Slippery Slope to Climb after a Uninspiring Homestand

The Colorado Rockies think they got what it takes to make it to the playoffs, and rightfully so.  The team continues to woo fans one minute and leave them in disappointment another minute later.

This recent ten game homestead was the best opportunity for the Rockies to gauge where they stand heading into the homestretch of the regular season.  When the homestand began, they were sitting at 46-51, sitting 5.5 back of the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Things got off to a decent start for the Rox against the Chicago Cubs as they took two of three in the series. 

Then came the Miami Marlins, the team that is sitting with the second worst record in the MLB.  Coming into the series against the Rockies, the Marlins hit a eight game stretch without sending in a run.  The Marlins found the remedy in pitcher Drew Promeranz.  Promeranz continues to struggle since being called up from AAA Colorado Springs.  Promeranz went 4.1 innings deep, giving up three runs, including two in the first inning to let the Marlins win 3-1. 

In the sweet confines of Coors Field, against the talent-depleted Marlins squad, the Rockies struggled to get the bats warmed up, scoring more than two runs only once in the series.  The back end of the rotation continues to be a problem.  Juan Nicasio has come around, since being shelled by the Red Sox, Nicasio has pitched nineteen innings, giving up eight hits, one run with fifteen strikeouts. 

Pomeranz hasn't done anything to show that he deserves to be up in the big leagues right now, Roy Oswalt has struggled since being called up from AA Tulsa, and Jeff Francis on occasion was able to limit his runs given up to less than two on few occasions.  Despite the fact that when they do get solid pitching from the back end (i.e. Nicasio) they don't get the support needed by the bats.

In Jhoulys Chacin's last outing, he gave up three runs in eight innings.  The Rox offense did little to help out their own guy.  Carlos Gonzales, Troy Tulowitzki, Michael Cuddyer and Todd Helton went a combined 2-15.  As a result, the Rox lost on a day where Chacin would have used some reinforcements, but none were found in a 4-2 loss to the Fins.

As a result, the Rox finish their homestand 5-5 where realistically, they could have and needed to finish 7-3.  Had they done so, they would be sitting at .500, and sitting at four games out of the lead.  Now they sit at 51-55 and six games back.  Given the teams stance on making impact moves to get talent, where they currently sit, don't bank on the Rox to either buy or sell.  They will continue to hope their own talent will work out and not expand the payroll to get better talent to help compete with the LA Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West, a division that is still open for anyone to win.

Colorado Rockies traveling down a "Rocky Road"

The Colorado Rockies come into the last series before the All-Star break at 46-50.  The first half of the season started off with a bang with the Rox storming out of the gates with a 13-4 record.  Let's be honest, the record caught everyone off guard, especially experts who saw this as a team that was in complete disarray when they let Jim Tracy go, brought in former Rockie and high school coach Walt Weiss to manage the team, along with the fact they we bringing back arguably one of the shakiest rotations in the MLB, and even for the Rox, in team history as well.

After hanging around the top of the standings in the NL West for the longest time, the team has hit some rough times recently.  Hopes were riding high that after the hot start, they could find someway to win the west for the first time in club history and make the postseason.  But going off just what was recently observed with what this team was working with coming into this season, there had to be realistic goal(s).

The main goal for this team was to just improve from last season.  Easier said than done right, YES  Last season, the Rox had an atrocious pitching staff.  Worst ERA (5.22), BAA(.290) .OBP(.357) and the least amount of quality starts at 27, the next worst was 73.  The club stuck with young and/or pitchers in Jhoulys Chacin, Juan Nicasio and Tyler Chatwood.  The three pitchers were a combined 10-14 and a ERA just north of five.

Thus far, the trio has done much better.  Chacin is 9-4, given the team 18 QS and has dropped his ERA by almost a full point.  Chatwood, after being sent down to the minors came back up early in the 2013 season and has made significant improvements, the biggest being his ERA dropping from 5.28 to 2.58. Lastly is Nicasio, although he threw a gem against the resurgent LA Dodgers, going 7 innings deep and holding the Dodgers scoreless, he still still boasts a 4.89 ERA and 1.39 WHIP.

The top of this resurgent staff though is one that was absent last season is Jorge De La Rosa.  He suffered a torn ligament in his elbow late in 2011 causing him to have Tommy John surgery and sit out most of the 2012 season.  This season, De La Rosa is posting some of his best numbers of his career and flashing the talent he was showing before he got injured in 2011.

The offense has been inconsistent, and that is due in part to a ever changing lineup.  This is a result of injuries early and often to the team.  This team is powered through the bats of Dexter Fowler, Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki and Michael Cuddyer.  They have only seen the lineup together at most for 64 games out of the 94 played thus far.  Its no secret that this is a offense when healthy can be dangerous, they sit in the top ten in .AVG, Runs, .OBP and Slugging Percentage.  Fowler had suffered a bone bruise and Gonzalez suffering upper back and finger injuries in late June while Tulowitzki was out roughly six weeks with a broken rib.

Going into the home stretch for the Rox will be to get some reinforcements for their starting rotation.  The back end has been rough.  Colorado signed Roy Oswalt to a minor league deal and brought him up in June.  His first start had mixed results. Even though he struck out eleven, he gave up nine hits and 4 earned runs.  Since then he's given up eleven runs with twelve strikeouts. His ERA is north of seven and has a goose egg in the win column.  Nicasio still hasn't proven to be a solid back end of the rotation solution, and Oswalt hasn't picked up the slack from Jeff Francis.  The team still lacks a true No.1 pitcher.  The Rockies missed out on Ricky Nolasco due in part to not willing to pick up a portion or all of his contract from the Miami Marlins.

They are going to have to possibly shell out some cash and give up some prospects in hope of getting a top pitcher that is on the market.  Given the way the organization runs, it may be tough for them to come up with enough cash to satisfy the needs of another team or player to make a trade happen.  Most likely they will have to look for another back end rotational pitcher and hope to power their way through at the plate to win games.

Nuggets starting to take on new look

Denver Nugget fans don't have to be dangled a mile high now waiting for the new staff to be put into place.  Recently, the Nuggets hired assistant GM Tim Connelly from the the New Orleans Pelicans (formerly the Hornets).

After interviewing several candidates that included former coaches Lionel Hollins, Vinny Del Negro and late candidate San Antonio Spurs assistant Brett Brown, the Nuggets have finally made their decision.  Late last night, news had broke that the Denver Nuggets had chosen Pacers Assistant Head Coach Brian Shaw to become the heir replacement to George Karl. 

Shaw finally gets his first chance at being a head coach in the association.  The pressure to finally land that elusive first job is finally over for Shaw and he has never felt so relieved he told the Denver Post.

"It's been a grind, to say the least, but I'm just very appreciative of the opportunity to lead this team. ... It's been years, 11 or 12 interviews I've gone through. And I've felt I've been prepared by the best of the best."
 

Yes, Shaw has been prepared by the best.  Shaw has been apart of five championship teams in his NBA career.  He comes in having been a player with the LA Lakers that won titles in 2000 and 2001 and then as an assistant under Head Coach legend Phil Jackson from 2010-2012.  He was an assistant under Jackson from 2005-2011 and left after Jacksons retirement.  He interviewed for the Lakers position but was passed over for Coach Mike Brown, and he then in turn took a position with the Indiana Pacers staff for 2011 and 2012. 

His name has been tied to many coaching vacancies in recent years, but speculation that having fallen from the Jackson coaching tree may have been a knock against him in that he may implement the Triangle offense wherever he may go.  But with this opportunity he has with the Nuggets, he understands that this isn't a team built for such, his early observations show that he is going to keep doing what they do best.

"Running was one of them. And I'll continue to build on things they did well and get more of a feel for the personnel and what I think will be conducive to everybody's ability."

In Shaw, he may be the best fit with the Nuggets, both Del Negro and Hollins left their teams on bad terms, leaving a bad taste in previous team's mouth.  With 47 year old Shaw, you have a fresh start with a young team whose average age was just under 25 years old, third youngest in the NBA, and that's with guys like Andre Igoudala who is 29 and Andre Miller who is 37.  This is also a squad who just eclipsed it's highest win total in franchise history with 57 wins.

Shaw also has been known for being a players coach, and having helped the game of Paul George over the last couple seasons.  George in his first season in the NBA averaged 7.8 PPG & 3.7 RPG.  Since Shaw's arrival, his PPG total increase to 12.1 and 17.4, and also averaged 19.2 in the 2012 postseason.  His RPG also increased from 3.7 to 5.6 to 7.6. 

It will be up to Shaw to work with a young squad that has shown potential with plenty room for improvement, has some playoff experience, and work with management to develop it's young guns such JaVale McGee.  It will be up Shaw to do what Karl could not do, win a title and bring the Larry O'Brien trophy to the rocky mountains.  But given the talent that the Nuggets have, the youth of Shaw, the experience of having won a title as a player and a coach, Shaw may be the best fit and hire for the Nuggets and this young squad moving forward.

Where do the Denver Nuggets go from here?

As you already know, the Denver Nuggets have once again been eliminated from the playoffs with another early exit out of the first round.  The 2012-13 Nuggets team set a couple team records this year.  First, they set the new record for wins in a season (57), which was previously set back in 2008-09 (54) lead by then Carmelo Anthony.  The Nuggets also set a franchise record for consecutive wins in a row with at fifteen.  Great accomplishments that mean nothing at the end of the season if you can't get out of the first round of the playoffs.

Aspirations were high, optimism was certainly there and the talent on this roster lead many to believe that under the management of team owner Josh Kroenke and General Manager Masai Ujiri that the "sky was the limit" in terms of potential. 

We begin the 2013 offseason looking head, and the road appears to be cloudy, murky...and uncertain.  Recently, Ujiri was brought in for a interview with the Toronto Raptors, the club that first gave him his shot at working basketball operations.  Ujiri came to Denver in 2010 after serving as assistant GM Toronto.  After have been apart of the debacle of trading PF/C Chris Bosh to
Miami, he came into another "superstar" situation...Trade franchise savior Carmelo Anthony.  With the drama that came along for the season, Ujiri played his poker face well, and didn't bluff when working with the New York Knicks.  The Nuggets received Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks 2014 first-round draft pick, the Warriors' 2012 second-round pick, the Warriors' 2013 second-round pick and $3 million in cash. 

He also got swept up in the trade talks with the LA Lakers, 76'ers and Orlando Magic in which Denver was able to acquire perimeter defender and three pointer shooter Andre Igoudala.

The Nuggets managed to get younger and continued to be competitive.  The team continued to grow under the coaching of Head Coach George Karl.  Karl was unable to get many of the veterans to listen to him when he came in to coach the squad almost a decade ago now.  But now having a young team and his resume as a winning coach, he got the team to buy in, playing "team basketball" and playing defense.  This past season, the Nuggets finished near the top in defensive efficiency, fourth in steals per game, first in offensive and twelth in defensive rebounding, eighth in assist/turnover ratio with the second highest amount of possessions per game.

Things seem to be built for a contender, right?!  Since 2004, Karl has only had this team advance out of the first round only once, in 2009-09 to the Western Conference Finals.  So with the question is, with the talent of this team that seems to be sky high, yet consistently find themselves falling face flat, what next?!

With Masai Ujiri gone, mangement must find someone who will replace and continue the work that Ujiri has done to keep this team from "rebuilding".  But what other changes can we see?  Coaching change as well?  Depends on what the next general manager has planned, and how Josh Kroenke plans to spend money.  Josh is not like his father Stan, who was playing well over the luxury tax to get the Nuggets to the top, including in 2008-09.  Younger Kroenke's plan is to keep the Nuggets under the max salary cap as much as possible and win under those restrictions.  This can lead a team to "do more with less".  But as a new G.M. comes in, he's going to want his own guy.  Could King George be on his way out?  Has this team hit its limit with him on the bench?  Currently, Karl has one more season left on his contract, and coupled with uncertainty of a new G.M. and their plans, who knows what happens to Karl, and Kroenke made it be known as well.  Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com reported this.

"Denver president Josh Kroenke gave Karl a vote of confidence after the season, telling the Denver Post that, 'George is under contract for next year. At this point in time, we haven't really given any thought to making any change whatsoever. As we do at the end of every season, we'll have internal meetings and George will obviously be a major part of them.'"
 

Lets be real, Phil Jackson isn't walking through the office doors in Denver unless he had full control of the team, and that may not be enough as well to get someone of his stature in here.  But as a segway to another regime, does Denver turn to another established coach to lead this young team?  This is a Nuggets team that has talent but doesn't have that voice, that leadership to guide them.  One report that has come out is that several teams have been in contact with coach Larry Brown about returning to the NBA.  The Sixers and Nets have been in contact, but there is a third mystery team out there talking to him.  Is it Denver?  Could be.  Management knows they have solid talent but they still haven't seen the team advance. Karl has been in Denver for almost 10 years now, sometimes a new voice is just what is needed to get teams going.  Brown is a proven coach, his most recent coaching stint in the NBA was with the Charlotte Bobcats, who went 44-38 and made it to their only trip as a franchise to the postseason.  Imagine what he can do with the third youngest team and a team that has playoff experience. 

But would he fit well with Andre Igoudala?  Lets not forget, he might opt out of his contract and command 18 million per season.  Does Iggy show Denver some love and stick around, or does he give the Nuggets the "Iggy Shuffle" and try to find greener pastures.  The 2013 pool of free agents is good, but not great.  After Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Josh Smith and maybe a aging Manu Ginobili, it is filled with players that are solid role players or "as beens"at this point, no franchise players.  So for the Nuggets, their number one, two and three priorities is to recruit, convince and keep Iggy in Denver. 

Until we see what happens with the signing of a new G.M. and with Karl, everything maybe on hold for the Nuggets and as we get closer to next season, we might have a better idea of what is too come in the mile high city.