Allen Iverson Was Punked by the Nuggets

(This is commentary I did on a forum a few months ago; for editorial explanation, see below the break.)

The Nuggets did not change how Allen Iverson is used in games in the slightest bit from how Larry Brown set things up in Philadelphia many years ago. So the names were changed from the Iverson 76'ers days, but the game was the same, and so the results were almost exactly the same. The results being that Iverson dribbles and shoots too much and passes often but not enough, creating an offense that is unnecessarily easy to defend and therefore reducing offensive efficiency from what it should be.

Iverson thought that he would get a "fresh start" by coming to Denver after leaving the 76'ers, but the Nuggets made no effort whatsoever to give him a true fresh start. It was the same old same old, with just the names and numbers on the jerseys changed. And it didn't have to be that way.

So in fact what actually happened was that Allen Iverson was punked by the Nuggets, and I am truly sorry. The Nuggets were all about using Iverson to increase attendance and merchandise sales, and not at all about getting serious about designing an offense that could really win in the playoffs.

(Commentary was made July 18, 2008)
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EDITORIAL EXPLANATION
The imports from forums related to the Marcus Camby giveaway have been posted one by one, due to the franchise-changing nature of that development. (And Google says you can get more visitors to your site if you make a bunch of shorter postings!)

For many other forum comments, made previous to the Camby giveaway, including ones regarding the Nuggets-Lakers playoff series in late April, 2008, see the series of posts that all begin with "Return of Nuggets 1..."

Forum commentary I did from March 2008 through July 2008, when I didn't have time to do the detailed and extensive reports that I like to do, is being posted in October, 2008. The primary themes are how the Nuggets are blowing a great (and expensive!) opportunity to play the game of basketball in such a way that respects the sport and that takes as much advantage as possible of who they have on the roster. The 2006-09 Nuggets have turned out to be an excellent case study of how not to run a basketball team; many things you should not do if you are a basketball manager or coach can be identified from what the Nuggets actually did during these years. So learn from their mistakes.

In these comments, do not look for the usual huge amount of detail and proof that you see in the ordinary releases here at Nuggets 1. Some of this is more like everyday conversation than like top quality sports writing. On the other hand, some of the comments do include some detailed reasoning and proof that I pride myself on in the full reports.