Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The "LAME AIM BLAME GAME": part one of two. Trouble in Denver.

Over the past few weeks I have had brief instant messenger discussions with one of the most passionate Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns fans I know. Yes, one of the most underrated techniques that we often employ here at Drive and Diss, simply to entertain you, is researching the fan pulse through heated arguments with angry emoticons.

In part one of our series in the “LAME AIM BLAME GAME” I will spend time talking about Andy Feinstein’s Nuggets.

If you want a history lesson in basketball one can't go wrong consulting "the walking encyclopedia of nba roundball" Andy Feinstein. You can simply check out his blog firegeorgekarl.com and see what I mean. His wealth of information is scary, and if you really want to be frightened, he can summon his knowledge on cue while balancing animation production budgets in one hand and conducting a cell phone conversation in the other (usually involving a girl yelling at him… which is another blog subject entirely). With all his love of basketball the real apple of his eye is his Denver Nuggets.

These days, his argument with his team is plain to see with his blog firegeorgekarl.com but I really believe he is turning a blind eye to the true culprit and painting himself into an uncomfortable corner. His blog's namesake hinges on the failure of the Nuggets to prove his point. The url "firegeorgekarl" leads to only one, misguided path: Firing the wrong person. At the rate this is going he could be performing a type of blog seppuku through the honor of twisted, masochistic fandom. Normally, there is no love lost with typical Nuggets fans and myself being a Utah Jazz fan. However, with Andy’s basketball mind I feel a duty to preserve it. I cannot stand idly by and watch Andy's decent into madness .

Here is the problem with his argument from a purely fanatical point of view: the better the Nuggets do, the weaker the case is for justifying a George Karl exit. The problem is amplified since the nuggets are magically playing inspired basketball with their flawed star Carmelo Anthony. What can Andy do? Root for the Nuggets? Root against them? Why would a fan such as Andy place himself in such a difficult place? The reason is simple from what I can deduce; he wants results for a long playoff run.

After reading through a few of his well constructed, thoroughly fact checked, posts I have concluded a Nuggets seeding less than 2nd place is considered a failure for George Karl in Andy's eyes. Considering the talent the Nuggets have, I respectfully disagree.

Considering the powers in the west and the wealth of talent, the Nuggets have yet to have proven themselves against the playoff elite. The Spurs and Lakers should be considered the real barometer. They have true superstars that have the championship experience to weather the storms during the regular season, and the maturity to maintain an eerie calm in the playoffs. The unproven Hornets deserve a grounded third place. At best, the Nuggets are hovering around a fourth place seed tied with the Jazz. Considering the Jazz are edging them with their current record, the Nuggets could still be considered in a respectable seed at 5th place. At the rate this inspired version of the Nuggets are going, a fifth seed is a reasonable goal to achieve.

Talent wise the Nuggets are amazing. Maturity wise the Nuggets are not. This falls squarely on the shoulders of their "superstar" Carmelo Anthony. As I watch Melo I find him constantly whining and following a popular senatorial school of thought of feeling entitled to having things handed to him, like winning a playoff round.

Melo has been reported to say things fans like to hear such as "I have matured". I suppose it takes maturity to utter phrases like that. It is another thing entirely to have actions reflect words on the court. I remember when Melo was being compared to Lebron during their rookie and second seasons and then, the comparisons stopped... cold. Lebron and Melo in the same sentence? Laughable. Carmelo and Chris Paul? Still laughing.

Lebron has single handedly taken his team to the championship round in the same amount of time Melo has done absolutely nothing. Since his maturity line Melo has done nothing but score a series of pretty looking points and sucker punching an opposing knicks player in the face while running backwards. A knicks player of all people! Melo does not get it yet. Perhaps he never will.

Take the latest example of Melo in action in last night’s crucial game vs. the Suns. In one series on defense Melo had guard duty on Nash, one and one in the third quarter. After Melo blinked Nash blew right by him making an acrobatic layup. Never mind this critical moment in the game... moments later I watched him take it to the rack and blow a layup followed moments later by a second. Bucket by bucket, I watched the Nuggets squander their nineteen point lead halftime score. Kobe? Lebron? Even Chris Paul? They play on both sides of the court in critical games while providing the superstar leadership their teams need. The only thing I see Melo do is slump when things do not go his way and expecting things to happen in his favor. He needs to start taking lessons from the crafty point guard that embarrassed him last night... or step aside and let a true superstar run the team... If only AI was in his prime.

PLAY BY PLAY: Fourth quarter with 3:18 left. Melo takes it to the rack, and misses yet another layup.

Advice to the Nuggets: Trade Melo while he has value as a scorer... or be prepared to role the dice and see where Melo takes the team in 4 more years in hopes that he matures. I'll save my nickname "Marshmallow Anthony" for the Nuggets playoff run this year.


Andy, for your sake I hope I'm wrong. You have suffered enough as a Nuggets fan. I implore you, take off your rose-colored signature black rimmed glasses and look at the franchise player on your team. Your current path will only lead to fanatical madness and ruin any temporary enjoyment you can spend with your team.




-J

No comments: