allen iverson

NBA: Denver Gets Their Man in Billups

Hoopsworld — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:26:59 -0500

Travis Heath

Chauncey Billups grew up in Denver's Park Hill neighborhood playing basletball at Skyline Recreation Center. Everyone in town knew the kid was pretty good. However, no one had an idea just how good he would become.

As a result of a bold move by the Denver Nuggts on Monday, Billups will now get a chance to finish his career back at home in the Mile High City.

In order to get the deal done, the Nuggets had to part with future Hall of Famer Allen Iverson. It was not an easy decision, but it's a decision the Nuggets felt they had to make if they wanted to have a chance to truly compete in the Western Conference.

"Our overall kind of driving force behind this is you know you have to give up a whale of a player to get a whale of a player," said Denver Vice President of Player Personnel Rex Chapman. "Allen being in the last year of his contract we wanted to be sure and get a quality player, or players, in return."

The Nuggets and Pistons reportedly held trade discussions this summer but nothing got done. Chapman indicated talks between the two teams heated up very quickly over the weekend.

"It all happened very quickly the last few days," Chapman said. "The last couple of days from Joe (Dumars) in Detroit to Mark (Warkentien) here doing a terrific job, it all came very quickly. Things kind of spread like wildfire with the internet and today's media, of course."

When asked about consummating such a big trade now as opposed to doing it during the summer, Chapman replied: "I think you see teams that are trying to accomplish different things (in the summer). You get into the regular season and things get a little more urgent. Teams become a little bit more serious about actually making a deal and you're not necessarily trying to fleece somebody once the season gets started."

As a former player, Chapman acknowledged that making a deal during the season can be tough, but he indicated it was a move the organization felt would make the team better in the long-run.

"I think that it can be a tough situation for players because aside from being teammates these guys are friends and they spend so much time around one another. All of our guys, to a person, get along with Allen and have an allegiance. You always have an allegiance to guys that are on your team. We also have guys that are friends with Chauncey because he has a summertime home here, so it can be kind a strange dynamic. But most of these guys are older guys who have been through these things before, and I think they'll handle it well."

The move has given the Nuggets the true point guard the team has been coveting all summer long and has Denver head coach George Karl excited about the future.

"It came onto my radar screen the past couple of days," Karl said of the trade. "I think it fits the organization's plan. I think there's some financial responsibility there that makes the organization excited. I think there's an excitement of balancing the talent on the roster as a coach that excites me. I think in a lot of ways from a personnel standpoint it was a homerun.

"I think for me I get more of a point guard leadership on the court. And the other thing I think that comes to my mind is our shooting. When I watch other teams and how they win basketball games, it's quite different. They win basketball games by using the three-point arc, and we don't use it very well. With Chauncey being a 40 percent three-point shooter, we now have the power to play in and out. We have power to post-up Nene and Melo better because we have a three-point shooter on the line."

"I think it will make us a different team," Chapman added. "In today's game (Billups) would be considered a pure point guard. He's a guy who can stroke the basketball, he's got one of the of the best strokes in the NBA. He's strong, can defend, just a terrific teammate.

"Chauncey is really everything you want in a point guard, in today's game, anyway. Coming out of Colorado years ago he might not have been considered a traditional point guard. But with the way the game is today, being able to shoot, run the team like he can and especially defend, it's going to be a big plus for us. It will allow us to put J.R. in there and see if he can flourish even more. I think this gives us a starting five, theoretically, that might be as good as there is in this league with Chauncey, J.R., Kenyon, Carmelo, and Nene. We're going to need some good health from our bigs, but we're excited about it."

While Denver most definitely wanted to get better if they opted to trade Iverson, owner Stan Kroenke made it clear he wanted to respect everything Iverson has done for the game and make sure he was moved to a contender.

"One thing that I want to point out is that Stan, if we were going to move Allen, did not want to move Allen to just anybody," Chapman explained. "He wanted to be sure that we were going to send him to a team that has great tradition and is a contender year in and year out, and we feel like we were able to accommodate Allen in moving him to Detroit.

"I think this is a deal that makes a great deal of sense for both teams. I know you hear that a lot and it might sound corny, but I really believe it does."

The Nuggets, of course, are hopeful Billups can make them a contender. And based on what Karl observed when his good friend Larry Brown coached Billups on a championship team during the 2003-04 season, Karl believes Billups will enjoy life with the Nuggets.

"I spent time with Larry and some of his frustrations with Chauncey the year they won the championship," Karl said. "Larry is a perfectionist. I think Chauncey will probably enjoy how we play and how he'll be able to direct a little bit more because I think Larry wants perfect possessions. I just want fast tempo and good basketball. There's a little different mentality there. Larry's probably a little bit more of a possession coach, and I'm more of a pace coach. We have great players for Chauncey to make better."

One of those great players is Carmelo Anthony. On a personal level Anthony was very close with Iverson, so the initial loss of Iverson hit Anthony hard.

"It happened so fast," Anthony said. "After (Saturday's) game we talked about putting the Laker game behind us and getting ready for Golden State. I don't know if he knew something before that game or not, but like I said it's always tough when you lose a teammate and a friend at the same time.

"To come here this morning and hear the news, I didn't know what to expect. I went from having a headache to a migraine when I found out."

While Iverson will be missed by Anthony and the rest of the team off the court, Anthony is excited about what the change might mean for him on the hardwood.

"His résumé is long," Anthony said of Billups. "From hitting big shots, to winning a championship, to coming up big in the big games, just to being a point guard and running the team. We're looking forward to it. I don't think it's as hard to integrate Chauncey because he is a point guard, he is a guy who can run a team and has run a team. He's a scorer's dream.

"Another thing he brings is defense. His mentality and his toughness really helps us in the direction that we're trying to go on the defensive end."

Karl agreed that Billups will be an asset to the Nuggets given the team's newfound commitment to the defensive end of the floor.

"Chauncey is a bigger guard and has the ability to play over the defense. A.I. never had the ability to play over the defense. I think at times everybody saw that we were too small at the guard position, especially in the playoffs. The playoffs is where teams can incorporate offenses to where your weak-side has two six-footers over there. I think Chauncey and Melo can be a fantastic combination."

The Nuggets are hopeful Billups will be able to play in Oakland against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.

"I don't know exactly when Chauncey is going to get in," Chapman said. "He's on the first flight out of Charlotte to Detroit to pick-up some things and then get here as quickly as possible. I know he wants to get here."

If for some reason he can't play on Wednesday, you can rest assured he'll be ready to go when the Nuggets host the Dallas Mavericks at Pepsi Center on Friday.

"Chauncey, being from Denver, I know he's looking forward to coming back and playing in front of the hometown fans," Chapman said with a smile.

As for what Karl's rotation may be now with Billups in town, the coach cautioned people about jumping to conclusions.

"I think (Anthony Carter) and Chauncey will be on the court together some, it won't just be J.R. I think adding two guys who can make playmaking decisions and defend the hell out of the game, I think at the end of the game you might see those guys finish the game at the defensive end of the court.

"If I had to say tomorrow, Dahntay (Jones), (Anthony Carter) and Chauncey as a defensive team on the court would be interesting."

One concern people in Denver have about Billups is the fact he's 32 years of age and under contract until the summer of 2011, which begs the question of whether or not he will be able to stay healthy and productive for the duration of his contract.

"When John Stockton was 32 I said he was over the hill and I was wrong for about eight years," Karl quipped. "Chauncey doesn't play with lightening speed. He doesn't play with lightening speed, he plays with an edge. I think he can sustain that for his contract."

The Chauncey Billups era is officially upon us in Denver. In political terms, if there is one guy the Nuggets could have acquired who could "rally the base" it's Billups.

There's no doubt after Monday's trade that things just got a lot more interesting this season in the Western Conference.

NBA: Nuggets Ready to Implode?

Hoopsworld — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:52:50 -0400

By: Travis Heath

The Denver Nuggets won 50 games last season. The Denver Nuggets were also eliminated for the fifth straight season in the first round and for the fourth straight season under the guidance of head coach George Karl. As a result, many expected Karl to be fired or possibly even resign. While that didn't happen, a major trade that sent Marcus Camby to the Los Angeles Clippers for the right to swap second round picks in 2010 and a $10.1 million trade exception shook the foundation of the organization.

The Nuggets are now the popular pick of both the fans and the media to implode this season. Given the team's history of struggles and some of the traditionally mercurial personalities on the team, it's hard to blame them.

"I like the idea that people are condescending and degrading our possibilities," explained head coach George Karl. "I just love amateur opinions in the offseason. I wouldn't want to predict any NBA seasons until I saw at least 20 or 30 games, but it will be the first year most people don't think we're going to be any good. Some people are predicting a total demise. I don't see that on our team."

What Karl did see was his starting center and favorite bench player leave the team this past summer all in the span of a couple of days.

"That week where Eddie (Najera) and Marcus go out the window we all were going, 'Wow, what's happening,' " Karl said.

"I don't know how we're going to fix the loss of Eddie," Karl continued. "I don't know how we're going to come off the bench with scoring, but we have some good pieces. We have some very good pieces. It's going to be different than last year, but I personally think the challenge is exciting.

"Marcus was tremendous in patrolling the paint, but he wasn't in to rotating on the perimeter. There's no question that Marcus' presence is going to be missed, but I think Nene in a different way can be as good or better than Marcus. That's his challenge and our challenge. After kind of a unique summer of rebuilding the psyche and spirit of our team, we're in a very good place. We're faster, deeper and quicker with athletes at every position than ever before since I've been here."

The change in personnel is just one challenge the Nuggets will face this season. Perhaps the biggest challenge for Karl and the Nuggets this season will be changing the culture of a team that was often lax on the defensive end and not always as disciplined as many fans might have preferred.

"How you teach the game as a coaching staff sometimes subconsciously allows the team that you're coaching to develop a mentality," Karl said. "Offense, I think in some ways, is softer than defense. I'm not saying we're soft, but I think at times last year we tried to outshoot, outscore and outrun. I think this year we're going to try to keep the good stuff of our offense and incorporate some of the toughness of defense. I think as a coaching staff that excites us.

"Over the last two years me and the coaching staff tried to coach the game with the mentality of scoring, playing fast, kind of the Phoenix Suns' mentality. Learning how to attack, attack, attack is how we taught the game, but we feel that we have to change our mindset to at least move in to the top-half of the defensive teams in basketball."

Karl also indicated the coaching staff studied their fair share of film in the offseason, which resulted in a different approach this week during training camp.

"Last year if I had to evaluate our defense after film studying this summer, a lot of our bad defense was created by our bad shot-selection. Our offensive personality has to have more responsibility. And the second thing is the commitment to run back and play transition defense."

Despite Denver's obvious problems on the defensive end last season, the team still won 50 games in the regular season and qualified for the postseason for the fourth consecutive year under Karl. While Karl & Co. have defended their regular season record in the past, the coach knows that playoff success now has to follow.

"We have some guys on this coaching staff that even though we can rationalize success in the regular season as being good, the truth of the matter is your judgment is based upon how you do in the playoffs. From Melo to Kenyon to A.I., there's a gut feeling of nausea. It's indigestion. We don't really want to talk about our regular seasons even though we try to defend that we play and have done a lot of good things."

This puts Karl and his staff in a tough position. Do they jump down the throats of a team that won 50 games or try to build off of past success?

"The hammer and how I lead the team with discipline and lead the team with changing mistakes and changing what I want and what the team needs to do I think will be -- as I said at the end of last season -- is going to be a little more hammer oriented than democracy oriented," Karl said. "Last year we probably talked our way through mistakes, talked our way through periods of momentum of bad basketball. This year I think you're going to see more of, 'Hey, this is what we want. If you don't give it, it's going to be playing time that is going to be changed.'

"I think our players know we've cut corners, cheated the commitment in some ways. It's frustrating as a coach. Sometimes when you win 50 games it's hard to challenge a team because they go 'Coach, we won 50 games.' The problem is we don't do the little things everyday, and those little things win playoff games."

In a candid moment, Karl admitted that he has made mistakes in the way in which he has handled his team in the past.

"The one frustration as a coach I've had is over the years is I know we've cheated the game, but we've had success. I don't know how to coach that. When you know you're not doing this and you know you're not that but you're still one of the top-ten teams in basketball and you're winning games.... how do you bring a hammer down on winning? It was difficult. I think I've made mistakes in that area. I think I've made... maybe drastic mistakes in that area."

The challenge becomes how far Karl pushes his players. If he pushes too hard, he could lose his team. The end result could be an implosion. On the other hand, if Karl and his staff don't hold the players accountable when they really need to be held accountable, the team will likely continue to be a team that won't advance any further than the first round of the playoffs.

"I have no desire to be liked," Karl said. "The game of basketball and coaching in the NBA is far from what you all think it is. There's more battles, confrontations and anger on a daily basis. There's more ego management and attitude adjustment on a daily basis than ever before.

"I don't know if they want me to like them or I want them to like me. I think those things just happen by the process of what transpires."

One thing Karl and all of the players seem to understand this season is heads are going to roll if the team continues to falter come playoff time. The response to that by his players, though, has been one which has left Karl feeling optimistic.

"This year's team has more George Karl personality to it than any team I've coached here in Denver. It has more son of a bitches. It has more I'll hit you. It has more guys that want to be mean and angry than cool and pretty. I think that's going to help us.

"Our players have a different spirit to them than we left here four or five months ago. I don't know if it's they know I'm a little bit angry, they know the organization is fed up with losing. I know the Marcus trade shook people in the direction like 'Wow, we're going to get better or something's going to happen.' "

Something is going to happen. That much is certain.

"There's a lot of differences to this team, but there's a challenge to take the differences and make it better," Karl said.

Either the Nuggets will step up to that challenge and prove the vast majority of the pundits wrong or the team will be enveloped by the pressure of the circumstances surrounding this season, which could quite possibly lead to an implosion.

Safe to say it won't be boring this season at Pepsi Center regardless of how this thing plays out.