Smith is fortunate with punishment

J.R. Smith, the loose cannon, is fortunate the only punishment he received from the NBA is seven games for his reckless driving that killed a friend. And honestly, he's already paid the biggest price -- seeing his friend die and then having to look that family in the eyes.

Hopefully one day Smith will wake up and see how self destructive his behavior is and mature. Yes, he's still young and we all, self included, make stupid mistakes but Smith is a trouble magnet. It all starts with him with attitude, on and off the court and while he has mad scoring ability he needs to reign in his personality some, gain some discipline and control to thrive on the court and in life.

Nuggets mystery continues

The mystery continues.

The Nuggets once gave up a first rounder for center Johan Petro. Puzzling to say the least.

Now the team has resigned the hardly used, barely playable 7-footer.

Is he protection in case of injury? Yes. But how much protection if he can't board or score?

Only the Nuggets know.

Or more accurately, only the real followers of the Nuggets know.

Balkman busted driving skunked

Renaldo Balkman, a favorite here, but a deep bench player for Denver didn't do himself a favor getting cracked for drunk driving in Florida. O.K., so it's labeled "suspicion of DUI" but we're calling it rocked and rolling. Foolishness. Maybe the Nuggets' forward should have a sit down with teammate J.R. Smith about crazy driving.

Hopefully Balkman learned his lesson, is thanking God he didn't hurt someone nor himself and will take the legal beat down and be prepared for next season.

Balkman did solid work in his time on the court for the Nuggets last season, showing he can be a board hungry, ball aware scrapper, truly an asset to the team.