Injury Bulletin: Anthony Carter Breaks Bone in Hand

NUGGETS 1 INJURY ALERT

DENVER - Denver Nuggets guard Anthony Carter broke a bone in his right hand during practice Saturday morning.

He fractured the third metacarpal, the team said. No timeline was set for his return.

Carter averaged 3.0 points, 5.5 assists and 1.5 rebounds in two games for the Nuggets last season. In eight years in the NBA, Carter has averaged 4.7 points, 3.7 assists and two rebounds in 364 games for Miami, San Antonio, Minnesota and Denver.

IMPACT OF THIS INJURY ON THE NUGGETS

If Point Guard Carter is out and not replaced with a new acquisition, it forces the coaches to play Iverson at the point more, in back up of Chucky Atkins, who is technically the only other full point guard on the Nuggets roster right now.

This could be a blessing in disguise, because I think that the best way to offset the lack of adequate offensive set plays, and to force Iverson to cut down on weak or meaningless dribbling and isolation plays, is to put him at the point, so that he knows up front that he is supposed to, quickly, distribute to anyone who is scoring and open. Iverson himself will still get his shots, but without all the isolation plays, that the defense can fairly easily smother, that he has been stuck with while playing the 2-spot.

An example of how it should work: Iverson at the point passes to player X in the post, who passes back out to player Y who is on or near the 3-line. Y gets it back to Iverson, who is now in a driving lane or in scoring position. That's alot better than having a point guard pass to Iverson, and then have him dribble around and put up a very contested jumper. The over reliance on Iverson to score is the main reason Iverson was unproductive in much of the Spurs playoff series after game 1. In basketball, when you over rely on a player, you are making it too easy for the defense.