| LAKERS NOTEBOOK: Coach Brown got his foot in NBA… | |
Lakers coach Mike Brown maintains a special fondness for the Denver Nuggets. After all, they gave him his first job in the NBA. Actually, his first job wasn’t a job at all. Brown served as an unpaid intern during the summer of 1992 before he finished his final course work at the University of San Diego. Then-Nuggets general manager Bernie Bickerstaff then hired him as the team’s video coordinator. “All I can remember is he offered me 15 grand,” Brown said Saturday. “In my head I was, like, `Sucker, I got you fooled. All you had to do was offer me a couple pairs of sneakers and some sweat suits.’ He paid me 15 grand and I thought I was rich.” Brown initially turned down the job in order to finish school. Bickerstaff held the position open for Brown until he completed his final semester Dec. 15 and gave several assistant coaches the tasks of breaking down game film until Brown arrived. Unlike today’s video coordinators around the league, who don’t work with tape anymore, Brown worked with two clunky decks. If he needed to make a tape of all the Nuggets’ fastbreak baskets, he watched the game tape and put it together. If he needed to make a tape of all their plays when passing inside to their big men, he had to watch the whole tape over again and put together that tape. It was arduous, time-consuming and thankless work. Patrick O’Keefe, the Lakers’ video coordinator, works with a laptop and DVDs. “It’s so advanced now, I have no clue how it works,” Brown said. Watching more film than a movie reviewer wasn’t Brown’s only job, however. “I landscaped our assistant GM’s yard,” he recalled. “I’ll never forget I had a Nissan 4×2 pickup truck. It was maroon. It was one thing to help him landscape his yard, but it was another thing finding out that 4×2 was going to be the stone hauler. “I did it all, trust me.” Brown spent five seasons with the Nuggets and eventually graduated to scout before he began his coaching career as an assistant with Bickerstaff for the Washington Wizards. His career in video and landscaping finally paid dividends. Barnes starts Devin Ebanks didn’t start for the first time in five games this season. In fact, he didn’t play a minute in the Lakers’ victory over the Nuggets. Matt Barnes took his place as the Lakers’ starting small forward and had seven points and seven rebounds. Brown said Barnes would start again in today’s rematch in Denver. He couldn’t say who would end up with the job, but Metta World Peace would not budge from his spot as a key backup on the Lakers’ second unit. “I thought Matt was going to give us a lift after the way he played (Thursday),” Brown said, referring to Barnes’ defensive work against Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks during the Lakers’ victory. “Devin didn’t do anything wrong. We wanted to give Matt a shot. I would like to name a starter. Matt started (Saturday) and will start (today). Will that change (for the next game)? It might until I say, `Hey, this is the guy we’re going to go with.”‘ What are your opinions. Posted in nba, Uncategorized | Comments Off
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| Nuggets open season against Mavericks | |
Read more: Denver Nuggets, Nuggets Season Opener, Dallas Mavericks, Nuggets Vs Mavs, Nuggets First Game 2011, Pro, NBA
DENVER (AP) — The Denver Nuggets are finally opening their season against the NBA’s defending champions. Monday’s game against the Mavericks starts at 6:30 p.m. Mountain in Dallas. The Nuggets realize they will be overlooked this season. They don’t have a bona fide star or a household name on the roster. The closest thing they have is Danilo Gallinari, who averaged 14.7 points after arriving in Denver following the Carmelo Anthony trade. But coach George Karl insisted having one is merely a luxury and not a mandate. To him, the Mavericks proved that point in winning the NBA title last season. They had one focal point and a reliable complement of players. (Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Comment Below!. |
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| Can the Denver Nuggets Contend in the Western… | |
The Nuggets weren’t looked upon as much of a threat after trading their superstar Carmelo Anthony. But that may be changing. Tonight, against the defending champion Mavericks, the Nuggets took care of business on the road, winning by 18 over Dirk Nowitzki and crew. The Nuggets looked good offensively. No, they looked really good offensively. Every Dallas turnover was penalized with a basket, and Ty Lawson seemed capable of getting and hitting any shot he wanted, going 8 of 9 from the floor to start the game and eventually finishing with 27 points on 10 of 15 shooting. Lawson figures to assume a large role in the Nuggets offense. Perhaps the most impressive part is that the Nuggets dominated the Mavericks without even receiving a big game from Nene. Nene scored only 8 points, but one of the players they acquired in the Melo trade, Danilo Galinari, came through with a huge game scoring 15 and grabbing 7 rebounds. Perhaps it was the way Galinari scored that was impressive. He looked like more of an athlete than I ever remember him being, and so much more diversified as a scorer than a mere spot up shooter. Andre Miller can never be counted out. On January 30, 2010, Andre Miller put up 52 points in a victory over Dallas as a member of the Trailblazers. While his 18 points Monday night were hardly as impressive, his method of taking charge and pushing it to the basket for close range bank shots persisted. Andre Miller is now nearly 36, and is still a capable and viable NBA point guard. Moreover, putting him in the backcourt with Lawson gives the Nuggets two very capable ball handlers. Defensively, the Nuggets took care of business too. The only Dallas player to have a decent game was the typical Dirk Nowitzki, while all other Mavs players were kept in check. The Mavericks figure to be a worse team this season than last, and moreover, they played last night, but the victory will speak volumes for Denver’s ability to compete…especially on the road. It’s at home that Denver scored 8 more per game and they punish their opponents with a run n gun pace in a building that is difficult to breath in, the Pepsi Center, sitting a literal mile above sea level in down town Denver, “The Mile High City.” With a team capable of scoring, the only question that remains is whether the Nuggets will be able to defend well enough to make waves in the Western Conference. They were certainly one of the dark horses coming in, because they have no players that are proven cornerstones on their roster. They lost their only two in Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, and now rely on a glut of accomplished role players and a budding star in Galinari. So how many games can Denver win in this shortened 66 game season? I think it’s reasonable to expect 40 wins, but I just have trouble imagining them playing the brand of basketball that is required to succeed in the playoffs. I might be wrong. They did beat Oklahoma City one of five games in the 2011 NBA playoffs, but were clearly not the same team after losing their superstar in Melo. Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content. That’s all for today. |
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| 2011-2012 Denver Nuggets Preview | |
Richard Kurtzman Bleacher Report 6:11 a.m. MST, December 26, 2011
DENVER — After a tumultuous 2010-11 season – one that saw a blockbuster trade that turned the roster on its head – the list of questions surrounding the Nuggets is long. Who will fill the scoring void left by Carmelo Anthony? How will Denver’s defense respond after losing leader Kenyon Martin to China? Who will bolster the bench with J.R. Smith and Wilson Chandler playing professionally overseas? With so many new faces playing together, will these new Nuggets be able to create any chemistry with one another? And despite all these questions, Denver knew its biggest priorities were re-signing free agents Nene and Arron Afflalo – two players that can and should be leaders for the Nuggets – which they did in the last few days. READ MORE>>> If you like reading our blog, remember to bookmark it. Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
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| Denver Nuggets’ Kosta Koufos could surprise this… | |
Konstantine Demetrios Koufos is nine syllables and seven feet of Greek gargantuan.
Kosta, as he goes by, was deemed a throw-in to the Carmelo Anthony trade in February, but it is possible Koufos will play some key minutes for the Nuggets this season. In Thursday’s preseason game at Phoenix, Koufos scored 15 points with 11 rebounds and two blocks, showcasing his growth from even the past few months. “He’s confident, he’s big, he had a great summer from the standpoint of his performance with the Greek team,” Nuggets coach George Karl said Friday after the team’s practice at Pepsi Center. “Now it’s — Can he go on the game court and prove that his work has been worthwhile? “Our front line, how and who plays, it’s probably going to be dictated a lot by who’s playing well — I can’t guarantee anybody minutes, but I think they all could play.” To continue reading this story visit DenverPost.com/sports That’s all the news for today. Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
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