Nuggets: Trade Watch

Posted on February 19, 2008 by Tracy

As the NBA trade deadline approaches, my stress level rises. Here are the latest rumors:

Talks between the Nuggets and Kings continue. The Nuggets are interested in Ron Artest and the Kings want Linas Kleiza. Word is that the Nuggets don’t want to give up Kleiza.
The Nuggets are interested in Mike Miller and Kyle Lowry of the Memphis Grizzlies and possibly Zach Randolph of the New York Knicks.

Trading for Ron Artest (hate!) or Zach Randolph would be stupid. Mike Miller and Kyle Lowry might be good additions to the team, but I think they’d come at too great an expense.

The Nuggets should not, under any circumstances, give up Linas Kleiza. Everybody wants him, which makes sense because he’s awesome, he’s only going to get better, and he’s cheap. These are the same reasons the Nuggets should keep him.

I still say the Nuggets shouldn’t make any trades. I know I’m sentimental and over-attached to the players, but I don’t think that means I’m wrong about this. The level of talent on this team is SICK. They just need to get it together, and I think they can do that.

Update: Linas Kleiza sprained his left ankle in the first half of tonight’s game against the Celtics. It doesn’t look like he’ll be back tonight and there’s no word on whether he’ll miss any future games.

Update: Kleiza is back in the fourth quarter.

Lithuanian NBA Players

Posted on February 8, 2008 by Tracy

(If you’re looking for NBA players in Lithuania during the 2011 lockout, check out this post.)

In this post, I will keep track of Lithuanian players in the NBA.

Why do I care about Lithuanian NBA players? Well, I’m Lithuanian. Like many Lithuanians, I have a long, complicated, hard-to-pronounce last name.

My dad was born in the town of Marijampole Lithuania, although he and his family left the country when he was very young. They lived in Germany for a little while and then moved on to England, then Canada, and then, like many other Lithuanian families, they settled in the Chicago area. I’ve always felt a strong connection to my Lithuanian heritage, probably because of my last name and because of the fact that my dad was born there.

I’ve also been a basketball fan longer than I’ve been a fan of anything. I fell in love with basketball when I was maybe 11 or 12. Why I fell in love with basketball is a mystery — I had no connection to it and nobody in my family was a fan. I loved the DePaul Blue Demons (my first-ever team swag was a Blue Demons hoodie) and — I don’t get this at all — the Boston Celtics (I remember wearing a green polo and a white cardigan to a family gathering — terrible I know but, to be fair, it was the 80s). Of course, we know now that basketball was a gateway drug and lead to a ridiculous obsession with football, then baseball, and even an emerging love of hockey.

So anyway, maybe it makes sense that my ancestry and my early love of basketball make me inclined to appreciate Lithuanian basketball players. Of course, my favorite is Linas Kleiza of the Denver Nuggets, so I write the most about him. I’ll try to at least keep track of some of the other guys, too.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas, from Kaunas
#11–Center–Cleveland Cavaliers
7’3″/ 260
Drafted in 1996, Ilgauskas currently averages 13.9 points; 9.7 rebounds; 1.6 blocks; and 1.6 assists.

Linas Kleiza, from Kaunas
#43–Small Forward–Denver Nuggets
6’8″/ 245
In 2005, after completing his sophomore year at the University of Missouri, Kleiza was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers and immediately traded to Denver. He currently averages 12.3 points; 4.5 rebounds; and 1.3 assists. See my Linas Kleiza category for more information.

Darius Songaila, from Marijampole (How cool is that?!)
#9–Power Forward–Washington Wizards
6’9″/ 248
Drafted in 2002 by the Boston Celtics, Songaila also has played for Sacramento and Chicago. He currently averages 4.8 points; 2.9 rebounds; and 1.3 assists.

I might as well include Latvian players (or, um, player), too.

Andris Biedrins, from Riga
#15–Center–Golden State Warriors
6’11″/ 245
Biedrins was drafted in 2004 by Golden State. He currently averages 10.4 points; 9.9 rebounds; 1.2 blocks; and 1.1 assists. He’s the second Latvian player in NBA history.

Update: My 2011 “Lithuanian and Latvian NBA Players” post is here.

Rumor: Kleiza and Najera for Artest?

Posted on February 4, 2008 by Tracy

I just read that the Nuggets might be interested in acquiring Ron Artest from the Sacramento Kings, and the Sacramento Kings might be interested in acquiring Linas Kleiza and Eduardo Najera from the Nuggets. Source: yahoo sports.

The Denver Post‘s site refers to the Nuggets’ interest Sam Cassell, but there’s nothing about Artest.

The only thing I have to say about the Kleiza/Najera for Artest rumor is this: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Here come the Lithuanians again.

Posted on January 24, 2008 by Tracy

Remember that time last year when a bunch of Lithuanian hoops fans congregated at the Pepsi Center to do some mad crazy cheering for Linas Kleiza (discussed here)? Well, they were back in full force last night, representing for Lietuvos Respublika. Ačiū for the good luck, guys (have you seen the Nugs lose a game when they’re present?).

A Nuggets team decimated by injury beat the Atlanta Hawks — without Carmelo Anthony. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting a win. No Nene? Najera with a wonky elbow? No Melo? No chance, right? The team looked good, though. Cohesive. Camby had a double-double and some Andre-Miller-like assists to Kleiza, who scored 23 points. Kenyon Martin had a double-double; a healthy Kenyon Martin is a monster. Iverson contributed, as usual, with 29 points, and Anthony Carter had nine assists.

This was a nice win, and you almost have to feel a little warm and fuzzy about the Nuggets right now. The problem is that I’m never quite sure what to think about the team — and that reveals the real issue they’re facing this year: inconsistency. As soon as you’re happy about a win over a good opponent or the team’s awesome home record, they get pounded by the Lakers and lose all road games so far this month.

So we’ll see. Today, I’m cautiously optimistic and not thinking beyond the end of the month. January ends with one more home game, then three on the road. I think they can win at home, take two of the three road games, and hopefully avoid additional injuries.

Good luck, guys, and good thoughts to Nene for a speedy and complete recovery.

Lithuanian Ladies Love Linas

Posted on April 16, 2007 by Tracy

Linas Kleiza had his first NBA double double today (23 points/10 rebounds — and 7-for-7 free throws) in the Nuggets’ win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Awesomely, there was a crowd of Lithuanian Kleiza fans at the Pepsi Center, boisterously cheering for Kleiza. I swear he thrives on attention — he tends to kick ass during nationally televised games, and tonight he was just on fire. I love that guy and I need to hang out with these loud-ass Lithuanian basketball fans.

I’m so relieved that the Nuggets turned it around after receiving a smackdown from the lowly Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday (no really, my mom and my dog could’ve played better defense and there’s no way they would have allowed the worst team in the NBA to score 133 points on them). That Memphis game brought back painful memories of last year.

Last year, I had the misfortune of attending the final home game, which was boring as hell and the Nuggets were ahead the whole time, until they lost in the final seconds. They lost the last five regular season games of the year before being squashed by the Clippers and their super-secret ugliness powers during the playoffs. They totally let themselves go after winning the division, and I knew they weren’t a good enough team to turn it back on for the playoffs.

So this year, I’ve been watching these final games with a bit of fear that the same thing will happen again. So far, it hasn’t. There’s no denying that this year’s Spurs are better than last year’s Clippers, but the Nuggets are hot and I’m not worried. I can’t say I think they’ll win (I mean, I can say that if I’m shit talking, but I’m not sure how much I believe it yet), but I can say they’ll play well.

I know it’s too early to worry about next year, but seeing as how Al Wilson just got cut from the Broncos, which bums me out, I’ll spend just a few seconds thinking about it. Word on the street is that next year’s Nuggets team will not include Nene and Camby, and that Camby seems the more likely candidate for trading. I’m going to say it now — getting rid of Camby would rank in the top five of “biggest mistakes the Nuggets could make.” I hope it doesn’t happen.

Now, though, isn’t the time to worry. Now is the time to get ready for the playoffs, which, for me, means coming up with my 2007 San Antonio Spurs heckling strategy. Ginobili, I’ll be ready for you.

Let’s talk about the Nuggets.

Posted on April 10, 2007 by Tracy

The Nuggets are hot. They’re on a six-game win streak, their longest of the season.

They still have their weaknesses. They tend to fall apart to some degree in the second half. They settle for jump shots too often. They get slow. Finally, though, their strengths are starting to outweigh their weaknesses. Melo and AI are making shots. Now that he’s healthy and in shape (and hot!) nobody can stop Nene. Camby is kicking ass with rebounds and blocks. Kleiza is, well, Lithuanian and deadly with the three-pointers and, along with J.R. Smith, awesome off the bench. Najera is bringing the energy. Blake was spotty for a while but seems to have it together again. He hasn’t gotten much playing time lately, but Reggie Evans was awesomely mentioned in a recent Sports Illustrated players’ poll. The poll asked NBA players to name the player with the best ball handling skills, and Evans was the only non-guard mentioned. Go here (it’s the last video posted) to see why. DerMarr Johnson’s hair is fabulous in a different way each time I see him.

They’re currently sitting at 6th in the West. If things stay as they are now, this means they’ll match up with San Antonio in the first round. Although this would present me with unparalleled heckling opportunities, I don’t like it one bit. The Nuggets are hot, but I don’t like their chances against the Spurs. I hate the Spurs and their stupid, slow play and the floppopotamus. The best thing I can say about Manu Ginobili is that he looks like Balki Bartokamous from Perfect Strangers.

Sure, he’ll be fun to heckle, and it will be awesome if the Nuggets win the series, but oh, the stress I’ll have worrying about his dumb ass and Tim Duncan taking my guys out of the playoffs. I can just picture him flopping every ten seconds and Kleiza getting called for the nonexistent foul.

The final Nuggets games are at Utah, at NO/OKC, at Memphis, Minnesota, and at San Antonio.

The one bad thing right now is that George Karl says there is a “small” chance he won’t be back next year. I love George Karl and want him to stick around, so this bums me out. If he does leave, I hope the coaching job goes to Adrian Dantley. But let’s not worry about that now — now is the time to enjoy the hell out of the Nuggets and hope they don’t implode in the playoffs.

More Linas Kleiza

Posted on March 28, 2007 by Tracy

I knew it wouldn’t be long before the world started noticing Linas Kleiza — here’s an article about him from today’s Rocky Mountain News.

In Broncos news, wide receiver Brandon Marshall was arrested on false imprisonment and domestic violence charges and spent the night in jail before being released yesterday afternoon. Marshall had no comment on the incident.

Hit by a Pitch

Category Archives: Linas Kleiza