Chauncey Billup’s Has Huge Impact For Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets were one of the surprising teams of the NBA last season. Things started to finally mesh for them.
Denver finished the regular season 1st in the Northwest division at 54-28. Denver was an excellent home team, 33-8, but an average road team at only 21-20. Denver was a top 6 team in scoring averaging with 104 points per game.
Having already lost Marcus Camby, one of the best rebounders and shot blockers in the NBA, it seemed like the Denver Nuggets were simply throwing in the towel. However, other players stepped up.
There is no doubt that the Nuggets can score with the best team in the league – averaging 104 points per game, 6th in the NBA. When teams are great scoring team they typically don’t defend well. This was the case some years back for Denver but last season their defense improved dramatically.
Chauncey Billups came from the Detroit Pistons in a trade for Allen Iverson – the trade for Billups worked out well for Denver, not so much for the Pistons.
The Denver Nuggets are in a loaded Western Conference so taking the next step to the NBA Finals will be no easy feet. This potentially could be the MVP season Carmelo Anthony which he hasn’t had yet – granted Carmelo is still only 25 but his prime years are fast approaching. This could be the year of Carmelo, he maybe talked about in the same breathe as Lebron James and Kobe Bryant as the games best all around player, not just the best scorer in the league.
One who provided much “entertainment” for the Denver Nuggets was Chris “The Birdman” Andersen off the bench. The Birdman has become one of the best shot blockers averaging nearly 3 blocks per game. Look for him to have another great defensive season.
The Denver Nuggets have the same core of players that had last season and it wasn’t enough to beat the Lakers, maybe Denver can add one more piece to their team to give them a better chance this season.
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