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Denver Nuggets: Time For Ty Lawson To Go?

By Kevin C Keller

Mar 11, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson (3) during the game against the Atlanta Hawks at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 11, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson (3) during the game against the Atlanta Hawks at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports /
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Ever since Ty Lawson was traded to the Denver Nuggets from the Minnesota Timberwolves immediately after he was drafted from the University of North Carolina in 2009, Nuggets fans have been in love.

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We actually had a point guard to make the speedy Nuggets faster. We had a point guard that could be molded into a real leader under then-starter Chauncey Billups, and we had a point guard with elite potential to call our own in Denver. Not since Fat Lever have the Nuggets had something similar.

Well, the first four years went pretty much as expected. Lawson was definitely fast. He became the starter immediately after Billups, has been at least in the All-Star conversation since becoming a starter, and has posted career averages of 14.2 points and 6.6 assists a game.

His season high averages are a very respectable 17.6 points a game in the 2013-14 season, and 9.6 assists a game this season. He’s increased his assist average every single season he’s been in the NBA, and finished with the third-highest assist average in the league this season.

Apr 1, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson (3) dribbles the ball in front of Utah Jazz guard Dante Exum (11) during the first quarter at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson (3) dribbles the ball in front of Utah Jazz guard Dante Exum (11) during the first quarter at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports /

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    • It’s unfortunate we’ve seen Ty grow into a blossoming NBA point guard, because it looks like it’s time for him to go.

    After the departure of Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith, Allen Iverson, and Kenyon Martin across the past five years, I thought the off-the-court troubles for the Denver Nuggets were in the past. Ty Lawson has managed to bring them back this year.

    Lawson’s never been one with a spotless record in the NBA — at the very least he’s liked to “push it” on Twitter ever since his rookie season. Before this season, however, the worst trouble he’s gotten in was, you know, just shoving his pregnant girlfriend in the summer of 2013.

    As per usual with promising athletes in Denver, we brushed it aside as a one-time mistake, not a foreshadowing of trouble to come. We welcomed the undersized (by NBA standards, 5’11” is pretty small). Plus, we all remembered that amazing dunk he had over the Lakers in 2009, or the best season the Nuggets had in quite a long time, and we wanted MORE.

    Who doesn’t like seeing a dunk like that up by 30 over the Lakers?

    But this season has proved us wrong. Now that Ty Lawson is the Nuggets best player on the court, he’s turned into their worst player off the court, and things seem to be getting worse.

    Throughout this season, it seemed as though Lawson and former head coach Brian Shaw weren’t the best of friends, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. This season Lawson’s managed to get a DUI (he was forgiven), miss practice without letting the team know because he was partying to hard in Vegas (he was forgiven), and now we have this:

    Nuggets fans will forgive you for personal mistakes, but we’ll hardly ever forgive you for saying you wish you played for someone else — especially a Western Conference foe that we have to battle with for three or four games a year. We’ve simply been burned too many times (see Anthony, Carmelo; Mutombo, Dikembe).

    Amid all the talk about the Nuggets “blowing it up” recently, Lawson’s timing seems impeccable. It’s not about blowing everything up though, because the Nuggets are already pretty damn close to rock bottom, it’s about turning the page.

    Turning the page on the Lawson era that peaked with a first-round playoff exit against the Warriors when the point guard put up 21.3 points and 8.0 assists a game. Turning a page so the Nuggets best player is no longer influencing our promising youngsters in Erick Green, Gary Harris, Jusuf Nurkic, and Joffrey Lauvergne much like Iverson, Smith and Melo influenced Lawson.

    Next: NBA: 10 Players Who Deserve More Appreciation

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