The season is still two months away, but most of the rosters are set, barring the requisite Michael Jordan comeback rumor (just kidding, but only a little).  We have an idea where our team stands, but we can't really know unless we discuss everyone else.  In that spirit, I'm going to throw up a "competition discussion" thread for each of the other 29 teams over the next month or so.  We'll go in alphabetical order from A to Z.  Today's team: Denver.

Last year's record: 50-32

In: Chris Anderson, Renaldo Balkman, Dahntay Jones
Out: Marcus Camby, Eduardo Najera

Projected starting lineup: Anthony Carter, Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, Nene.

Key themes:

• Can George Karl regain control of this club?
• Can the defense approach the level it played at early in the season, or was its collapse in the last four months indicative of how it'll play this season?
• How do they replace Marcus Camby?  Better yet, how will the players react to how he was basically given away?
• Can J.R. Smith continue to improve?
• If they start to struggle, what happens to Allen Iverson, as he's in the final year of his contract?
• Carmelo Anthony improved his rebounding last year, but it came at a cost to his defense and scoring efficiency.  Can he become a more complete player?
• Can Nene and Kenyon Martin stay healthy and effective?

Back in the saddle with the Nuggets today.  Something about a Gilbert Arenas injury got me sidetracked.

As odd as last season was for the Nuggets, people forget they still managed to win 50 games.  That's hardly a major accomplishment, because they expected more with Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, but it was still a five-game improvement.  Matter of fact, the franchise hasn't won that many games since 1988.  But because of the strength of the West, the weight of expectations and the playoff sweep to the Lakers, last season becomes a major letdown.

Because of last season, the Nuggets are cutting costs and beginning the rebuilding process.  At least I think they are, because how else do you explain the Marcus Camby trade?  Sure, they saved a ton of money, but couldn't they at least have gotten somebody young and promising in return?  To the Nuggets' credit, they made a shrewd trade with the Knicks to get Renaldo Balkman, but they surely could have done more. 

The thing is, Camby is overrated on the court, as Pickaxe and Roll loves to say.  He looks like a great defender, but only because he picks up a lot of blocks and rebounds.  He never is assigned to the opposing teams' best big man because he is so skinny and undisciplined.  He's terrible at covering pick and rolls, allowing perimeter players tons of open looks.  Offensively, he shoots too many jumpers and can't finish around the rim.  In terms of his tangible impact, I don't think Denver will miss him much.

The problem I see with trading Camby for nothing is that it'll tear apart this fragile team mentally.  Even with tons of expectations, this team didn't play hard at all last season.  Now that management has dumped an incredibly popular player for nothing, what incentive do the players have to work hard?  They could easily play the "management doesn't care anyway" card and go completely in the tank.  Add in the situation with Allen Iverson -- they were right to not give him an extension, but he probably isn't too enthused about it -- and the problems with George Karl, and I could easily see these guys completely self-destructing.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.  The Nuggets certainly aren't better, but they should at least be in the mix for the 8th spot in the playoffs.  I see them falling short, but it wouldn't surprise me to see the exact same playoff finish this season.

Prediction: 43-39, third in Northwest, ninth in West

Previously (predictions are me/Jake/Truth)...

• Atlanta: 35-47/34-48/37-45.
• Boston: 58-24/58-24/55-27
• Charlotte: 31-51/35-47/38-44
• Chicago: 33-49/39-43/40-42
• Cleveland: 54-28/52-30/51-31
• Dallas: 50-32/48-34/46-36
  

Now that we're firmly in the off-season, most of the talk is centering around the draft or making some trades, so let's split 'em up into two categories.

The Draft:

For all of you mock drafters out there, make sure you check out Ridiculous Upside's Mock Draft tool.

In terms of mock drafts that are already out, Chad Ford says take Javale McGee and Matt of Ridiculous Upside says take Marreese Speights.  Also. make sure you check out NY1's lottery mock draft.

Romans12 makes the case that Joey Dorsey would be a better fit for the Wizards than Roy Hibbert.  Matt of RU offers a rebuttal.  I can see the case for drafting someone like Dorsey -- the Wiz can use all the defense and rebounding that they can get -- but I'm really worried about his free throw percentage.  The 37.8% mark from the charity stripe is just bad on so many levels.  It doesn't bother me much from an offensive standpoint since that's not what we'd be bringing him here for in the first place, but it does bother me that in his senior year where he has a chance to contend for a national championship, his free throw percentage drops from an already poor 46%.  That just raises some red flags for me about his character (I know, buzzword with no real meaning, deal with it).  Then again, I thought Rodney Stuckey would be a bust, so take this paragraph with an epic grain of salt. 

Romans12 also had another FanPost about his fave 5 prospects in the draft this year.

Off-season trades/Rebuilding/Other stuff:

Just in case you were unsure, there are Wiz fans who aren't sad to see Cleveland out of the playoffs.   Their championship dreams might be over for this year, but that doesn't mean that Cavs fans aren't still ambitious.

Remember Vladimir Veremeenko?  He was the 2nd round pick back in '06 who, like his first round counterpart Olekisy Pecherov, spent his first season overseas.  O-Pec made his way over last year and now it looks like VV may be heading over as well:

Yesterday, I spoke with Marc Cornstein, the agent who represents Vladimir Veremeenko, and it appears that there is a decent chance that Veremeenko could play in summer league. Taken in the second round by the Wiz two years ago, Veremeenko is playing for Khimki in Russia (also have seen it spelled "Khimky") but could negotiate his way out of the contract all together or simply be cleared to play in summer league.

Ernie Grunfeld has indicated that he would like to see Veremeenko in summer league as well so maybe something can get done. Cornstein declined to detail Veremeenko's contract situation but it appears that it is nowhere near as restrictive as the one Juan Carlos Navarro had in Barcelona before negotiating his way to the NBA last summer. At the very least, it would be good to get Veremeenko over to Las Vegas for summer league so other teams can see him. You never know, maybe some team falls in love decides to make a move for him.

If nothing else, the fact that his contract is more manageable that Navarro's is a good sign.  I'm going to try and look into his game some more this week to see what it is that we'd be getting if he does make the jump this summer.

Wooz and johnnyv both have some ideas on how to shape up the Wizards in the off-season.

It looks like Carmelo is on the trading block in Denver.  For anyone that's about to run over to the trade checker, let me make it simple: If your trade doesn't have Caron, it won't work.

Melo might be out of our reach, but what about Chris Wilcox?

In the wake of Chicago winning the draft lottery, Truth About It has an idea for a trade between the Bulls and Knicks that's worth checking out.  I'm not sure if either GM would go for it (who knows what Paxson and Walsh are thinking these days?) but I'd definitely be interested if I was in their position.