# 5 and 2 without JR Smith



## cpawfan (Jun 20, 2004)

Now things start to get interesting for the Nuggets. The last two games were bad. It looked like a bad case of South Beach Flu against the Heat and then a B2B without Kenyon was ugly against the Hawks.

Kenyon told the Denver Post that he is going to play. link



> "I'm going to play, man — no matter how I feel," said Martin, who sustained a left leg bruise on Friday in Miami. "We lost two games in a row. Bottom line, we've got to stop the bleeding. I think my presence on the court will go a long way."





> At Denver's Monday practice in Chicago, Martin participated in about half of the workout. He played in some five-on-five drills before having ice wrapped on his leg.
> 
> Nuggets coach George Karl said without Martin on the court "our defensive IQ wasn't as high."


Then we have the minutes distribution at shooting guard. I'm not a fan of AC starting. From the same Post link



> Denver's J.R. Smith will make his season debut tonight, following a seven-game suspension due to a reckless driving conviction. Karl won't start Smith and said Monday he's unsure who will start at shooting guard, possibly Anthony Carter or Arron Afflalo. But Smith's minutes will likely be "in the low 20s," Karl said.
> 
> How much time Smith plays in upcoming games will be determined by how well he plays, Karl said.
> 
> "In J.R.'s first five to 10 games, if he's playing well, I won't stop him from being on the court," Karl said. "He was very athletic and energized today at practice. I think his rust will be with his playmaking and ballhandling. And our (team's) nightmare is with our turnovers."


82games.com has 09-10 stats available. link

AC has a +/- of -12.7
Afflalo +21.2
Graham +11.1

Now, Billups, Melo and Nene all have negative numbers too because of the past 2 bad losses. However, AC didn't play much against the Hawks and the numbers "feel" right based upon observing the team play. AC has his role and is effective against certain players, but I hate seeing Karl overplay him.


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## Chan Ho Nam (Jan 9, 2007)

who is that guy in your avatar, he looks like a date rapist


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## cpawfan (Jun 20, 2004)

His real name is Jeffrey Donovan. The character he is playing is Michael Westen in the show Burn Notice.


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## BlakeJesus (Feb 1, 2006)

I agree that AC is not the best fit as a starter for this team. Does Karl have an aversion to starting Afflalo?


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## cpawfan (Jun 20, 2004)

GregOden said:


> I agree that AC is not the best fit as a starter for this team. Does Karl have an aversion to starting Afflalo?


After the job AA did against Kobe, I think he's got the starting job locked up for a while. JR and Ty pair very well off the bench and provide a huge spark.

The great thing about AC is that he is a team first guy and if his minutes get cut way down, he'll still do his job and help Ty prepare and learn about the NBA.


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