pretenders to me.
If they still had Camby, contenders. Without, pretenders unless Bynum remains injured and Duncan's issues linger.
Nene has filled in nicely for Camby.
I think they're pretenders, bottom line is they're simply not a great team, just a good team. Also, no team with Carmelo as its best player is expected to win a championship.
Really I think every team in the West is a "pretender" except for the Lakers and Spurs, even though I have a hard time imagining the Spurs toppling the Lakers, their defense and personnel and coaching is worthy of contender status.
I don't know, what's their record against Western Conference playoff teams?
They aren't true contenders until they have 4 rings like the Spurs.
/thread
Well, for one thing, their superstar is a pothead...![]()
Actually at the present time there are 5 'true/real' contenders to be WC Champs...
Spurs, Lakers, Jazz, Hornets & Rockets.
Portland-Denver-Dallas will be fishing after the first round.
I dunno why people are assuming the Jazz are winning a 1st round series.
12 of their final 20 are on the road. They could easily backslide into 7th/8th and be swiftly eliminated by the Lakers.
They're just a "flavor" right now since they've won 8 straight, their schedule is about to get brutal though.
Looking at Utah's remaining schedule, they will be fortunate to win 50 games.
Contenders for the second round of the playoffs? Yes
Pretenders for everything else.
You've kept an awful low profile lately. How are your beloved mavs doing? Ooops, the mavs...sorry, didn't mean to ruin your evening...
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If Melo can stay out of trouble, perhaps while staying inside Karl's dog house, yeah, they are for real (contenders).
I am calling a Cleveland Denver Finals, and Cleveland whups em in 5.
This thread is about the Nuggets, not the Mavs. Please start a new thread if you want to discuss the Mavs.
Premature question. Can't possibly be answered right now. They've definitely been a problem for opponents since Chauncey got there. What qualifies you as a contender? Making the playoffs? Winning one round? Two rounds?
The nuggets are on their way down. 3rd floor women's lingerie, 2nd floor men's skivvies, and 1st floor your first round exit.
they play better without carmelo. pretender just for that
This team matches up well with the top 2 out of the west. It is the team I fear the most as a Spur playing early in the postseason. While Camby gave them great defense he was never really a scoring threat thus making Duncans job ALOT easier. With Nene rising to the occasion being able to play solid minutes play good defense and offense it makes Duncan have to work harder. Plus we have nobody that can stay with Melo anymore Bowen is ALOT slower this year. To compound that issue now they have a true PG with Chauncey. While Chauncey does not have the speed to stay with TP on a fastbreak he is a great on the ball defender that can give time for Nene to clog the mid. Also Manu is still a question mark and JR Smith can give problems from the SG spot coming off the bench. With a healthy KMART and good play from it's roleplayers they match up against the Spurs very well. The one issue they have had this year has been inconsistant play from it's starters and bench. So for a long series this bodes well for us. However if they can fix that problem and get solid play from it's starters and JR Smith+Kleiza or Hunter they can cause problems.
When everybody is healthy, I think they are one of the better teams in the league. However, I don't see them winning a le any time soon. Arguably 3rd best team in the West behind Spurs and Fakers. Billups has helped heaps, more interesting is how well Nene has been; his play have improved greatly.
3 Months later.....
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