriors
George Karl - New York Knicks
Mike Brown - Washington Wizards
Eric Musselman - L.A. Clippers

Baldy must be convinced he has the Knicks on the verge of becoming a playoff team again, as he stays in the Big Apple. Interesting to see Skiles and Carleismo return to their old stomping grounds.

Mock Draft Thoughts

This is one of the best looking draft classes I've seen in a long time from first glance. I'm talking, this draft class is looking Class of 2010 good. Kind of fitting, since it'll have been 5 years since that class came in and brought us Jonte Jones (#2), Mateen Yeaton (#4) and Paulinho Buboltz (#8), not to mention Nigel Abel (#5).

...Okay, so it was obscenely top-heavy. It's still been a great, dominant class and if the scouting holds up to my initial impressions, we could end up with that kind of class again five years later.

The mock draft has us taking SF Ronell Jones, a 20 year old out of Arizona. Jones looks okay, but there's other swingmen I like the looks of a lot better.

SGs and SFs are definitely the strength of this draft class. There's maybe one PF who looks really good and who will most likely certainly be off the board by the time our pick comes up. Two Cs are considered tops, but I don't particularly like them and I actually kind of like the third-ranked C best in pre-workouts.

PG looks pretty decent and I absolutely -love- the first impressions of Filip Svorda, a 19 year old Croatian.

Our biggest need is actually PF or C, particularly PF, where Emeka Okafor is old and won't be around all that much longer, I don't think. We could also use a young PG to fulfill Kirk Hinrich's role and then in turn flip Hinrich for something. The PG would then also be the heir apparent to Brandon Brooks.

A talent infusion at SF would help, certainly, just in case Phillip Gill and Ron McPherson don't pan out. ...Hell, for that matter, it wouldn't hurt to get a talented young SG in case Mateen Yeaton gets knicked up.

Long story short, I think what we'll end up doing is going with the best player available at #8. I don't think we have the... Well yes, yes we do have the arsenal to move up for a player we really like. How far we can move up is open to question.

But I'd certainly give it a shot for the right player, especially if someone jumps out at me as an unquestioned #1...

[Izulde]

There's one player who's a clear cut above the rest to my eyes and what makes him so valuable is his fantastic work ethic and great intangibles. He's at the top of a list of 7 players we've identified as worthy selections, further broken down into an A-list group of 3 players and a B-list group of 4 guys.

With the 8th pick, our chances of getting one of those seven are extremely high. All we would need is for one of the first 7 picks to not be one of those athletes. On the other hand, I'm liking our #1 choice so much, I decide to call the Clippers and see what it'd take to move up.

Unfortunately, the Clippers aren't willing to listen to offers and so we sit and wait with apprenhension.

2015 NBA Draft 1st Round
1. SF Andre Davis - L.A. Clippers

And there he goes. Not a surprise really, as he was unquestionably the best player available in the draft. After missing on Davis, I decide to wait and see how the next pick or two play out.

2. SG Walter Coleman - Golden State Warriors

Another one of our A-list guys, if his intangibles had been better, I would've moved up to get him.

I'm very tempted to move up into the #3 slot as there's a big man who, the more I look at him, the more he intrigues me. But on the other hand, there's some real drawbacks, too, so I hold off, even though he's likely to be taken here.

3. C Patrick Riley - Washington Wizards

Yep, I was right. No harm, though, as we've still got a number of players left on our board.

4. PG Filip Svorada - Chicago Bulls

We're now a lock to get one of the initial 7 players on our list. Svorada looked absolutely awful in individual workouts and so we dropped him from consideration.

The Hornets are up next and my hunch says they'll go C now that they traded Eddy Curry to us.

5. C Chris Adams - New Orleans Hornets

Classic desparation move. Adams was better than the other highly touted C for sure, but worthy of a Top 5 pick? Not on your life.

Now is when things start getting a little tricky. Out of the guys left on our list, two of them are natural SFs, the other two natural SGs who are too small to play the 3. I actually like one SF over the other, but it's not a strong enough difference that I'm willing to move up.

6. SF Ronell Jones - Phoenix Suns

That would be the SF I preferred slightly, our mock draft pick. Curiously enough, the pick's panned outright by the experts. Maybe a good sign.

They're projecting the Hawks to take one of the SGs, but I don't trust Atlanta, so I make a very small trade.

Denver Nuggets receive
Atlanta Hawks 2015 1st round pick (#7)

Atlanta Hawks receive
Denver Nuggets 2015 1st round pick (#8)
Denver Nuggets 2017 2nd round pick

No analysis, as it's a strictly picks for picks trade.

7. SF Leroy Freeman - Denver Nuggets

The pick's lambasted, as they question our drafting a SF after going and getting Ron McPherson and still having Phillip Gill besides. Whatever. Freeman has good intangibles and an excellent-looking all-around game.

8. C Garick Reece - Atlanta Hawks
9. SG Galen Drayton - New Jersey Nets
10. PF Henry Fisher - Portland Trailblazers

The best of the weakest PF crop we've seen in years. Incidentally, he did have a horrible workout for us.

11. SF Samaki McKenzie - Indiana Pacers
12. SG Justin Barnes - Sacramento Kings

Sacramento gets an absolute steal here. Scored 30 points a game last year for Pittsburgh.

13. SG David Davis - New York Knicks
14. SG Bryan Young - Seattle Supersonics
15. PG Pete Bannister - Philadelphia 76ers

I can't believe 15 picks have gone by and there's still one of the guys originally on our list sitting there. But the Bobcats aren't willing to come to any sort of agreement, so he'll probably be selected here.

16. SG Jamel Jackson - Charlotte Bobcats

And he is. Oh well, we wouldn't have been able to afford him anyway. As it is, we're probably going to have to make a cap-related trade, which won't be fun.

17. SG Adam Lopez - Minnesota Timberwolves
18. SG Pete Latham - Boston Celtics
19. SG Andrew Bayno - Orlando Magic
20. PF Mike Hughes - Milwaukee Bucks
21. PG Alan Edwards - Houston Rockets
22. SF Perry Woods - San Antonio Spurs
23. C Mekeli Norwood - Miami Heat
24. PG Jeryl Younger - Dallas Mavericks
25. PF Jerry Stevenson - Utah Jazz
26. SF Cory Gervin - Memphis Grizzlies
27. C Winston Smith - Miami Heat

The Heat are really trying to address their C problem and shoot two bullets at the target. Not a bad idea, really, even though this is a poor class for big men as I said.

28. PF Antwan Zinn - Los Angeles Lakers
29. C Tyler Marlow - New Orleans Hornets
30. SG Danny Harley - Toronto Raptors

First look at Leroy Freeman after the draft says he's disappointingly average. Even after renouncing our contracts, we're just -barely- $15 million over the cap. I'm really kicking myself now for not taking Henry Fisher, who would've been a great heir to Emeka Okafor and whose intangibles aren't nearly as bad as first reported.

I sign Ron McPherson to a $6 million base, 4 year contract with 8% raises. If he pans out like I suspect he will, it's better to lock him up now at the reduced rate, rather than later when he'd be demanding Mateen Yeaton-like salaries.

Freeman, McPherson and Lindsey Williamson all go to the Summer League team.

Summer League

We get hammered 98-86 at Dallas, although Josh Blackmon and Leroy Freeman score 15 and 14 points respectively off the bench. We destroy Golden State the next game 101-71, as Ron McPherson erupts for 27 points and Leroy Freeman scores 15 as a reserve.

Atlanta goes down 100-76, Ron McPherson again leading the way, this time with 19 points, Carleton Drakeford with 10 bench points. McPherson's really starting to make a case for himself as the starting SF I think, and if he does that, don't be surprised to see Leroy Freeman get dealt out, particularly if he has a poor training camp.

Ron McPherson again with 21 points in a 95-89 victory over the Bulls, Josh Blackmon the top reserve with 13 points. The whole team sucks against the Celtics in a 98-92 loss to end summer league play except Ron McPherson with 28 points. There were a couple bench guys in double-digit points, but they don't really matter as they're not on the team and won't make it, though Josh Blackmon did have 16 points and has been a consistent scoring presence. Good defender, too.

I think what I saw out of summer league play, plus the fact that Leroy Freeman can only play SF, is enough to convince me.

Over the next several days, I call so many people my head hurts after a while. We have some very intense negotiations with several teams and are just about to make a deal with the Jazz when I find myself pulling back, waiting until after training camp. There was a better deal with Minnesota on the table, but we couldn't make it work with the T-Wolves just yet.

Free Agency

With 13 players under contract and needing to cut salary, we stay out of free agency.

I'm irate to learn that the Lakers stole Kyle Hoiberg away on a 5 year, $54.8 million deal. Rumor has it that the is going to signal the end of the Kobe Bryant era in Purple and Gold. Immediately, all plans of staying idle fly out the window.

Andrew Bynum re-signed with the Lakers the next day on a maximum-level contract, as expected. The Purple and Gold also ink Ryan Sweetwyne to a 3-year, $11 million and change deal which raises some eyebrows around the league.

The Bucks add some toughness to their interior by signing Elton Brand to a one year, $10 million and change contract. Milwaukee's right to be making the push they are, though. Luol Deng won't be around forever and who knows what's going to happen with 36 year old Michael Redd.

San Antonio re-signs Joe Johnson and Paul Pierce much to my displeasure. Dallas is officially done as a power when Dirk Nowitzki heads further west to Sacramento for $10 million and change for one season. Tracy McGrady going back to the Kings as well, along with their great draft luck means I think Sacramento's going to be a power worth watching this year.

Baron Davis exchanges one purgatory for another, leaving Golden State to go to the Clippers for $7.3 million for the year. Javaris Crittenton finally gets the payday he deserves, a 3 year, $13.6 million contract from the Atlanta Hawks.

The Purple and Gold continue to make a splash in signing Ron Artest to a one year deal, the particulars of which I wasn't able to find out immediately.

And then the big one hit.

Kobe Bryant signed with.... the freaking Toronto Raptors for 5 years and just over $32 million. It's just sick how the Raptors manage to stay the top team in the NBA talent-wise year after year.

Mehmet Okur and Jermaine O'Neal both sail for the Clippers on one year deals on the same day that Michael Redd takes $7.3 million to serve as Gilbert Arenas's sidekick in Washington. Memo to the Wizards - You're not as good as the Heat, especially not relying on old guards.

The Jazz are hell-bent on challenging us for the Northwest, acquiring Mike Bibby and Vince Carter on min-sals. It's been a free agency year that sees long-time stars leave their old haunts, as Kevin Garnett says so long to the T-wolves and joins up with the defending champion Pistons on a min-sal contract in the quest for a ring.

Training Camp

Leroy Freeman looks like a bust.

We have to find a way to get Ron McPherson as much PT as possible. He looks like an absolutely amazing player. Mateen Yeaton is showing small improvements still, as is Dan Jacobson. Phillip Gill continues to tease us with potential and Lindsey Williamson, while making strides, could probably use another year down in the D-League. He's tenatively scheduled as the 11th man on the bench, but I think he'd be better served on the Timberjacks for one more year.

It's trade time!

Denver Nuggets receive
C Chris Washington
Utah Jazz 2018 1st round pick

Utah Jazz receive
SF Leroy Freeman

What this means for the Nuggets
GM Jestor was not happy with Freeman's showing in the summer league or in training camp, leading to his ouster before he even officially played a game for the Nuggets. Washington is a shot-blocker, with good handling for a big man, but that's about it. The real key to this deal is the 2018 1st rounder and with Carlos Boozer and Andris Biedrins out of contract after this year, who knows what the Jazz are going to look like? A bigger burning question: When is a Jestor draftee going to stay with the team? Paulinho Buboltz holds the longevity record with 3 seasons before being traded to Indiana.

What this means for the Jazz
Utah's hoping that Andrei Kirilenko can mentor Freeman and turn him into a worthy heir. Current projections tab the rookie as the Jazz's 6th man. At the very least, Leroy's a much better player than Utah could hope to get with a late 1st round pick in most years.

Advantage: Draw
The litmus test is going to be where the 2018 1st round pick falls. Not that it might even matter. With the exception of Buboltz, Jestor has a poor record in lottery picks (Joakim Noah #10 in 2007, passing on Kevin Durant with the 2nd overall pick and now Freeman in this draft).

...Ouch. They didn't need to bring that up.

In any event, the trade also brings us under $15 million at $14.7, so that ought to make our ownership happy. Phillip Gill is initially pencilled in as the starting SF, but I'm hoping it's very light pencil.

Lindsey Williamson doesn't get his D-League ticket yet, as I'm waiting to see the final Opening Day roster Larry Brown and his boys turn in first.

The preseason press continues to fellate Portland and consider them the top team in the West, even though they're not. The re-tooled Lakers are #2 and they should be #1. I'm still ticked about Kyle Hoiberg, even though he makes Ron Artest (who by the way is the Lakers 6th man) look like a happy Kumbaya type and has absolutely no loyalty whatsoever as evidenced by his cross-town jump. Hoiberg, incidentally, broke 20 points a game average for the first time last year and the Lakers offense will actually be better with him rather than Kobe Bryant at SG.

We're picked 4th in the conference, highest we've been in a long time. Maybe I should've taken the Jazz's 1st round pick this year, because they're slated as a lottery team. By the way, lovely bit of irony. Caron Butler re-signed with Minnesota where he's replacing... Kevin Garnett in the starting lineup.

Toronto, to no one's surprise, is 1st in the East. Allen Iverson retired, but check out this lineup:

PG T.J. Ford
SG Kobe Bryant
SF David Anyan
PF Andrea Bargnani
C Greg Oden
6th Chris Bosh

Bosh is still upset about everything in Canada, but at his salary, there's few teams who have the tools or the inclination to trade for him.

New York's picked 2nd as the media continue to over-rate the Knicks. They -maybe- make the playoffs this year. Cleveland's ranked 3rd, which I actually think is quite fair. The Cavs have an intriguing lineup and their bench isn't that bad.

Speaking of lineups and benches...

Denver Nuggets 2015 Opening Day Lineup
PG Brandon Brooks
SG Mateen Yeaton
SF Phillip Gill
PF Emeka Okafor
C Dan Jacobson
6th Eddy Curry (PF/C)
7th Kirk Hinrich (PG/SG)
8th Ron McPherson (SG/SF)
9th Thabo Sefolosha (PG/SG/SF)
10th Shaun Livingston (PG/SG)
11th Chris Washington (SF/PF/C)*
12th Willie Green (PG/SG/SF)

* - Lindsey Williamson was originally slated as the 11th man, but after he didn't beat out Chris Washington for the 10th spot, I assigned him to Colorado, whereupon Shaun moved from inactive to 10th man, creating the shifts seen.

Williamson takes over at his natural C spot for the Timberjacks.

Overall, I really like how this team is shaping up for the season. Although I'd prefer Ron McPherson starting at SF, I see Larry Brown's point that now is the time for Phillip Gill to show us that he can fulfill his potential. If he can't, then he's signed for this season and next and will be let go, whereupon McPherson takes over.

If he can, then SF and PF are set for some time with McPherson and Gill starting, the latter at PF after Emeka Okafor's decline accelerates.

[RedHawk00]

Lottery STEEEEEERIKE 2.
One more and we might have to stop this atrocity

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by RedHawk00

Lottery STEEEEEERIKE 2.
One more and we might have to stop this atrocity

Ironically enough, I -am- in danger of losing the save game file for this dynasty.

My desktop is ill with some kind of virus I suspect and I'm not sure if I can pull the files off on to a jump drive in Safe Mode.

[the_meanstrosity]

Give me a shout if you have any problems Izulde. I've found a few useful utilities that will allow you to pull files off even when the OS is corrupted. The one I've been using lately is called Bart's PE. It's a tiny OS that fits on a CD that you make bootable via Nero or some other burning software. You can then recover your old files since it will recognize flash drives. A very handy utility that's saved my tail a few times.

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Originally Posted by Izulde

Ironically enough, I -am- in danger of losing the save game file for this dynasty.

My desktop is ill with some kind of virus I suspect and I'm not sure if I can pull the files off on to a jump drive in Safe Mode.

[boberot]

Good luck retrieving your stuff, Iz. I'd hate to see you lose it.

I have the memory of a chicken, so remind me: how the heck did you end up with the 8th overall pick -- weren't you the #1 seed in the west?

[Izulde]

the_meanstrosity: Thanks. I pulled the save game file, along with some other files, onto a USB drive just as a backup. I'm shipping my desktop to the guy who built it sometime this weekend or next week and he says he's pretty sure he can clean up the viruses and save all my data, including the save game file.

Unfortunately, until that time (and return of my desktop), this dynasty is in freeze mode.

boberot: Thanks.

As for why we have the #8 pick, I traded Kyle Smith to the Cavaliers for their 2015 and 2017 1st round picks, then flipped my 29th pick that I got for the #1 seed in the West, along with the 2017 Cavs 1st round pick and some other stuff, like Patrick Pastner, to the Hornets for Ron McPherson and New Orleans 2017 1st round pick.

[the_meanstrosity]

Not a problem. I'd suggest installing AVG or some other free virus protection to help you in the future. It's by no means a guarantee, but it's better than nothing.

http://free.avg.com/

Originally Posted by Izulde

the_meanstrosity: Thanks. I pulled the save game file, along with some other files, onto a USB drive just as a backup. I'm shipping my desktop to the guy who built it sometime this weekend or next week and he says he's pretty sure he can clean up the viruses and save all my data, including the save game file.

[Barkeep49]

BOOOOOOOO! Bad virus, bad!

[Izulde]

the_meanstrosity: Thanks. I knew about AVG before, but I need to download it to my laptop, so thanks for the reminder and the link.

Barkeep49: I agree wholeheartedly! I've been fiending to find out what the team can do. I may try pulling the saved game over to my laptop and hope Vista decides to be kinder and gentler.

[Izulde]

I've decided to try seeing if this'll run on my laptop, even if I'm stuck with Vista. So here goes...

Gorgeous opening game by Mateen Yeaton with 37 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks and 5 steals and Kirk Hinrich had 14 points and 11 assists off the bench, but the rest of the team was horrid and the Lakers topped us 118-109. The Purple and Gold may not have Kobe Bryant anymore, but they're a much deeper, more balanced team and Kyle Hoiberg will ensure they don't miss Kobe too much.

Mateen Yeaton carries the team again with 38 points and 10 rebounds and this time he gets enough help from Kirk Hinrich (15 points) and Eddy Curry (14 points), to thrash the Timberwolves 111-85. Our front court is really looking anemic in terms of its offense in the early going.

Heartbreaking 94-92 loss to the Jazz follows. Nobody broke 20 points for us, though Ron McPherson had 15 points off the bench and I'm wondering when he's going to start in place of Phillip Gill, who's looked terrible in a starting role. The real donkeypuncher in this one was Andris Biedrins, who I cast off so soon, ripping us for 17 points, 21 rebounds and 6 blocks.

A doubleheader's up next and we kick things off by avenging ourselves in a big way against the Jazz, as in a 121-77 asskicking. Larry Brown has a new lineup of PG Brooks/SG Hinrich/SF Yeaton/PF Okafor/C Jacobson, banishing Phillip Gill to the bench. It pays off beautifully here as Kirk Hinrich scores 26, Brandon Brooks adds 22 points and Dan Jacobson has 11 points and 15 rebounds. Our bench was amazing with 10 points from Ron McPherson, 15 from Thabo Sefolosha and a near double-double of 12 points and 9 rebounds from Eddy Curry. Unfortunately, we blow it the next night, losing 105-100 to the Sonics, despite 11 points and 14 rebounds from Emeka Okafor, 15 points and 14 assists from Brandon Brooks and 19 bench points from Ron McPherson. I'm just about on the point of trading Phillip Gill for something, I think.

A 90-81 loss to the Pistons really has me thinking hard about this team. Yes, Mateen Yeaton is suffering from back spasms and yes Emeka Okafor doubled with 17 points and 17 rebounds, but we're really looking out of sync here and not at all explosive like I expected us to be.

I'll give it a couple more games, but I'm getting the urge to make a move.

Larry Brown gets drunk the night before the Kings game and submits a lineup of PG Brooks/SG Hinrich/SF Gill/PF Curry/C Jacobson. Kirk Hinrich scores 22, Brandon Brooks has 11 points and 11 assists and Dan Jacobson is everywhere with 12 points and 21 rebounds, but it still translates into a 96-91 loss to Sacramento, our third straight defeat.

The lineup shuffle goes back to Brooks/Yeaton/Gill/Okafor/Jacobson and as a result, we net a stunningly easy 100-88 victory over the Raptors to snap the slump. Seven Nuggets in double-digit scoring, highlighted by double-doubles of 12 points and 12 assists from Brandon Brooks, 14 points and 10 rebounds from Dan Jacobson and 11 points and 10 rebounds from Emeka Okafor. Our bench showed firepower, as you might expect, with Eddy Curry scoring 12 points, Ron McPherson 14 points.

Another night, another lineup change. This time we have Hinrich/Yeaton/Gill/Curry/Jacobson and we lose 112-100 to the Bulls because we have no damned consistency. Eddy Curry scores 30, Dan Jacobson gets 10 points and 11 rebounds and Ron McPherson scores 15 off the bench, but we still look ridiculous out there. Particularly when Charles Seegars tees off us on for a triple-double of 27 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks and a steal.

So I've had it. Phillip Gill must go. He's screwing with our universe.

And the trade is a stunner.

Denver Nuggets receive
C Tim Davis
PG Zelipe Gama
SF Antwan Jamison

Detroit Pistons receive
C Dan Jacobson
C Phillip Gill
PG Shaun Livingston
C Eddy Curry

What this means for the Nuggets
GM Jestor strikes again, cutting off a major blockbuster with the defending champion Detroit Pistons after the Nuggets poor play infuriated him. Davis has the best inside shot in the game and is averaging 20 points so far. He's got exceptional defense, great ballhandling skills for a C and is working on developing his rebounding game. He's also an extremely hard-working fan favorite, especially after breaking out in last year's championship run. He'll take Jacobson's place in the rotation. Gama is as gifted a passer as Brandon Brooks and he'll start at the point while Brooks recovers from a nagging arm injury. It'll be interesting to see how the 24 year old Spainard reacts to the increased playing time he'll get in Denver, as he hasn't been a full-time starter since 2012 with the Spurs. Jamison is a $6.5, $7 mill dead weight for the next two seasons. Phillip Gill's departure also means that Jestor's wishes will be fulfilled and Ron McPherson becomes Denver's new starting SF.

What this means for the Pistons
Jacobson may not have the offensive firepower that Davis does, but he's a far, far better rebounder, something Detroit needed. Davis's point total can be more than made up for by Curry, who still brings terrific offensive game and becomes the new starting PF in addition to his lovely $9.9 million expiring contract. Gill, whose potential everyone still swears by, slides in as the starting SF. Livingston's an end of the bench player.

Advantage: Detroit
The Pistons shed a bad contract and pick up three brand-new starters, all of whom combined are an upgrade over what they had previously. Jestor's desparation really cost him here and it may have handed Detroit the keys to the first repeat champion since the Raffle GM entered the league.

Heh. Fine. Hate on my deal. I still like it for us, though.

We withstand a torrid 26 points and 25 rebounds from Jonte Jones to steal away a 109-103 victory over the Mavericks in our first new-look game. Mateen Yeaton leads us in scoring with 26 points and we have great debuts from Tim Davis (23 points) and Zelipe Gama (15 points, 12 assists).

It's a sweet feeling to have our first win streak of the year as we cut down the Nets 109-98. Another lineup's in place, this one of Gama/Brooks/Yeaton/Okafor/Davis and Mateen Yeaton finally looks comfortable in scoring 22 points, but it was Zelipe Gama who led us in points with a stunning 29. Kirk Hinrich added 10 points off the bench and Chris Washington contributed 11 rebounds with the second team. This is turning to one interesting team.

Back-to-backs always make me nervous, especially when our team is in a fragile state like it is right now. But we whip San Antonio 124-81 as Kirk Hinrich scores 23 starting at SG, Zelipe Gama adds 21 points and Ron McPherson and Chris Washington each score 17 off the bench. We complete the sweep by edging the Rockets 106-94 in Houston behind 23 points from still starting SG Kirk Hinrich, 19 points and 12 rebounds from Tim Davis, 14 reserve points from Ron McPherson and a surprising double-double off the bench of 10 points, 10 rebounds from Chris Washington.

The wins keep coming as we beat the Hornets 95-84, Emeka Okafor a shocking lead scorer with 22 points. Tim Davis was second with 21 points and Zelipe Gama doubled with 14 points and 10 assists. Ron McPherson carried the second team with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds. I can't wait until he becomes a starter. He's really been a key part of this team so far. Incidentally, Patrick Pastner scored 23 points on us and is loving it in New Orleans. Through 13 games, he's averaging a career-high 19.1 points. Good to see him have some more success.

November closes out with a dominanting 115-89 victory over the Cavs, enginereed by the unlikeliest of heroes. Chris Washington came to the rescue after Tim Davis got in major foul trouble, dazzling the home crowd with 26 points and 14 rebounds en route to Player of the Game. Brandon Brooks took over the starting SG job and scored 22, while former starter Kirk Hinrich added 12 points off the bench.

So after our early struggles and the blockbuster trade, we've reversed our fortunes and stand at 9-6 after the first month of play, a half-game behind the Northwest leaders.

Who's leading the divison, you ask?

The Portland Traiblazers. Yeah, them. It's still far too early yet to predict anything, though.

On the other hand, the Lakers are again way out in front at 12-4, with the second place team 6-10. They're a sure bet to run away with it again.

The Raptors (13-4), 76ers (10-4), Pistons (11-3) and Pacers (10-5) are all looking pretty good in the East right now.

I'm not going to do a Yeaton/Buboltz comparison, simply because things have been so screwy with all the lineup changes. On the other hand, Mateen's been pretty quiet at SF, though some of it is attributable to a calf injury he's battling through.

It's going to be an interesting year, that's for sure.

[Northwood_DK]

Great to see this dynasty back on track.

[boberot]

Wow.
I thought I had an itchy trigger finger.

It is a hard instinct to resist, eh? I get enamored of certain players, and often throw offers at teams over the course of a few years to nail him.

Good luck.

[Izulde]

Northwood DK: It's great to be back.

boberot: I'm quickly developing a trigger finger mentality in this game, it seems... but when you consider the results of before and after the trade, it looks pretty clear that was the right move to make and I have my own theories on why it's going so well.

[Izulde]

Dallas Mavericks receive
PF Al Horford
Golden State Warriors 2016 2nd round pick

Golden State Warriors receive
PF John West
PF Josh McRoberts

What this means for the Mavericks
Horford's a good all-around player who averages about 12-13 points and 8 rebounds a season. He instantly invigorates Dallas's frontcourt as the new starting PF and gives Jonte Jones a legitimate running mate. The Warriors are 2-14 so far, meaning the top pick in the 2nd round is very likely.

What this means for the Warriors
West, a third-year player taken with the last pick in the 1st round three drafts ago, has been a big-time bust and is inactive. McRoberts has only been a starter once in his career, back in 2011 with Chicago. He's one of those players who does a little bit of everything off the bench, but isn't necessarily exceptional.

Advantage: Dallas
The Mavericks take advantage of Horford's eagerness to get out of Oakland and wholeheartedly rips off the Warriors. There's a reason why it's been eons since Golden State's made the playoffs and a deal like this is a good example of it.

Orlando Magic receive
PF Jeremy Diarra
Atlanta Hawks 2016 2nd round pick

Atlanta Hawks receive
C Reggie McPherson
SG Damon Jupiter

What this means for the Magic
Orlando wanted to get younger in the frontcourt, so they obtained Diarra, a 23 year old in his 4th season (16th overall pick in 2012 draft). Diarra has great ballhandling skills for a big man and has the kind of potential that could see him as a solid offensive option. He takes over as the starting C, displacing 35 year old David Lee. It's a risky move given that the Magic are hovering around the .500 mark and Lee's the much more polished player, but Diarra does intrigue. 2nd round pick is added bonus.

What this means for the Hawks
McPherson has some pretty good rebounding and adequate defense skills, but the 2nd round pick from last season (2.15) is just a bench guy. Jupiter has a gorgeous outside shot and FT shooting talents, but he's a horrible passer, especially for a guard. It's actually somewhat surprising he was a 1st round pick last year (15th overall), as the talent level difference between McPherson and Jupiter isn't all that great. In fact, McPherson's

actually ahead of Jupiter on Atlanta's depth chart.

Advantage: Orlando
Two very lopsided deals outside of the Nuggets/Pistons blockbuster this month and the Magic and Mavericks look to both be greatly improved by them.

...Great, just what I needed, the Mavericks bettered.

Of course, we're looking pretty damned hot ourselves and we continue that streak with our best defensive game of the season, a 104-68 whomping of the Heat. It's another night, another new lineup, this one Gama/Yeaton/McPherson/Okafor/Davis. Mateen Yeaton is so happy to be back at SG he goes out and scores 25, Zelipe Gama an excellent second with 12 points and 10 assists. How bad was the beatdown? We shot 51.9%, the Heat 31% from the floor, 50% 3-point shooting for us versus 21.4% 3-point shooting for Miami. That's the kind of defense that wins championships.

We keep the same lineup for the next game and handily beat the Magic, 94-82. Mateen Yeaton scores 28, Tim Davis second with 20 points, but the real story of the game was Zelipe Gama just narrowly missing a triple-double with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists. I just can't get over what an amazing pickup he's been for us thus far.

Our juggernaut stays hot as we thrash the Wizards 122-97. Tim Davis explodes for 25 points and 13 rebounds, Zelipe Gama double-doubles with 18 points and 11 assists and Ron McPherson contributes 17 points and 11 boards. Kirk Hinrich leads the charge off the bench with 15 points in 12 minutes. Brandon Brooks added 10 assists for the reserves.

All things come to an end and our torrid streak stops, 111-95, at the hands of the Raptors. 7 Toronto players in double-digit scoring, led by Nugget-killer Kobe Bryant with 25. I hate him, I really do. A few fine performances on our end, though. Mateen Yeaton put up 26 points, Zelipe Gama scored 24 and Tim Davis contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds. We also appear to have finally settled on a starting five.

It's mid-December and you know what that means. The yearly East Coast road trip.

We start things off well with a 104-89 victory over the Knicks, keyed by 26 points from Mateen Yeaton and 22 points and 10 assists from Zelipe Gama. Thabo Sefolosha scored 10 to be first among the second team.

A doubleheader in Philadelphia and Boston are both equally pleasant. We knock out the 76ers 105-93 as Ron McPherson breaks out for 24 points, Mateen Yeaton adds 17 points and 10 rebounds and Brandon Brooks scores 12 off the bench. The Celtics crash and burn even harder, 107-76, Mateen Yeaton the main arsonist with 29 points. Ron McPherson had his second straight 20+ game with 27 points, Tim Davis had 10 points and 12 rebounds and our bench played quite well. Thabo Sefolosha scored 10 and Chris Washington boosted our boards game with 10 rebounds. And all this despite a horrendous 1-11 night from Zelipe Gama.

Then it's down to Florida for a back-to-back and it's all sunshine for the Nuggets. Miami goes down 102-82 thanks to 24 points from Mateen Yeaton and 15 bench points from Kirk Hinrich. Mateen Yeaton takes care of the Magic as well, scoring 23 in a scrappy 93-75 win. Yeaton got support in the second game from Zelipe Gama (14 points, 13 assists) and Tim Davis (18 points, 12 rebounds).

So that's a 5-0 East Coast trip and I couldn't ask for anything more than that. It's amazing just how much better we've become since acquiring Davis and Gama.

Back at home, we beat the Suns 120-100, Tim Davis the man of the night with 27 points and 9 rebounds. Zelipe Gama had 10 points and 13 assists and Kirk Hinrich put up an exclamation point of 18 points with the reserves.

Mateen Yeaton gets back into the scoring groove with 27 points, Chris Washington adds 14 points off the bench and Kirk Hinrich is a monster on the second team, dazzling with 21 points and 10 assists as we flatten the Sonics 116-80 on the road. It seems like on any given night, there's going to be somebody who steps up in a big way.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are happy holidays in Denver this year. On the 24th, Ron McPherson plays an early Santa with a career-high 35 points and Zelipe Gama's his helper PG elf with 18 points and 14 assists as we thrash the Mavericks 114-93. Chris Washington contributes 10 rebounds off the bench and all is merry. It's even merrier on Christmas Day when Emeka Okafor turns back time with 22 points and 10 rebounds in a 110-91 victory over Golden State. Other stars of the holiday special included Tim Davis (21 points, 16 rebounds), Mateen Yeaton (24 points) and Chris Washington (12 bench points).

Emeka Okafor must've asked for a glass from the Fountain of Youth for Christmas and gotten it from Santa, because he's terrific for his second straight game later in the week with 25 points, 9 rebounds, an assist, 4 blocks and 4 steals in our 100-89 win against Philadelphia. Tim Davis scores 22, Kirk Hinrich just misses a bench double-double with 9 points and 10 assists and Brandon Brooks adds 13 points with the second team.

New Year's Eve is the most joyous occasion we've seen in a long time, as we beat the Lakers 110-91 on the road. Mateen Yeaton leads us with 27 points, Ron McPherson seconds with 20 points and Tim Davis had 14 points and 10 rebounds. All 5 of our starters scored 13 points or more. Impressive that we were able to overcome 33 points and 12 rebounds from Andrew Bynum. We ring in the New Year the next night with a 104-81 trouncing of the other Los Angeles team. Emeka Okafor has an incredible game of 16 points, 20 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 blocks, Ron McPherson scores 20, Mateen Yeaton 22 points. Zelipe Gama gets his first double-double in a while with 19 points and 10 assists and Brandon Brooks is first of the reserves with 13 points.

What a difference a month makes. We're now the #1 seed in the West with a 24-7 record. The Trailblazers are showing they're no fluke this year at 19-10, putting them in second place, four games behind us.

The Lakers are 19-9 and still hold a ridiculous 7 game lead over the Clippers. Houston's a surprising leader in the Southwest at 19-12, narrowly ahead of the 19-14 Grizzlies. Dallas is a shocking 15-15.

We don't have the NBA's best record, though, as the Raptors are 25-7, enjoying a 4 game lead over the 76ers. The Knicks, I'm smugly pleased to report, are back to their losing ways at 10-20.

Detroit's still in front in the Central at 21-9, though the Pacers are right on their heels at 19-9, the same record Charlotte's using to hold a narrow half-game lead over the Heat in the Southeast.

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: 28 games/22 starts - 14.2 PPG 8.5 APG 3.0 RPG 0.4 BPG 1.0 SPG

Note: Paulinho Buboltz broke his foot on the 28th and is out roughly two months.

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: 31 games/30 starts - 19.6 PPG 2.4 APG 3.7 RPG 1.3 BPG 1.1 SPG

Yeaton's stats are skewed somewhat thanks to the crazy lineup shufling Larry Brown did before settling on:

PG Zelipe Gama
SG Mateen Yeaton
SF Ron McPherson
PF Emeka Okafor
C Tim Davis

Incidentally, on the Pacers, Ben Gordon is still off the hook, averaging 26 points a game. Joakim Noah is still the starting PF, even though he's having his worst season since 2012, his last year in a Nuggets uniform. Leroy Wright keeps plugging along as a solid bench player.

Eddy Curry's second on the Pistons in scoring, averaging 15.5 points. Dan Jacobson's averaging 11.9 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks, but I'll still take Tim Davis's 17 points and 8.2 rebounds over that.

[Izulde]

Philadelphia 76ers receive
SG Dale Stukes

New Jersey Nets receive
SG Jeremy Thompson

What this means for the 76ers
Stukes, taken in the 2nd round of the 2012 draft (2.3) by the Nets, has a good outside shot and some scoring instincts. Unfortunately, the 26 year old hasn't really gotten the chance to showcase his skills yet, but he should see some more minutes in Philadelphia.

What this means for the Nets
Thompson was the 16th overall pick last year and is raw and reportedly cancerous. Yes, he can play both guard spots and SF, but he's an end of the bench player and extremely raw, with questionable potential. It's hard to see any justification for this deal by New Jersey.

Advantage: Philadelphia
New Jersey should've never made this deal. Period. They're actually worse for it.

Boston Celtics receive
PG Devin Harris

Chicago Bulls receive
SG Jamal Crawford
Boston Celtics 2016 2nd round pick

What this means for the Celtics
Boston desparately needed a pass-first PG to backup Delonte West and they got a beaut of one in Harris, who also plays good defense and can score off the bench. The $7.3 million expiring contract is a nice bonus as well.

What this means for the Bulls
Crawford's still a big-time 3 point threat and he'll be buried on the Bulls' bench, but he's an even better $8.5 mill. expiring contract. The 2nd round pick won't be worth much, though.

Advantage: Boston
The Celtics addressed a crisis-sized hole in their rotation and gave up comparatively little for it.

Memphis Grizzlies receive
SG Larry Hughes
Dallas Mavericks 2016 2nd round pick

Dallas Mavericks receive
PG Damian Giesen

What this means for the Grizzlies
Good offense and very good defense out of Hughes means he strengthens the Grizzlies' bench considerably. It's uncertain how much PT he'll actually get, though. The Mavericks 2nd round pick will be middling at best.

What this means for the Mavericks
Giesen is raw, but he's an extremely intriguing prospect. If he can develop his scoring instincts some more and be a little better passer, he'd been worthy of a future SG spot, where he's more naturally suited. Taken with the 23rd pick last season.

Advantage: Draw
Both sides get a little something out of this, but the impact is likely to be minimal unless Giesen develops into something.

At least the Mavericks didn't win that deal.

We get a few days off before our first couple games after New Year's, a back-to-back in which we roll triumphant. Tim Davis and Mateen Yeaton combine for 23 and 22 points respectively and Emeka Okafor doubles with 14 points and 13 rebounds to handily down San Antonio 100-81. The Suns get blistered 130-92 the next night as Mateen Yeaton scorches them for 40 points and Zelipe Gama is magnificient in his own fashion with 27 points, 13 assists and 7 steals.

Our white-hot dominance finally comes to an end in a 114-110 OT loss to the Kings in Sacramento on a doubleheader's front-end. Tim Davis fouled out with just 11 minutes on the floor, even though Chris Washington did his damnedest in relief, scoring 20 points with 9 rebounds off the bench. Zelipe Gama fouled out as well, finishing with 20 points and and 14 assists. Ron McPherson scored 25 and Emeka Okafor picked up a weak double-double of 10 points, 11 rebounds. No problem though, as we knock off the Lakers 95-87 the next night behind 24 points from Mateen Yeaton.

Mateen Yeaton dominates again in our next game, putting up a line of 22 points, 2 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and 5 steals in a 105-88 steamrolling of the Timberwolves. Ron McPherson scored 22, Tim Davis 20 to complete the triumvirate of T-Wolf slayers.

Another back-to-back, another pair of wins. We crush Golden State 110-89, as all 5 starters score 14 points or more. Zelipe Gama had 18 points and 15 assists, Tim Davis 14 points and 13 rebounds and Ron McPherson and Mateen Yeaton both broke 20 points at 22 and 20 respectively. Chris Washington highlighted the reserves with 12 bench rebounds. Our defense plays magnificiently in beating the Sonics 99-86 the next night. Mateen Yeaton scores 29, Tim Davis gets 10 points and 17 rebounds and Brandon Brooks paces the bench with 10 points.

And that's when the medical report comes back.

Tim Davis has a torn ACL. He'll be out over a year.

That scream and banging of head against wall you just heard was me. As much as I love Chris Washington's stepping up off the bench, he's not a legitimate starting C.

But then, looking at the free agent market and the trade market, there's really nothing there to be had without disrupting the team even further. So we'll just have to play with this grimly dealt hand and think about adjusting later as needed.

We hammer the Grizzlies 115-98 in the next game as Ron McPherson scores 27, Mateen Yeaton puts up 25 points, Zelipe Gama gets 12 points and 10 assists and Brandon Brooks and Kirk Hinrich lead the reserves with 13 and 11 points a piece.

A brutal road stretch comes up next and it's going to be a real litmus test for how we'll do the rest of the season. We just narrowly edge Dallas 96-91 as Ron McPherson obliterates the Mavericks for 31 points and 10 rebounds. Emeka Okafor chimes in with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 6 blocks and Mateen Yeaton scores 20 to complete the save. As one might expect, Jonte Jones shredded us for 30 points and 14 rebounds and I'm hoping we don't draw Dallas in the playoffs.

We swing our way through a doubleheader and hit homeruns on both nights. Chicago goes down 99-76, thanks to Ron McPherson continuing to step up after Davis's injury with 26 points. Mateen Yeaton scores 22, Zelipe Gama garners 14 points and 10 assists and Kirk Hinrich tops the second team with 11 points. Center-heavy Detroit can do no better against us, falling 96-79 as Mateen Yeaton scores 26 and our bench comes through in the clutch with 15 points from Thabo Sefolosha and 10 points from Brandon Brooks.

Our closest games in a long time come with the next back-to-back. We narrowly beat Milwaukee 91-88, withstanding a furious fourth quarter Bucks rally. Mateen Yeaton singlehandedly saved us in the game with 26 points. The game against the Pacers is even tighter, but we pull out the 97-95 victory on the strength of 33 points from Ron McPherson and 11 and 10 bench points from Thabo Sefolosha and Kirk Hinrich. Even without Paulinho Buboltz, the Pacers still have a deadly backcourt, as evidenced by Ben Gordon's 30 points and Tony Parker's 25 points. Unfortunately for Indiana's fans, those two were about all the offense the Pacers could muster.

We're able to catch a breath and enjoy our thrilling, perfect run for a few days before ending the month with a doubleheader. We thrash the Knicks 96-67 at home with crushing defense, 12 points and 16 rebounds from Emeka Okafor and 14 bench points from Thabo Sefolosha. Unfortunately, January concludes on a sour note, a 98-87 loss to the Trailblazers, despite 22 and 23 points from Mateen Yeaton and Ron McPherson and 12 points and 11 assists from Zelipe Gama.

That last game also featured a new starting C. Chris Washington, in the 8 games since Tim Davis's injury, has scored 2 points for 6 of the 8 games and scored 4 and 6 points the other two contests. Given this horrific lack of production out of the five spot, Lindsey Williamson took over against the Trailblazers and had a comparative bouty of 8 points and 9 rebounds before fouling out.

I'm thinking we still need to do something about our C situation. There's a nice one-year rental I've got my eye on and I'm tempted to go ahead and make the trade if I can pull it off.

Unfortunately, the trade's not going down as the other team wants too much for my initial replacement.

So I work a bit and come up with another deal.

Denver Nuggets receive
C Tyson Chandler
SF Keith Bosl
Boston Celtics 2016 1st round pick
Boston Celtics 2017 2nd round pick

Boston Celtics receive
C Chris Washington
Denver Nuggets 2016 1st round pick
New Orleans Hornets 2017 2nd round pick
Denver Nuggets 2018 2nd round pick

What this means for the Nuggets
After Washington's disastrous outing as the starting C, following initially promising bench performances, the Nuggets' front office wanted to commit to Lindsey Williamson, the 2nd year player they're quietly high on, as the starting C for the duration of the season. Enter Chandler, who played for the Nuggets in 2011 and who, despite his advanced years, still plays solid defense, knows how to draw a foul and can rebound well. As the first C off the bench, his PT and numbers will skyrocket. The Celtics, though they're playing quite well lately, will still garner the Nuggets a higher 1st round pick than Denver's likely to get right now. Bosl was cut immediately after the trade.

What this means for the Celtics
Washington's shown with the Nuggets that he can be a suprisingly good bench player and Boston's deep enough on the bench that he won't ever have to start. The burning question, of course, is whether his performances with Denver were just a fluke, as he'd not shown anything in his previous pro stints to indicate he'd be much good.

Advantage: Draw
How this deal pans out depends on Williamson. If he's a noteworthy improvement over Washington as the starting C like GM Jestor believes and if the Nuggets keep winning, this will turn out more on the side of the Nuggets. If, however, the Nuggets rise in draft position comparable to the Celtics, they've needlessly given away a probable high 2nd rounder (the Hornets pick) and the Celtics technically win.

I really want to see if Lindsey can do it.

As for the draft pick, we're presently 37-9 and are so far in front in the West, it's not funny. The next closest team is the Portland Trailblazers at 28-16, who are both 8 games back of us in the division and in the conference's top seed race.

Tight race in the Southwest, with Dallas at 25-19 half a game in front of the Rockets, 1.5 in front of the Grizzlies. The Pacific is still dominated by the 27-16 Lakers, though the Kings are finally giving the division another .+500 team at 23-22.

Toronto still rules the East at 34-12 and they're 5.5 and 6 respectively ahead of the 76ers and Celtics, Boston holding a 28-18 mark.

Exciting race in the Central, where the Pacers and Pistons are deadlocked for the divison and the Bucks are still very much in play at 2.5 back. Charlotte leads the Heat in the Southeast by a game and a half at 25-17.

I think we can still keep the #1 seed in the West even without Tim Davis. Whether or not we can make that championship push... Now that's the huge question mark.

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: 28 games/22 starts - 14.2 PPG 8.5 APG 3.0 RPG 0.4 BPG 1.0 SPG

Note: Paulinho Buboltz is still out another month with his broken foot.

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: 46 games/45 starts - 20.7 PPG 2.3 APG 3.8 RPG 1.5 BPG 1.2 SPG

[boberot]

Tough blow. Good thing you have a cushion built up. Nice move getting Chandler as a nice steady, solid vet to shoure up the C spot.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by boberot

Tough blow. Good thing you have a cushion built up. Nice move getting Chandler as a nice steady, solid vet to shoure up the C spot.

Yeah, after watching Washington contribute zero offense for 8 games, I'd had enough. Plus, I've got a good feeling about Williamson and want to give him some more PT.

I'm a little worried about having overpaid for the Celtics 1st round pick, but we'll see what comes of it.

[Izulde]

Chicago Bulls receive
C Eugene Whitmore

Golden State Warriors receive
PF Chezley McCleary
Chicago Bulls 2016 2nd round pick

What this means for the Bulls
Whitmore, the 8th overall pick by the Magic in 2011, was let go after two seasons, whereupon he signed with the Warriors and developed into a good rebounder and a ferocious shotblocker with enough offense to be considered a force. At 7'3, 300lbs, he's a big, big body as the new starting PF and provides protection for still developing Austin Buller.

What this means for the Warriors
Chezley's a $6.8 million expiring contract and the Bulls are almost as terrible as the Warriors this year, so it's a high 2nd round pick they can bank on. The money will allow Golden State to be free agent players next year.

Advantage: Chicago
This is a huge move that will help develop Buller's confidence to have somebody like Whitmore alongside of him. The faster Buller develops, the faster Chicago becomes a good team again. It's a good deal for Golden State as well, though. They need to make a splash next offseason to show the fans they're making an effort to improving and the money that will be freed up goes a long way towards that.

Seattle Supersonics receive
SF Hakim Warrick

Houston Rockets receive
PG Luke Ridnour

What this means for the Sonics
Superstar SF Brooks Smith is out with a broken arm and Seattle's season is spiraling down the tubes. Warrick gives the Sonics a respectable all-around bench player to try and fill in the gap.

What this means for the Rockets
Houston's playing well, but their backcourt is suspect with former 1st round Rockets draft pick Mackel Greenleaf (29th overall, 2009) coming back to the team this offseason to run the point and former Nuggets 1st round pick Duez Walker starting at SG. Ridnour instantly injects the Rockets with a legitimate, proven starting NBA PG and dramatically improves the backcourt situation. Even better, he's an $8.2 mill. expiring contract.

Advantage: Houston
Both teams gave up players who didn't figure much in their rotations, but the Rockets got a lot more bang for their buck and can put themselves back on top of the division with this move.

I'm paranoid that we don't have enough frontcourt depth, so I sign 25 year old PF Mike Nooner from the Dakota Great Apes. A third year player, he was originally drafted in the 2nd round by Portland (2.12, 2012), and has excellent defensive skills with the potential to blossom into a respectable offensive and rebounding player. He can play SF/PF and slots in as the 8th man for now.

We thrash the NBA's worst team in Golden State, 111-84. Mateen Yeaton scores a breathtaking 42 points and Emeka Okafor bulldozes his way through to 19 points and 11 rebounds.

An important divisional doubleheader comes next and we secure the sweep. 22 points from Mateen Yeaton and 13 bench points from Kirk Hinrich are enough to put away the Jazz 95-80. Balanced offense carries us past the Timberwolves 91-81, signified by 11 and 10 bench points respectively from Brandon Brooks and Kirk Hinrich.

When you shoot 59.7% as a team and hold the opposition to 32.5%, including 10% from 3-point range, a blowout's going to happen and it does in our 103-74 pummeling of the Cavaliers. Mateen Yeaton leads the way with 24 points and 10 rebounds, Ron McPherson a capable sidekick with 22 points.

My heart nearly stops against the Nets, but we rally in the fourth quarter to escape with a 99-97 win. Emeka Okafor scores 20, Ron McPherson 25. Zelipe Gama was absolutely brilliant in passing, netting 18 assists.

It's a back-to-back to finish us off before the All-Star break and we win both games handily. Mateen Yeaton handles the Hawks with 28 points in a 92-80 win, with a surprise near bench double-double by 39 year old Antawn Jamison of 9 points and 11 rebounds. It's Mateen Yeaton again in the following 95-81 victory over the Bobcats with 27 points, Zelipe Gama doubling with 12 points and 12 assists.

All-Star Break

An article appears in one of the sports magazines, an excerpt of which I'm including here.

"...But perhaps there's been no bigger first-half surprise than the results of the Pistons/Nuggets blockbuster trade that sent Tim Davis, Zelipe Gama and Antawn Jamison to the Nuggets for Dan Jacobson, Phillip Gill, Eddy Curry and Shaun Livingston.

Davis and Gama combined to ignite the Nuggets offense, sending a 3-6 team on a blistering 24-2 run before Davis was lost for the year with a torn ACL. Although Gama's numbers aren't noticeably different than last year's starting PG, Brandon Brooks, what the Spainard brings to the table is electrifying stealing on defense and a sensational outside shot. Jamison has been a quietly successful contributor on the bench, defying age and decayed defense to provide some points and rebounds.

The Nuggets are still winning despite being woefully thin at center, a position they wouldn't have been in had they not dealt away three big men to the Pistons in that deal.

Jacobson is having arguably his best season ever in averaging 11.9 points and 10.7 rebounds and Eddy Curry, while a step slower than last year, has 15.4 points and 5.8 rebounds a game to his credit. Although Gill lost his starting spot at SF to Marcel Mance after a few weeks, he's averaging almost eight points, six rebounds and over a block a game as the Pistons' 6th man. It's been a long time since the Pistons have had this powerful a nucleus in the frontcourt.

Looking to the future, this deal appears to heavily benefit the Nuggets. While Davis is lost for this year, he gives Denver a genuine point-scorer inside, something Denver hasn't had since the days of Marcus Camby and he'll only be 25 next season. Gama was thought to be the future at PG, but he's quickly established that he's the answer -now-. In fact, GM Jestor was so shrewd in this trade, he's laid the foundations for a Denver dynasty, for as the following box shows, he's assembled a young, talented starting lineup.

PG Zelipe Gama (24)
SG Mateen Yeaton (27)
SF Ron McPherson (21)
PF Emeka Okafor (33)
C Tim Davis (24)

Only Okafor is over 30 in that group, so the prospects are very bright for the Nuggets. However, there is a concern that they could fall into the trap that the Portland Trailblazers of recent past have, with a gifted set of starters and a weak bench. Of the current Denver reserves, only Brooks (29) and Lindsey Williamson (23) are under 30 and Jamison will be 40 next year.

Still, one has to like Denver's chances to be title contenders for years, particularly given the stockpiled first round picks waiting in 2017 and 2018 (New Orleans and Utah respectively).

Even this season, the records say it all at the All-Star break: Denver 44-9, Detroit 32-19."

True. Oh so damned true.

Kirk Hinrich wins the 3-point shootout for the second time since I've entered the league, both years in a Denver uniform.

The Sophs destroy the Rooks 101-87 behind 34 points from MVP Justin Richler. The Canadian's been as good as advertised and is currently averaging 20.6 points a game as a 20 year old. The scary part is, if my scouts are right, the young Net will be as good if not better than Lebron James at scoring the time all is said and done.

Absolutely thrilling All-Star game. The East beats the West 110-109 in OT on a last-second shot by Carmelo Anthony, the MVP for the miracle jumper and his 24 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, a block and 2 steals. Mateen Yeaton again started at G for the West and led all scorers with 27 points. We got a nice surprise when Zelipe Gama was named as an All-Star reserve, even if he didn't get to play, much like perenially shafted Ben Gordon, who got his usual All-Star listing with no minutes on the floor.

Zelipe was absolutely ecstatic at getting to be part of the All-Star team and didn't care that he didn't get on the floor. It's been a miraculous season for our Spainard, who had only that 2012 season in San Antonio to his credit as a full-time starter. In fact, 2011 and 2012, both with the Spurs, were the only two years he's started an NBA game period. Needless to say, I'm thrilled for him, too.

I'm even happier when we beat the Celtics 81-63 in our first game back from the break behind 30 points and 11 rebounds from Mateen Yeaton and 13 points and 13 rebounds from Emeka Okafor. The Celtics are still on fire at 34-20 after the loss, but every little bit helps when trying to give them a worse record. We held Boston to 29.9% shooting, a franchise record.

Our first loss in quite a while happens 106-96 in Memphis against the Grizzlies. Mateen Yeaton scores 23 and Mike Nooner adds 10 bench points, but it's not enough to overcome the Grizz's starting five, especially 33 points and 10 rebounds from Chris Gearheart. I have a lot of respect for that Memphis front office and how they've managed to turn the organization around.

We bounce back with a 120-86 asskicking of the Hornets as Mateen Yeaton scores 24, Emeka Okafor adds 22 points, Zelipe Gama magnificiently doubles with 19 points and 16 assists and Kirk Hinrich scores 12 off the bench.

Our concluding game of the month is against Atlanta. The Hawks play us tough, but in the end, 26 points from Mateen Yeaton and 10 points and 11 assists from Zelipe Gama are enough to pull out the 100-94 victory.

At the end of the short month, we're in love with our 47-10 record, especially since it has us 12 games up on the Traiblazers both for the division and the #1 seed.

The Lakers are looking suprisingly mortal without Kobe, but 31-24 is still good enough to be well ahead of the 30-28 Kings for the Pacific division.

Houston and Dallas are deadlocked atop the Southwest, Memphis is 2 games back, San Antonio 3.5. The gut-wrenching part of it is, if the playoffs were held today, the Grizzlies would be the #8 seed and play us. That's one matchup I want to avoid at all costs.

The East still has the Raptors on top at 41-15. The 76ers, like the Traiblazers, are behind in both the division and the top seed, only Philly's just 4 back, Boston 5.5 back.

Detroit's barely hanging on the Central, as Indiana's a half-game back and the Bucks are in third at four games behind.

The Southeast has a number of teams still in play. Charlotte's out in front, with the Magic in second (2.5), the Heat third (4) and the Wizards fourth (5.5).

Biggest surprise? The Knicks surging to 26-31. There's still a few teams fairly ahead of them for the 8th spot in the playoffs, but at least they can talk about themselves as a possibility again. My expectation is that they'll fall short like they did last year, though.

Nobody averaging 30 points a game. Nigel Abel's at 29 even and Jonte Jones (26.4), Ben Gordon (26.2) and Carmelo Anthony (26) are clustered right tight behind him. Mateen Yeaton's 15th at 21.4.

This is the biggest group of players with more than 10 assists this late in a season I've ever seen. Lebron James of all people is first with 11.1 assists, followed by Dwayne Wade (10.7), Gilbert Arenas (10.3), Kenny Graham (10.2) and T.J. Ford (10.1). Zelipe Gama is 8th with 9.3.

Greg Oden has a comfortable lead in rebounding with 13.5, 12.3 and 12.2 respectively by Andrew Bynum and Andrew Bogut 2nd and 3rd. Dan Jacobson is 11th with 10.6.

Huge number of 3+ blockers this late in the year, too. Andrei Kirilenko naturally leads with 3.5, but Josh Smith (3.2) and Narcyz Malinomowski and Kyle Jordan at 3 rejections a piece are in play as well.

Nobody over 2 steals a game. Rudy Gay and Gerald Wallace are tied at 1.8, with a slew of others at 1.7.

For the rookies, Andre Davis is averaging 13.8 points a game, Justin Barnes 10.5. Justin Barnes leads in class assists with 3.9, Pete Bannister second with 3.7.

Patrick Riley is the top rebounder by far with 8.8 boards, Andre Davis (5.7) and Chris Adams (5) behind him. Patrick Riley also has a commanding lead in class blocks with 2.6, followed by Garrick Reece (1.7) and Andre Davis (1.5). Andre Davis, Patrick Riley and Alan Edwards are tied for the class thief lead with 0.8 swipes a game.

Looks like I was right about the Kings getting a steal in Barnes with the 12th overall pick.

[Izulde]

Toronto Raptors receive
SF Dusty Hammond
New Jersey Nets 2016 2nd round pick

New Jersey Nets receive
SF Vidal White

What this means for the Raptors
Hammond, the 19th overall pick by the Hawks in 2011, has seen his PPG go down each season he's been in the league. Despite this, Toronto still believes the 27 year old can develop into a viable sparkplug off the bench.

What this means for the Nets
White, 25, was taken 29th overall by the Raptors in 2013 and has potential to be a solid all-around NBA reserve, but hasn't gotten the opportunity to show what he can do. At any rate, he's two years younger and much more polished than Hammond.

Advantage: Draw
Too many X-factors here to say for certain who will end up better in the end.

Boston Celtics receive
C Kyle Jordan

Minnesota Timberwolves receive
PF Federico Gomez

What this means for the Celtics
Jordan is a phenomenal shotblocker who's been a consistent 10 and 10 guy for much of his career in Minnesota, ever since he was taken 3rd overall by the Timberwolves in 2010. Boston's experimenting with putting him at SF, where his size is a big asset against such powerful frontlines in the East as Toronto's and Detroit's.

What this means for the Timberwolves
Gomez, taken 16th overall in 2009, has spent his entire career on the Celtics' bench and fairly well mired in the bottom. He won't be a key player in the Timberwolves' rotation either and he's got two years left on his contract, making it questionable just why Minnesota traded for him. Is this a tank move by the T-Wolves?

Advantage: Boston
Although Jordan never lived up to his lofty billing, he was an adequate starting C. The move cripples the Timberwolves' frontcourt and virtually ensures that Kelvin Moody will follow Kevin Garnett's career track, which isn't a good thing for the team's fortunes.

I'll admit, I'm stunned Minnesota got so little back for Jordan. Gomez is mediocre in every respect. If the Timberwolves were going to trade their starting C, they could've gotten a lot more for him than what they did.

But oh well. Their loss.

High-profile matchup against the Pacers to open March. Mateen Yeaton puts on one of the greatest performances I've ever seen with 48 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, a block and a steal and Ron McPherson scores 26 in the 114-95 blowout. Paulinho Buboltz is back in the lineup for Indiana, but even that couldn't rally Indiana.

23 points and 12 rebounds from Emeka Okafor and 19 points and 13 assists from Zelipe Gama are enough to get us a 94-85 victory over the Clippers.

Outstanding defense stifles the ascendant Traiblazers 105-70 in the next game, our offense provided by Ron McPherson (27 points), Zelipe Gama (10 points, 15 assists), Brandon Brooks (10 bench points) and Mike Nooner (11 bench points). Nooner's very quickly putting himself in a position to get an NBA-level contract next year, from us if nothing else.

A nice break precedes our next pair of games, a back-to-back against San Antonio and Phoenix. The Spurs play us tough like they usually do, but we eke out a 104-101 victory thanks to 28 points from Mateen Yeaton, 22 points from Ron McPherson, 16 points and 15 assists from Zelipe Gama and a nice 12 bench rebounds from Tyson Chandler. No such thrills at home the next night, as Mateen Yeaton dwarfs the Suns with 31 points. Ron McPherson scores 25 and Emeka Okafor double-doubles with 10 points and 14 rebounds to seal the deal in the 104-69 blowout.

It seems as though we're due to lose about one game a month and that loss comes against the Bobcats, 103-96, despite 27 points from Mateen Yeaton and a surprising 12 bench points from Tyson Chandler. Our C position is still extremely ugly and we may doomed for the playoffs as a result.

A 102-82 rocking of the Clippers a couple nights later improves my mood. Mateen Yeaton's the usual master tonic with 31 points, Zelipe Gama contributing 14 points and 13 assists. Tyson Chandler is again the man on the bench, with 12 points.

Beating the Bucks 111-102 is always fun, especially when Mateen Yeaton torches Milwaukee for 42 points. Emeka Okafor added 20 points of his own and those two were enough to secure the win.

We thrash the Wizards 105-80, Mateen Yeaton scoring 28 to continue his hot streak. He's joined in the 20+ scoring club by Ron McPherson with 25 points and Emeka Okafor with 23 points, who made it a double-double with 10 rebounds besides. Brandon Brooks contributed 10 assists from the bench.

The Lakers really are having a down year this season, as our 108-82 buttwhipping shows. Mateen Yeaton scores 27 and a record 3 bench players receive double-digit points. Mike Nooner scored 10, 39 year old Antawn Jamison 13 and Thabo Sefolosha 11. That's the kind of depth I love to see.

Want to know how bad our 104-87 beatdown of the Kings was? Lindsay Williamson became the first starting C on our team to reach double digit scoring since January 16th with 12 points. How long a stretch has it been? It's my dad's birthday, May 24th, so 2 months and 8 days from the last time our starting C had 10+ points. That fact was lost however in the brightness of Emeka Okafor's 23 points and 16 rebounds, Ron McPherson's 20 points and 12 points and 14 assists from Zelipe Gama.

The Suns ambush us in Phoenix and we lose 108-97. Mateen Yeaton did his best with 24 points, Emeka Okafor grabbed 13 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks and Brandon Brooks scored 18 off the bench, but fact is, we got caught napping.

We get back on track with a 97-83 win over the Jazz, keyed by 28 points from Mateen Yeaton, 22 points from Ron McPherson, 11 points and 14 rebounds from Emeka Okafor, 10 points and 12 assists from Zelipe Gama and 10 bench points courtesy of Antawn Jamison.

We finish the month off with an excellent doubleheader sweep. San Antonio gets crushed 107-84 due to Mateen Yeaton's 33 points, a great double by Emeka Okafor of 16 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks and 11 bench points out of Kirk Hinrich. We follow that up with a 119-103 road hammering of the Trailblazers with Antawn Jamison getting the surprise start at C. Mateen Yeaton cuts Portland for 39 points and Zelipe Gama has 15 points and 13 assists.

I'm damned proud of the toughess of this team. Unlike last year, when I thought the squad lacked resilancy, this version of the Denver Nuggets showed they could overcome adversity (after yours truly made the right move, of course) and I've got a good feeling despite not having Tim Davis.

With 10 games left in the regular season we're 60-12 and have clinched the #1 seed in the West for the second year in a row.

There's still a ton of tight races going on, though. To wit:

Southwest
Memphis - 38-33
Houston - 38-35 (1 GB)
San Antonio - 36-37 (3 GB)
Dallas - 34-38 (4.5 GB)

Pacific
Sacramento - 41-33
L.A. Lakers - 37-35 (3 GB)
L.A. Clippers - 34-39 (6.5 GB)

Yep, that's right. The Purple and Gold are in second place and Dallas has tumbled all the way back to fourth place. There's still a ton of jockeying to be done for playoff seeding, but if the postseason started today, we'd playing the Spurs, the team I most hate to go against.

East Races

Atlantic
Toronto - 53-19
Philadelphia - 47-25 (6 GB)

Central
Indiana - 47-24
Detroit - 44-28 (3.5 GB)
Milwaukee - 42-30 (5.5 GB)

Southeast
Orlando - 42-31
Charlotte - 41-31 (0.5 GB)
Miami - 36-38 (6.5 GB)
Washington - 34-37 (7 GB)

The Pacers have been absolutely amazing lately and have surged to the front of the Central. Boston, by the way, is 41-31, so we'll be out of the lottery, but we'll still probably have a much better pick than the 30th spot that we're very close to clinching.

Tough crowd in the East this year. 41-31 would be the 8th seed in the conference right now.

You almost have to feel sorry for the 32-39 Knicks, who are just getting consistently competitive when the conference is rising in power.

[Izulde]

For us, the last ten games are going to be anti-climatic, given that we've locked everything save the NBA's best record up, but play through them we must. I just hope we get through without any more major injuries.

Our first is a back-to-back road showing and we win both. Antawn Jamison gets the first double-double from a starting C of ours in about 3 months with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Pretty damned impressive for a 39 year old. Emeka Okafor grabs 12 points and 10 boards, Mateen Yeaton scores 29 and Thabo Sefolosha adds 10 bench points in the 102-95 victory over the Grizzlies. New Orleans plays us surprisingly tough, but in the end 27 points from Emeka Okafor and 25 points from Ron McPherson are enough to grind out the 99-93 victory.

A divisional doubleheader, a deuce of wins. We beat Minnesota 94-82 as Mateen Yeaton scores 30, Zelipe Gama has 12 points and 11 assists and Thabo Sefolosha scores 14 off the bench. We also had all five starters with 10 points or more, as Antawn Jamison is working out surprisingly well in the five spot. Great duel between Brooks Smith (41 points, 8 rebounds, an assist, 4 blocks) and Mateen Yeaton (39 points, 4 steals), but Thabo Sefolosha's 16 bench points net us the 106-96 victory over the Sonics. One of the reasons I made sure to get Thabo is because he's a playoff warrior and he seems to be heating up just about the right time.

Mateen Yeaton smacks around Golden State for 27 points and Zelipe Gama comes up with 16 points, 15 assists and 5 steals in a 108-85 romperstomping of the Warriors. The victory brings us to 65 wins, a nice number to hit.

34 points from Mateen Yeaton, 16 points and 16 rebounds from Emeka Okafor and 17 points in 21 minutes from reserve Thabo Sefolosha are enough to key another blowout, this one 112-87 over the hapless Hornets. We've long since wrapped up the best regular season record in the league.

For the first time since the start of the year, we lose two games in row, dropping both ends of a back-to-back. Memphis ambushes us 107-95, in Denver no less, ruining 23 points from Ron McPherson and 11 bench points a piece from Tyson Chandler and Brandon Brooks. The Rockets come back the next night in the fourth quarter and suckerpunch us for the 91-89 loss. Mateen Yeaton (26 points), Emeka Okafor (11 points, 13 rebounds) and Brandon Brooks (13 bench points) did their gamest, but it wasn't enough.

Am I upset by these losses? Not really. Like I said, we've everything locked up, whereas the Grizzlies and Rockets have things to fight for, like oh, say, the division title perhaps?

My point's proven when we end the regular season with blowout victories on consecutive nights. 108-77 is the final scoreline against the Suns, Ron McPherson the Game MVP with 20 points, Brandon Brooks and Mike Nooner providing excellent bench support with 13 and 12 points respectively. It's our backcourt of Mateen Yeaton (38 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals) and Zelipe Gama (22 points, 12 assists) that punches out Portland 115-94 in the season finale.

And so we finish with a 68-14 record, the best mark we've had since I've been here. I'd like to have gotten the 70 wins, but we'll take what we got, for sure.

West Conference Seeding
1. Denver Nuggets (68-14)
2. Portland Trailblazers (49-33)
3. L.A. Lakers (44-38)
4. Memphis Grizzlies (44-38)
5. Houston Rockets (43-39)
6. Sacramento Kings (43-39)
7. San Antonio Spurs (42-40)
8. Utah Jazz (41-41)

We dodge a huge bullet in drawing the Jazz as opposed to the Spurs. 3 in-division matchups in the first round. Should make for a great set of opening games. I'm particularly curious to see how the Grizzlies/Rockets series is going to turn out.

East Conference Seeding
1. Toronto Raptors (62-20)
2. Philadelphia 76ers (55-27)
3. Indiana Pacers (54-28)
4. Orlando Magic (48-34)
5. Detroit Pistons (51-31)
6. Milwaukee Bucks (46-36)
7. Boston Celtics (44-38)
8. Charlotte Bobcats (44-38)

Absolutely brutal field in the East Conference in terms of regular season record.

Who was the 9th team left standing at the altar? The 41-41 New York Knicks, who finally obtained .500, only to have their hearts broken.

Schadenfreude, anyone?

Nigel Abel just misses the 30 point per game mark with 29.9. Carmelo Anthony took second with 25.8, just ahead of Jonte Jones (25.7), Ben Gordon (25.5) and Brooks Smith (25.3). Mateen Yeaton was 6th at 23.6 points.

A record 5 players averaging double-digit assists: Dwayne Wade (10.8), LeBron James (10.7), T.J. Ford (10.3), Gilbert Arenas (10.2) and Kenny Graham (10). It was -this- close to being 7, as our own Zelipe Gama and Calvis Graham finished with 9.9. Paulinho Buboltz was a comparatively distant 14th with 8.3 assists a game.

Greg Oden took the rebounding average title easily with 13.9. Andrew Bogut (12.1) and Kelvin Moody (12) were the only other ones to even break 12. Dan Jacobson was 14th with 10.2 boards a game.

After all that rejection going on in the first half of the season, just two finished with over 3 rejections per game; Andrei Kirilenko with 3.6 and Josh Smith with 3. Emeka Okafor landed 18th with 2.1 blocks a game.

Gerald Wallace was the only one even close to two steals a game at 1.9. Mateen Yeaton was 9th with 1.5 swipes a game.

Andre Davis (13.8) and Justin Barnes (11.7) were the only two first years with 10+ point averages. Justin Barnes also averaged 5.1 assists for tops in the category, Pete Bannister second with 3.9 dishes per game. Rebounds fell to Patrick Riley by a large margin at 8.7, as the second place finisher was Andre Davis with 5.7 rebounds. Patrick Riley also took rookie blocks per game with 2.5, Garick Reece second at an appropriately even 2. David Davis and Patrick Riley tied for the class steals lead at 0.8 per game.

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


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

Interesting sets of numbers, no?

[Izulde]

It's great to be back in the playoffs, better still to end up as the #1 seed for the second year in a row. Even without Tim Davis, I still think we've got a shot.

As usual, the article:

"It's been a miraculous season in Denver, where the Nuggets still finished with the best record in the entire league despite losing starting center Tim Davis for the year. But the playoffs are a whole new ballgame and the Denver will certainly be challenged, even against the modestly .500 Jazz.

Point Guard
Zelipe Gama vs. A.J. Dunkley
Gama blossomed this season, becoming a full-time starter for the first time since 2012 with the Spurs and earning an All-Star nod after he was dealt to the Nuggets as part of the Davis trade. He's invigorated Denver's offense and is the perfect passing machine, yet also capable of scoring if needed. 11.8 points per game, 9.9 assists, 3.8 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.4 steals indicate that he's a very good all-around player and a really pleasant surprise for Denver.

Dunkley's a better scorer than Gama and averaged 14.9 points a game in the regular season. He also averaged 8.5 assists and 1.1 steals and is in truth a better passer than the Spainard. This is going to be a very intriguing matchup to watch.

Advantage: Draw

Shooting Guard
Mateen Yeaton vs. Deron Williams
Another All-Star star for Yeaton and some terrific play down the stretch erased his early-season struggles. He showed last year that he can be a clutch playoff performer, but as always, the big question is: Can he stay healthy? His staying in good shape is even more important with Davis gone for the year.

Age is starting to show on Williams, but he still averaged 17.6 points, 5 assists and 1.6 steals in the regular season. His wizardy with passing the ball will be important if Utah hopes to win the series. Unfortunately for the Jazz, he's facing a size mismatch against Yeaton and his defense is declining as well.

Advantage: Nuggets

Small Forward
Ron McPherson vs. Andrei Kirilenko
GM Jestor has coveted McPherson ever since the 2013 draft and he went out and got him this offseason. The end result? 16.6 points and one of the best defensive SFs in the league. The biggest difference between McPherson and last year's starting SF, Patrick Pastner? Pastner struggled to break 40% shooting, whereas McPherson is shooting 47%. If there's a weakness in his game, it's that he's a horrible rebounder.

Kirilenko has the size and height needed to contain McPherson, though and even at 34 years old, he's still the league's single best defender and should win another Defensive Player of the Year award. His 12.1 points and 6.2 rebounds is just an extra bonus on top of it.

Advantage: Draw

Power Forward
Emeka Okafor vs. Carlos Boozer
The Nuggets team captain really stepped up in a big way after Davis went down and finished the regular season averaging 11.2 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks. He'll be called upon to again provide superlative defense, shotblocking and rebounding and the pressure will be on him to give Denver some semblance of an inside offensive game.

Boozer shows no signs of slowing down, averaging an amazing 18.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals in the regular season at 34. He can't block a shot to save his life, though and his defense is merely average. That said, he's a dangerous weapon and this matchup, along with the one at PG, will go a long way to determining who wins the series. Unstoppable force/immovable object.

Advantage: Draw

Center
Antawn Jamison vs. Andris Biedrins
Without a doubt, the most bizzare thing about this entire playoffs. The top seed in the entire NBA has a 39 year old SF as their starting C. That said, Jamison's provided a surprising burst of points for the Nuggets, but he's atrocious in every other aspect of the game and is hideous on defense.

Biedrins averaged 9.7 points and 11.1 rebounds in the regular season and has to be salivating at the prospect of going against Jamison. He's a phenomenal rebounder, good at drawing the foul and his offensive game should take off given the gross mismatch in size, height and talent at the position.

Advantage: Jazz

Bench
Denver boasts two starting quality guards in Kirk Hinrich and Brandon Brooks, both of whom averaged 7 points a game in the regular season. Hinrich and Brooks are also both excellent passers who play very good defense. Thabo Sefolosha is another defensive stalwart who's known for his clutch showings in the postseason. Forward Mike Nooner, a late-season pickup from the D-League, is yet another quality defender, who's been a pleasant surprise with his point scoring and rebounding.

Utah relies on 38 year old Vince Carter and 37 year old Mike Bibby to provide the bench scoring at 6.3 points and 5.7 points a game respectively. Against the Nuggets' cadre of warrior defenders, that's going to be a tall order. Bobby Simmons is the best all-around player on the bench and the lone Jazz reserve besides rookie Leroy Freeman (ironically Denver's selection in the lottery this last season), who appears to have any clue on defense.

Advantage: Nuggets

Final Thoughts
If Biedrins was an offensive giant on the level of, say, Dallas's Jonte Jones, this series would be very, very close, maybe even favoring the Jazz. But the starting five battles are so close, with the exception of Yeaton/Williams and Jamison/Biedrins, that Denver's punishing, iron-willed bench will simply wear Utah out and make this a pretty short series.
Prediction: Nuggets in 5"

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Game One
That ferocious defense is there in full force as we hold the Jazz to 32.9% from the floor and 3 of 17 from 3-point range. With that kind of tenacity, 31 points from Mateen Yeaton and 10 points and 10 assists from Zelipe Gama are all we need. We were so stifling that not a single Utah player deserves recognition.
Final - Utah 73 Denver 96

Game Two
Fantastic game by Mateen Yeaton with 25 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks and 2 steals. He's joined by Ron McPherson's matching 25 points and we again hold the Jazz to under 40% shooting (37.7) and again, nobody on Utah's side plays well enough to get a mention.
Final - Utah 79 Denver 93

Game Three
I expected a tougher challenge out of the Jazz when the series shifts to Utah and I get it. Carlos Boozer finally breaks out of the Okafor Vise to score 21 points. Deron Williams likewise heated up for 26 points and Andris Biedrins doubled with 13 points and 11 rebounds. But it wasn't enough as Mateen Yeaton snuffed out the Utah inferno with 36 points. Ron McPherson added a Jazz-cooling 22 points and Zelipe Gama provided the icing with 12 points and 15 assists. Utah's now on the brink and I don't see any chance of their coming back.
Final - Denver 112 Utah 102

Game Four
A sweep would be wonderful, as the more games we play, the more chance of an injury. Utah brings a beautiful performance out of their starting set, all five players scoring at least 12 points. Carlos Boozer had 17 points and 10 rebounds, while A.J. Dunkley contributed 19 points and 10 assists. Alas for the Jazz, Mateen Yeaton scores 33 points, Zelipe Gama goes gangbusters with 25 points and 12 assists and Lindsey Williamson comes up with a pleasing 10 bench points. Net result is a crushing victory and a terrific sweep.
Final - Denver 114 Utah 95

The best part of it all is that we're at full strength going into the next round.

Three of the four series in the first round were sweeps in the West. Us over Utah, the Lakers against the Kings and the Grizzlies versus the Rockets. The Trailblazers are locked in a 2-2 draw with the Spurs for the final series in our conference.

Out East, everything is at 3-1.

Orlando, while the higher seed, pulls off an upset by beating the defending champion Pistons in 5 games. Indiana punted the Bucks in five as well and the 76ers did the same to the Celtics.

For the first time since I've been in the league, all the higher seeds advance in the opening round. Toronto ousts the pesky Bobcats in 6 and the Traiblazers beat back the Spurs in the same number of games.

The second round is going to be a lot rougher matchup for us, because now is when we start going against teams with legitimate centers.

[Izulde]

The first round was the easy part. Now is when it's get difficult, especially given our opponent. I'll let the article do the talking.

"Denver's sweep of the Jazz surprised no one. Memphis's straight-set knockout of the Rockets, however, stunned most observers, who were predicting a much tighter series. They'll undoubtedly get that closer matchup here as the Nuggets face off against the Grizzlies.

Point Guard
[u]Zelipe Gama vs. Chris Gearhart[/b]
Gama was absolutely sensational in the opening round against Utah, averaging 13.3 points, 12.3 assists, 5 rebounds and 1.5 steals. If he can keep that kind of production up, this series could be over a lot more quickly than most anticipate.

Gearhart is the player Nuggets GM Jestor called the best of his class and while he hasn't had the sort of breakout regular season one would expect from such a high accolade, Chris was dominant against the Rockets, with 22.8 points, 7 assists and 2 steals a game. Far more suited to the SG spot, he's an amazing shooter and scorer with good defense and ballswiping skills. At 6'7, 222 lbs, he's going to bully the much smaller 6'4, 189 lb Gama and limit the Spainard's effectiveness.

Advantage: Grizzlies

Shooting Guard
Mateen Yeaton vs. Durko Jagr
Yeaton put on a performance for the ages against the Jazz, averaging a breathtaking 31.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2 steals and 2.5 blocks. He's stayed fully healthy thus far in the postseason and he's going to need to maintain that for the Nuggets to win. Any doubts as to his ability to make a difference in the playoffs is long since vanquished, however.

18 points, 7 assists and 1.8 steals were good numbers against Houston for Jagr, but while he's a pretty good defender, he gives up 3 inches to Yeaton and a shorter guard with anything other than topflight defense is a recipe for disaster in trying to control the Nuggets star guard. That said, Jagr will get points of his own, as he's got respectable offensive game.

Advantage: Nuggets

Small Forward
Ron McPherson vs. Rudy Gay
McPherson averaged 18 points in the first round, but he shot a worrying, Patrick Pastner-esque 40.6% from the field. That said, he continues to bring absolutely dynamite defense to bear and will stalk Gay all series long.

Gay's an excellent defender in his own right and brings just as much, if not a little more offensive game, with 18.5 points, 7.8 rebounds , 5 assists, 1.3 steals and a block per game to his credit versus the Rockets. As his board numbers suggest, he's a much more polished, all-around player than McPherson, but the difference gap is fairly slim.

Advantage: Grizzlies

Power Forward
Emeka Okafor vs. Pau Gasol
10.3 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 1.8 blocks is excellent playoff production from Okafor, especially when you consider the brilliant job he did in shutting down Carlos Boozer on top of it. More of the same would be just what Denver's looking for.

Gasol is definitely in the twilight of his career, but he still averaged 15 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 2.5 blocks in the opening round. His point production is his greatest asset these days, as his blocking and rebounding are now merely pretty good and he's a very average defender.

Advantage: Grizzlies

Center
Antawn Jamison vs. Marvin Williams
Huge, -huge- break for Jamison as Narcyz Malinomowski, the Great Polish Sieve, was lost for the year with a broken hand with 3 games left in the regular season. The 39 year old Jamison's atrocious defense would've been catastrophic for Denver against Malinomowski's superior shooting. Frankly, Jamison's just a body at this point, 6 points and 6.8 rebounds in opening series notwithstanding.

Williams somehow averaged 12 points and 10.8 rebounds against Yao Ming in Round 1. Like Jamison, he's a SF masquerading as a C after his team's starting C went down. Unlike Jamison, he's a decent all-around player, but not spectacular in any area.

Advantage: Grizzlies

Bench
Brandon Brooks and Lindsey Williamson both tied for the scoring lead with 5 points per game average against Utah, but don't count any of this Nuggets bench out. In addition to the tenacious defenders mentioned in the Utah preview, any number of these players is capable of breaking out and will likely play a bigger role in this series.

Memphis showed a very short bench against Houston, just 3 players getting anywhere close to 10 minutes a game, only 5 appearing in a game period. A large part of that is thanks to Darius Miles, who plays all five positions and who averaged 9.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and a block in the first round. At 34, he's now an average all-around player whose greatest asset is his obvious versatility. Larry Hughes can't score much anymore, but he's still a good stopper. That's pretty much it for the noteworthy bench players, many of whom are hoping to see more action this series.

Advantage: Denver

Final Thoughts
This is shaping up to be a very classic series and an interesting one, with both teams missing their starting centers for the rest of the playoffs. The overall starting five tilts slightly in favor of the Grizzlies, but on the flip side, the Nuggets bench is vastly superior and should secure them the Western Conference Finals berth in the end.
Final Prediction: Nuggets in 7

The full limit, hmm? Yeah, I can definitely see that happening. The Grizzlies have an excellent squad here and beating them is going to be tough.

Game One
Great performance out of Mateen Yeaton with 28 points. Our bench was great too, with 10 points from Lindsey Williamson and 11 points each from Thabo Sefolosha and Brandon Brooks. But the rest of our starters sucked the big one on both ends, resulting in Chris Gearhart shredding us for 29 points, Rudy Gay ripping us for 21 points and Pau Gasol and Marvin Williams doubling for 12 points and 10 rebounds and 10 points and 13 rebounds respectively. They kick our butts and it's not even as close as the final score indicates. Bad way to start the series.
Final - Memphis 103 Denver 93

Game Two
We need to get a win here or I fear our morale is going to be crushed. Zelipe Gama gets 10 points and 12 assists before fouling out and Emeka Okafor grabs 14 points and 12 rebounds, but the real story was our reserves coming through big again. Kirk Hinrich scored 14, Mike Nooner 10 and Brandon Brooks doubled with 12 points and 11 assists. They saved our butts against a Grizzlies team that saw 23 points from Chris Gearhart, 20 points from Rudy Gay, 16 points and 13 rebounds from Pau Gasol and 17 bench points from Darius Miles. A critical evening up of the series.
Final - Memphis 100 Denver 114

Game Three
I'd honestly be perfectly happy with a split in Memphis. That's how much this Grizzlies team impresses me. Mateen Yeaton continues to play his heart out with 25 points and our benchmen pull through again. This time it's Tyson Chandler (10 points, 11 rebounds), and Mike Nooner and Kirk Hinrich with 12 points a piece. The Grizz counter with 28 points and 10 assists from Chris Gearhart and 23 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks from Pau Gasol, who's really using his massive size to abuse us this series. In the end, we fall -just- short, collapsing down the stretch as Memphis roars back in the fourth quarter. I fear this was the major turning point of the series.
Final - Denver 101 Memphis 107

Game Four
Lose here and I suspect we're done. Our players know it too and they respond with the best game they've played all series. Mateen Yeaton erupts for 36 points, Ron McPherson finally breaks through and scores 23, Zelipe Gama distributes 11 points and 16 assists and Thabo Sefolosha shows off his playoff magic with 13 bench points. Chris Gearhart puts up 22 points for the Grizzlies and Pau Gasol adds 14 points and 10 rebounds, but there's no overstating just how huge or how complete a victory this was for us. Series now tied again at 2-2!!!
Final - Denver 111 Memphis 85

It's exciting playoff basketball everywhere as every single series is knotted up at two a piece. I have a feeling they'll be talking about this playoffs for a long, long time to come.

Game Five
Biggest game of the series by far. This is where the ultimate momentum shift will take place. Can we take advantage of being at home? I can barely stand to watch the game, I'm so nervous.... Mateen Yeaton shows up with 20 points and 10 rebounds, Ron McPherson rises to the occasion with 21 points and Brandon Brooks torches his way to 17 points off the bench. But Zelipe Gama is 0 for 6 on the night, Rudy Gay scores 21, Marvin Williams has a monster game of 19 points and 17 rebounds and Darius Miles adds 14 bench points. Gama's goose egg comes back to haunt as we lose by 3 motherf'ing points. Advantage, Grizzlies.
Final - Memphis 101 Denver 98

Game Six
We need a miracle in Memphis. That's all there is to it. Larry Brown preaches defense, defense, defense in the locker room before the game, pointing out that when we play D, we do well and our offense takes care of itself. The boys go out and do exactly that, holding the Grizzlies to 36.2% shooting and for the first time in this series, there's not a single Memphis statistical star. In fact, only two Grizzlies even break double digit points. Our end had one player, one shining star and it was Mateen Yeaton yet again, with 24 points and 10 rebounds. He's played magnificiently all postseason long, determined to get us to that beautiful trophy. Thanks to him, we live to fight another day and a Game 7.
Final - Denver 89 Memphis 70

We're the only series to go full throttle. The Lakers end the Trailblazers dream season in six games, the Raptors prevail over the surprisingly persistent Magic in same and it's six again for Indiana to put away Philadelphia and provide the first case of a lower seed winning this playoffs.

Game Seven
A sold out crowd. Wild and screaming fans. Both teams, sweat-soaked yet determined. It all comes down to this in this most grueling and hard-fought series. Can we strike gold in the mile-high comfort of our home? The Grizzlies come out roaring, clawing and fighting furiously. Rudy Gay scores 21 points, Chris Gearhart betters him with 26 points, Darius Miles scores 10 bench points and Pau Gasol and Marvin Williams tear through us for double-doubles of 16 points and 10 rebounds and 18 points and 11 rebounds. In counterpoint to this magnificient team showing by the Grizzlies, we have just two Nuggets players in double-digit scoring. The first is Ron McPherson with 28 points... and then comes Mateen Yeaton, who channels Allen Iverson of old in scoring 43 points, including a perfect 11/11 from the charity stripe. Yeaton's virtuoso performance gives us the miracle win as we stave off Memphis's fourth quarter charge!!!!!!!!! Yea-ton! Yea-ton! YEA-TON!!!!!!!!
Final - Memphis 99 Denver 109

Players and coaches run the court to en masse` mob Mateen Yeaton and carry him onto their shoulders while the crowd screams and cheers in a wild frenzy.

Sure, it's only another trip to the Western Conference Finals, where we've been before repeatedly and suffered so many disappointments. But we've overcome a major obstacle in beating one of the league's best teams with a 39 year old SF at C. I don't think anybody really expected us to get this far with Antawn Jamison actually starting.

But here we are, going on to face the Lakers.

Guess the Purple and Gold aren't done shining their Showtime glory, either.

[MacroGuru]

BTW...still reading....still an awesome read

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

BTW...still reading....still an awesome read

Thanks. I'm still loving writing it.

[Izulde]

It's amazing to believe that we've made it this far without Tim Davis, but here we are, once more in the Western Conference Finals and ready to try for our second conference title in my tenure here. As the below article illustrates, it won't be easy.

"Out of all the magical postseasons in recent Nuggets history, this may well be the one that tops them all, for its unusual cast of characters, most notable of which are the 24 year old 6th year veteran PG who's resurrected his career in Denver and in the 39 year old SF setting out as the starting C night after night.

No less a compelling story in many ways than that of the Lakers, who stumbled to what in Showtime Nation passes for a mediocre season, only to find new life in the playoffs and surge their way to the Conference Finals. This promises to be a highly entertaining matchup.

Point Guard
Zelipe Gama vs. Calvis Graham
Gama's numbers dropped significantly against the Grizzles, but he's still averaging 9.3 points, 10.9 assists and 1.3 blocks a game. What he lacks in consistent scoring, he more than makes up for by being a brilliant playmaker and floor general for Denver's offense.

Graham's erupted in this playoffs for 17.8 points, 8.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 steals a game. He's blossoming into a superb all around PG and has the shooting, passing and defensive talents to make this a very long series for the Cinderella Spainard.

Advantage: Lakers

Shooting Guard
Mateen Yeaton vs. Kyle Hoiberg
His 28.5 points a game in the playoffs alone would testify just how valuable Yeaton has been to Denver this posteason. Throw in his 6.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 2.1 blocks and you have a player in his prime, a superstar who has finally become the second coming of [b]Allen Iverson/b], who in his final season in Denver led the Nuggets to the Finals with the kind of legendary performances that Yeaton's already started putting together in this playoffs.

Hoiberg is a couple inches shorter than Yeaton, but he has the size to go up against him. Kyle's averaging 20.1 points and 1.4 steals a game in the playoffs, which is excellent, but he doesn't have the defensive skills to contain Yeaton and even with all his scoring output, he's going to have a tough time going against the inspired Nuggets franchise player.

Advantage: Denver

Small Forward
Ron McPherson vs. Lamar Odom
McPherson's the only other Nugget to average double-digit points at this stage in the playoffs, with 18.2. He's become a valuable second option to Yeaton and boosted his shooting percentage up to 41.9% after the second round. If Denver wants to advance, they'll need to see continued improvement out of him.

Odom's back for his second tour of duty with the Lakers, but he's not the Lamar of the first stint. He's averaging a pedestrian 6.9 points and 5.4 rebounds in the playoffs, looking all of his 34 years at numerous points. That said, he'll batter McPherson on the glass and he has 3 inches on him, a size advantage that equalizes an either otherwise lopsided matchup.

Advantage: Draw

Power Forward
Emeka Okafor vs. Derrick Robinson
9.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 2.4 blocks continue to be just the kind of postseason numbers the Nuggets want out of Okafor. If he can keep that level of production going, Denver's going to make this a very game series. Defense. Rebounding. Blocking. And as much scoring as he can manage.

Robinson's been averaging 13.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks in the postseason, but he's subpar on defense and a weak ballhandler. He's going to have major problems against the much more muscular, much more skilled Okafor, who's playing for what may be one of his last chances at a ring.

Advantage: Nuggets

Center
Antawn Jamison vs. Andrew Bynum
It's dangerous to even put Jamison on the floor this series, let alone as the starting C, given his notoriously bad defense. 5 points and 5.5 rebounds is not near enough to make up for his defensive deficiencies.

Especially not when Bynum's averaging 22.9 points, 13.9 rebounds and 3 blocks in the playoffs. This is the biggest mismatch of the entire postseason and we wouldn't be surprised to see the Nuggets use a lot of rotations at C, bringing in guys like Lindsey Williamson and Tyson Chandler, who have the size and defense to fight arguably the best center in the NBA. Maybe even Okafor will get put on him. There's no real weaknesses in Bynum's game. He's that good, an MVP-worthy candidate every season and indeed, already has 3 MVP awards to his credit (2012, 2013, 2014).

Advantage: Lakers

Bench
All of the Nuggets reserves saw their averages shoot up drastically in the second round. Brandon Brooks is now averaging 7.5 points, Thabo Sefolosha 6 and four other Denver bench players averaging 5 points or more. Expect to see the same kind of intense, frequent use of the bench in this series. It saved the Nuggets against the Grizzlies, with the reserves' fantastic defensive play and timely shooting. If Denver wants to win, they'll have to go to their impressive depth again.

The Lakers counter with Ron Artest, who's averaging 7.2 points a game and plays sensational defense and Jordan Farmar, whose postseason average is 5.6 points and he's an average all-around backup guard. That's about it for quality Lakers reserves, though.

Advantage: Nuggets

Final Thoughts
It's a certainty that Andrew Bynum is going to have a monster series. The only question is: Can Denver provide enough offense in return and shut down the other Lakers starters? Our crystal ball says no, even with the Nuggets' superlative bench. In fact, look for this to be a pretty short series.
Prediction: Lakers in 5

Well, to be honest, can't say that I blame them. The Lakers are an even better team than the Grizzlies and we just barely beat Memphis. But who knows? We'll just have to play the games and see.

Game One
Before the game, Larry Brown pinned the article on the locker room bulletin board. The boys saw it and they got pissed, really pissed. So what do they do? Go out angry and feed off the home crowd, limiting the Lakers to 33.3% from the floor. But this is still the Purple and Gold and they come through with great performances from Andrew Bynum (17 points, 15 rebounds), Kyle Hoiberg (22 points), Calvis Graham (11 points, 10 assists) and 12 bench points from Ron Artest. We fire right back at them with 23 points from Mateen Yeaton, 21 points from Ron McPherson, 15 bench points from Kirk Hinrich and 13 bench points from Thabo Sefolosha. More tellingly, we shoot 50% from the floor and win in a surprising blowout, never looking back after taking a 31-17 1st quarter lead.
Final - L.A. Lakers 80 Denver 107

Game Two
Our energy level is through the roof after the stunningly easy victory in Game 1, but the Lakers are amped too after their embarassment. Kyle Hoiberg silences the crowd with 33 points, Andrew Bynum improves on the opening performance with 21 points and 15 rebounds and Derrick Robinson guts out 13 points and 10 rebounds. We fight back with 11 points and 16 rebounds from Emeka Okafor, 23 points from Mateen Yeaton and a newly resurgent Zelipe Gama's 21 points and 13 assists. Despite a furious Lakers closing in the final minutes, we play defense just well enough and get just enough contributions from our other players to steal a critical 2-point victory and capture the 2-0 series lead!
Final - L.A. Lakers 97 Denver 99

But an unhappy sight greets me on the way to the locker room to celebrate. It's the morose face of our team doctor, who grimly informs me that Mateen Yeaton has a strained abdominal muscle and that he'll be affected for the rest of the playoffs.

Shades of last year's collapse against San Antonio in the Western Conference finals haunt me and I feel just as ill to my stomach as Mateen doubtlessly is.

Game Three
In the hostile Lakers arena and with our team MVP injured. Is this where it all starts to unravel? What follows is one of the ugliest games I've ever seen. We shoot 36.8%, the Lakers 30%. Andrew Bynum gets his stats as expected with 19 points and 17 rebounds, but the combined might of Emeka Okafor's 11 points and 12 rebounds, Zelipe Gama's 14 points and 10 assists and 12 bench points from Brandon Brooks, together with a team vow to come together in the wake of Mateen Yeaton's injury and the resulting titanic defense means that we push the Lakers on the ropes and wind up, hoping to land the knockout blow. 3-0. An extremely important 3-0.
Final - Denver 86 L.A. Lakers 71

Game Four
I'm still remembering last year's catastrophe against the Spurs and of course, the great teams like the Lakers are at their deadliest when they're cornered like this. Especially when we're still on their turf. And come out fighting they do. Andrew Bynum puts up 18 points and 10 rebounds and Kyle Hoiberg scores 27 points. But conversely, Calvis Graham has a horrific 0 for 7 night and lays a goose egg and Zelipe Gama leads us in scoring with 24 points. Our bench comes through yet again as well, Brandon Brooks scoring 16 and Thabo Sefolosha re-establishing his playoff cred with 11 points of his own. It all adds up to a sweet, exhilirating sweep. We're going back to the NBA Finals!!!!
Final - Denver 101 L.A. Lakers 89

But the victory's a Phyrric one, for much to my horror, our melancholy doctor comes to me again, pulling me out into the hall.

"We've got another one. Lindsey Williamson's got a strained knee. He'll be gimped for the Finals for sure."

But even this news can't dim my joyous mood.

Because we're going back to the NBA Finals for the second time with me as the GM!!!!!

As for our opponent... the East Conference Finals stand at 3-1 after our sweep, with Raptors up on the Pacers.

It's all over two nights later, as Toronto squashes the plucky Pacers, ruining what would've been a compelling NBA Finals with more storylines than Heroes.

But that's okay. As great as it would've been to go up against Ben Gordon, Joakim Noah and Paulinho Buboltz, the important thing is, we're in the Finals.

Even if the task we face is so monumental that it makes playing the Grizzlies and Lakers look like caveman's play.

[Izulde]

I could ramble on and on about how great it is to be the Western Conference Champions again, but the preview article does a much better job of it.

"There is perhaps no greater shock than the Denver Nuggets representing the West with 39 year old Antawn Jamison starting at C. It's a thing that boggles the imagination, stretching the brain to the limits of credulity, even if the Nuggets rely on multiple rotations for the five. It's a testament to just what a brilliant job GM Jestor has done in remaking this Denver franchise.

While a Pacers-Nuggets Final would have made for much more dramatic stories, given the Mateen Yeaton and Paulinho Buboltz blockbuster before the 2013 regular season, this Raptors/Nuggets matchup is compelling in its own right.

For it's a re-match of the 2010 NBA Finals and features two starkly contrasting teams. Toronto is much the same as it was in 2010, a brutalizing frontcourt with many of the same characters as six years ago. Denver, in counterpoint, retains the spirit of that 2010 team, which relied so heavily on superior guard play, but not the body, for the Nuggets have undergone complete and wholesale changes in just six years, so that none of the players from that team are in Denver this season.

Toronto Raptors 2010 NBA Finals Starters
PG T.J. Ford
SG Larry Hughes
SF Andrea Bargnani
PF Chris Bosh
C Greg Oden

Toronto Raptors 2015 NBA Finals Starters
PG T.J. Ford
SG Kobe Bryant
SF David Anyan
PF Chris Bosh
C Greg Oden

Denver Nuggets 2010 NBA Finals Starters
PG Ben Gordon
SG Allen Iverson
SF Joakim Noah
PF Kenyon Martin
C Shaquille O'Neal

Denver Nuggets 2015 NBA Finals Starters
PG Zelipe Gama
SG Mateen Yeaton
SF Ron McPherson
PF Emeka Okafor
C Antawn Jamison

It's worth taking a look at how each team acquired the new starters they received, for the Raptors and Nuggets are completely opposite each other in how they upgrade their starting five.

Toronto Raptors
SF David Anyan - Signed 2014 FA Period (Utah) - 5 years, $32.2 million
SG Kobe Bryant - Signed 2015 FA Period (Lakers) - 5 years, $32.2 million

Denver Nuggets
PG Zelipe Gama - Trade with Detroit Pistons - November 2015
SG Mateen Yeaton - Trade with Indiana Pacers - June 2013
SF Ron McPherson - Trade with New Orleans Hornets - June 2015
PF Emeka Okafor - Trade with Charlotte Bobcats - December 2012
C Antawn Jamison - Trade with Detroit Pistons - November 2015

As you can see, the Raptors rely on keeping a strong core together, with the occasional blockbuster free agent signing, whereas the Nuggets wholesale their team with aggressive trade maneuvers. It's worth noting, however, that Yeaton, McPherson and Okafor are all said by Jestor to remain in a Nuggets uniform until their contract runs out.

That doesn't mean Denver plans on going wholesale to the Raptor plan, however. The Nuggets have had bad luck with finding quality starters in free agency (Witness the Andris Biedrins and Caron Butler fiascoes) and instead use free agency as a means to beef up their bench with role players.

And now for the position comparisons.

Point Guard
Zelipe Gama vs. T.J. Ford
Gama's been a critical part of the Nuggets magical run, averaging 10.9 points, 10.3 assists and 1.3 blocks. While he's been somewhat frustratingly erratic in his shooting, he distributes the ball extremely well and has looked far older than his 24 years at the point.

The 32 year old Ford has been Gama's twin, averaging 12.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 10.2 assists in the playoffs. They're virtually identical in terms of their strengths and weaknesses, save that Gama is the bigger, more physical player and that Ford is the savvy veteran who's started for all three of the Raptors Finals teams to date, a three-year streak of 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Advantage: Draw

Shooting Guard
Mateen Yeaton vs. Kobe Bryant
There's no bigger hero in Denver right now than Yeaton, who's been absolutely dazzling in the playoffs, averaging 25.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.8 blocks. He's dealing with a strained abdominal muscle that's going to limit his effectiveness for the first two games, which is going to be a problem for the Nuggets, because he's the heart and soul of this team.

Kobe's playoff numbers may have dropped drastically to 13.8 points a game, but make no mistake about it. He has the size and the defensive prowess to shut Yeaton down, as well as abuse Yeaton's middling defense. Yeaton has had serious problems in the past going against bigger SGs who can play D, so Kobe could well be the MVP of this series.

Advantage: Draw

Small Forward
Ron McPherson vs. David Anyan
McPherson gets a lot of credit for his 17.6 points a game in the playoffs, but what a lot of people miss is the excellent job he does in shutting down the opposition. He completely neutralized Lamar Odom in the conference finals, limited Rudy Gay's effectiveness in the second round and rubbed out Andrei Kirilenko in the opening round.

Denver will need every bit of McPherson's defensive wizardry to shut down Anyan, who's averaging a team-leading 19.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.6 blocks. He's a complete, terrific package of a player, whose only weakness is in ballhandling. He's got the defensive talents to shut down McPherson in turn and this position battle is going to be an interesting one to watch.

Advantage: Raptors

Power Forward
Emeka Okafor vs. Chris Bosh
Okafor keeps getting hotter and hotter as the playoffs wear on and is up to 10.3 points, 10 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 2.1 blocks a game. His excellent defense, shotblocking and rebounding, to say nothing of the points he's accumulating, have been integral parts to Denver's success. Like McPherson, he's been hounding good power forwards all postseason long.

Bosh is finally satisfied again after being given his starting job back and has responded with an excellent 18 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.6 blocks in the playoffs. Naturally, he's superior on offense to Okafor, but the Nuggets team captain is actually a better rebounder, defender and shotblocker than the mercurial Raptors PF. That said, the overall talent level clearly tilts Toronto's way.

Advantage: Raptors

Center
Antawn Jamison vs. Greg Oden
The Nuggets' rapidfire rotations at center helped control Andrew Bynum in the Conference Finals and we expect to see the same thing here in this series. Jamison's just there to score 4.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and only play about 20 minutes a game.

Oden is still a do-everything center who's otherworldly in his rebounding and defense. Currently he's averaging 15.5 points, 16.5 rebounds and 3 blocks in the playoffs and he's going to feast heartily on the Nuggets, a golden meal just waiting for him.

Advantage: Raptors

Bench
8.3 points and 4.6 assists in the playoffs have Brandon Brooks fast developing a clutch reputation in his own right. Thabo Sefolosha is adding to his playoff legacy with 6.1 points a game and the Nuggets have a lot of defensive horses to throw at the Raptors. Unfortunately for Denver, one of those players and one of the only C capable players on the team, Lindsey Williamson, is hobbled by a knee injury. Ironically enough, Williamson is also the lone Jestor-draftee on the squad.

Andrea Bargnani has seen his role diminish drastically, but unlike Bosh, he isn't making waves about it. His 5.8 points a game n the playoffs is somewhat puzzling, given his acclaim on offense. The big problem for the Raptors is that the only good defender on their bench is Tayshaun Prince and at 35 years old, he can't compete as well with the young stallions on Denver's bench. Fortunately for Toronto, Prince can play every position but point guard, giving them a lot of matchup opportunities.

Advantage: Nuggets

Final Thoughts
Sadly for Denver fans, the Raptors are just too good. Losing Tim Davis, having Mateen Yeaton knicked up for the first two games and Lindsey Williamson hampered for the whole series is just too much to overcome against Toronto's fearsome frontcourt, especially when the Raptors' backcourt is equal to the challenge of the Nuggets' advantage. Not even Denver's bench, so great a group of performers in previous rounds, can save them now. It's going to be a fairly short series, but at least the Nuggets should avoid the embarassment of a 2010 reprise of a sweep. Just barely, but still avoiding.
Prediction: Raptors in 5

Nobody's giving us a chance. I can't say that I blame them, either. This Raptors team is one whose core has won 2 rings already in 2010 and 2012 and they're angry that they don't have more. We're going to bear the brunt of their fury, I suspect, even though our hunger for a title is just as keen as theirs.

Game One
If there's one thing to be thankful for, it's that we have homecourt advantage thanks to having the best record. It's a fanatic, frenzied crowd that greets us in Denver for the first game and I'm just hoping to win at least one game out of the first two. Toronto comes out hard and fast and is up 32-26 at the end of the first quarter, but that's all the quarter leading the Raptors do as Zelipe Gama feeds off the frantic energy of the crowd and is an incredible 15 of 19 for 34 points, 14 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and 3 steals. Ron McPherson scores 26 points and together, the youngsters triumph over 21 points from David Anyan, 15 points and 10 rebounds from Greg Oden, 28 points from Kobe Bryant and all five Toronto starters scoring at least 10 points. It's an exhilirating, morale-boosting 20 point opening game victory that has me believing, just for a little bit, that we can pull off the dream season.
Final - Toronto 96 Denver 116

Game Two
I knew the Raptors weren't going to take Game 1 lying down and they unleash all their raging Rex fury on us in the second game. David Anyan ramapages for 31 points and 10 rebounds, Chris Bosh goes bezerk for 22 points and 13 rebounds, Greg Oden grabs everything in sight for 13 points and 29 rebounds and T.J. Ford contributes 12 points and 13 assists. We try to respond, but 12 points and 11 assists from Zelipe Gama and 10 and 11 respective bench points from Thabo Sefolosha and Brandon Brooks can't stop the horde of ire-stoked stampeding basketball dinosaurs. We're blown out and the series ties at 1.
Final - Toronto 96 Denver 78

Game Three
We shift to Toronto for the next three games and I've got a sinking feeling in my heart. Trying to beat the Raptors on their own turf is going to be a monstrous task and we need to win at least one game here in order to stay alive and return to Denver. If anyone can save us now, it's Mateen Yeaton, now back to full health. And it's exactly Mateen Yeaton who puts on the greatest performance tonight in a Nuggets uniform, with 24 points and 10 rebounds, Zelipe Gama the other statistical star with 16 points and 10 assists. David Anyan is up for the Raptors with 14 points and 13 rebounds and Greg Oden tears through us for 23 points and 18 rebounds. Andrea Bargnani adds the icing on the cake for Toronto with 15 points and 16 rebounds off the bench. But somehow, we get just enough points from everyone to fend off the fourth quarter Raptors rally, riding balanced offense and tough defense to come away with the 94-86 shocker of a win! 2-1 Nuggets series lead!!!
Final - Denver 94 Toronto 86

Game Four
The Raptors are pissed and so is their home crowd. We know what happened in Game 2 after Toronto got mad and we're expecting the same here, or at least I am. Larry Brown cautions our guys to keep their cool and just play the same hard-nosed defense and team-play that saw us through Mateen Yeaton and Tim Davis's injuries and got us to this point. It was a great pre-game speech, but speeches can't do anything about 0 for 10 from 3-point range and a dismal, dismal game with no Nuggets stars for the first time ever. The Raptors lone players of note were Tayshaun Prince and Andrea Bargnani with 10 and 13 bench points a piece. Ugly game, ugly loss, ugly evening up of the series at two a piece.
Final - Denver 64 Toronto 85

Game Five
Here's the pivotal pendulum game. Squeeze out a win and we've got the momentum on the Big Mo' level. Lose and we'll be praying for our home crowd to be our saviors. We get 21 points from Ron McPherson, 20 points from Mateen Yeaton and 10 points and 14 rebounds off the bench from Tyson Chandler, but we doom ourselves with a 1 for 12 shooting from 3 point range. David Anyan scores 22 for Toronto and Greg Oden grabbed 10 points and 14 rebounds, just as the Raptors grab us by the throat and have us dangling over the precipice of elimination. Another nasty game, in truth and I fear for our championship dreams.
Final - Denver 79 Toronto 91

Game Six
It's a struggle for me to watch this game and even the crowd has an edge of desparation to their noisemaking. The team's battered physically and psychologically after the beatings they took the last two games in Toronto. It's looking like more of the same when all five Raptors starters score 12 points or more and Chris Bosh has 16 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks, teaming with Greg Oden for 14 points and 14 rebounds. But then Emeka Okafor fights back in the paint for 10 points, 13 rebounds and 6 blocks, Zelipe Gama finds his way to 18 points and 11 assists and Mateen Yeaton commandingly leads all scorers with 23 points and we eke out the narrow, 3-point victory to force a Game 7 in Denver!!!!!
Final - Toronto 91 Denver 94

Game Seven
This is the most tense, most heartpounding, most nerve-wracking experience I've ever been through. A rattlesnake inches away from my foot in Wyoming, a black widow crawling on my bed in Arkansas, the waiting of a girl's answer to a date asking, a love professing... these moments of mixed, high terror and adrelanine are nothing to the twinned anticipation and dread coursing through me at the start of this final game. A final game that means everything.

Gold or nothing.
Title or nothing.
Glory or nothing.
Joy or nothing.
Immortality or nothing.
Victory. Or. Nothing.

It's a sold out crowd and the decibel levels are so high, I wonder the roof isn't blown off the building. All the members of the 2008 Denver Nuggets championship team are there and Allen Iverson pulls Mateen Yeaton aside to give him some words of advice. What he said, I didn't find out until after the game.

Greg Oden was electrifying with 24 points and 19 rebounds and Chris Bosh was his equal with 26 points and 13 rebounds, but we by and large shut down the rest of the Raptors. Zelipe Gama played magnificiently with 19 points and 15 assists and Ron McPherson scored 22 points.

Mateen Yeaton laid out everything on the line, pouring in 27 points, but with 2 minutes left in the game, he fell to the floor in a brutal collision with Kobe Bryant and had to be taken out.

In the end, it just wasn't enough. A horrific second quarter, in which the Raptors outgunned us 33-10 for a 53-30 halftime lead, just couldn't be surmounted, though we rallied hard.

All our dreams turned to dust there on our home floor.

Final - Toronto 99 Denver 88

Mateen Yeaton's tearing up at the end of the game, grimacing from the pain in his leg and the sting of defeat. All across the Nuggets bench and in the stands, there's a panaroma of tears, crushed looks and broken hearts. Even Emeka Okafor, our optimistic and team-gluing team captain, can't find words of encouragement.

Numb with shock and grief myself, I exit the box, go down to the court and join my team in a silent, sorrowful embrace while the Raptors cheer, whoop and dance all around us, popping their jerseys and mugging for the camera.

They deserve their celebrations to be sure, but many of them now wear 3 rings and while many of our own players wear rings of their own, Thabo Sefolosha's words as he looks at his Lakers championship rings says it all.

"I'd give up both of these for just one ring with you guys. I'm so damned proud of this team. Nobody gave us a chance after Tim got hurt and we came -this- close to getting it. I love you guys. I love this team. Jestor, can you re-sign me in free agency? I want to come back."

We all laugh at the humor of it in our collective grief, but the sweetness of our Swiss's sentiment still can't entirely erase the pain of this loss.

I lift my head up and look across the circle at Tim Davis in street clothes. His face is grim, his jaw determined. His eyes glitter as he looks around the circle and at the now empty, desolate court.

"We'll be back. I guarantee it. We'll be back and we'll win the trophy."

[Izulde]

We're all still in a funk over the next few days and it's only rather distractedly that I watch the lottery. There's some tough choices to be made this offseason, with a few pretty significant players hitting free agency and a spiralling cap number due to some hefty contracts.

2016 NBA Lottery Results
1. Cleveland Cavaliers (+2)
2. Chicago Bulls (+3)
3. Golden State Warriors (-2)
4. New Jersey Nets (-1)
5. New Orleans Hornets (-1)
6. Atlanta Hawks
7. Phoenix Suns
8. Washington Wizards
9. Seattle Supersonics
10. Los Angeles Clippers
11. Dallas Mavericks
12. Miami Heat
13. Minnesota Timberwolves
14. New York Knicks

It appears that trading away Cleveland's 1st round pick next year may have been smarter than I realized. With the top selection this year, they're bound to keep adding to their collection of rising young talent and I predict that they could very well be a playoff team this season, even in the tough Central Division.

NBA Awards

MVP
Jonte Jones - Dallas Mavericks - 25.7 ppg 11.7 rpg 2.2 apg 1.4 bpg 1.3 spg
Defensive Player of the Year
Andrei Kirilenko - Utah Jazz - 12.1 ppg 6.2 rpg 3.0 apg 3.6 bpg 1.5 spg
Rookie of the Year
Patrick Riley - Washington Wizards - 9.3 ppg 8.7 rpg 1.7 apg 2.5 bpg 0.8 spg
6th Man of the Year
Tony Parker - Indiana Pacers - 16.7 ppg 6.3 apg 2.7 rpg 0.0 bpg 0.9 spg
Head Coach of the Year
Larry Brown - Denver Nuggets

Well-deserved award for Larry, who turned around our team after that rough start, helped us overcome the loss of Tim Davis and guided us to damned near winning the championship. Nice to see Jones win the MVP. Maybe now people will listen when I tell them he's the best center in the entire league and one of the top 5 players period.

All-NBA 1st Team
PG Kenny Graham - Detroit Pistons
SG Lebron James - Cleveland Cavaliers
SF Carmelo Anthony - New York Knicks
PF Kelvin Moody - Minnesota Timberwolves
C Jonte Jones - Dallas Mavericks

All-NBA 2nd Team
PG Gilbert Arenas - Washington Wizards
SG Mateen Yeaton - Denver Nuggets
SF Kevin Durant - Portland Trailblazers
PF Tyrus Thomas - Philadelphia 76ers
C Andrew Bynum - Los Angeles Lakers

All-NBA 3rd Team
PG Chris Paul - New Orleans Hornets
SG Ben Gordon - Indiana Pacers
SF Georghios Kairis - Houston Rockets
PF Dwight Howard - Orlando Magic
C Yao Ming - Houston Rockets

All-Defense 1st Team
PG Zelipe Gama - Denver Nuggets
SG Mateen Yeaton - Denver Nuggets
SF Andrei Kirilenko - Utah Jazz
PF Tyrus Thomas - Philadelphia 76ers
C Greg Oden - Toronto Raptors

All-Defense 2nd Team
PG Branko Starcevic - Seattle Supersonics
SG Tracy McGrady - Sacramento Kings
SF Gerald Wallace - Charlotte Bobcats
PF Kelvin Moody - Minnesota Timberwolves
C Andrew Bynum - Los Angeles Lakers

All-Rookie 1st Team
PG Pete Bannister - Philadephia 76ers
SG Justin Barnes - Sacramento Kings
SF Andre Davis - Los Angeles Clippers
PF Aaron Anthony - Seattle Supersonics
C Patrick Riley - Washington Wizards

All-Rookie 2nd Team
PG Alan Edwards - Houston Rockets
SG Adam Lopez - Minnesota Timberwolves
SF Ronell Jones - Phoenix Suns
PF Henry Fisher - Portland Trailblazers
C Garick Reece - Atlanta Hawks

I was stunned, but nonetheless extremely pleased to see Gama and Yeaton both capture 1st Team Defense awards. If Yeaton could just stay healthy, he could be leading us to a dynasty of titles and his #6 could hang in the rafters some day.

Utah Sixers

PG Brandon Brooks - Denver Nuggets
Started just 9 games but appeared in all 82 after the big Pistons trade. Averaged 7 points, 3.9 assists, 1.6 rebounds, 0.2 blocks and 0.4 steals. I just noticed that he's only shot 40% or better once in his career. No wonder we've been doing so much better with Zelipe Gama starting at the point. Brooks is a very good candidate to be traded, to be quite honest.

PF Kelvin Moody - Minnesota Timberwolves
He appears doomed to repeat Kevin Garnett's career in Minnesota, which is a shame. 1st Team All-NBa and 1st Team All-Defense selections this year to go with his 21 points, 12 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.8 blocks and steal per game. There's no way in hell they'll ever let him out of Minnesota either, at least, not until he gets too old to matter.

SF Julius Austin - Miami Heat
Started 21 games and appeared in 77 this year, averaging 5.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.6 blocks and 0.7 steals a game. An out and out bust offensively, but still a great defender. My guess is after his contract with Miami runs out, he'll become a journeyman for a few more seasons before retiring.

C Rudy Braun - New York Knicks
Just 43 appearances this season, for 7.6 minutes a game. In that span, he averaged 3 points, 1.9 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.1 blocks and 0.2 steals. He's not a horrible player to be honest and I think he could be a valuable bench player to the right team.

PF B.J. Whitehead - Detroit Pistons
A lowly 30 appearances, with an anemic 6.4 minutes a game for a sickly 1.9 points, 1.7 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.1 blocks and 0.3 steals. My feeling is that he'll be dumped to the D-league next year, though there's a chance somebody'll sign him.

SF Brian Robertson - Free Agent
No love whatsoever. I have to wonder how long before he finally just calls it quits.

B.B. Dyer tells me again at the meeting that he'll go no more than $15 million over the cap. Maybe I should've promised him a championship, but it is what it is and we have to work within those financial parameters.

As it stands right now, we're almost $24 million over the cap (that's including our expired contracts, by the way) and have 8 players signed. As much as it pains me to do it, I decide to shop around Kirk Hinrich, because we -have- to reduce our cap number.

We talk to every team in the league, but nobody and I mean nobody is interested in a 35 year old guard making $10 million a year over the next two seasons, no matter how good he is. Not when he hasn't started since 2013.

So we're stuck with what we've got, because I refuse to move any of the others. We've got a great nucleus here and I don't want to disrupt it for anything.

Coach Hiring

We have to fill a new staff of assistants, which sucks but there you go.

Head Coaches
Steve Van Gundy - Phoenix Suns
Don Nelson - New Jersey Nets
Mike D'Antoni - Miami Heat
Pat Riley - Cleveland Cavaliers

We've two septugenarians on our coaching staff now in Larry Brown and new 1st assistant Larry Riley. 2nd assistant Jerry Sichting and 3rd assistant Bill Self are a comparatively spry 57 and 52. I'm not happy with any of the assistants I landed, but it's a very, very weak hiring pool this season.

Tim Duncan is the new GM of the Knicks at 40 years old. Going to be interesting to see how he does. Eric Snow, another comparatively recent NBA player, is the 1st assistant and he could be a head coach now to be honest. Good things are in place at the Knicks organization, ironically enough, though it's anybody's guess what's going to happen in Duncan's rookie year as GM.

Mock Draft

No real standout players this year, which makes it a rough year for the Cavaliers to hold the #1 pick. That said, I really like the looks of senior C David Jackson out of Utah and I'd probably draft him if I were the Cavs, judging from initial impressions.

This draft class is absolutely stacked at C. There's Jackson, and a number of big 7'+ centers worth looking at, 19 year old Argentinian Fabian Kruger, Cincinnati senior Roger Bohm, who, if he slides far enough, I may move up to try and get, and Kansas freshman Brendan Mickael. That's not counting all the other centers that may be worth perusing, by the way. That's just the tall, big guys.

We're projected to take Connecticut junior PF Mario Duty in the mocks, but I'm not so sure about him.

A bunch of players are brought in for workouts, including a number of possible second rounders, since we have on this year... at least for now.

It's going to be a fascinating draft.

[Izulde]

Out of all the guys we brought in for a workout, only one really impressed us much. Kind of disappointing, but that's the way it goes. If he drops out of say, the top 5, we might make a move up to try and grab him.

2016 NBA Draft 1st Round
1. C Greg Wilden - Cleveland Cavaliers

I'm not so sure I agree with this one. I mean, the guy played for Florida International and while they made noise in the NCAAs this year, I just don't see this as a solid top choice, particularly not with Wilden's being undersized for a five.

2. PF Rashard Ferguson - Chicago Bulls
3. C Roger Bohm - Golden State Warriors

....Well, damn it. That was the lone guy we were targeting and he goes third overall. The worst organization in the NBA finally made a really smart move and got themselves a real gamer.

4. PG Corey Neal - New Jersey Nets
5. PF Matthew Saunders - New Orleans Hornets

The Hawks are up next and really, there's only one guy left worthwhile in this draft in my opinion and there's a pretty good chance that he'll get picked up by Atlanta.

So I call the Hawks and find them surprisingly amiable to a trade. We work out a deal quickly.

Denver Nuggets receive
Atlanta Hawks 2016 1st round pick (#6 overall)
PG Javaris Crittenton

Atlanta Hawks receive
Denver Nuggets 2016 1st round pick (#21 overall)
Denver Nuggets 2016 2nd round pick (#34 overall)
Utah Jazz 2018 1st round pick
SG Willie Green

What this means for the Nuggets
The oft-traveled Crittenton, famed for his ball-handling skills, is back in Denver, much to GM Jestor's delight. His return means the Nuggets can renounce Brandon Brooks and allow him to go in free agency. Denver also gets the opportunity to draft a player they really like with this pick.

What this means for the Hawks
Atlanta's not going to be a major player anytime soon, so by acquiring the extra picks, particularly the 2018 1st rounder of the Jazz, allows them to find some more young pieces to go with what they already have. Green's an expiring contract next year of $3.6 million, a nice bonus as the Hawks try and build cap room.

Advantage: Draw
A lot of it depends on what that 2018 1st round pick turns into. Denver acquires a player they covet in the draft, but the higher slot and Crittenton's larger salary mean the Nuggets are going to be facing considerable cap trouble this year.

Bah, I don't care. I don't feel like I really had to give up much to get a shot at a player who could turn out aces for us.

6. C David Jackson - Denver Nuggets

The analysts all applaud the pick and I'm feeling good about it too. There's some concerns about his attitude which caused him to drop out of the top 5, but he's got great physical tools and I think all the elements to become a key part of our ballclub. Plus, we've got guys like Emeka Okafor who can help control Jackson on a chemistry level.

7. PF Antonio Sarchet - Phoenix Suns

I considered Sarchet, but he doesn't appear to have the size to be able to bang in the post.

8. SF George Baker - Washington Wizards
9. PG Louis Mertens - Seattle Supersonics
10. PF Chris Walker - Los Angeles Clippers
11. SG David Tucker - Dallas Mavericks
12. C Fabian Kruger - Miami Heat
13. C Ryan Yeager - Minnesota Timberwolves
14. PG Brandon Carey - New York Knicks
15. PF James Jennings - Utah Jazz
16. C Brendan Mickael - San Antonio Spurs
17. PG Matt Allen - Sacramento Kings
18. SG Jelani Kurtz - Houston Rockets
19. SF Ross Crispin - Los Angeles Lakers
20. PG Tyson Anderson - Charlotte Bobcats
21. SG Larry Bannister - Atlanta Hawks
22. PG Jordan Muhammad - Memphis Grizzlies
23. PG Greg Lumpkin - Milwaukee Bucks
24. SF Larry Smith - Orlando Magic
25. C Nathan Anderson - Portland Trailblazers
26. SG Curtis Phillips - Detroit Pistons
27. C Mark McCray - Indiana Pacers
28. SG Hamilton George - Philadelphia 76ers
29. SF Garvin Marks - Toronto Raptors
30. PF Byron Davis - Boston Celtics

The immediate post-draft weigh-in on David Jackson says he probably wasn't worthy of a top 6 pick, but I predict he'll prove everyone wrong by the time he's done. At the very least, he should see some major minutes and possibly be the starter at C while Tim Davis recovers from his torn ACL.

We're just over $12 million over the cap once we renounce everyone and have a grand total of 9 players signed. Obviously we'll be going with min-sals in free agency.

Summer League

David Jackson and Lindsey Williamson are the only two contracted Nuggets going to the summer league team.

We get flat-out crushed 101-63 in the opening game of the summer league by the Dallas Mavericks. On the plus side, David Jackson got 12 points and 11 rebounds, despite getting no help from his teammates.

The offense wakes up and wins 107-89 over Golden State, thanks primarily to bench scrubs Marques Simmons (13 points), Shamar Allen (14 points) and Isaac Slater (11 points). None of these guys will make the team obviously, but they're largely showcasing their skills for the D-league, I suspect.

David Jackson has 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Boys of Summer to a 104-94 win over the Hawks summer squad. Lindsey Williamson adds 12 points off the bench and so does Nochimas Mahram. Marques Simmons adds 10 points off the bench himself.

We overcome 31 points from 2nd overall pick Rashard Ferguson to win out 105-88 over the Bulls. Nochimas Mahram scores 23 off the bench, Marques Simmons adds 13 points as a reserve and Lindsey Williamson just misses a bench double-double with 11 points and 9 rebounds. Ferguson looks a -lot- like a PF version of the Great Polish Sieve.

The summer league concludes with a thrilling 90-88 victory over the Celtics. Vidal White breaks out for 21 points and Sam Johnson adds 10 bench points.

Free Agency

I find myself wishing we had the money to play because this is a seriously great free agent crop this year, but I won't even depress myself by listing the ones out there. I do, however, plan to note major free agent team changes.

We bring Mike Nooner back on a two-year deal following his great performance for us last year.

The first big free agent jump is Yao Ming, who leaps to the Spurs for $11 million and change on a one year deal. There goes Houston's hopes of staying back up on top. Say hello to a newly revived Spurs team. As if I didn't already hate having to play San Antonio.

Eddy Curry heads to the Pacers for one year, $7 million, instantly giving Indiana the inside presence they so desparately lacked. I'm going to go ahead now and call them one of the preseason favorites in the East. Curry alone won't solve the Raptors riddle, but he goes a long way towards it.

On the same day, Brandon Brooks gets a nice 5 year, $39.4 million deal from the Golden State Warriors, who appear determined to be more than the laughinstock of the league next season. They'll probably still suck, but I applaud them for their moves this offseason.

The Rockets make a nice recovery after losing Yao, scooping up Carlos Boozer and Tony Parker on one year, $7 million and change contracts. Maybe they won't be descending quite so fast after all. It's going to be hard for them to overcome the PR hit from losing Yao, though.

Pau Gasol gets $6.3 million from the Jazz to play in Utah for a year. Some interesting team switches by the old players here.

It's a sign of how low the Timberwolves have fallen that they give Darko Milicic a 3 year, $11.8 million contract. But then, I suppose Darko's a lot like Phillip Gill; the perpetual project player everyone believes can still be great long after their careers have established they won't be.

It takes forever, but we finally re-sign Thabo Sefolosha to a two-year min-sal deal and grab Steve Neal, a Sefolosha clone in some respects except for an unknown post-season commodity also on a minimum deal. I think our Swissman wanted more money, which is why he held out so long. After he realize he wasn't going to get it, he came back to us.

That's the end of our shopping because we're at $14.9 million over the cap and we have no more room. We have the league minimum of 12 players, even though we can only play 11 until Tim Davis comes back from his ACL injury.

Quincy Douby gets $5.7 million on one year from the Bulls. Wow. I know he's a proven playoff warrior, but that's way too much money.

Somewhat against my better judgement, I go ahead and give Lindsey Williamson his 4th year option. Next year is going to be absolutely brutal in terms of the cap. 10 players signed and we're already committed to $61.3 million. And that's with Zelipe Gama going out of contract after this year.

At this point, I'd trade Kirk Hinrich for a song. I try and do just that, beating the bushes and making the calls around the league. We come close to a deal with the Pacers which would involve Ben Gordon's return to Denver, but they want that little extra which just isn't enough.

And in the end, nobody wants to take on his contract, even when we get a fair deal worked out for both ends.

This presents us with a very real problem, as in order to re-sign Zelipe Gama next year, we're going to need a lot more cap room than we currently have. We'll see how the season goes and will visit again the possibilites of a trade later on.

Training Camp

Mateen Yeaton looks like he may have regressed a little bit, which is some cause for concern. On the other end, David Jackson made major improvements on his free throw shooting, though the jury's still out on just how good he'll end up being.

Not much to report for the other guys. A pretty quiet camp, all in all.

2016 Denver Nuggets Opening Day Lineup
PG Zelipe Gama
SG Mateen Yeaton
SF Ron McPherson
PF Emeka Okafor
C David Jackson
6th Javaris Crittenton (PG/SG)
7th Kirk Hinrich (PG/SG)
8th Mike Nooner (SF/PF)
9th Thabo Sefolosha (PG/SG/SF)
10th Steve Neal (PG/SG/SF)
11th Lindsey Williamson (SF/PF/C)
12th Tim Davis (INJ)

We're picked as the 5th seed in the West, 3rd in the division behind Portland, the conference favorite and Seattle. The Supersonics do have some great young firepower in Brooks Smith, Nate Bonner, Andre Quarles and Branko Starcevic, but Saer Sene is old in the middle and Seattle doesn't play D worth a damn.

New Orleans is picked for 2nd in the West, which makes me laugh really hard. They're not going to even make the playoffs I'm sure and we'll be punching a lottery ticket. The Sonics are 3rd, with the 4th team the Rockets, who have a fascinating lineup.

Houston Rockets Starters
PG Tony Parker
SG Duez Walker
SF Georghios Kairis
PF Carlos Boozer
C Brandan Wright

I'll admit I was wrong on Kairis, who's blossomed into a fine player. Surprising to see Duez still holding down a starting job, though. But I guess it just goes to show that I can draft 'em.

Out East it's all the Raptors, who somehow got 21 year old Justin Richler on a 5 year, $32.2 million deal even though he averaged 21.5 points a game last year for the Nets. I'm really getting tired of the bullshit and the shenanigans Toronto pulls. Where the hell was everyone else making a fat deal to the this great young superstar, who scores like LeBron. I mean sure, Richler's Canadian and home country pride and all that... but damn it. I mothereffing -hate- the Raptors. Kobe Bryant and Andrea Bargnani are the freaking BACKUPS for crying out loud.

The Knicks are picked for 2nd in the annual great joke. The Cavs are third, which I can see, the Bulls fourth, which I can also see. What I can't see is Indiana in the lottery.

That's just stupid. Kind of like everybody in the NBA letting the Raptors steal talent every bleeping free agency.

I need a drink.

[Izulde]

The year starts off with a pleasant 88-73 thrashing of the Lakers. Great team defense, 34 points from Mateen Yeaton and 10 bench points from Kirk Hinrich are enough to get the win. David Jackson has 2 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists in his Nuggets debut. Not the most auspicious start, but he'll improve, I'm sure.

Such as the next game, a 119-80 beatdown of the Timberwolves, where David Jackson has 17 points and 13 rebounds, Mateen Yeaton scores 26, Ron McPherson gets 24 points and Zelipe Gama garners 12 points and 13 assists. Kirk Hinrich continues his hot start with 12 points off the bench. Guess it's a good thing we didn't trade him.

The Jazz play us close to the vest, but 28 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and 9 steals from Mateen Yeaton dooms Utah to a 95-89 loss. I think that must be close to some sort of record... 9 steals... amazing. Ron McPherson seals the deal with 23 points and Lindsey Williamson tops the reserves with 10 points.

Utah's even more fast and furious two nights later, but we just barely stave them off 104-102 on the wings of [b]Ron McPherson[b/]'s 25 points and Mateen Yeaton's 20. Steve Neal breaks out with 15 points as the first of the second unit. The next evening, we allow Brooks Smith to score 40 points and Nate Bonner to get 16 points and 16 rebounds, but that's all for Seattle in a 104-78 beatdown. Mateen Yeaton scores 28 and our bench is hot, with Steve Neal scoring 16, Kirk Hinrich 13. Looks like Neal's this year's Mike Nooner.

The Pistons are hungry to beat us, but Dan Jacobson and Phillip Gill are non-factors and we rip Detroit apart 106-78. Ron McPherson scores 25, Mateen Yeaton puts up 22 points, Emeka Okafor doubles with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Zelipe Gama picks up 13 points and 10 assists. Our bench is keyed by Thabo Sefolosha and Steve Neal with 10 points a piece.

After we flatten the Kings 94-70, some are beginning to ask aloud if we can be beat, especially when we get Tim Davis back. Mateen Yeaton scores 27 and David Jackson has his best game yet as a pro, with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Maybe he's the answer, either at PF or even at C.

Of course, precisely at the moment a few of the press begin calling us unbeatable is when we run into the ridiculously overpowered Raptors, losing 115-108. Justin Richler and David Anyan both drop 25 points on us and Chris Bosh shreds us for 33 points. On our end, Mateen Yeaton scores 29, David Jackson pours in 19 points and 17 rebounds, Zelipe Gama adds 16 points and 15 assists and Steve Neal tops the reserves with 10 points. I'm wondering if maybe we don't need more scoring punch with the second team.

Mateen Yeaton takes out his anger at losing to Toronto on the Bulls, scoring 29 points and Steve Neal again leads the bench with 12 points as we overcome all five Chicago starters scoring 11 points or better. It's good to know we've got the toughness to shake off the disappointing loss and rebound for a 113-94 squash.

I really have to feel sorry for Jonte Jones. He's one of the top 3 best players in the entire league, but he has -zero- help on the current version of the Mavericks, even worse than Kelvin Moody in Minnesota. We destroy Dallas 113-84 as Emeka Okafor explodes for 28 points, 9 rebounds, an assist and 5 blocks. Steve Neal surprises with 22 points off the bench and Lindsey Williamson doubles with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

A frenzied fourth quarter rally by the Nets falls just short and we escape with a 105-103 victory. Mateen Yeaton scores 29, Ron McPherson's just behind him with 28 points and we get doubles out of Emeka Okafor (10 points, 13 rebounds) and Zelipe Gama (10 points, 16 assists). Steve Neal leads the second team again with 10 points and I'm kicking myself for not signing him to a two-year deal. But then again, nothing in his career record shows he'd break out like this. More on him later, probably at the All-Star break.

I said before the season that the Spurs are back after signing Yao Ming and they give us a hell of a fight for three quarters before our eventual 99-93 victory is powered by a comeback fourth quarter. Ron McPherson scores 25 and Mateen Yeaton adds 20 points to carry us, but Kirk Hinrich deserves credit too for his 15 bench points. We sweep both games of the doubleheader, knocking off the Rockets 95-66 in Houston the next night. Mateen Yeaton scores 34 and Emeka Okafor muscles his way to 14 points and 15 rebounds.

Since we have their 1st round pick this year, I'm glad when we take the sting out of the Hornets 111-93. Mateen Yeaton has his second straight 30+ point game with 35, Ron McPherson scores 20 and Emeka Okafor and Zelipe Gama double with 11 points and 14 rebounds and 19 points and 14 assists respectively.

The Cavaliers are our final victim of the month, unhorsed by the score of 118-94. Ron McPherson scores 30 and Javaris Crittenton adds 10 points off the bench, but all the talk is about Zelipe Gama's amazing game of 19 points, 15 assists, 4 rebounds, a block and 7 steals. It's pretty clear to see how he and Mateen Yeaton ended up co All-Defense 1st Teamers.

So after the first month, we're the best team in the whole NBA record-wise at 14-1. The Timberwolves and Jazz are already buried under a 5.5 game margin. The Spurs are hot, too, though, with a 13-3 mark and for the first time in years, the Lakers are in last place in the Pacific at 5-11. The Purple and Gold can stay there for all I care.

In equally happy news, the Hornets are off to a dismal 2-12 start.

It's business as usual in the East, the Raptors owning everyone with a 13-4 record, the Bucks and Pacers tied for the Central lead and everybody having a shot in a competitive Southeast. The Pistons are a sickly 3-11, however and that's not even the biggest surprise.

For the New Yorks have a winning record at 8-6.

Tim Davis is still out for 2 months.

I'll do a Yeaton/Buboltz comparison at the end of next month.

I have to say, I absolutely love our blistering start.

[Izulde]

Seattle Supersonics receive
PG Craig Shehan

L.A. Clippers receive
SG Angelo Mascoe

What this means for the Sonics
Shehan can play PG and that's it. He's a horrible defender with mediocre passing skills and has absolutely nothing to recommend him in the four and change seasons since he was drafted 18th overall by the Grizzlies in 2012. Worse yet, this acquisition takes away playing time from 19 year old Belgian rookie Louis Mertens, who while also being awful at defense, has potential to develop into a solid backup PG, maybe even a starter at some point.

What this means for the Clippers
The 25 year old Mascoe, in his 3rd season after being drafted 12th overall by Seattle in 2014, has a great outside shot and free throw shooting. He's a terrible ballhandler for a guard, but he could turn out a pretty decent player. Getting him turned out to be a real blessing for the Clippers after Baron Davis went down with a broken ankle two weeks after this trade.

Advantage: Clippers
The Red and White actually improved their team with the deal while Seattle actually took a step back, both for their present and their future.

Orlando Magic receive
PF David West

New Orleans Hornets receive
PF David Lee

What this means for the Magic
West has a great inside shot and some scoring insticts, but is average in every other respect. He's owed $9.6 million next season as well, so he's a bit of a cap hog. That said, Orlando had no one that could get points inside, especially not on the bench, so West fills a large hole that way.

What this means for the Hornets
Lee's got good rebounding skills and is $2 million cheaper than West. Those are the only advantages he gives New Orleans over their former player.

Advantage: Orlando
The Magic get more bang for their buck here than the Hornets and that's enough to decide who has the edge.

I'm tempted to make a deal myself and it's not just because I'm notorious for making trades. There's still the cap trouble looming ahead next year. Sure I could promise a championship and sure I could tough out one year of being over B.B. Dyer's financial expectations, but the Knicks experience still haunts me and I love this Nuggets team and don't want to leave it.

It doesn't take us long at all to make a deal.

Denver Nuggets receive
PG Marcus Williams
Atlanta Hawks 2019 2nd round pick

Atlanta Hawks receive
PG Javaris Crittenton

What this means for the Nuggets
Williams has much more offensive punch than Crittenton and the two are about equal in terms of passing skill, but the key for the Nuggets is really that Williams' contract expires after this season, freeing up vital cap room for Denver to make a play at retaining Zelipe Gama. Incidentally, Williams also played for the Nuggets in 2013, coming to Denver as part of the Paulinho Buboltz/Mateen Yeaton deal.

What this means for the Hawks
Crittenton was the starting PG last year for the Hawks and now he's right back where he was last season, resuming his role as the starter at the point for Atlanta. This may not be a good thing, as Atlanta was 30-52 last year and they're 7-7 so far this season. On the other hand, Crittenton is a much better ballhandler and defender than Williams.

Advantage: Draw
Both teams appear to benefit by it, although it's costing Atlanta a 2nd round pick and some payroll flexibility next year to get their old starting PG back.

Personally, I think we won the deal. We got some trade bait in addition to some payroll relief and I wanted more scoring off the bench anyway, as I don't expect Kirk Hinrich and Steve Neal especially to maintain their current pace.

December starts with a chilly clunker, a 103-98 loss to the Heat for just our second loss of the year. Ron McPherson scored 28, Mateen Yeaton 21 and we got 10 points and 10 rebounds out of Emeka Okafor and 12 bench points from Kirk Hinrich, but our newest Nugget, Marcus Williams, shoots a piss-poor 1 for 6, which didn't help matters.

Mateen Yeaton scores 32 points and Zelipe Gama summons up 14 points and 19 assists as we dispell the Magic 115-96 in our next game. Good to see us regroup, particularly since the annual East Conference Road Gauntlet is up next.

The nation's capital hosts our 97-87 victory over the Wizards as Zelipe Gama plays the role of a dastardly Spanish conquistador with 20 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 blocks and a steal. Ron McPherson adds 25 points and Emeka Okafor completes the torching with 17 points and 18 rebounds.

Our biggest win of the season comes next in Toronto as we stun the Raptors 124-118 behind 42 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and a steal from Mateen Yeaton, 14 points and 15 rebounds from David Jackson and hot bench scoring from Mike Nooner (12 points) and Thabo Sefolosha (11 points). The boost to our morale from this victory simply can't be overstated.

The party continues in New York, Mateen Yeaton the MC with 33 points in a baller 118-95 whipping of the Knicks. A shoutout goes to Emeka Okafor with 11 points and 12 rebounds and to Thabo Sefolosha with 13 points to bust out with the second team. But the real macdaddy of the evening is David Jackson who showed some real playa skills in rolling the Knickies up for 22 points and 12 rebounds. The thought of a Jackson/Tim Davis frontcourt over the next several years is a delicious one and I can already hear opposing coaches' brains blowing out in aneurysm trying to solve that riddle. That pairing would be even more brutal than the Raptors' frontcourt, who, while they got game, they don't have the physical brutality that our big boys can engineer on the D.L.

The doubleheader in Philadelphia and Boston are the toughest two-game stretch we've all had year. Mateen Yeaton scores 26 points as all five of our starters score 11 points or better in edging the 76ers 93-85. Zelipe Gama was key with 12 points and 13 assists and Kirk Hinrich contributed 10 points off the bench. The Celtics ambush us in a stinking 1-point 100-99 loss. Our bench played like shit all game, negating 26 points and 12 assists from Zelipe Gama and 22 points from Ron McPherson. This does not make me happy in the least.

I'm even less happy when we lose 115-108 to Miami on the front end of a back-to-back. Dwayne Wade scored 31 on us the first time the Heat beat us this month and he scores 33 in this rematch. We absolutely waste 46 points from Mateen Yeaton and 20 points and 16 rebounds from Emeka Okafor. Our bench sucked again and David Jackson scored a goose egg, as in 0 points. We grind out an 87-73 victory over Orlando the next night to break the mini-losing streak. Steve Neal and Lindsey Williamson finally end the subs' streak of suck with 11 points and 10 rebounds respectively and Mateen Yeaton and Ron McPherson step up with 20 points a piece on the nose.

So not a good road trip at all, not with the way we'd played in November.

But it is what it is and we have a homecoming party by beating up the Suns 106-89. Ron McPherson punches Phoenix for 25 points, Mateen Yeaton helps out with 21 points, Zelipe Gama collects 10 points and 11 assists and Steve Neal rises out of the second team for 11 points.

Zelipe Gama plays an early Santa Claus with 21 assists, Mateen Yeaton scores 28, Ron McPherson 22 and we get 16 points and 15 rebounds out of Emeka Okafor to smack the silly Sonics 112-97 in Seattle. Kirk Hinrich added 10 bench points, but we still need more firepower in my opinion. Then again, we'll get a big boost when Tim Davis comes back sometime in February.

Dallas may suck these days, but Jonte Jones always keeps games respectable and our 108-102 victory over the Mavericks on Christmas Eve is surprisingly tough as a result. Fantastic game from our starting five, though. Zelipe Gama had 11 points and 15 assists, Mateen Yeaton scored 19, Ron McPherson just missed a double-double with 23 points and 9 assists, Emeka Okafor got the double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds and David Jackson rounded things out with a matching 21 points. Golden State is much less of a challenge on Christmas Day, falling 115-87 before the might of Mateen Yeaton's 33 points, Zelipe Gama's 18 points and 14 assists and Steve Neal's 14 bench points.

We nerf the 76ers, holding them to 26.9% shooting and all 5 of our starters scored 12 points or more in a 90-57 pasting. Zelipe Gama -just- missed the triple-double with 12 points, 9 assists and 9 rebounds.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are even more fun than their Christmas equivalents as we win both games handily. The Lakers can't do jack against us in Los Angeles and we beat them 95-78 as Mateen Yeaton scores 28 and David Jackson has 10 points and 13 rebounds. Mateen Yeaton the lead scorer again with 26 points against the Clippers on the first day of the New Year, nearly every one of the rest of the starters playing great as well. Ron McPherson with 22 points. Emeka Okafor with 17 points and 13 rebounds and Zelipe Gama with 16 points and 13 assists.

We're still the kings of the NBA by a huge margin as the closest team to our 27-4 record is the 23-9 Spurs. We enjoy a 10.5 game advantage over the Jazz in the Northwest, while San Antonio's up by 9 in the Southwest.

But the West overall is the weakest it's been in years, maybe even decades. Just 4 teams in the West Conference have winning records right now and it's not even close.

Denver 27-4
San Antonio 23-9
Utah 17-15
Sacramento 15-13

That's it. No wonder we have a 16-0 conference mark.

Therefore, it shouldn't surprise you that the East has 11 teams with winning records at this juncture. The Raptors and Bucks are in a virtual tie for the top seed, but both of them are behind us and the Spurs. Because of all this winning madness going on, only the 4-25 Nets are way out of it. In fact, with the exception of New Jersey, the worst last place team in a division is only 5.5 out. That'd be the Bulls, who are 13-15 in the Central, with the Bucks at 18-9.

Good thing I don't have the Cavs pick this year. They're 17-13. Conversely, the pick we do have, the Hornets, are presently 5-24.

But the conference inequality isn't even the most shocking story to me.

It's that the Knicks are in 2nd place in the Atlantic, just 2 games out on the Raptors at 18-12.

What a strange, strange NBA world we live in so far this season.

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: 28 games/28 starts - 19.9 PPG 8.8 APG 3.6 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.5 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: 31 games/31 starts - 26.4 PPG 3.3 APG 4.5 RPG 2.2 BPG 2.0 SPG

[Izulde]

Cleveland Cavaliers receive
SF Donte Whiting

New York Knicks receive
PF Ryan Glosier

What this means for the Cavaliers
Whiting can provide some good scoring off the bench, but that's about it. On the other hand, his defense is an upgrade from Glosier.

What this means for the Knicks
Glosier is a horrible defender, but has a good inside shot and can rebound decently. He's a good depth acquisition, given that Ronny Smith is struggling with an ankle injury. He's also $7.6 million off the Knicks' extremely bloated budget ($36.3 million over the cap)

Advantage: New York
The Knicks get a lot more here and it doesn't seem like they'll miss Whiting much.

Utah Jazz receive
SG Rico Wolfe
Golden State Warriors 2017 2nd round pick

Golden State Warriors receive
C Jimmy Johnson
PF Jeremy Stevenson
SG Mardy Collins

What this means for the Jazz
Utah desperately needs some youth in their backcourt and Wolfe, taken 24th overall by the Pistons in 2012, provides them that. He's got a good outside shot, knows how to convert the charity stripe points and can play pretty good defense. He's the first guard off the bench, too. If the Jazz opt not to re-sign him, Rico's a $3 million clearance off the cap. The probable high 2nd rounder is nice too.

What this means for the Warriors
This deal boils down to Wolfe + 2nd rounder for Johnson, as Stevenson and Collins both get cut immediately after. Johnson, taken 20th overall by the Jazz in 2014, has potential to be a respectable all-around C, but he's still raw and it's not certain he'll be re-signed. Yes, Golden State needed to get some youth on the team, but Johnson's probably not going to be around long enough to realize whatever potential he has.

Advantage: Utah
The Jazz get some nice advantages here, even if Wolfe's only a rental, whereas the Warriors may have needlessly given away expiring cap money and a high 2nd rounder.

Atlanta Hawks receive
PF Chris Borman

Chicago Bulls receive
Atlanta Hawks 2017 1st round pick

What this means for the Hawks
It's not often that you see a 2nd round pick (32nd overall, Chicago, 2014) get traded for a 1st rounder, but it happens here. Borman's one of those players who's good at a lot of things, but great at nothing. That said, he's 23, becomes an immediate starter at SF and is signed to just over $1 million a year through 2019. That's the kind of cheap, good young talent that's worth a mid-to-late 1st rounder.

What this means for the Bulls
Chicago has 4 of 5 starters under 25 (Raymond Felton, the 33 year old PG, is the lone exception) and Borman just wasn't getting any playing time given the quality of those young studs, so to turn a former 2nd rounder into a 1st round pick is a brilliant move.

Advantage: Draw
Both teams benefit significantly from this deal. One of those trades you have to like, no matter which side you're on.

Orlando Magic receive
PF Andris Biedrins

New Jersey Nets receive
PG Brent Short

What this means for the Magic
One season it's all that it's taken for Biedrins to go from starter with the Jazz to end of the bench player for the Nets and Orlando. That said, he's signed for two seasons and our opinion is that he's actually better than the other Orlando big men reserves. He just needs to be given the chance to show it.

What this means for the Nets
Short has a beautiful outside shot, great defense and good passing and ballhandling skills. But his shortness (5'11) limits him to PG only and New Jersey's stacked at the point. There's a reason why New Jersey has the worst record in the NBA and having two roster spots taken up by guys who can only play PG is a prime example of that.

Advantage: Orlando
If the Magic utilize Biedrins more, they should be able to take the Southeast title. Good move for them, bad move for the Nets.

Nothing feels better than starting off the month with back-to-back wins. Especially when the first one is a 101-80 beatdown of the Spurs in San Antonio and all 5 of our starters rock the house. Zelipe Gama - 10 points, 20 assists, Mateen Yeaton - 26 points, Ron McPherson - 21 points, Emeka Okafor - 22 points, 13 rebounds and David Jackson - 10 points and 10 rebounds. Our stellar backcourt strikes again in a 113-98 win over the Rockets the next night. Mateen Yeaton scores 36 points, Zelipe Gama has 13 points and 16 assists and Ron McPherson adds 21 points.

The blowouts keep piling on in the following doubleheader. 101-76 over the Kings on the wings of Mateen Yeaton's 25 points and double-doubles of 14 points and 12 rebounds and 10 points and 21 rebounds from Emeka Okafor and David Jackson respectively. 113-94 squash of the Lakers as Mateen Yeaton scores 34, Ron McPherson adds 24 points, Emeka Okafor gets 17 points and 10 rebounds, Zelipe Gama gets an even 10 points and assists and Kirk Hinrich scores 10 off the bench.

We knock out the Timberwolves 110-91 due to Mateen Yeaton (24 points), Ron McPherson (20 points), Emeka Okafor 23 points and 13 rebounds) and Zelipe Gama (18 points, 11 assists). I think it's safe to say that we have the best starting five in the entire league. Minnesota's been getting rocked hard, by the way, after Kelvin Moody tore his ACL on the 8th. The Timberwolves also have a bunch o other injuries, but losing Moody hurts the worst.

Golden State surprisingly roughouses us, but we fight back in the fourth quarter for a 116-112 victory on the road. Mateen Yeaton scores 33, David Jackson gathers up 14 points and 10 rebounds and Zelipe Gama has 11 points and 12 assists. Our bench woke up for the first time in a long time, with 16 points from Steve Neal and 10 points from Mike Nooner. 10 points off the bench from Steve Neal, 24 points from Mateen Yeaton and 11 points, 19 rebounds and 8 assists from David Jackson can't save us against Seattle though, as the Sonics sneak by us and we lose 93-89 on the road. It's our first loss this month and our first conference loss of the season.

We bounce back to throttle Memphis 106-87 a few nights later. Mateen Yeaton scores 34, Ron McPherson 24 and Mike Nooner adds 11 points off the bench.

Five consecutive away games up next, including two doubleheaders against the Central division. We start things off right with a 110-95 win over the Mavericks keyed by Mateen Yeaton's 31 points and 14 bench points from Lindsey Williamson, who every now and again makes me glad I signed him for his fourth season.

The Bulls' extraordinarily gifted youngsters beat us 107-90 despite 24 points from Mateen Yeaton, 11 points and 10 rebounds and 10 points and 11 rebounds from Emeka Okafor and David Jackson respectively and 10 and 11 respective reserve points from Mike Nooner and Steven Neal. We triumph the next night over the Pistons, 109-103, behind an explosive 26 points from benchman Steve Neal. He was the only statistical star for us on the evening, too.

Milwaukee goes down 111-96 as 7 Nuggets score 11 points or more. Tim Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds in his first game back from his ACL injury and Zelipe Gama 13 points and 12 assists. Kirk Hinrich scored 14 off the bench and David Jackson added 12 points in his reserve debut. Unfortunately, we lose for the third time in January, 102-93, the next night to the Pacers. Zelipe Gama was heroic with 22 points and 14 assists and Ron McPherson addded 20 points of his own, but Ben Gordon dropped 32 on us and Indiana is that much better with Eddy Curry in the middle. I have a hell of a lot of respect for the Central now after splitting 2-2 with them on the road trip.

Things return to normal in a convincing doubleheader of victories to finish January off. Emeka Okafor has 16 points and 13 rebounds, Tim Davis scores 27, Zelipe Gama gets 16 points and 10 assists and Steve Neal contributes 16 points off the bench as we squash the Knicks 110-90. Tim Davis definitely appears to be getting back in the groove, as he has 34 points and 10 rebounds in our 123-98 reaming of the Trailblazers in the last game of the month. Mateen Yeaton adds 33 points and that's the first time since I've been here that we've had two players score 30+ points in a game. Throw in 12 points and 10 rebounds from Emkeka Okafor, 10 points and 11 assists from Zelipe Gama and David Jackson's 10 bench points and you have arguably our most complete game of the year so far.

We're 39-7 as the month of love starts, 9 games ahead of Utah. There's still only 4 teams with a winning record in the West.

Denver Nuggets 39-7
Utah Jazz 30-16
San Antonio Spurs 30-17
Sacramento Kings 23-22

The Rockets (23-24) are the only team that's really close to .500. Sad state of affairs in the West this year.

Things are a little less crazy in the East, where we've dropped to 9 teams above .500. Toronto's still whipping everyone at 35-11, 7.5 ahead of the Knicks, who appear to be legit at 27-18.

The Central's still a warzone.

Milwaukee Bucks 25-18
Indiana Pacers 0.5 GB
Cleveland Cavaliers 1.5 GB
Chicago Bulls 4 GB

Everyone's still in it in the Southeast, as the last-place Heat are only 5.5 games out. Washington of all teams is out in front by 2.5 games.

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: 44 games/44 starts - 18.3 PPG 8.3 APG 3.5 RPG 0.9 BPG 1.5 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: 46 games/46 starts - 26.1 PPG 3.1 APG 4.5 RPG 1.9 BPG 1.9 SPG

[Coffee Warlord]

Lookin' like you found a real gem in David Jackson, I might add.