Yardbarker: Anthony Carter

Game to pay attention to: Nuggets at Trail Blazers

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:20:00 -0500

Denver (1-0) at Portland (1-0) This game should be pretty solid. The Nuggets clearly have their act together. The Trail Blazers are still figuring things out, but they do have all that talent and depth to fall back on, and they're at home. The teams split the season series last year, both will be duking it out for the Northwest Division title this season. Love Greg Oden(notes), but can he stay on the court with the quicker Nene and Kenyon Martin(notes) running around? Love Anthony Carter(...

Nuggets re-sign vet backup point guard Carter

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:20:52 -0500

DENVER (AP) -- The Denver Nuggets, who lost Dahntay Jones and Linas Kleiza to free agency, have fulfilled one of coach George Karl's offseason wishes with the re-signing of backup point guard Anthony Carter.

Extensions for Melo, Karl and Wark?...

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:48:00 -0500

If you're like me and have been disappointed by the Post's lack of Nuggets coverage during the offseason, I encourage you to read our old friend Chris Tomasson's latest articles over at the Rocky Mountain Independent and Pro Basketball News. Doing his usual solid reporting, Tomasson has some news for us regarding the contracts for Nuggets head coach George Karl, Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien and even Carmelo Anthony and other players. This is further proof of why print is losing out to the internet. While the Post guys continue to write to their "print" limitations, Tomasson (and even myself here at Denver Stiffs) can write to what needs to be said, not to what needs to be printed.

According to Tomasson...

...the Nuggets are going to extend George Karl for two more years. Readers of this blog know my take on a Karl extension. While I believe he did a great job last season, I'm concerned that much of this was because Karl had something to prove. If he gets cushy job security now, are we going to get the same Karl in 2009-10? I'd prefer to see Karl extended after we see how the Nuggets respond to their newfound success.

...Nuggets vice president of basketball operations Mark Warkentien - who won the NBA's 2008-09 Executive of the Year - is also in line for an extension. I must admit that Wark is starting to win me over. I didn't like the direction he had the Nuggets going in (and said so many, many, many times) when he was assembling a Denver squad that mirrored the Jailblazers he co-architected in Portland. But since last season's disastrous playoff "run" ended, Warkentien (along with co-GM Rex Chapman and Stan Kroenke adviser Bret Bearup) has finally put a premium on character over characters. Hence the acquisitions of Renaldo Balkman, Chris Andersen, Dahntay Jones and, of course, Chauncey Billups. If the Nuggets want to extend Warkentien now, I'm ok with it.

On the player front, Melo told Tomasson that if the Nuggets wanted to discuss an extension this summer, he'd "consider that." As of today, Melo is in line to receive $18.5 million in 2011-12, if he doesn't opt out before then. And Tomasson is also reporting that the Nuggets will sign Anthony Carter for the minimum (if Carter accepts it), won't match an offer to Linas Kleiza if he's overpaid and are open to bringing back Johan Petro for the right price.

Of note is that the Nuggets weren't willing to pay Channing Frye $2 million per year. I thought $2 million was the right price for Frye, but now we know why we lost him to the Suns.

The Nuggets offseason: Anthony Carter...

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:02:00 -0500

(Photo courtesy of Jonathan Maness)

With the Nuggets trading for UNC point guard Ty Lawson in last Thursday's NBA Draft, the timing couldn't be better to discuss whether or not the Nuggets should re-sign backup point guard Anthony Carter. For an assortment of reasons that will be detailed below, A.C. has become a lightning rod for criticism on this blog and among most Nuggets fans that I talk to, and I've never believed this to be totally fair. So before jumping right to the comments section to voice your opinion on why the Nuggets shouldn't re-sign A.C., here's the case for and against the 10-year veteran.

The Good: Keeping in mind that Carter made "just" $1.26 million last season, there's a lot to appreciate about him. Even with his minutes cut down by six per game from his 28 minutes per game peak of 2007-08, Carter put up solid numbers in points (5.3), assists (4.7) and steals (1.2). Additionally, as he's done since arriving in Denver right before the 2007 playoffs Carter never takes a night off and provides an instant energy boost off the bench. Carter may get careless with the basketball (more on that below), but you can never accuse A.C. of not giving his all.

A recent notable example of A.C.'s upside would be his performance against the Mavericks in the second round of the playoffs. In Game 1, A.C. scored 12 points on six-of-eight shooting, had four assists and two huge steals which led to easy layups, sparking a blowout victory for the Nuggets. And in the closeout Game 5, with the Nuggets looking sluggish and allowing the Mavericks to hang around into the third quarter, A.C. came off the bench and had two quick offensive rebound put-backs that the Mavs didn't see coming. A.C. finished Game 5 with eight points on four-of-six shooting to go along with five rebounds and three assists. And he did all that in just 17 minutes of playing time.

Beyond the numbers and never-ending hustle, A.C. has earned the trust of his head coach (more on this in "The Bad" below) and teammates, and has never once complained about his minutes or his role, which has changed from bench warmer to backup to starter and back to backup.

And again, let's not forget the price tag. With five Nuggets - Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, Chauncey Billups, Nene and J.R. Smith - eating up 85% of the pre-luxury tax payroll, the Nuggets aren't going to have a multi-million dollar backup point guard like Earl Watson or Steve Blake. $1.26 million a season doesn't excuse Anthony Carter from performing under par off the bench, but it does put his solid numbers and fairly solid nightly performance in perspective.

(Photo courtesy of Jonathan Maness)

The Bad: I've written a number of times that you can't be critical of A.C. without being critical of the man who plays him too many minutes, insists on playing him side-by-side with another undersized guard and regularly puts him in situations that don't suit him (like inbounds plays). That man, of course, would be George Karl. Karl's "old school" approach to the game which includes rewarding veterans like A.C. with ample playing time may be admirable to some, but it often bites Karl - and thereby all the Nuggets - in the ass. And in regards to A.C. specifically, this has been going on for two straight seasons now.

There are countless examples of Karl inserting A.C. into games in situations that make absolutely no sense. Most recently, Nuggets fans everywhere collectively cringed when Karl would sub the 6'2" (that's generous) A.C. in for Smith to play alongside the 6'3" Chauncey Billups and be asked to defend the 6'6" Kobe Bryant throughout long stretches of the Western Conference Finals. I don't have the numbers on exactly how many points Kobe scored when A.C. was guarding him, but for the second straight postseason Kobe torched A.C. If Kobe didn't score easily over A.C., then he easily found an open man to pass to because A.C. simply can't do anything in defense of Kobe (few can, but A.C. literally had no chance of succeeding). And Karl's most ludicrous decision of the WCF was when he chose the diminutive A.C. to throw in a crucial inbounds pass while being guarded by the 6'10" Lamar Odom in the closing moments of Game 1. We all remember what happened there.

Even though there wasn't a third viable point guard (apologies to Jason Hart) to insert into the rotation last season, Karl played A.C. way too many minutes. For about 10 to 14 minutes a game, A.C. is fine. Once you get north of 14 minutes, the results diminish and that leads us to another negative on A.C. - turnovers.

For whatever reason, after he's been on the floor a while A.C. gets a little too comfortable and starts throwing "touchdown" passes that rarely materialize into anything other than a turnover. You know what these passes look like. The Nuggets are on a nice run, they pull down a big offensive rebound, Melo leaks out ahead of the defense and A.C. throws the pass...into the stands. As I stated a few months ago, if J.R. Smith is "The One Man Comeback" than A.C. could be nicknamed "The One Man Turnover." In 25% of the games A.C. played, he turned the ball over at least three times which basically equates to one turnover per seven minutes of playing time in those games.

I should also call out A.C.'s shooting as another negative. He's a career 40.4% shooter and an even worse 23.8% shooting from three, but he only shoots one three-pointer a game. But A.C. has been known to make timely jump shots when he shoots in rhythm. He gets in trouble when he's forced to put up a shot after standing around.

Possible Replacement(s): This question has already been answered somewhat with the Lawson acquisition, but by bringing in Lawson doesn't mean A.C. is gone. In fact, I bet it's quite the opposite. With Lawson set to make about $1.5 million (not too much by NBA standards, even with the Nuggets being capped out), bringing back A.C. for about $1.3 million will suit the Nuggets' brass. This doesn't mean the Nuggets shouldn't be looking for a steal elsewhere, however, but to do so we're talking bargain basement shopping.

The "bargain bin" of backup point guards include names of former first and second round draft choices who thus far haven't been able to hack it in the NBA, such as Taurean Green, Mateen Cleaves, Marcus Williams, Dee Brown, Dan Dickau and so on. So unless the Nuggets are insistent on going really cheap (i.e. less than $1 million for their third point guard), expect to see A.C. back in training camp.

The Verdict: I hate to go against almost all of my readers' wishes, but unless the Nuggets can find a better backup point guard for less than $1.5 million, I'm for bringing A.C. back for three reasons.

First, there's no guarantee that Lawson is going to pan out. While we're all thrilled with the acquisition and see a lot of upside, Lawson could also be added to that list of "short point guards who didn't pan out" like Green, Brown and Cleaves, all of whom had awesome college careers.

Second, spending $1.3 million on A.C. is a cheap (relatively speaking) way to pacify Karl. Karl has publicly stated numerous times that he wants A.C. back, so if the Nuggets give Karl his wish on this roster spot, maybe that buys them a future acquisition to push through over Karl's objections (if Karl were to have any, as he's had in the past).

And third, what's wrong with a little backup point guard controversy? A lot of Nuggets fans have voiced their displeasure with Karl already stating that Lawson will need to "prove that he's got to play sometime". But since when should the backup point guard spot - or any roster spot for that matter - just be handed over to a rookie? If by having to compete with A.C. for the number two point guard slot makes Lawson work harder, focus more, play better, etc, than so be it.

That being said, if Lawson performs admirably in summer league, training camp and during the preseason and Karl refuses to play him over A.C. (as we saw with J.R. Smith up until the second half of last season), I'll be the first to call Karl out for such an absurd decision. But before we get into the A.C. vs. Lawson debate, let's see how Lawson performs.

Best case scenario, Lawson turns out to be a solid pro right away, a la Mario Chalmers last season. This means Billups' playing time could be reduced from 35 minutes per game down to maybe 31 or 32, Lawson steps in for 15 minutes and A.C. gets a few garbage time minutes.

Nuggets Lakers Game 1 Observations

Tue, 19 May 2009 23:43:19 -0500

Anthony Carter is going to get the blame, but the Nuggets lost this game in the last 3 minutes. They simply don’t have the experience in close games. A silly reach in foul, one poor rotation, and one bad possession is all it takes to lose in a game like this. Denver’s disadvantage on the boards [...]

Twitter…it’s What the Cool Kids are Doing

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:17:52 -0500

Don’t know if any of you folks use Twitter…but, if you do, you can now follow me and other bloggers from the Fansided.com sports network.

WTKA to broadcast Ufer, 1979 Indiana game today

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 10:36:33 -0500

Keeping with tradition during bye weeks, from noon to 3WTKA 1050AM will broadcast a historic game featuring the legendary Bob Ufer. This time, it's the game that includes Ufer's most famous call-Johnny Wangler to Anthony Carter as Bo and the Wolverines took down Lee Corso's Indiana Hoosiers. For those out of coverage area, check [...]

Rondo Moves So Slick He'll Make You Fall Down

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:46:05 -0500

I watched this last night, and couldn't wait to put it up. Anytime you knock someone to their butt without touching them is just Awesome!!!

Opportunity Knocks: The Anthony Carter Story

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:06:08 -0500

The Nuggets Anthony Carter knows about second chances. As a high school drop-out, he didn't have many options. It was either sell drugs and rob people, or play ball. Carter chose the latter, becoming one of the best basketball hustlers in ATL. But he still feared turning to harder crime