Winderman: Birdman, bench have Nuggets flying high

— Danny Granger won the NBA's Most Improved Player of the Year award this week, and there is no question the Pacers forward was a deserving candidate, although a hearty debate could be made about Nets guard Devin Harris or Thunder forward Kevin Durant being snubbed.

Be that as it may, at least there was an award to debate.

The shame is that it has been nearly a quarter century since the NBA has named a Comeback Player of the Year.

And although the league's concerns about annually awarding a player coming off a drug suspension or other sundry absence might have been justified, the ultimate victim might have been this year's Denver Nuggets.

No, we're not talking about Chauncey Billups making himself as relevant as he has been since the Pistons' 2004 NBA title. We're not talking about Carmelo Anthony finally growing up, J.R. Smith finally making his peace with coach George Karl, Nene completing his comeback from testicular cancer or Kenyon Martin actually making more noise on the court than his mother makes off it.

We're beyond all that.

We're talking about the wonderful support system that NBA Executive of the Year Mark Warkentien has cobbled together.

We're talking about the second-tier of the Nuggets' roster, where, without any trace of hyperbole, amazing has happened.

At a time when depth has become a primary postseason issue, with the Celtics having to dig deeper with the absences of Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe, and with the Hawks finished for the season because they lacked enough reserve, the Nuggets offer three of the league's most unlikely but most essential supporting players:

Chris Andersen.

Anthony Carter.

Dahntay Jones.

Each carries a remarkable story. Each couldn't possibly have been expected to be here, on this cusp of the Western Conference finals, in such significant roles.

Andersen's story is perhaps the best known, one of substance abuse and the resolve to return as a better person, albeit just as colorful as the one who never had previously reached his current Birdman NBA heights.

Carter's story is perhaps the most fascinating, of how his NBA career appeared to be at a dead end in 2003, when his agent forgot to meet the guard's opt-in deadline and he suddenly was out of a guaranteed $4 million payday from the Heat. He wandered lost on the fringes of the league over the next four seasons.

Then there is Jones, who used to be somebody during his two seasons at Duke, then toiled anonymously through five seasons in the NBA backwoods of Memphis and Sacramento.

Yet how has Denver won as consistently this postseason as any team this side of Cleveland, with its lone two playoff losses coming by a combined margin of four points?

Because when Nene sits, Anderson steps in with a shot-blocking fury that had him second in the league during the regular season to Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard.

Because as steady as Billups has been with the first unit, Carter has matched that consistency with the second.

Because when Karl didn't want to run Billups into foul trouble in the first round against Chris Paul, he turned the defensive assignment against the Hornets guard to Jones. By series’ end the New Orleans coaching staff was fuming about Jones' aggressive approach.

The names aren't as sexy as the ones that flow off the Celtics or Lakers benches, but the trio are as complementary as anything remaining in the postseason.

Much of that has to do with Anderson, the burst of energy who comes with a back-story like no other in the NBA.

Suspended in January 2006 for violating the league's drug policy, Anderson was not reinstated until March 2008, appearing then in only five games, for a total of 34 minutes, with the Hornets.

Then, this past offseason, he returned to his roots, having spent his first three NBA seasons with the Nuggets.

To say he has been a revelation would be understatement, and for more than the colorful tattoos and spiked hair.

Andersen not only recorded Top 10 finishes in the balloting for Defensive Player of the Year and the Sixth Man Award, but led the Nuggets in rebounding 23 times during the regular season. For a team forced to sell off Marcus Camby last summer due to luxury-tax concerns, the timing for a career revival could not have been better.

Then there is Carter, who, through no fault of his own, saw his first shot at NBA success come to an end when a clerical oversight cost him a payday he has yet to match in his ensuing six NBA seasons. He was due a $4 million option, provided he opt in with the Heat by June 30, 2003.

Instead, his agent forgot, and the Heat used that salary-cap windfall to sign Lamar Odom, then spun Odom a year later into Shaquille O'Neal and eventually into the franchise's first NBA championship.

Carter? He said his agent made good on the forfeited funds, but no fit had been as secure as those four seasons in Miami, including the 10 appearances he made with the Heat in the 2000 playoffs.

After landing in Denver for two games late in 2007, then sticking around a year ago amid the confusion that was the end of the Allen Iverson era, his value became magnified as the primary understudy to Billups.

Sprinkling in six double-digit assist efforts, Carter led Denver in that category 21 times during the regular season, ranking ninth in the league in assists per 48 minutes, as well as ninth in steals per 48 minutes. His 4.7 assist average was the highest in the league for a player averaging fewer than 27 minutes.

Although Carter might never be “Mister Big Shot” like Billups, considering an odd-looking release that limits his ceiling, he makes up for the lack of offense by minimizing his errors and offering defensive tenacity that often has him on the court at the ends of games.

As for Jones, all the perspective one needs is this: Through his first five seasons, the 2003 first-round draft choice of the Celtics started 36 games, including none in two of those seasons; yet this season, he started 71 of his 79 appearances, as well as all of the Nuggets' postseason games.

Viewed as stopgap option at the start of the season, the 6-foot-6 swingman has allowed Karl to keep the firepower of Smith and Linas Kleiza with the second unit, while also offering a defensive perimeter option with the first team.

Ultimately the decision paid ultimate dividends for Denver, as it climbed to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. The Nuggets went 21-5 during the regular season when Jones played 20 or more minutes.

Total cost for Andersen, Carter and Jones? Less than $2.4 million against the cap. Less than half the mid-level exception for a single player. Each is earning the minimum, making it easier for the Nuggets to stomach the eight-figure deals of Martin, Anthony and Billups, as well as one that comes within dollars of that range by Nene.

With the NBA having completed the announcements of its individual postseason awards, the shame is Comeback Player of the Year is no more, that the substance-abuse travails of winners such as Bernard King and Micheal Ray Richardson during a dark era for the NBA turned the honor into a source of shame.

This season, with what Anderson, Carter and Jones have achieved in Denver, it could again have been a matter of pride.

A: I'm not sure that if Manu Ginobili wasn't healthy, that the Spurs still wouldn't still be playing.

Although I said a few weeks back that the Spurs will need an overhaul with the aging back end of the rotation — players such as Bruce Bowen, Michael Finley and Kurt Thomas — the reality is that life in Southwest is changing so rapidly that a team with Ginobili, Parker and Tim Duncan still should compete for the division title.

The Hornets are up against the luxury tax and might have to divest themselves of almost anything shy of Chris Paul and David West.

The Rockets face serious questions with the futures of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, in addition to Ron Artest's impending free agency.

As for the Mavericks, patience could be wearing thin with Mark Cuban after yet another not-close-enough season.

Right now, if the Spurs do nothing, they would be among the Southwest favorites in '09-10. Because of that, I wouldn't expect anything dire or drastic.

A: No.

Gordon might still have cost himself money by not taking last summer's five-year, $50 million offer from the Bulls.

Few teams will be willing to spend on long-term deals this summer, with so much talent available in 2010 free agency. It wouldn't be shocking to see Gordon take some type of one-year deal, so he, too, can have a bite at the 2010 cap-space apple.

In any other year, Gordon's scoring binges against the Celtics would have resulted in a rewarding payday.

Now, about the only way he cashes in could be as part of some type of sign-and-trade transaction facilitated by the Bulls, one that could severely limit his potential landing spots.

A: I will! (And did with more than 1,000 words at the top of this space.)

Here's the deal: Before the arrival of Chauncey Billups, this was a team you could not trust.

It was almost expected that Kenyon Martin, Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith or even George Karl would lose their cool when the season was in the balance.

And that's not even getting into the volatility of the Allen Iverson era.

Then there was the offseason sell off of Marcus Camby, giving the impression that management did not have winning as the ultimate priority.

Only after the first-round mauling of the Hornets was there a sense that this could be for real.

You'll be reading and hearing plenty about the Nuggets in coming weeks. They've emerged as a true playoff revelation.

A: I disagree. I'm not sure, with a drive-and-kick component in Devin Harris and a post element in Brook Lopez that Carter isn't as well-positioned with the Nets as he has been in years.

Cleveland was a rumored landing spot last season, but the way things have come together with the Cavaliers, it would be difficult to envision Danny Ferry doing anything as drastic in the offseason, even if LeBron comes up short in his pursuit of a championship.

The Spurs also have been linked to Vince, but again, it would seem the sticker shock would prove too drastic.

Of course, there's always the Knicks in 2010, if New York fails in its quest for LeBron or Wade or Bosh, and has all that cap space sitting around. In fact, some team might just look at Vince as a 2010 consolation prize, meaning another season in New Jersey could be likely.