Tag: Michael Malone

Mike Singer: Stopping Phoenix an “Impossible Equation” for Nuggets

June 13, 2021 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

Nikola Jokic garnered 91 out of 100 first-place votes to win the first NBA MVP award in Denver Nuggets history. (All-Pro Reels/Wikimedia Commons)

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Nikola Jokic earned 2020-21 MVP honors and was presented with his trophy before Denver’s home Game 3 against the Phoenix Suns. But an epic individual performance from the skilled center was not enough for the team to avoid another double-digit loss, its third in as many games of the series. Facing a 3-0 hole, the Nuggets will need a miracle in order to make NBA history and become the first ever team to come back from such a series deficit. Our guest, Mike Singer of the Denver Post, breaks down how the Nuggets got to this point, with specific emphasis on Denver’s ongoing quest to replace the scoring void left by Jamal Murray’s season-ending knee injury and the team’s inadequate defense against Phoenix’s devastating pick-and-roll attack. Finally, Singer looks ahead to the most pressing offseason priorities looming ahead for the franchise.

8:08-8:33: “If Austin Rivers and Facu Campazzo are not giving you anything offensively, that means that you are not making Chris Paul and Devin Booker work on the defensive end. Therefore they’re saving all their energy for the offensive end and just picking you to pieces. So, talent disparity, but more specifically if you zoom in, it’s in the backcourt.” Continue reading

Howard Beck: Small-Market GMs With a Star Are “Always on the Clock”

February 12, 2019 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

Anthony Davis’ trade demand is the latest example of a changing paradigm involving NBA superstars, argues guest Howard Beck (Keith Allison/Creative Commons).

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Bleacher Report‘s Howard Beck has been covering the NBA full-time for the past couple decades, and he detects an unmistakable change in the way the league’s superstars are increasingly dictating where they play. He discusses this phenomenon with regard to Anthony Davis’ recent trade demand, Milwaukee’s ongoing efforts to retain franchise cornerstone Giannis Antetokounmpo for the long haul and how the trend impacted this season’s awfully busy and entertaining trade deadline. Plus, the All-Star weekend is nearly upon us, providing an opportunity to touch on those festivities in Charlotte. Beck bites below:

12:54-14:52: “Tobias Harris, as a guy who’s in his prime who is a borderline All-Star, that’s, on its face, the flashiest acquisition of those contenders in the East. But it’s also the one that I think came with the most caveats and potential concerns. Because you already had a team with three stars, Embiid, Simmons, Jimmy Butler, where there are some tensions…there’s just some underlying tensions there about power dynamics and role and all this even though they [Simmons and Embiid] seem like they should fit together perfectly. And then you throw Jimmy Butler and all the volatility that can come with him on top of that…and now you throw [in] Tobias Harris who’s a high-usage guy…So, yes, the Sixers, their starting five might be the best starting five in the East now and may be the best starting five outside of Golden State, but that’s on paper, and the chemistry part of it I think has to be at least a little bit of a concern.” Continue reading

Adam Mares: Nikola Jokic Redefining ‘MVP’ in Today’s NBA

January 4, 2019 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

Guest Adam Mares doesn’t quite see Nikola Jokic, 23, as the frontrunner, but he believes he’s more broadly changing how we define an NBA MVP (Keith Allison/Creative Commons).

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The Denver Nuggets are on the upswing with a talented young core and six straight months of winning basketball. They also hold the Western Conference’s No. 1 spot, one and a half games ahead of the Thunder and Warriors, and are led by MVP candidate Nikola Jokic. Adam Mares of SB Nation’s Denver Stiffs and Locked On Nuggets breaks down what makes Denver tick.

Here are some particularly golden nuggets (*Due to dynamic advertising, time stamps may vary per listener):

7:13-7:30: “You look at the 2015 Warriors. If I said, ‘Oh, take Steph Curry off that team,’ the offense all of a sudden doesn’t look good, and everybody would understand that. They’d say, ‘OK, well, yeah, of course you miss Steph Curry.’ We don’t think about this defensively. Paul Millsap is Denver’s Steph Curry on the defensive end. He has that type of impact.”

11:12-13:14: “Isaiah Thomas [is] allegedly looming somewhere on the horizon, and he’s the one guy who has never played on this roster and whose role on this roster, I think, is not very clear. So he’s one guy that, I don’t know if it’s just a matter of a week or two of it being rocky. It just might not be a good fit. Who knows?

McLemore’s Development, New Head Coaches and D. Wade

October 23, 2015 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

(Mike Tipton/Creative Commons)

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In the J Spot, the panel continues the Kings discussion from earlier in the week, touching upon the Kings’ playoff hopes, Ben McLemore’s changing role given the improved guard depth, Rudy Gay’s seemingly newfound efficiency and how much it matters to have winning veterans on an up-and-coming team.

Next, on the A-A-Ron Block, the league’s seven new head coaches are analyzed. What can we expect from their respective squads, and who has the most pressure in their new role? Which coaches are taking over the best and worst teams?

Finally, with the NBA GM survey being released earlier this week, LLC Incorporated poses three original questions that should have been included on the actual survey. Well, maybe not, but they sure are fun ones.

Which NBA player or personality would YOU want to be your personal stylist? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter: @OnTheNBABeat

Music: “Who Likes to Party” by Kevin MacLeod

Tag: Michael Malone

Mike Singer: Stopping Phoenix an “Impossible Equation” for Nuggets

Howard Beck: Small-Market GMs With a Star Are “Always on the Clock”

Adam Mares: Nikola Jokic Redefining ‘MVP’ in Today’s NBA

McLemore’s Development, New Head Coaches and D. Wade

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