Marcus Camby only needs to stay healthy to be one of the best centers in the Western Conference.  Camby is very fast and athletic for someone his size.  Last season Marcus averaged 12.8 points, 11.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.  Camby is also an excellent shot blocker that makes others change their shot.  For his career, Camby has averaged 10.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.5 blocks per game.

Nene Hilario will be the back-up at center as well as power forward.  Nene only played a couple of games last season because he had a bad knee that required surgery.  Nene has averaged 10.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game. 

Jamal Sampson will be the #3 center for the Nuggets.  Sampson is a good rebounder, but that’s his only real skill.  Sampson has averaged 2.4 points & 3.9 rebounds per game over his career.

Carmelo Anthony really busted out last season averaging 26.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists.   Anthony is an offensive player, plain and simple.  Anthony is a great finisher is transition and he’s also a great one-on-one player.  Carmelo needs to get better at rebounding and defense, but the sky’s the limit on offense for him.  For his career, Anthony has averaged 22.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Eduardo Najera is a great hustle player off of the bench.  Najera also could play power forward in a pinch.  Eduardo has averaged 5.1 points & 4.1 rebounds per game over his career, but the thought here is that he could do real well with extended minutes.

Linas Kleiza is the #3 small forward for the Nuggets.  Linas plays hard, but he’s a little over-matched on the defensive end by other teams’ small forwards.  Kleiza has averaged 3.5 points & 1.9 rebounds per game over his career.

The Nuggets were kinda lucky to have kept this game so close, because they didn’t play any defense allowing the Knicks to hit 50% of their shots and the Nuggets were out-rebounded 46-37.  Carmelo Anthony almost willed his team to victory with 37 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals.  J.R. Smith scored 16 points, but he couldn’t stop Jamal Crawford on defense, who scored 35 points against them.  Andre Miller had a solid game with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists.  Eduardo Najera, starting in place of injured Kenyon Martin, scored 12 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.  Marcus Camby was very active with 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocked shots.

The Nuggets have fallen to 0-3 with this loss.

Kenyon Martin needs arthoscopic surgery on his right knee and will be out indefniately.  Martin had averaged 9.5 points & 10.0 rebounds per game so far this season.  Martin vows to return at some point this season.  Eduardo Najera and Nene will spilt up the playing time until Martin returns.

Kenyon Martin is an absolute box score stuffer.  He plays great defense and is a good rebounder when he’s not in George Karl’s doghouse.  Martin has averaged 14.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocks per game over his career.  There is no reason to think that Martin will at least match his career norms as long as he stays healthy and out of the doghouse.

Veteran Joe Smith was brought in to protect the Nuggets against Martin’s health & attitude.  Smith has averaged 12.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and a block per game over his career.  He’s a solid bench player for the Nuggets, that could play big minutes if needed.

The third-string PF is Reggie Evans.  Evans is a pure-power player that’s lone skill is rebounding the basketball.  Evans has averaged 4.1 points & 7.3 rebounds in his career despite only averaging 20.6 minutes per game.