Link of the Day - Kelly Dwyer SI piece on Nuggets' limitations

I always like Kelly Dwyer's stuff, and although it's a short piece, today's one-pager on the future of the Nuggets is spot on. He prognosticates that after this unimpressive showing, a few changes may be made on the margins. The obvious candidate here is JR Smith:

The kid can score, and will only get better (both in terms of all-around game and getting his head on straight), but he also boasts the NBA's most replaceable skill set (scoring from the wing, with an off-and-on three-point shot), so if he does do any growing, it may not be in Denver.

I've been puzzled by the Nuggets; they have a seemingly great core in Anthony, Iverson, Camby and Nene. Both Steve Blake and Linas Kleiza have played far better than expected, and they have the requisite hustle guys in Reggie Evans and Eduardo Najera. That's a lot more than most marginal teams have: look at Indiana or New Jersey or the Clippers, they'd be happy for that mix of offense and defense.

My perspective is that L'affaire Kenyon Martin will just kill them in the long run. The Nets may be struggling, but they still look like geniuses for nixing a max contract for Martin. Besides, then they had to dump Alonzo Mourning, and that worked out OK too. Unless you're from Toronto.