News; Early suspensions could have late impact for Nuggets, Magic

Separated by time zones, unrelated by circumstances, disconnected by conference boundaries, the Nuggets and Magic are identical in having to maneuver at least the first two weeks of the season without a suspended starter. It will be an immediate test for teams that will have to be concerned about how every stretch in the next 5 ½ months will impact playoff seedings.



That postseason consideration makes late-October and early-November more relevant than ever for the Nuggets and Magic, two of the four conference finalists last season. Recoveries will be easy if things go bad, but dismissing this early block of the schedule as meaningless comes with the reminder that Denver finished the 2008-09 regular season at No. 2 in the West as part of what would become a magical spring run... just one game ahead of No. 5 Houston.

Now the Nuggets, already replacing free-agent departures Dahntay Jones and Linas Kleiza, will be without J.R. Smith for seven games, the result of an Aug. 28 league suspension related to his guilty plea for reckless driving in a 2007 accident that killed a friend. And the Magic, the defending East champions, will be without Rashard Lewis for 10 games, an Aug. 6 discipline for violating the NBA policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

Maybe it's just a small fraction of the season, a blip. Or maybe it becomes a huge detail hovering around the teams in five or six months. A blimp.

"You don't know how big of a deal it will be until we go through it," Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said, "but it certainly could affect us.''

The breakdown of the Magic's games:

1. Vs. 76ers.

2. At Nets.

3. At Raptors.

4. At Pistons.

5. Vs. Suns.

6. Vs. Pistons.

7. At Thunder.

8. At Bobcats.

9. Vs. Cavaliers.

10. Vs. Nets.

Ten games against eight opponents with a combined winning percentage of .492 last season. (Take away the Cavs and it's .447.) Five at home, five on the road. Two back-to-backs.

That's a favorable stretch for the Magic. Cleveland visits Amway Arena on Nov. 11 in a rematch of the conference finals -- though Orlando will have Vince Carter instead of Hedo Turkoglu and no Lewis; the Cavaliers will have Shaquille O'Neal as a new addition -- and Cleveland is coming off four days rest. No one in Orlando is hiding under the desk from the other seven.

Besides, the Magic have good depth up front after driving the bank truck around the country in the offseason to sign Brandon Bass and Matt Barnes, match the offer sheet the Mavericks gave Marcin Gortat and trade for Carter in a deal that also delivered Ryan Anderson from New Jersey. Four months later, Anderson appears in line to start opening night as another big man with range (like Lewis), while Bass will come off the bench to hand out bruises.

"[The suspension] has just sort of been accepted by everybody," Carter said. "All of us know that more is expected with Rashard out. We have to do more and pick up that loss of him being out. We don't want that to hurt us."

The breakdown of the Nuggets' games:

1. Vs. Jazz.

2. At Trail Blazers.

3. Vs. Grizzlies.

4. At Pacers.

5. At Nets.

6. At Heat.

7. At Hawks.

Seven games against seven opponents with a combined winning percentage of .498 last season. Two at home, five on the road. Three back-to-backs.

The first two opponents are the toughest, but the real challenge for Denver is what comes next, with Smith out of the opening four stops of the six-game trip and the back-to-backs stacking up in further test of depth and stamina. While there wouldn't ordinarily be anything wrong with being handed an early Eastern swing -- a much better chance of dodging weather hassles now than in December or January, and players will never be more rested than now -- it's a fate that works against the Nuggets this season.

"It seems like we've had that experience a few times," coach George Karl said of playing shorthanded. "Nene was out for a whole season [except for one game in 2005-06], Kenyon [Martin] out for a whole season [except for two games in 2006-07], [Carmelo Anthony] gets a 15-game [suspension in 2006-07 for fighting]. It's actually a fun time to coach if you're successful because you have to be more risky and creative. This coming early in the season, we don't know our personality; we'll go with the personality we know."

Which means Anthony, Chauncey Billups and Nene get particularly heavy minutes.

"I'll coach the game more like a playoff game," Karl said.

Arron Afflalo is the likely Smith replacement, for at least the first seven games and then however long Smith needs to get in rhythm to reclaim the job. Seven games out of 82, that's not such an ordeal. The trick for the Nuggets -- and the Magic, too, over the 10 games -- is to make sure it does not become one at the end of the season.