Major Change Is Coming For The Nuggets
Last night was rock bottom. Seven games into the season and we have already hit rock bottom. I hope so at least. It can’t get much worse than it was last night in the Pepsi Center when the Nuggets trailed the Portland Trailblazers 84-50 at the end of the second quarter and headed for the locker room led by a chorus of boos by the Nuggets faithful. After last nights performance, in my eyes, major change is coming for the Nuggets sooner than later.
It all started to go wrong when we fired reigning Coach of the Year George Karl. It was an impulsive move by the greedy Nuggets management who wanted even more success than winning 57 games for some reason. They decided to hire Assistant Coach of the Indiana Pacers, Brian Shaw, to replace Karl who promised he would make this Nuggets squad a slow paced, defensive minded team that would finally be successful in the playoffs (ha!). He took the Nuggets coaching job and lead the Nuggets to a 36-46 record in 2013-2014, the worst the Nuggets had weathered since the 2002-2003 season.
Is it going to get even worse than last season? I don’t think the Nuggets Management is going to wait to find out. Look for Shaw to be let go extremely soon if the Nuggets don’t get a win anytime within the immediate future.
Oct 29, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw during the first half against the Detroit Pistons at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
A lot of fans are giving Brian Shaw heat for the Nuggets struggles but he is not fully to blame. Some of it is the players, some of it is the other coaches, but what sticks out to me the most as to why we’re not winning and doing worse than last season despite finally being fully healthy is that the team is just not built to match each others strengths and does not gel. J.J. Hickson and Nate Robinson flat out don’t belong on this roster for what the Nuggets are trying to do. The signing of each of these players was due to the new GM Tim Connelly trying to make a splash to save his tail for not re-signing Andre Igoudala.
Another reason not to blame Shaw is that the Nuggets roster is weird. We have a mixture of speedy, athletic players and slow, takes time to run an offense to score players. This is because this team still has a majority of players from the fast paced George Karl era. Brian Shaw needs big, slow defenders and a slew of players who can straight up score without the fast break like Paul George and Roy Hibbert and can grind out points. Instead his two best players are completely the opposite; fast paced and have the best chance to score on the fast break (Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried).
If you ask me, I say we scrap the entire roster including the GM and Coach, except for the players who I see give the Nuggets future the best chance to win like Lawson, Faried, Randy Foye, Darrell Arthur and the Rookies, and attempt a new philosophy that best fits our teams strengths. Maybe we can even bring the old philosophy back that George Karl ran of running up and down the court like a chicken with its head cut off. That worked pretty well I think (10 Straight Playoff Appearances Well)!
Come on Nuggets we’re about to be the laughing stock of the NBA right next to the Sixers if we keep up this pathetic play! Oh wait, never mind, I’m pretty sure Anthony Carter is starting at the Small Forward spot for them tonight. But in all seriousness, this is getting bad. Major change will be well on its way if another game or two end up like they did last night. I don’t see the Nuggets management let a roster this talented play this bad for any much longer.
The (1-6) Nuggets face the beat-up (3-6) Pacers in Indiana this Friday at 5PM (MST) and if you are out of the Altitude Sports market or don’t have NBA League Pass the game can be viewed nationally on NBA TV. Remember to stay warm Nuggets fans and as always.. GO Nuggets!