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Krieger: Shooting guard doesn't mean shooter

Published July 18, 2006 at midnight

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The confusion is understandable. If you're not an expert in the field, you might assume a shooting guard in basketball is called a shooting guard because he or she can shoot.

Unfortunately, you would be wrong, which is one reason we need so many experts on such an inconsequential subject. People in the Nuggets' communal front-office mix presumably know this, although lately you could be forgiven for wondering.

Perhaps you remember T.R. Dunn. He started at shooting guard on some of Doug Moe's teams in the 1980s. He was not a shooter. He was a defensive stopper.

The Nuggets didn't require a shooter to play shooting guard because they had one of the highest-scoring frontcourts in history with Alex English, Dan Issel and Kiki Vandeweghe.

Later, after Vande- weghe was traded and Issel retired, they could not afford a nonshooter such as Dunn at shooting guard, so he played less. By then, they also had Fat Lever, who defied all these definitions, so we'll leave him for another day.

The modern Nuggets have been without a shooter at shooting guard for some time. They have been getting by with a collection of hopers, no-hopers and role players, counting on a frontcourt that is much better defensively than the Nuggets of old but nowhere near as good offensively. Ranking last in the NBA in three-point shooting is the price they paid.

Lip service was paid to acquiring a shooter this offseason, which was an improvement over last offseason, when everyone pretended Voshon Lenard was the answer.

There were some available, too. Jason Terry, Peja Stojakovic, Vladimir Radmanovic, Bonzi Wells, Tim Thomas, Sam Cassell, Mike James, Flip Murray, Bobby Jackson, Matt Harpring and Eric Piatkowski, to name a few.

Most went off the market while the Nuggets were working on new deals for Carmelo Anthony and Nene. Terry re-upped with Dallas. Stojakovic signed with New Orleans/Oklahoma City, Radmanovic with the Lakers, Thomas and Cassell with the Clippers, James with Minnesota, Murray with Detroit, Jackson with New Orleans/Oklahoma City, Harpring with Utah, Piatkowski with Phoenix.

In the meantime, the Nuggets' nominal shooting guard, Greg Buckner, their best three-point shooter last year, not counting the departed Earl Watson, took off for Dallas to resume his career as a stopper.

It's still early, but for now, the Nuggets are worse off at shooting guard than they were when the season ended, which was pretty bad. They are about to acquire J.R. Smith, another shooting guard who is not a shooter - and whom New Orleans/Oklahoma City gave up on two years after using a first-round pick to draft him straight out of high school.

Ignore the hype. Smith's current NBA market value is 33-year-old Howard Eisley (whose usefulness lies in being cut at no cost) and a couple of future second-rounders. That's not a lot of value.

Smith is an athlete, which is what made him a first-round flier in the first place. But he's a 39 percent shooter in the NBA, which makes Buckner look like Ray Allen.

The Nuggets already have a shooting guard who is not a shooter in Ruben Patterson. They drafted another a year ago in Julius Hodge.

That was a perplexing moment. Shooting guard was clearly their area of need. Among the shooting guards on the board at No. 20 were Hodge and Francisco Garcia. Garcia, drafted three spots later by Sacramento, was clearly a shooter. Hodge, clearly, was not, although he had other assets to recommend him. The Nuggets took the nonshooter, as they are poised to do again with Smith.

It is a puzzling fixation, this attraction for shooting guards who can't shoot, especially on a team that could really use a shooter at the position.

The Nuggets tend to shop for shooters in the bargain basement at the last minute. Hence Jon Barry, Wesley Person and Eisley during the past three years. DerMarr Johnson, a genuine shooter, would be perfect if his willowy body didn't get thrown 10 feet down court every time he tried to get over a pick on defense. Smith will join him as a former first-round reclamation project.

Nuggets brass is now trying to sound excited about Casey Jacobsen from the summer league, a shooter who was drafted by the Suns and played his way out of the league, spending last season in Spain.

The Nuggets have tried to sell excitement this summer over the signings of Anthony and Nene, but no matter how much you like these two, they were already here.

Nene, of course, missed last season, so his return from injury can be seen as an addition, but he's also now a $60 million man with career averages of 10.7 points and 6.2 rebounds, so we'll see how that works out.

The front office is still out there trying to make a deal to thin the frontcourt, so it may yet produce a shooting guard who can shoot. Then again, it may just go with tradition.