Wilson Chandler doesn’t want to be a Nugget. Live with it.
“Denver is the city we love. Civic pride is enormous. When somebody like Chandler wants out we don’t necessarily weigh his situation with regard to playing time or his team role, we consider it a slight on us, on our town.”
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“Eleven days”.
Those two words were Tweeted by Wilson Chandler eleven days before the NBA trade deadline. He wanted out. He expected to get out. But, as we all know, the Nuggets didn’t make any moves. Now Wilson Chandler is stuck here.
His excellent play in relief of Danilo Gallinari in Denver’s big win over the Oklahoma City Thunder lead to Nuggets scribe Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post to pen a column pointing out Wilson Chandler’s usefulness. Hochman points out, “a healthy Chandler — he missed much of the season while recovering from hip surgery — means deep Denver has yet another weapon off its bench.”
It’s true. Chandler is a weapon and he contributes to Denver’s noteworthy depth.
But Chandler does not want to be here.
Don’t Denver fans deserve to cheer for players who take pride in being a part of the Mile High sports landscape? How excited should we get when a guy who was plotting his escape two weeks ago steps up in a win?
Denver is the city we love. Civic pride is enormous. When somebody like Chandler wants out we don’t necessarily weigh his situation with regard to playing time or his team role, we consider it a slight on us, on our town.
I admit to having been hypercritical of Chandler. I don’t like him. It really doesn’t matter to me how well he plays. He wants to play in the East. He isn’t invested in Colorado and he has no pride in being a Nugget. As a fan and a native Coloradan I am turned off by him.
I prefer that a player at least pretend to like Denver.
When it comes to the NBA, however, it’s doubtful that we will ever see a team stocked with talented players that embrace Colorado. There may be one or two on every Nuggets squad who will make the state their home. Most players want to be elsewhere and are only making the best of what they consider to be a bad situation.
That’s something that we are going to have to learn to live with. Not all hoopers are going to be stupid enough to make their wishes known via social networks the way that Chandler did, you can bet that most of them see the Nuggets as a pit stop.
Andre Iguodala didn’t want to be here. He denies it now, but he was pissed when he found out that Philly had traded him here. We all know how badly Carmelo Anthony wanted to get gone.
This is the reality of being a Nuggets fan. We have to be OK with cheering for people who essentially do not respect us. We’re not as worldly and as sophisticated as they are. Our clubs don’t stay open late enough. Our DJs are small time and the hip hop culture is only so-so. Fashion designers don’t live here. Celebs don’t, either. This old cow town just isn’t cool enough for guys like Chandler.
So be it.
We’re just going to have to accept that we’re watching rentals out there. They’re not part of us and we aren’t part of them. Eventually Kenneth Faried, Ty Lawson and probably even JaVale will start pining for a glitzy new home, too.
It’s a cruel part of rooting for the Nuggets.
