Good for the Nuggets getting rid of this chump. The contract is cheap, but the Pacers didn't need to give him 4 years. At least the contract is very tradeable.
BREAKING NEWS: Indiana Pacers GM Larry Bird just signed a black guy I wonder how Dahntay will do with the Pacers since on Denver he didn't really do s*** that contributed much except mess with Kobe.
I'm not sure it is a good move for the Nuggets. D.Jones was their Bruce Bowen. His defense wasn't elite, but it was respectable and he could play balls to the walls in that foul trouble was never a issue. In a sense, he was like the Rockets version of Chuck Hayes. He is indeed replaceable, maybe Balkman can fill his role.
Balkman is a power forward. This will probably force Denver to put JR Smith in the starting line up and lose that offensive spark off the bench.
Very solid signing; has size can play some above average D. You can never have too many cheap solid rotation utility players.
Jones is a defensive wing without a 3pt shot. Not the kind of guy I'd want on my team if I can find someone like, say, Jamario Moon, who can make a decent amount of 3s to stretch the floor.
Basically, it didn't matter if Dahntay Jones got in foul trouble because the Nuggets got better the minute he left the court. I wouldn't exactly compare that to Chuck Hayes, who is an elite post defender that is a huge boost to the Rockets against certain players. Except for 5 inspired minutes every 3 or 4 games, Jones was a liability when he was on the floor unless Melo or Chauncey were going off.
He's a SF too, he's not strictly a big. But starting JR Smith brings that problem you mentioned. No Spark off the bench (Kleiza is still a FA too.) and Smith's defense is a liability a lot of the times still although he has improved. I think they'll miss the guy unless they find someone to fill that role. That's a role that needs to be on every finals team IMO. The defensive swingman.
It did matter because they have no other guy 100% dedicated to stop the best wing player. That's his role, and he did well enough to start on that team, did it well enough the first round also to frustrate Chris Paul. Guy is a more than solid defender. He's a situational player, but so is Chuck Hayes. They are going to miss this guy if you ask me. You can't have enough of guys whose only purpose of playing is to play defense.
I'll give him credit against Chris Paul in the first round, but I think most of it was because of CP's lack of mental toughness. There is no way in the world Dahntay Jones should have been able to stay close to him. The all-world play and toughness that CP demonstrated mid to late last season to get the Honey Bees TO the playoffs disappeared IN the playoffs. Still, Jones got in CP's head and props to him for that. Overall though, the guy is a chump and he only started because the Nuggets needed/wanted JR Smith off the bench. If Dahntay Jones is in a team's starting lineup, his team loses that positional battle ~75 out of 82 games. At best he's a 10-20 minute per game player. On a good team, should be very close to 10.
So you would want Balkman guarding someone like... Kobe then? or LeBron? cause that's what Jones did.
i wonder what nugs4 thinks about this move jones was their starting SG though Smith i think averaged more minutes he probably was one of their better defenders too
That's what he did though, and on a good team of course. I just look at their roseter now, and again am wondering who is going to be that guy whose sole purpose that day is to annoy and make life hard for that SG/SF who scores 20ppg at least. Um, but that's why i'm saying he'll be missed. Point is Balkman is the closest guy right now on that roster since he can play SF and the Nuggets when it comes to guarding the other team's best player...well they aren't known to make the matchup traditional. Billups was guarding Kobe, and the year before that...Kenyon Martin was. I'm not saying Smith and Melo can't improve on defense...they can...but still, you need that guy whose sole purpose(or atleast his primary concern) is to play the best perimeter defense if you want to go to the finals and win the championship. He'll be missed I feel. It won't show at all in the regular season, but in the playoffs(unless they replace him) whose going to make life tough for the Roy's and Kobe's?
Actually, you guys are looking in the wrong direction. Linas Kleiza should be there spark off the bench(the guy has consistently put up big numbers when given a chance) and he can play defense pretty well. Not to mention he's a huge guy who can play SF and the 2 spot...
I'm with you Jay, every superstar has someone doing the dirtywork: defending the other team's superstar wing player/scorer. Melo might have commited more to the defensive end but he can't be expected to play both ends heavily. Nuggets should have split their MLE on him and Birdman and frontload/backload their contracts as necessary.
Good move for the Pacers. He is an energy guy that could produce of the bench. Plays a decent man to man defense and is an option in offense. Reminds me of Wafer but with better defense.