Who Be Ballin? Ty Lawson

After riding a season high 7-game win streak, Denver has lost 3 games in a row (starting with that intense 3OT loss to Boston.) You can blame the losses to injuries: Danilo Gallinari and Andre Iguodala, Denver's best defenders, are out. But, Ty Lawson has stepped up in their absence. 

Ty Lawson is becoming a true floor general

In Denver's 3 losses, Ty has put up amazing stats:

28pts/9ast average and 62% FG% over 3 games? Whoa.

Lawson signed a lucrative contract at the beginning of the season, and has, for the most part, been unable to live up to the lofty expectations that came with it. Ty was drafted 18th overall in the PG heavy 1st round of the 2009 draft. Here's the list:

1.5 Ricky Rubio

1.6 Jonny Flynn

1.7 Stephen Curry

1.10 Brandon Jennings

1.17 Jrue Holiday

1.18 Ty Lawson

1.19 Jeff Teague

1.20 Eric Maynor

1.21 Darren Collison

1.25 Rodrique Beaubois

1.29 Toney Douglas

As you can see, many PG's taken that year have transcended into franchise cornerstones and all-stars. Ty has always shown flashes of greatness, but has never been considered to be part of either of those categories. Ty is my favorite player in the entire league and I have been following him closely since we traded for him draft night. I've always thought he had it in him to be great, I mean, as the 2009 ACC player of the year and winner of the Bob Cousy award for best PG, he did lead NC Tar Heels to a NCAA championship.

I think Ty is progressing to Denver's franchise player (no more of this Danilo Gallinari garbage) I hope that his excellent play continues: he's been improving every month since September.

By the way, highlight of my entire life when Ty tweeted at me last year (I legitimately geeked when Kenneth Faried tweeted at me, too):

Who Be Ballin? Lebron James

Okay. Okay. We all know LeBron James has been ballin for 6 games now---it's all over ESPN and the interwebs. Long story short, since Feb. 3, James has had 6 straight games with over 30pts, shooting 60% or better (he's overall, shooting 71.7%): That's an NBA record.

Thumbs up to you too, King James

As a player that gets constantly, brutally torn apart for his bad performances (which are more often than not career games for most players) it's nice to see LBJ getting some love. I am not like others immediately tossing his name next to Michael Jordan, (realistically, he's the closest thing we have to the "Airness" now, and probably for the next decade) but he's getting close. I mean, how many players can you think of that averages 26+pts/7reb/7ast annually, and flirts with a triple-double every night?

His performance is being admired by players around the league like Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant.

Fantasy Deal: Wilson Chandler for Josh Smith

Improved play by Lawson and Faried have turned the season around

Backstory
You may not know, but my favorite team is the Denver Nuggets; I love the team from their starting 5 to Evan Fournier's seat at the very bottom of the bench.

However, that's not to say I wouldn't like them to make moves to become a true championship-caliber team. I know, I know. Aren't the Nuggs ripping it up in January/February? Why mess with a team that is currently ranked 4th in the tough-as-nails Western Conference?

Well, the Nuggs have been annual playoff contenders since coach George Karl took over the team in 2004 (that's 8 straight playoff appearances, with 2012-2013 being 9)

The problem is though, we get in the playoffs and get knocked out first round everytime (with the exception of 2008-2009 when Melo/Billups led us to the Conference Championship game...and lost) Our team is filled with tons of talent; we have BY FAR the most stacked roster with bench players good enough to start (Javale McGee, Corey Brewer, Wilson Chandler, and Andre Miller), and players that don't even get minutes that deserve them (Quincy Miller, Jordan Hamilton, Anthony Randolph, and Evan Fournier)

Andre's Iguodala holds the young roster together

We made a big move this past summer acquiring swingman, Andre Iguodala; I was FREAKING out when I heard we got him. I was a little sad to see Aaron Afflalo moved, but Iggy is legitimately the closest thing the Nuggets have to an All-Star/Superstar/Franchise/Cornerstone/"Whatever you want to call it" player. The thing with Iggy, however, is he did not bring the impact most people were hoping for. He's averaging 13pts/5reb/5ast in 2012-2013. While those numbers are not terrible by any stretch, I was expecting Iggy to take a more prominent role on the team, which at the very least, in my eyes, means being our highest scorer on the team (is 18-20pts/game too much to ask for?)

Don't get me wrong, Iggy is the glue that holds our very young roster together. His experience, along with his "team-player" mentality and defensive prowess are invaluable. I just think that a player with pay $15mill/yr should be having a larger impact in the scoring department. I'm not sure if it would be in the team's best interest to resign Iggy come this summer if we have to pay him as much. In my opinion, I'd only bring him back at no more than $10mil/season. But, that is besides the point of this blog post.

Ujiri knows what he's doing.

What I think Denver should do is pursue more established, veteran talent to mesh with our young roster. We recently made an inquiry for Celtics PF/C Kevin Garnett. However, Mr. Garnett waived his No-Trade Clause and shut down any further trade talks. Personally, I think it was a great effort by GM  Masai Ujiri. Garnett, a proven, tough big man could have been our starting center and a game-changer going into the playoffs. Sadly, this move never came to be. Bu, I propose that Denver doesn't give up their search for a veteran big man!

In my initial mockups, I tried to make a scenario that brought Pau Gasol to Denver (who I think would be a great fit) but, with Gasol's recent injury, that's no longer possible. I also thought Anderson Varejao would have fit, but he got hurt as well.


However the best move I can think of involves a certain Forward for the Atlanta Hawks.

Josh Smith would put Denver over the top

Atlanta Hawks
Wilson Chandler
Anthony Randolph
Timofey Mosgov
1st Rd Draft Pick

Denver Nuggets
Josh Smith

- This move would be an absolute slam dunk for both teams. I do not think any team could match what assets Denver is capable of moving. I addition to the players (Chandler is a starting SF with a great contract, Randolph can replace Smith at PF with another great contract), Denver can give draft picks (Denver already has 1st Rd. draft picks who haven't even played yet in Fournier and Hamilton)

Using the trade exception we got in our trade for Andre Iguodala, Denver can make the cap figures work as well. While Smith isn't guaranteed to resign, getting him on the roster should be considered a win in itself: Denver has a very hard time getting Star players to come to Denver. If we prove to Smith that Denver is a great place for him, maybe he will sign a Max deal in the summer.