SB Nation Denver: All Posts by Nate Timmons

2013 NBA Draft: Nuggets pre-draft workout list features Erick Green from Virginia Tech

2013-06-18T21:10:56Z

The Denver Nuggets hold the 27th pick in the NBA draft set for June 27th. Thus far they have worked out an array of players that could go as high as say 24th with the likes of Reggie Bullock (North Carolina), late round picks in Jeff Withey (Kansas) and Ricky Ledo (Providence), a few guys slated to go in the second round in Colton Iverson (Colorado State), Mike Muscala (Bucknell) and Ray McCallum (Detroit), and perhaps some undrafted free agents in CJ Harris (Wake Forest), Greg Smith (CSU), and Mark Lyons (Arizona).

Today the Nuggets have announced that they'll work out six more players on Wedensday, June 19th and that list includes:

Erick Green, Virginia Tech, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard who averaged 25 points for the Hokies last season. Nate weights in: I love that Denver is bringing Green in. He has been all over the mock draft boards from a mid-late first round pick to an early second rounder - lots of potential and a guy who plays the game a bit like Russell Westbrook in terms of a breakneck pace and quick decision maker.

Grant Jerrett, Arizona, 6-10, 232, averaged 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds as a freshman at Arizona last season. He shot .405 from 3-point range. Nate weighs in: He's projected to go late in the second round, if he get picked at all. Could be a Summer League invite.

Amath M'Baye, 6-9, 215, was a Big 12 All-Rookie Team selection as a junior at Oklahoma in 2012-13. After transferring from Wyoming, he averaged 10.1 points and 5.2 rebounds for the Sooners. Nate weighs in: He's not projected to be drafted. Could be an undrafted free agent candidate.

Steven Pledger, Oklahoma, 6-4, 221, made 249 3-pointers during his four-year career at Oklahoma, which ranks second in school history. He averaged 11.6 points as a senior and was selected to the All-Big 12 third team. Nate weighs in: He's not projected to be drafted, perhaps an UDFA candidate.

Travis Releford, Kansas, 6-6, 205, averaged 11.9 points as a senior at Kansas. Nate weighs in: Really liked Releford's toughness and he could be added as an undrafted free agent if he fails to get picked. I'm excited to see him up close.

Dexter Strickland, North Carolina, 6-3, 185, averaged 7.8 points and 4.2 assists his senior season with the Tar Heels and led the nation with a 3.19-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Nate weighs in: He's not projected to be drafted, another prospect for UDFA and Summer League hopeful. He suffered an ACL injury as a junior, resumed playing hoops in Aug. of 2012 and had a solid senior season.

Here some interviews I've done with some of the prospects that have come through town:

Getting to Know:

Reggie Bullock - North Carolina

Mike Muscala - Buckness

Ricky Ledo - Providence

CJ Harris - Wake Forest

Ray McCallum - Detroit

Nate_Timmons on Twitter
ntimmons73@yahoo.com

Brian Shaw would make for an excellent hire by the Denver Nuggets

2013-06-18T15:59:22Z

Josh Kroenke found his man in hiring Tim Connelly as the next Vice President of Basketball Operations. The Nuggets search for a new head coach begins today as Brian Shaw is in town and Lionel Hollins is set to interview with the team on Wednesday, June 19th.

Nuggets' hiring of Tim Connelly as GM won't alter scheduled coach interviews for Brian Shaw Tues and Lionel Hollins on Wed, source tells Y!
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) June 17, 2013

While DEN still expects to offer coach job to Hollins or Shaw,CEO Josh Kroenke & new GM Tim Connelly will discuss coaching situation tonight
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) June 17, 2013

Shaw has been a hot name for several years around the NBA, but he has yet to choose where his first head coaching gig will be. Why not choose the Nuggets?

Shaw has been on the Indiana Pacers bench for the past two seasons. The Pacers took the Miami Heat to six games in the second round of the 2012 playoffs after going 42-24 in the regular season. That was after taking out Dwight Howard's Magic 4-1 in the first round. This season the Pacers improved to 49-32 in the regular season. In the 2013 playoffs the Pacers defeated the Hawks 4-2, the Knicks 4-2, and again pushed the Heat - but this time it was in the Eastern Conference Finals and this time they got to Game 7. That was the Pacers' first trip to the ECF since 2004.

The two biggest concerns surrounding Shaw?

1.) He wants to run Tex Winter's triangle offense that Phil Jackson had so much success with and nobody knows if the Nuggets personnel can handle it!

Brian Shaw would not necessarily run the triangle as a head coach, source said. Has been part of an effective traditional offense in Indy
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) June 17, 2013

So, if you're afraid of the triangle - that tweet should ease your mind a bit. Are you worried about the triangle because you don't really know what it is? Well, I found the following that breaks down the triangle in an easy to understand video (take two minutes and watch it):

Constant motion and constant ball movement? That sounds like an offense that I would enjoy watching and one that would suit these Nuggets quite well. This current roster built on a fast-break style that has been predicated on finding outlet passes, running lanes, and making the right decisions to get the easiest shots.

With play-makers galore in Ty Lawson, Andre Iguodala (if he comes back), Danilo Gallinari (when he comes back), Andre Miller, Evan Fournier (has shown a knack for movement and creativity), and Julyan Stone (if he comes back) the Nuggets would have the right guys to run the triangle.

What about the big men? Kenneth Faried would need to develop that little jumper, along with McGee and they both would need to work on their passing skills. I do believe McGee is an underrated passer and he has shown that he's a willing and creative passer.

Don't be afraid of the triangle.

2.) Why hasn't Shaw been hired yet?

Shaw has had numerous interviews and numerous teams chasing him. Just this offseason Shaw has been linked to the Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, and now your Denver Nuggets. Shaw also wound up with the Pacers because he was passed over by the Los Angeles Lakers for Mike Brown, despite Kobe Bryant publicly lobbying for him back in 2011:

"I feel all of the players believe in coach B-Shaw," Bryant said the Lakers' Friday morning shootaround. "We have such a rapport with him. He's been with us for such a long time. We all have a bit of a bias towards him. I don't want to get in the way of management. But we've all kind of had our eye on him for a while."

But, like we could see here with Melvin Hunt, Jim Buss wanted a fresh voice and did not hire from within with a Phil Jackson guy. Shaw may have gotten a raw deal with the Lakers, but why hasn't he taken a job yet? Perhaps Shaw hasn't found the right team. The Nets eagerness to win and knack for bizarre moves could have scared Shaw off. Billy King chose to hire Jason Kidd over Shaw - in a move that surprised many.

The Pistons have been rudderless for years now and the 76ers job isn't the most appealing one around either. The Clippers? They are flirting with Doc Rivers (and chasing Kevin Garnett too) and Lionel Hollins too. Maybe they will choose Shaw, but the Nuggets have their shot.

During the season Andrew Feinstein called the Pacers, "Nuggets East". The two franchises have deep teams and talented teams. The Nuggets roster should attract a guy like Shaw.

Shaw fits the Nuggets young molding:

Josh Kroenke is 33 years old, Tim Connelly is 36 years old, and Brian Shaw is 47 years old.

The Kroenke's have shown they are all about giving people a shot. Masai Ujiri, Connelly, and hopefully Shaw. Growing with this young team and young front office would give the Nuggets a chance to do something that may not be unique, but would be smart. A fresh voice and a guy hungry to prove his NBA worth is the ideal fit for the Nuggets.

Shaw has a strong track record as both a player and assistant coach.

Shaw has been an assistant coach in the NBA since the 2004-05 season, spending seven years with the Lakers prior to moving to Indiana the past two seasons. He was born and raised in Oakland, and played his final four years with Los Angeles before joining Phil Jackson's staff.

Shaw has won a total of five NBA championships -- three as a player, two as an assistant coach -- and was integral in Indiana's recent success. Winners are always appealing as leaders.

Shaw's background:

Shaw knows about trying to make it in the NBA. He's a former first-round pick, 24th overall by the Celtics in the 1988 draft out of UC Santa Barbara. He spent his second season in Italy after the Celtics failed to offer him an adequate contract following his rookie season (where he made $75,000 - different minimum than today's six figure deals). Shaw did come back to the NBA where he played for seven different teams before settling in with the Lakers for his final four seasons.

He is well respected by people around the NBA and Paul Klee from The Gazette, in Colorado Springs, had a fantastic article about hiring Shaw back on June 6th.

Rather, the 47-year-old is the ideal fit because player development was central to the growth of the Pacers. Shaw mentored George and helped the Fresno State product mature into an All-Star. Shaw spent a summer working with Lance Stephenson and turned "Born Ready" into actually ready. The transformation of Roy Hibbert was not lost on Shaw.

Playoff success and player development. I'm on board with Shaw, let's hope he impresses the Nuggets and they get on board too.

Shaw's history as a player:

1988-1989	Boston Celtics
1989-1990	Il Messaggero Roma (Italy)
1990-1992	Boston Celtics
1992-1994	Miami Heat
1994-1997	Orlando Magic
1997-1998	Golden State Warriors
1998	Philadelphia 76ers
1999	Portland Trail Blazers
1999-2003	Los Angeles Lakers

Nate_Timmons on Twitter
ntimmons73@yahoo.com

A look at Tim Connelly's draft resume

2013-06-17T20:28:48Z

With the NBA draft just 10 days away, I'm curious as to what new VP of Basketball Operations will want the Nuggets to do with the 27th pick. Tim Connelly had been employed with the New Orleans Pelicans, as their assistant GM, who hold the 6th overall pick in the upcoming draft (their only selection).

Connelly must be very familiar with the tops picks in this draft, but like Nuggets Director of Player Personnel Mike Bratz shared with me recently, teams must prepare for all scenarios in the draft: trading up, trading down, what teams around you might do, and all sorts of other options. I'm sure Connelly is very familiar with just about every player that could be taken this year, so getting up to speed with what the Nuggets have done thus far should be an easy transition.

Could we see Denver trade up to get a guy Connelly has a hunch about? Maybe. Will the Nuggets keep their pick? Perhaps. Might the Nuggets look to acquire an additional selection in this draft? That's got to be on the table too.

What I'm more interested in, at the moment, is Connelly's draft history. The following passage from Connelly's hiring in 2010 with the Pelicans (still hard to get used to that name) got me intrigued:

"Tim [is] very well respected in the NBA as two of the top, young talents in the league," said Hornets General Manager Dell Demps. "Tim has a keen eye on international talent and has been a key asset to the Wizards basketball operations department for the last decade."

Connelly comes to the Hornets from the Washington Wizards where he most recently served as the Director of Player Personnel. Connelly's recent roles at the Wizards as Director of Player Personnel including head scouting, salary cap and database management, player evaluation responsibilities, as well as assisting Tommy Sheppard, the Vice President of Player Personnel, with all front office duties. -Entire post here.

So, Connelly served as the Wizards' Director of Player Personnel as his last duty with Washington. That was the same title that Mike Bratz currently has with the Nuggets. Going to the Pelicans, Connelly got a promotion to assistant general manager under Dell Demps. And now Connelly is the VP of Basketball Ops with the Nuggets (another promotion).

During his tenure with the Wizards it sounds like Connelly had strong ties from 2000-2010 with their drafts. Duties like "head scouting" and phrases like "keen eye for international talent" indicate as much. So, let's take a look at the draft selections the Wizards had from 2000-2010:

Year	Round	Pick	Player	College/Country
2010	1	1	John Wall	Kentucky
2010	1	30	Lazar Hayward	Marquette
2010	2	35	Nemanja Bjelica	Serbia
2009	2	32	Jermaine Taylor	Central Florida
2008	1	18	JaVale McGee	Nevada
2008	2	47	Bill Walker	Kansas State
2007	1	16	Nick Young	USC
2007	2	47	Dominic McGuire	Cali State - Fresno
2006	1	18	Oleksiy Pecherov	Russia
2006	2	48	Vladimir Veremeenko	Russia
2005	2	49	Andray Blatche	High School
2004	1	5	Devin Harris	Wisconsin
2004	2	32	Peter John Ramos	Puerto Rico
2003	1	10	Jarvis Hayes	Georgia
2003	2	38	Steve Blake	Maryland
2002	1	11	Jared Jeffries	Indiana
2002	1	17	Juan Dixon	Maryland
2002	2	38	Rod Grizzard	Alabama
2002	2	40	Juan Carlos Navarro	FC Barcelona (Spain)
2001	1	1	Kwame Brown	High School
2000	2	35	Mike Smith	Louisiana-Monroe

The No. 1 overall picks:

Connelly was part of a front office team that presided over two number one selections. They took Kwame Brown in 2001 (when Connelly was a second year scout) and John Wall in 2010 when Connelly was the Director of Player Personnel.

Brown is considered one of the worst No. 1 over all picks in NBA history and much has been debated over whether it was Michael Jordan's insistence on taking Brown after seeing him crush Tyson Chandler in a one-on-one game or if that is just an old tall-tale. No matter the case, after Brown the next four selections were: Chandler (Clippers, trade to Bulls), Pau Gasol (Hawks, traded to Grizzlies), Eddy Curry (Bulls), and Jason Richardson (Warriors).

Could a better pick of been made? Perhaps, but Chandler didn't catch on for years and after he left the Bulls, Gasol wasn't a consensus No. 1 at that point, Curry flamed out, and Richardson was also not a clear cut top pick (but he was a nice player).

The selection of Wall was basically a no-brainer. The next four guys that went after Wall: Evan Turner (76ers), Derrick Favors (Nets), Wesley Johnson (Timberwolves), and DeMarcus Cousins (Kings). It would have been a misstep to select anyone else with that pick and the Wizards got it right.

Lottery picks: Three total

Taking out the two No. 1 overall picks and looking at the lottery, we see the Wizards make three selections:

1.) The 11th pick in 2002: Jared Jeffries, Indiana. He had a promising freshman season with the Hoosiers, but never really blossomed in the pros. He spent four years with the Wizards, was a starter for two seasons with the team, but never averaged better than 6.8 points or 5.2 rebounds in separate seasons with the squad. He bounced around the league after his time in D.C. with the Knicks, Rockets, and was cut by the Blazers after appearing in just 38 games at 31 years old.

Notable player(s) drafted after Jeffries: 23rd pick Tayshaun Prince.

2.) The 10th pick in 2003: Jarvis Hayes, Georgia. Hayes looked like a promising scorer in the NBA during his four seasons in Washington. As a second year guard he averaged 10.2 points per game during the 2004-05 season, but his numbers declined from there and he bounced to the Pistons and Nets and last played in the NBA during the 2009-10 campaign where he averaged 7.8 ppg for New Jersey.

Notable player(s) drafted after Haynes: Nick Collison (12th), Luke Ridnour (14th), David West (18th), Boris Diaw (21st), Carlos Delfino (25th), Kendrick Perkins (27th), Leandro Barbosa (28th), Josh Howard (29th).

3.) The 5th pick in 2004: Devin Harris, Wisconsin. Harris looked like the next big thing in Dallas for a short stint, he's still in the league, but never really came through on his once promising outlook. This pick was likely on the Mavs made and the trade sent Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, and Christian Laettner to the Mavs in exchange for Antawn Jamison and cash considerations. Jamison was a nice piece to get back to pair with Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler as the team made playoff runs in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Notable player(s) drafted after Harris: Luol Deng (7th), Andre Iguodala (9th), Al Jefferson (15th), Josh Smith (17th), J.R. Smith (18th).

Non-lottery picks: 16 total (5 in the 1st Round / 11 in the 2nd Round)

Connelly and the Wizards team found a total of five serviceable players with those 16 selections. Three of the five first round non-lotto picks and two of the 11 second round picks (thus far).

To varying degrees of success:

1.) 2002, 17th pick: Juan Dixon, Maryland. He played three seasons (one more season in 2008-09) with the Wizards and showed a little scoring pop off the bench.

Notable player(s) drafted after Dixon: Tayshaun Prince (23rd).

2.) 2003, 38th pick: Steve Blake, Maryland. Dixon's college back-court mate. Blake has had a nice career as a sometime starter, but mostly a backup point guard in the league. Only played two seasons for the Wiz, but is still in the NBA today with the Lakers.

Notable player(s) drafted after Blake: Matt Bonner (45th), Mo Williams (47th), Kyle Korver (51st).

3.) 2005, 49th pick: Andray Blatche, high schooler. He played seven seasons for the Wizards and averaged double-digits in scoring for three of those seasons. Blatche also took a lot of heat from Wizards fans/blogger for being a guy who helped with the "bad culture" setting in DC.

Notable player(s) drafted after Blatche: Amir Johnson (56th), Marcin Gortat (57th)

4.) 2007, 16th pick: Nick Young, USC. He played about 4.5 seasons with the Wizards before being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. A talented scorer, but also a player that took heat for his relaxed style both on-and-off the court in DC.

Notable player(s) drafted after Young: Marco Belinelli (18th), Jared Dudley (22nd), Wilson Chandler (23rd), Arron Afflalo (27th), Carl Landry (31st).

5.) 2008, 18th pick: JaVale McGee, Nevada. He played 3.5 seasons for the Wizards and moved his way into the starting lineup in his third season. Another guy who was hit-or-miss on the court for the Wizards and a player we are very familiar with now in Denver.

Notable player(s) drafted after McGee: Ryan Anderson (21st), Serge Ibaka (24th), Nicolas Batum (25th), George Hill (26th), Nikola Pekovic (31st).

** And in 2010 the Wizards pulled off a trade for the draft rights to 17th pick Kevin Seraphin (France) who has had some nice success with the team this past season.

And here is a look at how the Hornets err Pelicans have done with Connelly as part of their team:

Year	Round	Pick	Player	College
2012	1	1	Anthony Davis	Kentucky
2012	1	10	Austin Rivers	Duke
2012	2	46	Darius Miller	Kentucky
2011	2	45	Josh Harrellson	Kentucky

The Anthony Davis selection was another no-brainer No. 1 pick, the next four picks after Davis? Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Bobcats), Bradley Beal (Wizards), Dion Waiters (Cavaliers), and Thomas Robinson (Kings). Sure, the Rookie of the Year went to No. 6 pick Damian Lillard, but Davis has tremendous upside and showed some brilliance in his 64 game rookie campaign with 13.5 ppg and 8.2 rebounds per game.

The second lottery pick, in the same 2012 draft, looks like a disaster for the Pelicans. Rivers fell out of favor after Eric Gordon returned from injury and only shot 37% from the field as a rookie. The good news, he has time to turn things around at just 20 years old, but will he? With their big men in place the Pelicans could have taken a wing prospect like 12th pick Jeremy Lamb, 15th pick Maurice Harkless or even 20th pick Evan Fournier. The saving grace is that there has yet to be a sure thing after the Rivers pick.

As for both of the second round selections - those picks rarely produce a lot of fruit and Harrellson was traded on draft day and time will tell with Miller.

---

What to think of these draft picks? The No. 1 picks were all pretty much no-brainers with varying success. Wall and Davis look like nice selections and finding some late round picks that panned out is pretty good hope for a team like the Nuggets - who hopefully won't be picking in the lottery any time soon. And how about four out of the last six picks linked to Connelly being Kentucky guys? Somewhere Bret Bearup (former Nuggets consultant and Kentucky man) is smiling.

The track record of the Wizards and Pelicans lottery and late-round picks leave a bit to be desired. Before Masai Ujiri got to the Nuggets, the track record in Toronto of picks were not that exciting either (Roy Hibbert in 2008 was traded to Indiana, 9th pick Demar DeRozan isn't lighting the world on fire, and Ed Davis in 2010 is no longer with the franchise).

Everyone in Nuggets Nation is excited by Kenneth Faried's play and the prospects of Evan Fournier, but we have yet to see first round pick Jordan Hamilton get much playing time. Time will tell how those three guys progress in their careers. And as an interesting exercise it would have been interesting to see who the Nuggets picked in 2011 if they had the 16th pick instead of the 22nd pick. Would it still of been Faried? That would have shown the Nuggets really knew their stuff, but they still made a brilliant pick by judging the guys who went after The Manimal.

We will find out on June 27th who the Nuggets take in the draft and it'll be the first step towards finding out more about Tim Connelly and his new team here in Denver.

Nate_Timmons on Twitter
ntimmons73@yahoo.com

Pete D'Alessandro will be the next general manager of the Sacramento Kings

2013-06-15T19:17:17Z

The Sacramento Kings have reached an agreement in principle with Pete D'Alessandro for their vacant general manager position, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Sacramento Kings have reached an agreement in principle to make Denver VP Pete D'Alessandro its general manager, league sources tell Y!
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 15, 2013

D'Alessandro's departure from Denver is another blow to the Nuggets' senior leadership. D'Alessandro had been a strong candidate to replace Masai Ujiri as Denver's GM, but ultimately accepted the Sacramento offer that was made within the past 48 hours.

D'Alessandro was thought to be the leading candidate to take over for Masai Ujiri, who left the team for a lucrative offer with the Toronto Raptors. He was given permission to speak with the Kings shortly after team president Josh Kroenke fired George Karl and now Pete is gone too.

The Nuggets promoted D'Alessandro to Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations in November (2012) and now he will be a member of another organization. It's believed that former Philadelphia 76ers GM Tony DiLeo is now the leading candidate to take over front office duties in Denver, along with Kroenke.

Stay tuned ...

Nate_Timmons on Twitter
ntimmons73@yahoo.com

Andre Iguodala playing some one-on-one at NBA Top 100 camp

2013-06-15T19:05:11Z

Denver Nuggets guard Andre Iguodala has been helping out at the NBA Top 100 camp in Charlottesville, VA. Above he's playing at Devin Booker from Moss Point, MS. Booker is just a junior, but already has scholarship offers from Duke, North Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, and Michigan State among others. Not bad for the 6'5" shooting guard.

Some pretty good moves above from Iguodala and some very impressive shooting and dunking by both guys. You can read more about the Top 100 camp at City League Hoops.

Video now in English: Danilo Gallinari says he suffered partially torn ACL

2013-06-14T22:38:00Z

Danilo Gallinari might be able to return to the Nuggets in December instead of February, according to Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post.

As expected Andre Iguodala has opted out of the final year of Denver Nuggets contract

2013-06-14T18:50:09Z

Denver Nuggets guard/forward Andre Iguodala has elected to opt out of the final year of his contract that was set to pay him between $15.9 million - $16.1 million for the 2012-13 season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

Iguodala, 29, promises to be one of the most desired players on the summer market. His agent, Rob Pelinka, informed Denver CEO Josh Kroenke of the plan in a meeting on Thursday in Los Angeles.

"We are fully aware of Andre's intentions and he's well aware of how much we want him back," Kroenke said. "Andre us a huge priority for our organization."

Iguodala will bypass the $15.9 million owed him next season and will be eligible to sign a new four-year deal elsewhere or sign an extension up to five years with the Nuggets.

Iguodala has until June 25 to exercise the early termination clause on his contract, and virtually all players wait until the deadline to officially inform their teams. Without triggering the opt-out cause, Iguodala could only sign a three-year extension with Denver.

This was a move pretty much expected from Iguodala. He has chosen long-term stability over short-term big payout. Will the free agent to be come back to the Nuggets? We will find out soon as free agency is set to begin on July 1st.

Iguodala averaged 13 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.4 assists for the Nuggets in 34.7 minutes of action a night and he appeared in 80 of the team's 82 games. Iguodala spoke often about trying to find his place within the Nuggets' offense, but also said after the season that he bonded fast with his teammates. He noted a special fondness for the quick growth between himself and Ty Lawson.

Iguodala took 11 shots per game for Denver, for his career he averages about 11.6 shots per game - on par there. He shot 45.1% from the field and has shot 46% for his career - on par there. He took 3.6 three pointers per game, the most he has taken during a season since the 2009-10 campaign and he made just 31.7% of those shots (a career 32.9% three point shooter aka a little below average for NBA wings).

If you look at Iguodala's basketball reference advanced stats numbers, they are also about on par for his career numbers. However, his playoff advanced numbers looked much better than his career playoff numbers, worth noting. He will be 30 years-old in January and he pretty much is who he is at this point of his career. The Nuggets must determine if he fits in the future plans of this team, but it sounds like Josh Kroenke is already planning on chasing Iguodala hard in free agency.

Check out the shot charts for Iguodala over the past four seasons:

	2012-13		2011-12		2010-11		2009-10
	80 games	34.7 min	62 games	35.6 min	67 games	36.9 min	82 games	38.9 min
Rim	218-291	75%	132-183	72%	156-210	74%	211-209	68%
3-<10 feet	30-89	34%	18-53	34%	15-59	25%	22-60	36%
10-<16 feet	26-96	27%	29-66	44%	32-94	34%	40-130	31%
16-<3pt	55-163	34%	71-239	30%	93-253	37%	129-318	41%
3pt	105-316	33%	95-242	39%	16-195	33%	94-303	31%

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Iguodala's free throw shooting has been getting worse over the past four seasons, as well. We have seen his numbers dip from 73%, 69%, 61%, to 57% with the Nuggets - he's a career 72% free throw shooter.

I mention the numbers above because our trusted statistician here (Ray Martinelli) wrote a phenomenal piece about what happens to wing players with and without George Karl (click here for that) and I wanted to see what his shot chart looked like before Iguodala came to the Nuggets.

There is a very noticeable change in the 16-<3pt attempts as he took far fewer "long twos" with the Nuggets and there is an uptick in shots at the rim at the more comparable 2009-10 season. Interesting to note. Iguodala can be successful with any type of coach, but it would have been interesting to see what Iguodala's numbers did with another year or two under Karl (just out of curiosity from me).

Will we see Iguodala in a Nuggets uniform again? What type of contract can he get on the open market with a few teams like Atlanta, Dallas, and San Antonio (Iguodala is a better version of Stephen Jackson!) perhaps having some money to spend?

One would think a contract similar to Lawson's 4 year, $48 million would not be hard to come by ... perhaps more or perhaps less.

Time will tell.

Nate_Timmons on Twitter
ntimmons73@yahoo.com

Tony DiLeo a candidate for Denver Nuggets general manager vacancy

2013-06-13T17:34:36Z

People have been wondering who the Denver Nuggets have been interviewing for their open general manager aka Vice President of Basketball Operations vacancy. Well, former Philadelphia 76ers GM Tony DiLeo was involved in discussions with the Nuggets about the opening in the front office, according to Chris Haynes of Comcast Sportsnet.

From Haynes' article:

According to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the GM search, says DiLeo is steadfast on a return to management and the source added Nuggets President Josh Kroenke has been pleased with how talks have gone and he considers DiLeo to be a serious candidate.

DiLeo, 57, who has over a decade of NBA executive experience, all with the Sixers, is well respected amongst his peers. He even had a head coaching stint with the organization during the 2008-09 season, guiding them to respectable 32-27 mark and a playoff berth following a 9-14 start under Maurice Cheeks, the new head coach of the Detroit Pistons.

He was a finalist for the Portland Trail Blazers GM post last offseason before the team eventually decided on Neil Olshey.

DiLeo had previously been with the 76ers since 1990. 1990! So, I reached out to Michael Levin of Liberty Ballers on DiLeo and this is what he wrote back:

Tony's a company guy. He'd been with the Sixers for something like two hundred years, rising from nothing all the way up to coach and then GM. He's maybe the least personable guy of all time in front of the media, but I always got the impression that he's open to other ideas and willing to listen to various opinions, including analytics-based ones.

The thing about Tony is that he was never The Guy in Philly. He's had to answer to bigger people with bigger personalities, so we don't really know what he values in a team and what sort of maneuvers he's willing to make. The Bynum trade, which I still support 100%, seems like it was mostly him though. Collins was at the Olympics and Josh Harris hadn't yet taken a huge role in the decision making.

He kinda got a raw deal here.

And you HAVE to read Levin's piece here, too.

Nate_Timmons on Twitter
ntimmons73@yahoo.com