duncan228
11-05-2009, 07:14 PM
It's Time for the League to Embrace the Nuggets (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=tsn-itstimefortheleaguet&prov=tsn&type=lgns)
SportingNews
The Nuggets have a lot of tattoos, play emotional, crazy and sometimes rough, and yes, harbor individuals who have had legal troubles. That means fans can call them "thugs" and it's OK. I also never understood why George Karl gets let off the hook for that. He's tall, intimidating, and has eyes that could pierce a brick wall. That's your Swedish docks enforcer from central casting right there.
In some ways, Denver has remained the thorn in the side of David Stern's Bron-spurred reclamation project. Kenyon Martin will never die. J.R. Smith can't stop screwing up, and the team won't let him go. Chris Andersen absorbs love like a two-day old forehead sponge, has that inspirational story, and is white. But he showboats on the court, does his hair like an Insane Clown Posse dead-ender, and is up to his nose in ink. And then there's Carmelo Anthony, easily the most personable, and thus marketable, of the Class of 2003 crew. Yet Melo's always just a little too hood, or perceived as un-valiant, to get on the public's good side.
Oh, and how long does it really take for a team to get rid of Allen Iverson's stain on the walls, especially when they seemingly embraced him? Can you spell T-H-U-G-C-E-N-T-R-A-L. Just trade for Stephen Jackson already and get over with it.
The question is, at what point does it benefit the NBA to have the Nuggets painted as deviant bad guys. Karl's on record as saying that his team is "picked on," then wondered further for The Denver Post, when discussing a Martin suspension a couple of years ago:
"Maybe we've earned that, I don't know … We're not an 'all-American team.' We're an emotional team that plays kind of explosive and then we get angry and we've shown some emotional frustrations on the court in negative ways at time. I hate to use the words 'fair' and 'non-biased,' but this is a major decision."
The league keeps the Nuggets on a short leash, sometimes seemingly use them to make an example. However, you've got to wonder if there doesn't come a time where they need to go on the offensive and work to make Denver socially acceptable, or at least no longer actively persecute them (or encourage fans to do the same). Chauncey Billups coming to town certainly made it harder to take the former stance on the team. And yet even as the team got white-hot in time for the playoffs, the headline was the various kinds of chippiness resulting from the Dallas series.
So fine, that made a second-round series juicy. But it distracted from the fact that Denver is the one team in the West that could conceivably smash its way into the league's elite alongside L.A., Boston, Cleveland, and Orlando. The Nuggets went into the Conference Finals against L.A. as something slightly better than underdogs, and I have to believe that the mess with Dallas—admittedly, in part the Nuggets' own fault—kept that storyline from picking up the momentum it deserved. Billups or no Billups.
All of which brings us back to Carmelo Anthony, already being touted as an MVP candidate as the Nuggets come on stronger than ever—and Melo shows us shrewder judgment, more control, and a better rapport with the team as a whole. Every season, we see some degree of this, and some writers jump on it—already, TrueHoop (http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/10354/melo%E2%80%99s-average-drops-as-nuggets-win-again) is touting a New Melo.
But we've also yet to see Anthony slip up, or the rest of the Nuggets get so crazy they start to drag him down. This season might well be different, at least by matters of degree. Still, Karl said it best: They are, to some extent, always going to be that team. No matter how exemplary Melo's highs are, how much old head advice Billups dispenses, and how assiduously other Nuggets avoid the police blotter or Stu Jackson's office.
Once again, the Nuggets are the dark horse pick to crash in and steal the title. Take their star as a microcosm of this: a Carmelo Anthony the world can love is better for basketball than one never being given the benefit of the doubt and falling victim to innumerable stereotypes. It would be good for basketball if Denver were seen as a worthy foe for L.A. out west, not a distraction or derangement. At some point, doesn't the league want the Nuggets to stop being viewed as evil thugs? They are certainly more valuable as a West powerhouse, with an MVP candidate, than a cautionary example.
I'm not suggesting that the league plans all this, or that Denver should be given a whole booklet of free passes to spend over the year as they see fit. Karl himself will acknowledge that being involved in brawls also might hurt the Nuggets image, which in turn affects the league's perception of them. And there is a certain preemptive logic there: Someone like Martin needs to be sent a message, reminded that flagrants are bad, whereas other players might be more likely to teach themselves that lesson. We saw that as recently as last season's playoff, when he was fined $25,000 for a flagrant foul on Dirk Nowitzki. But, at the risk of making this even more about discipline, punishment and rehabilitation, this year the issue seems more pressing than ever.
I'm not saying the Nuggets shouldn't have to follow the same rules everybody else does. But there's no reason to prove a point to the team or make an example of them when Denver's no longer just another good-not-great playoff team. At some point, you have to let them be themselves and clean up as best you can. Otherwise, the league's missing out on a golden opportunity.
SportingNews
The Nuggets have a lot of tattoos, play emotional, crazy and sometimes rough, and yes, harbor individuals who have had legal troubles. That means fans can call them "thugs" and it's OK. I also never understood why George Karl gets let off the hook for that. He's tall, intimidating, and has eyes that could pierce a brick wall. That's your Swedish docks enforcer from central casting right there.
In some ways, Denver has remained the thorn in the side of David Stern's Bron-spurred reclamation project. Kenyon Martin will never die. J.R. Smith can't stop screwing up, and the team won't let him go. Chris Andersen absorbs love like a two-day old forehead sponge, has that inspirational story, and is white. But he showboats on the court, does his hair like an Insane Clown Posse dead-ender, and is up to his nose in ink. And then there's Carmelo Anthony, easily the most personable, and thus marketable, of the Class of 2003 crew. Yet Melo's always just a little too hood, or perceived as un-valiant, to get on the public's good side.
Oh, and how long does it really take for a team to get rid of Allen Iverson's stain on the walls, especially when they seemingly embraced him? Can you spell T-H-U-G-C-E-N-T-R-A-L. Just trade for Stephen Jackson already and get over with it.
The question is, at what point does it benefit the NBA to have the Nuggets painted as deviant bad guys. Karl's on record as saying that his team is "picked on," then wondered further for The Denver Post, when discussing a Martin suspension a couple of years ago:
"Maybe we've earned that, I don't know … We're not an 'all-American team.' We're an emotional team that plays kind of explosive and then we get angry and we've shown some emotional frustrations on the court in negative ways at time. I hate to use the words 'fair' and 'non-biased,' but this is a major decision."
The league keeps the Nuggets on a short leash, sometimes seemingly use them to make an example. However, you've got to wonder if there doesn't come a time where they need to go on the offensive and work to make Denver socially acceptable, or at least no longer actively persecute them (or encourage fans to do the same). Chauncey Billups coming to town certainly made it harder to take the former stance on the team. And yet even as the team got white-hot in time for the playoffs, the headline was the various kinds of chippiness resulting from the Dallas series.
So fine, that made a second-round series juicy. But it distracted from the fact that Denver is the one team in the West that could conceivably smash its way into the league's elite alongside L.A., Boston, Cleveland, and Orlando. The Nuggets went into the Conference Finals against L.A. as something slightly better than underdogs, and I have to believe that the mess with Dallas—admittedly, in part the Nuggets' own fault—kept that storyline from picking up the momentum it deserved. Billups or no Billups.
All of which brings us back to Carmelo Anthony, already being touted as an MVP candidate as the Nuggets come on stronger than ever—and Melo shows us shrewder judgment, more control, and a better rapport with the team as a whole. Every season, we see some degree of this, and some writers jump on it—already, TrueHoop (http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/10354/melo%E2%80%99s-average-drops-as-nuggets-win-again) is touting a New Melo.
But we've also yet to see Anthony slip up, or the rest of the Nuggets get so crazy they start to drag him down. This season might well be different, at least by matters of degree. Still, Karl said it best: They are, to some extent, always going to be that team. No matter how exemplary Melo's highs are, how much old head advice Billups dispenses, and how assiduously other Nuggets avoid the police blotter or Stu Jackson's office.
Once again, the Nuggets are the dark horse pick to crash in and steal the title. Take their star as a microcosm of this: a Carmelo Anthony the world can love is better for basketball than one never being given the benefit of the doubt and falling victim to innumerable stereotypes. It would be good for basketball if Denver were seen as a worthy foe for L.A. out west, not a distraction or derangement. At some point, doesn't the league want the Nuggets to stop being viewed as evil thugs? They are certainly more valuable as a West powerhouse, with an MVP candidate, than a cautionary example.
I'm not suggesting that the league plans all this, or that Denver should be given a whole booklet of free passes to spend over the year as they see fit. Karl himself will acknowledge that being involved in brawls also might hurt the Nuggets image, which in turn affects the league's perception of them. And there is a certain preemptive logic there: Someone like Martin needs to be sent a message, reminded that flagrants are bad, whereas other players might be more likely to teach themselves that lesson. We saw that as recently as last season's playoff, when he was fined $25,000 for a flagrant foul on Dirk Nowitzki. But, at the risk of making this even more about discipline, punishment and rehabilitation, this year the issue seems more pressing than ever.
I'm not saying the Nuggets shouldn't have to follow the same rules everybody else does. But there's no reason to prove a point to the team or make an example of them when Denver's no longer just another good-not-great playoff team. At some point, you have to let them be themselves and clean up as best you can. Otherwise, the league's missing out on a golden opportunity.