24-year old SG J.R. Smith is really a nice weapon for the Nuggets off the bench. Make no mistake he’s definitely good enough to start but the Nuggets seem to operate better with him on the second unit. Smith played in 75 games (0 starts) last season for the Nuggets in which he averaged 27.7 minutes, 15.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He has now played in 293 games (42 starts) in his four years with the Nuggets and he is averaging 24.6 minutes, 14.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steal per game. Smith is already the Nuggets’ all time leader in three pointers made (644) and he is also #8 all-time in three point shooting (38.1%). Don’t look for the Nuggets to start Smith any time soon.

The Nuggets traded for Arron Afflalo last summer in a deal in which they also got forward Walter Sharpe from the Pistons for a future 2nd round pick and cash. The 24-year old Afflalo played in 82 games (75 starts) for the Nuggets last season and he averaged 27.2 minutes, 8.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. He shot an amazing 43.4% from three point range last season for the Nuggets. The Pistons gave up on Afflalo way too early. He has now played in 231 games (92 starts) in his NBA career in which he has averaged 19.2 minutes, 5.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. Look for the Nuggets to be on the hunt around draft time for more young players that teams are willing to give up on cheaply.

25-year old small forward Carmelo Anthony is elgible for free agency after the 2010-11 season and the Nuggets are trying to lock him up for a few more years so that he doesn’t hit the open market. It would be smart of the Nuggets to lock him up so that they don’t have to compete with the team’s that lose out in this summer’s free agent derby. Anthony played in 69 games (all starts) for the Nuggets last season and he averaged 38.2 minutes, 28.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He has now played 7 seasons for the Nuggets appearing in 514 games (all starts) in which he has averaged 36.5 minutes, 24.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Anthony is #8 in Nuggets’ history in games played (514), #9 in steals (591) and #3 in points scored (12,711). The Nuggets should do everything that they can to make Anthony happy and want to stay in town a few more years.

Carmelo Anthony is shooting 54% overall from the floor in this series but he had a rough night in game #2 hitting only 9 of 25 shots from the floor. He is averaging 40.0 minutes, 37.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game so far in this series. The Nuggets need him to give up the basketball a little more when his shot is off like last night but in order to do that someone else will need to step up and no one did in game #2. Anthony is the best player in this series so I expect him to play well the rest of the series.

Chauncey Billups has no problem with being “Robin” to Carmelo Anthony’s “Batman” on the Denver Nuggets. Billups has played in 69 games (all starts) for the Nuggets this season and he is averaging 34.1 minutes, 19.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Billups always seems to step up when the games get big so expect him to be a huge asset for the Nuggets come playoff time.