Denver Nuggets - The Next Level [Game 3 + 4]

[kibaxx7]

Great to see JR's streak reach 10, but his statline against the Spurs is pretty funny: 30.... 1, 1, 1, 1.

That's what I call an all-around player

[Houndy]

Ed Reed is officially my hero. Screw Alston

[Andrew]

Nice to see Lopez' strong play continue, not to mention the familiar scoring outbursts from J.R. Smith. The simming has kept the team from being too dominant but it's nice to see you playing the games and getting some big performances...and winning a few more games that you should be winning.

[Warlock95]

Ed Reed is turning into a new spark off the bench. He really needs his own nickname now

Eh, you can call him whatever you call the NFL Reed, or go for the generic "ER20" or "E-Reed".

[Kenny]

Ed Reed is turning into a new spark off the bench. He really needs his own nickname now

Ed Reed is officially my hero. Screw Alston

Ed Reed is turning into a new spark off the bench. He really needs his own nickname now

Eh, you can call him whatever you call the NFL Reed, or go for the generic "ER20" or "E-Reed".

Nice to see Ed receive a bit of love on the board. As for his nickname, I really don't know what to call him outside of the generic nicknames J-Bark #95 suggested. If someone can come up with something more creative, I'll try and use it and hopefully it'll stick

Great to see JR's streak reach 10, but his statline against the Spurs is pretty funny: 30.... 1, 1, 1, 1. T-Mac 2.0's rise against the Knicks is foreshadowing the fact that he's gonna grow his 'stache back real soon.

Great to see JR's streak reach 10, but his statline against the Spurs is pretty funny: 30.... 1, 1, 1, 1.

That's what I call an all-around player

J.R. is a bonafided stat sheet filler

T-Mac still has his stache but it's really weak. Nothing like Adam Morrison or Kurt Rambis. I wonder if there's a way I could edit him so he could have an epic stache once again...

Nice to see Lopez' strong play continue, not to mention the familiar scoring outbursts from J.R. Smith. The simming has kept the team from being too dominant but it's nice to see you playing the games and getting some big performances...and winning a few more games that you should be winning.

As I said before, the simming was merely a means to even the competition out a bit so I'm not too dominant. I'm not really game to jump up to superstar with my current lineup and with Axel's experience with it, I'm reluctant to even make the step up at all. The object of the game is to have fun, not to see how much I can swear at my tv afterall.

Lopez and J.R. seem to be complementing eachother nicely.

[Kenny]

TNL Top 5
The Generated

Over the course of 10 seasons, The Next Level has seen 13 NBA Live 10 generated players come through the ranks. From the heroics of Ty Maximilian to the absolute woefulness of Erick Christian, they have come in all different forms. To narrow it down, I thought I'd rank my favourite 5 from this list of 13, and here they are:

#5: Ed Reed



Despite it only being his rookie season, Ed Reed finds his way in the number 5 spot. I probably couldn't put him any higher as it's too early to tell which direction he'll go in, but right now, he deserves his spot. His best NBA comparison is probably Ben Gordon; while he's undersized and often a liability on the defensive end, he has an excellent perimeter game. He helps bring instant offense from the bench and will likely become an important role player in years to come and a possible heir apparent to J.R. Smith.

#4: George Power



Much like Ed Reed, it's far too early to tell the career trajectory for George Power. Even though his numbers are down all across the board this season, it's hard to ignore his dominant rookie campaign. In his first season, he made it past two well established power forwards (Borislav Perko and Jordan Hill) into the starting lineup. A huge 53 point effort against the Bulls proved he was a steal in the second round.

#3: Taylor MacKenzie



T-Mac 2.0 has had a bumpy career, but in his first season he not only picked up rookie of the year honours, but he was also the 6th man of the year. Added to the fact that he scored a record 53 points in the rookie game, he was looking to be the next big thing. While he has for the most part failed to live up to that expectation, he has shown flashes of brilliance through his career and has become a player who George Karl has a love-hate relationship with. At his best, he's comparable to Manu Ginobili, but currently he's probably more like Sasha Vujacic.

#2: Borislav Perko



If this list was about consistency, Borislav Perko would probably be at number 1. He is a no frills, work man type of player. He's the kind of guy that will do a job for you every night and step up on the occassions he needs to. He is probably the unsung hero in a team of superstars. In his rookie campaign he was an all-rookie first team selection and last season he had a huge double-double game in game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Knicks.

#1: Ty Maximilian



A no brainer really; he's the subject of my signature and was arguably the Finals MVP in 2012. Everything Ty Maximilian did throughout his 4 year stint in Denver was spectacular. He excited fans with windmill dunks while earning his keep on the defensive end as well. He was the first generated player to really get hero worship on this story and almost single-handedly got Denver past the Thunder in the first round of the 2012 playoffs. For the true pioneer of this category, there is no other player more deserving of this number 1 spot.

[Andrew]

As I said before, the simming was merely a means to even the competition out a bit so I'm not too dominant. I'm not really game to jump up to superstar with my current lineup and with Axel's experience with it, I'm reluctant to even make the step up at all. The object of the game is to have fun, not to see how much I can swear at my tv afterall.

Good point, Superstar definitely tends to draw that kind of reaction.

Nice job on the generated rookie retrospective/rankings; I agree wholeheartedly with the order, too.

[Houndy]

Love the article. Love Ty

[kibaxx7]

Ty had to be #1, no doubt But Perko, MacKenzie, Power contributions are great.

[megarover]

I wonder how he is doing at the moment.

[Martti.]

Great little feature, I didn't have that much success with generated rookies. Most of them were short, fat guys with no jump shot at all.

[Axel The Great]

As I said before, the simming was merely a means to even the competition out a bit so I'm not too dominant. I'm not really game to jump up to superstar with my current lineup and with Axel's experience with it, I'm reluctant to even make the step up at all. The object of the game is to have fun, not to see how much I can swear at my tv afterall.

I'd strongly recommend not moving up. I seriously don't know how I did half a season on Superstar, CPU just played unreal defense.

Nice article, my favorite of those game-generated players is of course the scrub with the 'stache. You should make an article informing us about Ty's dominance in Olympiakos BC.

[The X]

Luvin' the coverage of the generics. Would also like to see a little bit of coverage from generics from Around The League

[Kenny]

As I said before, the simming was merely a means to even the competition out a bit so I'm not too dominant. I'm not really game to jump up to superstar with my current lineup and with Axel's experience with it, I'm reluctant to even make the step up at all. The object of the game is to have fun, not to see how much I can swear at my tv afterall.

Good point, Superstar definitely tends to draw that kind of reaction.

Nice job on the generated rookie retrospective/rankings; I agree wholeheartedly with the order, too.

Thanks Andrew, it's been a lot of fun trying to give computer generated players a life of their own and I've enjoyed the response they have gotten over the pages I've been doing this. One thing that keeps me drawn to this dynasty is that as the years go by, it's becoming almost my own little "askewniverse".

Love the article. Love Ty

Thanks Houndy, I love him too

Ty had to be #1, no doubt But Perko, MacKenzie, Power contributions are great.

Ty was the pioneer and easily my favourite one to control out of the 5. The others have been fun too

I wonder how he is doing at the moment.

Dominating the Euroleague while being the highest paid player outside of the NBA

Great little feature, I didn't have that much success with generated rookies. Most of them were short, fat guys with no jump shot at all.

A lot of the rookies are fitting that mould as well, I guess I've just been lucky to have 5 generated players who have been able to contribute towards the success of my team.

As I said before, the simming was merely a means to even the competition out a bit so I'm not too dominant. I'm not really game to jump up to superstar with my current lineup and with Axel's experience with it, I'm reluctant to even make the step up at all. The object of the game is to have fun, not to see how much I can swear at my tv afterall.

I'd strongly recommend not moving up. I seriously don't know how I did half a season on Superstar, CPU just played unreal defense.

Nice article, my favorite of those game-generated players is of course the scrub with the 'stache. You should make an article informing us about Ty's dominance in Olympiakos BC.

Yeah, I don't think I'll move up unless I go closer to 82-0 in a season than my previous record.

As for the article about Ty, I never really thought about it, but it's a really good idea. There's a number of different ways I can go about it as well. Cheers Axel

Luvin' the coverage of the generics. Would also like to see a little bit of coverage from generics from Around The League

Yeah, I suppose I've been rather slack with the around the league coverage over the course of this dynasty. I find it hard to keep up because the computer is so stupid

I'll see what I can do though

[Kenny]

5 Game Summary

Denver have hit a purple patch in March, going 5-0 during this summary, which means they extended their winning streak to 9. While J.R. Smith has been scoring at a high level once again, Brandon Jennings found form in the concluding games. His combination with Borislav Perko on the pick and roll has been outstanding and yet another aspect of Denver's game that will give the opposition a headache. Apart from the feature game, the closest anyone got to the Nuggets was 11 points in Dallas. The feature game of the round was in Minnesota:

Nuggets Escape With W in Prince City



The Denver Nuggets ground out a 78-75 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The top scorer for the Nuggets was J.R. Smith. His streak of scoring 30 plus points ended in this game as he scored 29. Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony continued their duel once again, while Melo taking out the honours with 24 points to lead Minnesota in scoring. Durant was close with 23. The story of the game though was Borislav Perko's performance. He flirted with a quadruple-double as he stuff the stats sheet with a line of 14 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 8 blocks. Even though he's seen as an above average role player most nights, he is known for the odd game of brilliance.

For the T-Wolves, Cameron Robin was influential with 16 points and 8 assists. Curt McNamara scored 13, while Bertrand Hofmann poured in 10 off the bench.

----------------------------------------

DEN@MIN

DEN: 78 (Smith 29, Durant 23, Perko 14)
MIN: 75 (Anthony 24, Robin 16, McNamara 13)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Borislav Perko 14 points 9 rebounds 6 assists 8 blocks

Rebounds

DEN: Lopez 11
MIN: Lee 17

Assists

DEN: Perko 6
MIN: Robin 8

----------------------------------------

Last 5 Games

@MEM: 106-93 W
@MIN: 78-75 W
@DAL: 91-80 W
@SAN: 83-71 W
@NOH: 93-79 W

Denver are now 44-21

----------------------------------------

It ends at 11

J.R. Smith's run came to a halt after he scored 29 against the Timberwolves in the feature game. Possibly angered by this, he destroyed the Mavericks by scoring 49. He has a pretty good record against the Mavs this season. He scored 39 against them in a previous encounter.

Upstaging the MVP

Even though J.R. scored 33 against the Grizzlies, Durant went one better with 34. It seems that Smith's current form has sparked something in Durant... hopefully both players will be firing come playoff time.

Invigorated

While both Smith and Durant struggled against the Spurs, Jennings used this as an opportunity to shine. He scored 27 points and handed out 8 assists. His combination with Borislav Perko was a feature of this game and is becoming a nice tactic to help rip other teams apart.

The Old Power Play

George Power has struggled in his sophomore season for the most part, but there were positive signs against the New Orleans Hornets. He had 20 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocked shots in Denver's 14 point win. With any luck this will help him step up after an average second year to date.

----------------------------------------

Next 5 Games

@MEM
@CLE
@NJN
@BOS
@MIL

----------------------------------------

The end of the month will fall during the next 5 game summary, so that will be up next. Will Denver be atop of the Western Conference? And will J.R. Smith pick up the monthly award for the West? All will be revealed soon.

[Houndy]

Gotta love the Durant-Anthony rivalry. Pretty beast

[kibaxx7]

Oh, good luck on this mini-road trip. Perko with a close quadruple-double!

[megarover]

Gotta love the Durant-Anthony rivalry. Pretty beast

Amen to that. What is up with J.R going for 29. I mean he couldn't get one more free throw.

[Andrew]

Thanks Andrew, it's been a lot of fun trying to give computer generated players a life of their own and I've enjoyed the response they have gotten over the pages I've been doing this. One thing that keeps me drawn to this dynasty is that as the years go by, it's becoming almost my own little "askewniverse".

I know what you mean. I prefer Dynasty Mode to have as much realism as possible but once you advance a few years and a lot of the big names have retired, generated rookies are taking over and the rosters are looking pretty different, it's fun to truly make your own reality. Being able to customise draft classes with real players as in NBA 2K would be great of course, but there's fun to be had with fictional players too.

Nice work going 5-0.

[Mandich]

Nice job winning your last couple of games !

[Kenny]

Gotta love the Durant-Anthony rivalry. Pretty beast

Gotta love the Durant-Anthony rivalry. Pretty beast

Amen to that. What is up with J.R going for 29. I mean he couldn't get one more free throw.

Durant Vs Anthony has been one great thing to come out of the trade and it's a matchup I always enjoy. As for Earl, he was actually having a pretty poor game and it was only a late 4th quarter run that saw him get anywhere near the 30 mark. It did seem incredibly cruel to fall one short.

Oh, good luck on this mini-road trip. Perko with a close quadruple-double!

The road trip is going to last for 12 games, so I'm surprised the boys aren't homesick yet

Slavvy is a beast!

Thanks Andrew, it's been a lot of fun trying to give computer generated players a life of their own and I've enjoyed the response they have gotten over the pages I've been doing this. One thing that keeps me drawn to this dynasty is that as the years go by, it's becoming almost my own little "askewniverse".

I know what you mean. I prefer Dynasty Mode to have as much realism as possible but once you advance a few years and a lot of the big names have retired, generated rookies are taking over and the rosters are looking pretty different, it's fun to truly make your own reality. Being able to customise draft classes with real players as in NBA 2K would be great of course, but there's fun to be had with fictional players too.

Nice work going 5-0.

I think customising draft classes would be one major step for NBA Live/Elite to begin competing with 2k once again, but as many would agree it's one on a long list unfortunately. I probably have a unconditional love for the NBA Live series thanks to nostalgia, but it would be great to see EA catch up with 2k.

Nice job winning your last couple of games !

Thanks mandich

[Kenny]

March 2019 Review

Denver have rocketed up to the top of the league after a red-hot month of March. They were 13-2 for the month and it was largely thanks to J.R. Smith who strung together 11 straight games of 30 or more points. To everyone's surprise though, he wasn't named player of the month, beaten to it by reigning MVP Stephen Curry. This month also saw big performances from Robin Lopez, Borislav Perko and Brandon Jennings just to name a few. It seemed that everybody knew their role in the month of March and Denver once again are firming as favourites to pick up the Larry O'Brien trophy at the end of the year.

Monthly Awards

East Player: [CHA] Patrick McNamara (18.8ppg 4.4apg 1.4spg)
West Player: [MEM] Stephen Curry (26.5ppg 3.9rpg 4.9apg)
East Rookie: [NYK] Dickey Freeman (8.2ppg 2.3apg 0.7spg)
West Rookie: [OKC] Tom Coles (5.6ppg 0.9rpg 1.2apg)

MVP Candidates

[LAC] Ollie Rose (22.5ppg 3.9apg 1.8spg)
[MEM] Stephen Curry (22.6ppg 5.8apg 1.1spg)
[PHX] LeBron James (18.1ppg 5.5apg 1.5spg)
[CHA] Patrick McNamara (20.2ppg 4.2apg 1.4spg)
[OKC] Luther Rutherford (12.9ppg 9.3rpg 2.3bpg)


Standings

EAST

Washington 45-24
Cleveland 45-25
Charlotte 37-33
Miami 36-34
Detroit 34-35
Milwaukee 34-35
Chicago 33-35
Boston 34-37
---
Atlanta 32-35
New York 32-36
Orlando 32-36
Philadelphia 32-39
Toronto 30-40
Indiana 27-41
New Jersey 14-57


WEST

Denver 46-22
San Antonio 47-25
Oklahoma City 45-24
LA Clippers 43-26
New Orleans 39-28
Dallas 41-30
Houston 40-31
Memphis 37-32
---
LA Lakers 36-32
Phoenix 33-36
Minnesota 32-38
Portland 28-40
Utah 28-42
Golden State 26-44
Sacramento 22-48

[Kenny]

TNL Top 5
Greatest Acquisitions

Everybody knows that this Denver team has been extremely successful, but not without big shakeups to the roster. Here are my top 5 acquisitions throughout the first 10 years of this dynasty:

#5: Shannon Brown



It may raise a few eyebrows that Shannon would appear on the list in front of Kevin Durant, but when you consider that he was taken from free agency for roughly 3 million a year, as opposed to KD35 who was acquired by sending away a 4-time Finals MVP, I stand by this choice. Back when J.R. Smith walked out on the team in 2011,they needed someone to fill the void that was left in the shooting guard position. Shannon did the job nicely and is probably the most underrated player in this entire dynasty for the role he played in Denver's success.

#4: Yao Ming



It was a rather ambitious signing in the 2017 free agency, but the injury prone centre did not let his new team down in what would be his swansong. Yao added much needed size and interior defense off the bench. He picked up the 6th man award and that illusive championship ring. He was only with the squad for 1 season, but his impact was profound.

#3: Brandon Jennings



Billups was in the twilight of his career and Denver needed to sign someone to take over the reigns. So what would you expect to pay for a talented, fringe-all-star point guard? Jennings signed with Denver for 4 years on the MLE and was seen as an absolute steal. While Chauncey has big shoes to fill, Jennings' presense has kept Denver as a title contender.

#2: Michael Beasley



It was a big gamble: Denver traded away an All-Star Centre in Nene and a first round pick for an underachieving prospect in Michael Beasley and starting point guard Mario Chalmers... however, Beasley proved to be the missing piece to Denver's championship puzzle. He proved to be an excellent third option in his time with the Nuggets and was the first player in the dynasty to record a triple-double. Beasley's career took off in the Mile High City and still remains with the Boston Celtics currently.

#1: J.R. Smith



So I know that J.R. was with the inaugeral squad, but what is often forgotten is that intially he only spent two years with Denver before being signed by the Grizzlies via free agency. Denver may have won 2 championships without him, but they also plunged into mediocrity the three years that followed. He was re-acquired by Denver as LaMarcus Aldridge and Shaun Livingston were sent to Memphis. The result in Earl's comeback season? The first player in Nuggets history to pick up the MVP trophy, as well as the scoring title and the All-Star MVP. This is why he shall be the number one on this countdown.

[Kenny]

After this season I'm going to create my selection of players to make my 10th anniversary Denver team. However before I do this, I want you all to get involved. I invite all readers, whether it be the regular or casual readers of this thread to vote for the players you want to see in the team. If this is a success, I'll showcase the Reader's Choice team along with the Writer's Choice team after an NBA Champion is crowned (hopefully it's Denver).

The Rules

Please PM Your Vote

I'd like the ballot to remain between myself and the person who casted it, so please PM me (badreligionau) your votes. Any posted on this thread won't be counted.

You Only Get One Vote

Make your vote count, because it's the only one you'll get.

Voting System Like Dynasty/Association of the Year

You can vote for 5 players in each position. Your highest vote will get 5 points and your lowest will get 1 point. For example, my order for guards of the real life Nuggets the last 10 years would be like this:

5 points: Andre Miller
4 points: J.R. Smith
3 points: Allen Iverson
2 points: Earl Boykins
1 point: Arron Afflalo

Please note: you don't have to use all your votes, but I would suggest to do, so that every player you want to see in the team has a chance.

Team Numbers

The team will have 4 guards, 4 forwards, 2 centres and 2 wildcard players. Starters will be the players with the most votes and the bench will be the 3rd and 4th position vote getters in the category (or in the centre's case, the 2nd position).

The Players

Centres

Chris Andersen (2009-present)
Andrew Bogut (2018-present)
Marcus Camby (2011-2012)
Erick Christian (2012)
Sam Conners (2015-2017)
Marcin Gortat (2012)
Robin Lopez (2013-present)
Javale McGee (2013-2014)
Yao Ming (2017-2018)
Nene (2009-2010)
Shaquille O’Neal (2012-2013)
Oleksiy Pecherov (2016-2017)
Johan Petro (2009-2010)
Robert Swift (2011)
Hasheem Thabeet (2014-2015)
Ben Wallace (2010-2011)
Ray Warren (2011-2012)

Forwards

LaMarcus Aldridge (2014-2016)
Malik Allen (2009-2010)
Carmelo Anthony (2009-2018)
Brandon Bass (2016)
Nicolas Batum (2013-2018)
Michael Beasley (2010-2012)
Matt Bonner (2010-2013)
Dennis Da Conceicao (2018-present)
Jared Dudley (2014-2016)
Kevin Durant (2018-present)
Crispin Erwin (2018-present)
Taj Gibson (2016-2017)
Grant Hill (2011-2014)
Jordan Hill (2016-2018)
JJ Hickson (2012-2016)
Robert Horry (2009-2010)
Andrei Kirilenko (2012-2013)
Ty Maximilian (2010-2014)
Dirk Nowitzki (2013-2014)
Ralph Patel (2014-2016)
Borislav Perko (2016-present)
George Power (2017-present)
Basil Richter (2016-present)
Terrence Williams (2009-2010)

Guards

Arron Afflalo (2009-2015)
Ray Allen (2012-2013)
Chauncey Billups (2009-2018)
Shannon Brown (2011-2017)
Mario Chalmers (2010-2013)
Wilson Chandler (2015-2016)
Mardy Collins (2016)
Jrue Holiday (2018-present)
Brandon Jennings (2017-present)
Ty Lawson (2009-2011)
Shaun Livingston (2013-2016)
Taylor MacKenzie (2012-present)
Patrick Mills (2013-present)
Smush Parker (2013)
Ed Reed (2018-present)
J.R. Smith (2009-2011, 2016-present)
Garth Vine (2017-2018)
Louis Williams (2009-2012)

Voting Form

Code: Select all

Centre

5 points:
4 points:
3 points:
2 points:
1 point:

Forward

5 points:
4 points:
3 points:
2 points:
1 point:

Guard

5 points:
4 points:
3 points:
2 points:
1 point:



There's no real timeline to when the voting closes, but it probably will at the start of the NBA Finals. Hope to see plenty of you voting

[Martti.]

Just cast my votes, really good idea. I may have left someone out, but you have had a lot of players. I have followed from the start, went with who I think deserve it.