• ARRON AFFLALO IS BREAKING OUT OF HIS SLUMP: If there had been one player who has been in a funk for the Nuggets it is Afflalo. The usually reliable shooting guard has struggled with his shooting touch, at least up until Thursday. Afflalo’s struggles had many people wondering if it was worth giving the 26-year-old a $43 million/5-year-deal, but the hard-working captain broke himself out of the slump this week. Going into the contest with the Warriors, Afflalo had missed 17 of his last 24 shots. His season average is a JR Smith-like .432 from the field, which is far less than what he shot last season (.498). But on Thursday, Afflalo scored 26 points and hit 8 of 16 from the field and 5 of 8 from behind the arc. He followed that game up by shooting 8 of 11 from the field and scored 23 points. He has also hit his last 23 free throws.  (more…)

According to Fox 26 Sports, based out of Houston, the Rockets contacted both Nene and their own free agent Chuck Hayes.

The Rockets are one of the teams that is in the Nene sweepstakes, but there is a lot pessimism out of Houston that the Rockets would land Nene – partly due to his asking price.

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle suggested that while Nene is the Rockets’ Plan A, they aren’t going to overpay to sign him. In fact, in his words which are much more fun,

The Rockets won’t be packing up a caravan of face painters in an effort to impress Nene.

In fact, Feigen suggested that somebody (New Jersey Nets) would be willing to offer Nene the max ($70 million over four years). Lets hope it isn’t the Nuggets.

Hoopsworld’s Bill Ingram also suggested that Nene would stay in Denver, but Houston could offer a package of young players in a sign-and-trade that would intrigue the Nuggets. The Rockets, much like the Nuggets, have a number of young players of interest and this may be of more interest to Denver – which is on the verge of the rebuilding mode. (more…)