Nuggets' guard reviving career
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Wednesday, April 28
Updated: April 28
4:50 PM ET
Voshon Lenard hit a 25-foot three-point shot with 2:04 left in last night's contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves to bring the Denver Nuggets to within four points of tying the game.
Then he stole the ball from Kevin Garnett on the very next possession with 1:42 left in the game. With 1:23 left in the game, Lenard drilled yet another three-pointer, his sixth in seven attempts, to bring his game-high point total to 28 and his team to within one point of a tie.
The Timberwolves went on to win the game, 84-82, in the Pespi Center to go up 3-1 in the first round playoff series and come within 48 minutes of their first second round invitation in franchise history. But, it was the same Voshon Lenard who scored a team-high 24 points in the second game of the series when the Nuggets lost, 81-95.
In a series featuring MVP to be Garnett, Carmelo Anthony, Latrell Sprewell, Sam Cassell, Marcus Cambvy and Nene, Lenard has been lost in the shuffle.
Drafted in the second round of the 1994 draft, Lenard was banished to the CBA for the next two seasons, plucked out of the quagmire by the Miami Heat on December 29,1995, midway through a season that saw the Heat shuffle through 22 different players.
He was later signed by Toronto on October 23, 2002, seven pre-season games after the Raptors had already started and only seven days before the official start of the season. He only scored a career-high 14.3 points per game that year replacing an injured Vince Carter and was dumped on the free agent scrap heap as soon as the season ended and Carter looked healed.
Voshon Lenard
Shooting Guard
Denver Nuggets
Then along comes Denver general manager Kiki Vandeweghe trading away franchise player Antonio McDyess, cutting salary, stocking up on draft picks and building his team of the future.
On June 26, 2003, he selects Anthony with the third overall pick of the draft.
On August 1, 2003, the Nuggets sign point guard Andre Miller to a free agent contract.
On August 18, Denver signs Earl Boykins to back up Miller one day before signing Jon Barry to play back up shooting guard even though the team has no starting shooting guard at the time.
On September 5, 2003, Vandeweghe signs big man Francisco Elson and the roster is at 13 players, one over the eligible limit and two below the maximum should the Nuggets decide to carry three players on injured reserve.
They are young. They are up and coming. They are expected to win anywhere between 20 and 30 games.
They are, unbeknownst to them, two or three years ahead of schedule by winning 43 games during the regular season and advancing to the playoffs in the tough Western Conference and actually winning a post season game against the top seeded team.
Can you blame fans for forgetting that on September 12, 2003, just 27 days before the team's first pre-season game, the Nuggets signed Lenard to a one-year deal worth $2.75 million?
And for good measure, he scores 28 points last night to top everyone and there isn't a single quote from him or about him in the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain Review, St. Paul Pioneer Press or Minneapolis Star Tribune.
In five or six years when Denver wins the NBA Title and Anthony is named MVP we're all going to look back and remember when it all started. On April 24 when the upstart Nuggets defeated the No. 1 seeded Minnesota Timberwolves, 107-86, in the third game of the series as the team's starting shooting guard scored an irrelevant 9 points.
What was his name again?
But if the Nuggets had won that second game. If Lenard was somehow able to grab that offensive rebound with 1 second on the clock last night and heave the ball over his head and into the basket. If the Nuggets were to win the next game in Minnesota and then the next one back in Denver.
But that would take a miracle.
About as big as the one currently in process that has a vagabond shooting guard on a one year stint leading the entire Denver Nugget roster in scoring in the postseason.
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Wednesday, April 28
Updated: April 28
4:50 PM ET
Voshon Lenard hit a 25-foot three-point shot with 2:04 left in last night's contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves to bring the Denver Nuggets to within four points of tying the game.
Then he stole the ball from Kevin Garnett on the very next possession with 1:42 left in the game. With 1:23 left in the game, Lenard drilled yet another three-pointer, his sixth in seven attempts, to bring his game-high point total to 28 and his team to within one point of a tie.
The Timberwolves went on to win the game, 84-82, in the Pespi Center to go up 3-1 in the first round playoff series and come within 48 minutes of their first second round invitation in franchise history. But, it was the same Voshon Lenard who scored a team-high 24 points in the second game of the series when the Nuggets lost, 81-95.
In a series featuring MVP to be Garnett, Carmelo Anthony, Latrell Sprewell, Sam Cassell, Marcus Cambvy and Nene, Lenard has been lost in the shuffle.
Drafted in the second round of the 1994 draft, Lenard was banished to the CBA for the next two seasons, plucked out of the quagmire by the Miami Heat on December 29,1995, midway through a season that saw the Heat shuffle through 22 different players.
He was later signed by Toronto on October 23, 2002, seven pre-season games after the Raptors had already started and only seven days before the official start of the season. He only scored a career-high 14.3 points per game that year replacing an injured Vince Carter and was dumped on the free agent scrap heap as soon as the season ended and Carter looked healed.
Voshon Lenard
Shooting Guard
Denver Nuggets
Then along comes Denver general manager Kiki Vandeweghe trading away franchise player Antonio McDyess, cutting salary, stocking up on draft picks and building his team of the future.
On June 26, 2003, he selects Anthony with the third overall pick of the draft.
On August 1, 2003, the Nuggets sign point guard Andre Miller to a free agent contract.
On August 18, Denver signs Earl Boykins to back up Miller one day before signing Jon Barry to play back up shooting guard even though the team has no starting shooting guard at the time.
On September 5, 2003, Vandeweghe signs big man Francisco Elson and the roster is at 13 players, one over the eligible limit and two below the maximum should the Nuggets decide to carry three players on injured reserve.
They are young. They are up and coming. They are expected to win anywhere between 20 and 30 games.
They are, unbeknownst to them, two or three years ahead of schedule by winning 43 games during the regular season and advancing to the playoffs in the tough Western Conference and actually winning a post season game against the top seeded team.
Can you blame fans for forgetting that on September 12, 2003, just 27 days before the team's first pre-season game, the Nuggets signed Lenard to a one-year deal worth $2.75 million?
And for good measure, he scores 28 points last night to top everyone and there isn't a single quote from him or about him in the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain Review, St. Paul Pioneer Press or Minneapolis Star Tribune.
In five or six years when Denver wins the NBA Title and Anthony is named MVP we're all going to look back and remember when it all started. On April 24 when the upstart Nuggets defeated the No. 1 seeded Minnesota Timberwolves, 107-86, in the third game of the series as the team's starting shooting guard scored an irrelevant 9 points.
What was his name again?
But if the Nuggets had won that second game. If Lenard was somehow able to grab that offensive rebound with 1 second on the clock last night and heave the ball over his head and into the basket. If the Nuggets were to win the next game in Minnesota and then the next one back in Denver.
But that would take a miracle.
About as big as the one currently in process that has a vagabond shooting guard on a one year stint leading the entire Denver Nugget roster in scoring in the postseason.
