Denver Nuggets 2007-2008

[Pitbull]

Two superstars that put 20+ ppg in Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson and were consistent threats to put up 30+ points a game.

You got Defensive anchor in Marcus Camby, who put up 3.6 blocks per game and was All-Defensive 1st team. Camby provided rim protection.

You had 6th man in JR Smith too.

Plus in addition to Kenyon Martin, Nenê, Taurean Green, Chucky Atkins, Anthony Carter, Steven Hunter, Bobby Jones, Von Wafer, Eduardo Najera, Linas Kleiza, and Jelani McCoy.



Apart from Iverson style of game being cancerous ala Russell Westbrook, why you think this team was an 8th seed?

[1987_Lakers]

Carmelo & Iverson showed us their entire careers that their play style didn't translate to great team success, Carmelo was a bit of a blackhole and didn't play defense, pretty much the same with Iverson, pair those type of players on the same team and it's usually a train-wreck waiting to happen. Nuggets got better when they swapped Iverson for Billups, a player who wasn't great at anything, but good in many areas with high b-ball IQ.

[Sportal]

Two superstars that put 20+ ppg in Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson and were consistent threats to put up 30+ points a game.

You got Defensive anchor in Marcus Camby, who put up 3.6 blocks per game and was All-Defensive 1st team. Camby provided rim protection.

You had 6th man in JR Smith too.

Plus in addition to Kenyon Martin, Nenê, Taurean Green, Chucky Atkins, Anthony Carter, Steven Hunter, Bobby Jones, Von Wafer, Eduardo Najera, Linas Kleiza, and Jelani McCoy.



Apart from Iverson style of game being cancerous ala Russell Westbrook, why you think this team was an 8th seed?

Their record was 50-32 8th seed, there was 7 wins separating the #1 seed, and the Nuggets..

Besides the ages Camby(33), J.R. Smith(22)...I don't think their record was very good vs teams that were making the Playoffs that year, especially the teams in the West. Just better. When the chips are down and both your leading scorers at this point in their career are not team players, coupled with your next best players being Camby, Kenyon Martin, and J.R. Smith... I think that would be the answer you're after. Being able to score heaps of points will only take you so far, really.

[Naero]

No one really considered the 8th seed an underachievement for them back then. Hell, in the preseason Vegas pegged them to win just a shade under 50 games and to have the 11th-best title-contention chances.

They weren't a bad team; they just didn't stand out in a historically close-fought Western Conference. As stated above, they were only seven games behind the first seed. Granted, they generally wouldn’t be ticketed for a deep postseason run anyway, but they would have been more than first-round fodder if it weren't for that year's WC gauntlet.

To fare much better than they did would practically make them title-contenders—which no one (barring optimistic Nuggets fans) expected them to be at the time. As fun as the AI-Carmelo duo was to watch, neither star optimized their team enough to take them over the hump. The rest of the roster also was nothing special beyond Marcus Camby (not at all on the offensive end).

They were pretty much what they should have been: a talented, exciting team on-paper that simply lacked the chemistry or bona-fide superstardom needed to take that next step.

[NBAGOAT]

The year before when iverson got traded people expected them to be contenders for sure. Iverson and melo weren’t as valuable as people thought back then and also neither were at their peak

[Naero]

The year before when iverson got traded people expected them to be contenders for sure. Iverson and melo weren’t as valuable as people thought back then and also neither were at their peak

I vaguely remember that frenzy in 2007. The Nuggets became one of the league's marquee teams if nothing else.

That duo's stock plummeted within the following year for sure. 2008 was the fifth-consecutive year neither of them won a playoff series. Trade rumors were even circulating for 'Melo partway through that season, and he was already getting branded as a career underachiever.

[Jud]

When your two best players are both selfish ball hogs who have the "me first" mentality, you're not getting very far.

[Sportal]

The year before when iverson got traded people expected them to be contenders for sure. Iverson and melo weren’t as valuable as people thought back then and also neither were at their peak

I recall Nuggets fans being super happy to offload Iverson for Billups... And then I think they lost Melo shortly after that? Or they had their best season, then he left for NYK. Edit: Yeah, Billups' first season was when Melo went to the WCF... But Melo's PPG fell off down to like 22/23ppg. Wasn't he upset about that too? He was upset that he wasn't winning scoring titles, whilst going the furthest he'd been to the WCFs...? Really highlights why he never got close to a championship really...

[Xiao Yao You]

I recall Nuggets fans being super happy to offload Iverson for Billups... And then I think they lost Melo shortly after that? Or they had their best season, then he left for NYK.

shouldn't have been happy when they dumped Andre Miller for AI

[ShawkFactory]

Carmelo & Iverson showed us their entire careers that their play style didn't translate to great team success, Carmelo was a bit of a blackhole and didn't play defense, pretty much the same with Iverson, pair those type of players on the same team and it's usually a train-wreck waiting to happen. Nuggets got better when they swapped Iverson for Billups, a player who wasn't great at anything, but good in many areas with high b-ball IQ.

Honestly came here to say something very similar. Iverson and Carmelo was a terrible match at that time. I think Melo in 2013 would have been better because he played a lot more off ball.

Camby was a good interior guy but their perimeter defense was bad and they didn't seem to have any synergy at all. Kobe and Pau and those guys absolutely destroyed them.

[Sportal]

Ohhhhhhhhh that's right, they dumped Miller for AI. I remember the Nuggets fans being upset about that too. Andre Miller played a great style of ball. That guy was super underrated. Do you think having Miller in 2008/2009 enables them to beat the Lakers who they took to 6 games? Assuming that Nuggets team just has the addition of Miller onto what it already had. Because after Billups they didn't really have someone anywhere near Miller's ability.

[Gohan]

The biggest problem is their front court was trash. Marcus camby was one of the most trash defensive big men ive ever seen. Only people that didnt watch denver wouldnt know that. And i watched nearly every game that season. Carmelo and iverson were fine. They just needed some good defensive bigs. Nene came back the next year which is why billups really had success with the team. Nothing to do with the iversons billups swap. Only casual fans think it was that simple

[90sgoat]

Carmelo is one of the most overrated players of all time imo.

He benefited greatly from being in the same rookie class as Lebron and having a similar thing going as MJ vs Clyde.

Melo was always very inefficient and never played D or pass the ball.

Iverson was also very inefficient, but you could build a team around him to win.