NBA power rankings 2012: Nuggets tumble after rough start

The start of the 2011-12 season hasn't gone exactly as planned for the Denver Nuggets, as they lost each of their first three games. So it shouldn't be particularly surprising that the Nuggets didn't earn a top 10 spot in Seth Rosenthal's power rankings for SB Nation where he says that George Karl may have his full with all the new talent:

11. Denver Nuggets: A lot of us looked at their opening day roster and thought, "Wow, they have a lot of weapons." Early on, it seems like George Karl's looked at it and thought "AHHH TOO MANY OPTIONS I HAVE TO TRY EVERYTHING!"

The No. 11 spot is far nicer than ESPN.com's Marc Stein, though, who ranked the Nuggets a whole 11 spots lower than that. The 0-3 start dropped the Nuggets a whole 15 spots, the biggest drop of the week, as Stein questioned the effort level of the Nuggets:

22. Denver Nuggets: Although the schedule-makers could have been kinder, Denver didn't help itself with subpar showings on the effort scale in Philly and Orlando. And then when the highly touted Nuggets finally uncorked their expected speed game in Miami, Bosh and Ray A. were still too good.

They also took a tumble in Kurt Helin's rankings on NBC Sports' Pro Basketball Talk, although he ranks them between the rankings of Rosenthal and Stein, giving them a spot in the top 20:

Wow the Nuggets have looked bad. One week, no panic button hitting in Denver, but it is a little stunning how bad they have looked on both sides of the ball. Losing to a Heat team that wants to run is one thing, but Orlando and a depleted Sixers squad? Ugh.

The Nuggets will look for their first win of the season on Tuesday night when they host the Detroit Pistons at 7 p.m. MT.