24-year old shooting guard J.R. Smith is giving the Nuggets a lot of firepower off the bench this season. Smith has played in 51 games (0 starts) for the Nuggets this season and he is averaging 27.9 minutes, 15.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Smith is the third best offensive player on the Nuggets and I really like how they deploy him so that they always have at least two solid offensive players on the court.

The Nuggets don’t have a lot of available minutes for rookie Ty Lawson but he’s making the most of them. Lawson has played in 52 games (8 starts) for the Nuggets this season and he is averaging 22.0 minutes, 9.2 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Lawson is shooting 51.3% from the floor and 42.9% from three point range so far this season which is outstanding. He will likely be a starter down the road for the Nuggets but his job for the rest of the year is to provide offense off the bench.

With the trade deadline quickly coming up the Nuggets appear willing to move veterans like Anthony Carter, Malik Allen and Johan Petro. Carter could help a team looking for a backup point guard. He has played in 30 games (7 starts) for the Nuggets this season and he is averaging 18.1 minutes, 3.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Power forward Malik Allen and center Johan Petro are both also on the block. Allen has played in 27 games (2 starts) for the Nuggets this season and he is averaging 7.8 minutes, 2.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Center Johan Petro has played in 15 games (0 starts) for the Nuggets this season and he is averaging 5.8 minutes, 1.7 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. The Nuggets likely wouldn’t get much for these guys even if they packaged them together.

The Denver Nuggets can breathe a big sigh of relief with the return of their superstar Carmelo Anthony.  Anthony missed the previous 8 games with an ankle injury, and the Nuggets went 5-3 without him.  He returned on Tuesday night and helped the Nuggets blow out the Mavericks 127-91.  It was a good thing the Nuggets blew them out, as Anthony did not have to play a ton of minutes in his first game back.  He played only 30 minutes and went 8-16 from the field for 19 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds.  The Nuggets are not the same team without Carmelo and he can flat out score the ball for them.  He was leading the league in scoring before his injury, but now sits at third (29.5 ppg), only a few tenths of a point behind Kevin Durant (29.7 ppg) and LeBron James (29.8 ppg).  Carmelo is coming back at a key time for the Nuggets, who have some tough teams coming up on their schedule.  Out of the seven games they have left this month they have to face four tough teams in the Spurs, Cavaliers, Celtics, and Lakers.

The Nuggets need small forward Joey Graham to step up while Carmelo Anthony is out of action due to injury. Graham has played in 35 games (14 starts) for the Nuggets and he is averaging 13.0 minutes, 4.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. The Nuggets need him to start helping out more on offense because the Nuggets will likely have some problems scoring without Carmelo Anthony in the starting lineup.