This past week, Coach George Karl received the Jimmy V award for Perseverance at the ESPY’s. Karl took the opportunity to try and inspire our federal government to help pick up the fight to cure cancer at a national level by matching the funds collected by independent organizations like the Jimmy V foundation. His son Coby was in jto see Dad accept the award – even missing the Nuggets final summer league game in Las Vegas, which they promptly lost to end with a 4-1 record.

Watch George Karl speak after receiving his award via YouTube.

After striking out in attempts to sign Jermaine O’Neal and Udonis Haslem, and so far being unable to trade for Golden State’s Andris Biedrins, the Nuggets have finally signed a new player to the fold.

Al Harrington has agreed to a 5 year, $34 million contract to play for the Denver Nuggets. After being courted by the Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets, Harrington tweeted this late last night from his a7harrington twitter account:

Yo my Tweeples. Appreciate the Love and Concern. But I’m taking my Talents to the MILE HIGH. Lol. Love Yall Lego DENVER!! Brett Meeny THX!

Denver may have overpaid a bit for Harrington’s services, but they needed to get a big body in to help out, especially at the start of the season when both Chris Andersen and Kenyon Martin may not yet be fully recovered from recent offseason knee surgeries.

Harrington is a 30 year old, 6’9 250lb. PF who can help the Nuggets on the offensive end with a variety of skills. He can shoot the three ball and gets to the line a decent amount – 317 times in 2009-10. Mainly, he provides a big body that the Nuggets desperately needed. Harrington played the majority of his career for Indiana, with more recent stops at Golden State and New York. He averaged 17.7 points and 5.6 rebounds a game last year for the Knicks and shot 44% from the field, 34% from three-point land.

Personally, I’m neither excited nor upset by this move. The Nuggets needed a big body, and Harrington will fit that need. I’d be more happier if we could somehow land Biedrins, as he would help us a lot more on the defensive end with rebounding and shot blocking, where we have a much greater need, in my opinion. We’ll need to give up one or more of our current pieces to get that deal done. I’d be fine with that being nearly anyone on the roster other than Anthony, Billups, and Afflalo.

For full details of this deal, read this ESPN.com article.

The 2010 NBA Draft is tonight, June 24th from 5pm – 10pm Mountain Time. It will be televised live on ESPN.

As things stand this morning, the Nuggets have no picks in this draft. However, as you might remember from previous drafts, that does not mean we won’t participate in the draft. There was a rumor circulating last week that the Nuggets were dangling Ty Lawson to Indiana for the 10th pick, but that appears to have died off. Yes, the Nuggets need some help, but I like what we’ve seen from Ty a lot so far, and would hate to give him up so early in his career. In fact, just last year we were in a similar position (no picks) and made a move to get in the draft and pick up Ty so we’d have an heir apparent to Chauncey ready to be groomed for the future as the Nuggets PG.

The Nuggets have a pretty lousy history overall with the draft. When you have the recent examples of Nikoloz Tskitishivili and Julius Hodge as first round picks, you have made some huge mistakes. There are other more subtle moves though, such as picking Jameer Nelson but immediately trading his rights that hurt too – Jameer is now an All-Star for the Orlando Magic, a recent NBA Finals team.

Despite the Nuggets history, if you are like me, and ever hopeful for the upcoming season, here are a few links to get you amped for tonight, or to at least keep you busy during the draft:

2010 NBA Draft Coverage (ESPN)

2010 NBA Draft Preview (Roundball Mining Co.)

A Wasteland (MileHighSports)

As an NBA fan, you might just be watching tonight’s draft to see what unique insights are gained into the bizarre pact that seems to have formed between superstar free agents LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh.

Nearly there… can’t wait for tomorrow and game #1!

This video is awesome… created as a look back on last season and the magical playoff run.

Let’s Go Nuggets!

Remember this amazing dunk by JR from a month ago? Let’s hope there are more amazing assists like this one from Billups coming up in the playoffs.

Video #1 to kick off the last week of the season, and get fired up for the playoffs that start this weekend comes from the Denver Nuggets very own marketing department – part of their campaign to sell Playoffs tickets. It follows the current NBA nationwide ad campaign that uses snippets of video with a driving, repetitive chant, and a staccato speaking style. It’s only about 30 seconds long, and I personally can’t watch it enough times. Hearing and seeing Coach George Karl in it, who I wish nothing but the best in his continued fight against throat and neck cancer, just makes it all the better.

Come back tomorrow for video #2!

The 2010 NBA Playoffs start this weekend, and the Nuggets are in for the 7th year in a row. Only two other teams in the NBA can make this same claim – the San Antonio Spurs, and the Dallas Mavericks.

There are still a few storylines to be played out this week – will the Nuggets hang on to the Northwest Division title? What seed will the Nuggets end up with? Will Kenyon Martin’s return over the weekend be enough to get the team rolling again?

Each day this week, I’ll post an inspirational, charged up video here, to get you fired up… “psyched up” if you will for the playoffs that start this weekend. In the meantime, don’t forget to cheer on the Nuggets in their final two games – tonight against Memphis, and Tuesday in Phoenix.

The 2010 NBA Playoffs are rapidly approaching and the Nuggets are looking like a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference for the 2nd year in a row.

Last year, NuggetsHoops provided extensive coverage of the 2009 Nuggets playoff run – including tons of photos, game summaries, news, and a Playoff Wall where fans could share their well-wishes with the team and each other.

If you’re on Facebook, consider becoming a fan of NuggetsHoops. It’s an easy way to access all the articles, news, and images we’ll be posting during the upcoming playoff run, and converse with other fans in a familiar environment.

Become a NuggetsHoops Fan on Facebook

Follow @nuggetshoops on Twitter

If Twitter is more your speed, you can follow @nuggetshoops to get unique perspectives and images about the Nuggets from a fan perspective. We’ll be at all of the home games here at the Pepsi Center during the playoff run!

The 2009 Playoff run was pure joy for any Nuggets fan thats been following the team for more than a handful of seasons. Erased were the frustrations of five consecutive years of one round a nd done, each year with no more than a single playoff win to show for it. Sure, some will say it was still a frustrating finish to the season with the Nuggets being on the brink of moving on to the NBA Finals before being eliminated by the Lakers in Game 6. I choose to look at the 2010 playoffs with the half glass full.

We got a glimpse into how the Denver Nuggets management team hopes to succeed last season when they were able to strike gold by moving out fading players with large contracts and swapping them (mostly) with cheaper but solidly performing players. In 2009 this was the moving of Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby and bringing in Chauncey Billups, Dahntay Jones, and the return of Chris Andersen – aka “Birdman”. In 2010 it was the departure of Dahntay Jones and Linas Kleiza (who were overpaid by new teams) and the additions of Arron Afflalo and rookie Ty Lawson. The rest of 2010 was mostly status quo (resigned Birdman) or signing of minor insurance pieces like Malik Allen and Joey Graham to handle various big-man roles when our main guys are out.

As we near the 2010 Playoffs, this approach has worked and worked very well. We again struck gold with Afflalo and the better-than expected play of Lawson, and the rest of the pieces have continued to improve their play or maintained a high level – Carmelo Anthony, Nene, Kenyon Martin, and Chauncey Billups.

The one problem with a plan like this is that we are not completely stacked up and down the line-up like some teams are – as in the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, and Boston Celtics. These teams are all paying well above the luxury tax for veteran filled squads. The Denver Nuggets are trying to do it a bit more “on the cheap” and the drop-off is a bit more severe when any of the starters are injured and out for an extended period.

With less than twenty games to go, the Nuggets find themselves without being able to count on three big important names that are critical to this years playoff run – Kenyon Martin, Ty Lawson, and George Karl.

We’ll start with George Karl. Right, coach is obviously not suiting it up, but he is and has been an integral part of this team’s success since he came to Denver in 2005. After the 2010 NBA All-Star weekend, George announced that he been diagnosed with treatable throat and neck cancer. This comes after he had to battle prostate cancer the summer after his first partial season with the Nuggets five years ago. George is undeniably dedicated to this team after they finally extended his Coaching contract thru the end of next season. George is somehow fitting in his cancer treatments and procedures around the Nuggets schedule as to minimize games missed yet still effectively fight off the deadly disease. Amazing. Still, this is a factor in the always-tight Western Conference Playoffs race. Tommorrow night against Minnesota, Coach Karl will miss his second game. Top, and long-time Denver Nuggets assistant Adrian Dantley will step in again, after having won the previous game that Coach Karl had to miss in February.

The Nuggets speedy rookie – Ty Lawson, will miss his 5th consecutive game tomorrow night, and the timetable for his return is still questionable. Ty’s injury came when he drew a foul underneath the basket against the LA Lakers Andrew Bynum, who came crashing down on his left shoulder. Lawson has made a huge impact on the team this year with his blinding speed and ability to drive to the basket and create shots for himself and the big men who find passing lanes during his drives. He’s an upgrade over veteran Anthony Carter, and is one of the key new factors in the team’s potential ability to get past the Lakers in the playoffs in 2010. We need him back, but we need him healthy also, so he can get back to wreaking havoc on opposing defenses. Here’s Ty talking about his current state before the Minnesota game:

“It’s day-to-day now,” the reserve point guard Lawson said after today’s shootaround at Target Center. “It doesn’t hurt a lot, I’m moving it now, there’s just one spot (in my shoulder) that catches every time I dribble and make a move. So I’m trying to work it out. … Once it stops catching, then I’ll be able to play.”

Lastly, we come to starting power forward, Kenyon Martin. Kenyon is arguably having one of his best seasons as a Denver Nugget – coming from New Jersey via trade in 2004. He’s the only player in the NBA to play after having microfracture surgery… on both knees. Somehow though, he’s played in 71 (2007-08), 66 (2008-09), and 55 this season thru 63 games. He’s averaging 11.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per game and is one of, if not the key cog in the Nuggets defense, often drawing the toughest forward to defend, and almost always involved in the Nuggets pick-n-roll defense near the basket. Lately though, Kenyon had been playing thru considerable pain in his left knee – his planting knee for his still explosive jumping ability. So Kenyon was shut down while team doctors looked at his knee. The result is indefintely out, and starting on PRP treatment (platelet rich plasma therapy) which involves using Kenyon’s own blood components to stimulate healing. The hope is that Kenyon will be able to return towards the end of the season, or at the very worst – for the playoffs. If I had to bet on it, Kenyon will be back one way or another, but the bigger question is will he be able to play pain-free and make his impact felt on the court again this season/playoffs.

All three of these Nuggets must be able to return for the Nuggets to truly make another deep playoff run like they did in the late spring/early summer of 2009. Oh what fun that was. I’m an eternal optimist, and if all three can return to the levels they’ve played or coached at so far this season soon, or at least before the playoffs begin, the Nuggets can make some serious noise. They can even get past the mighty Lakers this time.

So Nuggets fans… send those healthy thoughts… those little white lights when you fall asleep at night. Then maybe, just maybe… we can have some championship dreams.

Denver Nuggets coach George Karl has agreed to a one-year contract extension worth about $4.5 million, according to sources yesterday. Coach is currently making $3 million in 2009-2010, and was in the final year of his contract.

“I think it’s important to the team,” Karl said today during a news conference for Sunday’s All-Star Game. “I don’t want to be a distraction.

There were multiple rumors over the past few months, with one supposed offer being a 3 year extension worth around $11 million. Whether it or any of the other rumors were true, there was the potential for them to become a distraction as this team pursues another high playoff seed.

Karl has publicly stated his desire to stay in Denver, “I don’t want to move,” he said. “I’m going to probably live in Denver (for the long term)… Denver’s a big-time city. It fits for me… (The Nuggets) have a legit opportunity to be as good as anybody in basketball.”

George Karl took over as the Nuggets coach midway thru the 2004-2005 season and went on an amazing 32-8 run to lead the Nuggets to their first playoff series in nearly 10 years. The Nuggets have gone 244-152 during the regular season during Karl’s time at the helm.

His time has not been completely smooth – for several seasons a popular site called “FireGeorgeKarl.com” was run by a local blogger. That site has since been changed to www.denverstiffs.com after the owner decided that George was not the only person to blame in the Nuggets organization.

After guiding the Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals for only the 2nd time in franchise history, Coach Karl has received a lot less flack. I for one, am hoping that Karl can finally get past some of his mistakes in the playoffs and finally bring his “A” game (which he consistently does in the regular season!) when it matters the most.