Thursday, June 2, 2011

Eulogy: 2011 Nuggets

Dear friends, family and opponents,

when you trade two superstars away and your defense automatically gets 10 points better, usually that is a point to celebrate. If you cannot get past the first round because you have no one who can score on offense, it stops becoming a point to celebrate.

Yes, Denver made out better in the Melo trade than any could have expected. No, it won't matter to their future success.

Every year, one team is a winner and the rest are losers. The only successful team in the NBA each year is the championship team.

And with the guns Denver has now (and an increasingly disappointing Danilo Gallinari), they are going to have to make some great trades and signings to be anywhere near competing. Yes, they are going to be way under the cap the next two season, but one of those seasons may have a lockout and the cap is likely to decrease, meaning just about all the superstars are already signed to long-term deals.

And when your teams two big moves the last few years was to trade for Allen Iverson and Chauncey Billups way past their primes, you cannot have much faith that they are going to do the right thing with all the room they have to maneuver.