by Charley Rosen

While the Pistons may enjoy the immediate advantage, Billups supplies more of what Denver needs than A.I. does for Detroit.

Let's take a look at the Nuggets' assets and deficits, and see exactly how Billups can (or cannot) maximize the former and minimize the latter.

Carmelo Anthony is a stupendous scorer — strong, creative, and determined. He can light up a scoreboard from inside, outside, and all the spaces in-between. Melo's passing when double-teamed has dramatically improved, as has his overall court awareness.

While his defense is much more diligent, it's still subpar. Moreover, his passing from anywhere on the perimeter is atrocious, and he still tends to massage the rock before he makes any kind of move — mostly because he gains possession of the ball on simple hand-offs. Also, Anthony has made it clear that he no longer wants to play with his back to the basket.

By having Billups and Melo run two-man games (remember Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic in Sacramento?), Anthony's decision-making will be simplified. Plus, Billups has to convince Anthony that the rewards of occasionally venturing into the paint are well worth the pain.

Nene is a specimen — powerful, athletic, and highly competitive. He has a knack for finding open spaces when the opponent's defense rotates and is a reliable finisher. Get him the ball in the paint or (at most) two dribbles away from the rim, and he can usually find a way to score. On the other hand, he's often inattentive on defense and too frenetic on offense.

Billups' calm presence will eventually slow Nene down and make him a more precise player. Too bad Billups can do nothing to increase the length of Nene's too-short arms.

Carmelo Anthony (right) should benefit from Billups' veteran presence. (Noah Graham / Getty Images)

Dahntay Jones is a defensive specialist with limited capacities who would be more valuable coming off the bench. Against the Lakers on Friday, for example, he was simply too slight to offer much resistance to Kobe.

Not much that Billups can do here, except encourage the Nuggets to find a better fit at the 2-guard starting slot.

Kenyon Martin has a terrific first step, quick hands on defense, and is an authentic Dunkenstein on the receiving end of screen/rolls. But he has no touch, no range, and lacks a passer's mind-set. There's also a question as to K-Mart's maturity: After forcing and missing one particular late-game drive, Martin was more interested in complaining to the refs about being fouled than he was about hustling downcourt — as a result his man scored an unattended layup.

On defense, K-Mart is too intent on blocking shots and doesn't always engage in the battle for prime real estate in the paint. Like Nene, Martin has to slow down and gain more control of his fulsome talents.

Billups has to make sure that Martin gets the ball only where and when he can do the most damage. A good sign of this eventually happening on a regular basis was a slick give-and-go that Billups and Martin executed in the third quarter that terminated with a rousing dunk by K-Mart. Also notable on this sequence was the lack of any characteristic self-aggrandizing chest-beatings or celebratory howlings by Martin. And, by his own example, Billups can conceivably induce Martin to stop wasting energy and attention on the refs, and to also start playing defense before his man receives an incoming pass.

J.R. Smith is one of the most talented offensive forces in the entire league. His range is unlimited, he has substantial ups, and he can usually find his way to the basket. Even so, he's not a terrific finisher in a crowd because he sometimes tries to get too fancy (the Lakers blocked four of his layup attempts). If his offense is jittery, Smith's defense is lazy.

Charley's NBA tour

FOXSports.com's Charley Rosen has been watching every team closely this season. Now he has a scouting report on each one.

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Eastern Conference
Atlantic	Central	Southeast
76ers	Pistons	Bobcats
Nets	Bulls	Magic
Celtics	Bucks	Heat
Knicks	Pacers	Wizards
Raptors	Cavs	Hawks
Western Conference
Northwest	Pacific	Southwest
Thunder	Suns	Rockets
Nuggets	Kings	Grizzlies
Wolves	Lakers	Spurs
Blazers	Clippers	Mavs
Jazz	Warriors	Hornets

Billups should flash his championship ring and become the young man's guru.

Linas Kleiza is strong, active, and a dangerous streak shooter. But he's flat-footed on defense, and his shot comes out of his hand without a requisite degree of softness — which means he has to plug the center of the hoop and rarely gets a good roll.

This guy is what he is — an adequate and erratic sixth man — and having him improve his stroke is beyond Billups' capabilities.

Anthony Carter plays hard on defense, is a streaky shooter, and a thoroughly serviceable player. In fact, he's a good fit to back up Billups at the point.

Chauncey Billups is always under control and seldom if ever takes ill-advised shots. On defense, his practice of lurking in passing lanes effectively compelled the Lakers to send the ball elsewhere.

Most of his attack-possessions were initiated by Billups being presented with a high-screen, which is all well and good. However, the Nuggets' bigs were so eager to score that they repeatedly slipped their screens and cut to the basket before Billups could make the best use of them. Billups' offensive impact could also become more empowered if he's given the opportunities to pass to a wing, go through the middle, come out again off some kind of weak-side screen, then catch and go and/or create. Occasionally Billups can post smaller guards — like he could easily have done to Derek Fisher.

So, let us count the ways in which Billups can improve the performance of his new team:

The transition from Allen Iverson's madcap game plan to Billups' heady leadership will take time. Add another quality big man and a shooting guard and the Nuggets' learning curve could be much steeper.

During Iverson's brief tenure, the Nuggets were simply spinning their wheels. With Billups in charge, the Nuggets are now a work in progress. That's already a significant improvement.

Vox Populi

After your praise of Tayshaun Prince, maybe it's time for a top 10 role player list. And listing eight or so Spurs is a cop out. — Anthony Turnbow, Camas, WA

OK, but first it's necessary to define "role player." That's because guys whose job it is to shoot and score are also fulfilling their particular roles. So for the purposes of this endeavor, only those players whose primary duties involve off-the-ball activities — rebounding, defending and executing game plans — will be considered.

During his salad days, Ben Wallace was one of the best role players ever — a ferocious rebounder, screener and defender. In the twilight of his career, he's now only capable of playing cameo roles.

In the brief periods when Eduardo Najera has been healthy, he's also been at the top of the list.

And, playing by your rules, Bruce Bowen is disqualified.

So here's who's left standing:

1) James Posey's late-game shooting is a wonderful bonus, but it's his rugged defense that makes him so special.

2) Andrei Kirilenko's specialties are blocking shots, deflecting passes and rescuing loose balls.

3) Shane Battier does everything that Posey does, but not quite as well.

4) Andris Biedrins rebounds, plays scrambling defense, and is often on the dunking end of screen/rolls.

5) Tyson Chandler is an ace shot-blocker, a pretty good rebounder, the beneficiary of Chris Paul's lobs and screen/roll passes, and also has a limited repertoire of offensive moves.

6) Jeff Foster rebounds, passes, plays above-average defense and can knock down an occasional jumper.

7) When coming to the ball from the weak side, Samuel Dalembert can block shots, but isn't an outstanding one-on-one defender. His offense is certainly improving but he still insists on launching too many of his embarrassingly inept jumpers.

8) Erick Dampier moves bodies and makes his free throws.

2009 NBA Finals

Sunday's Game 5

• Lakers 99, Magic 86 (Lakers win 4-1)

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FOXSports.com analysis

• Playoff results, schedule
• 2009 NBA Playoff Central
• Rosen: Why the Lakers won
• Behrendt: L.A's title sequence
• Rosenberg: Kobe not done yet
• Tomasson: Kobe proves critics wrong
• Feigen: Jackson in class of his own

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Video

• Postgame: Lakers celebrate 15th title
• Postgame: Kobe leads Lakers to title
• Postgame: Magic discuss Finals loss
• Marques Johnson's NBA Finals recap

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Photos

• NBA Finals, Game 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1

9) Jared Jeffries can run and defend.

10) David Lee rebounds and hustles, but can neither shoot nor defend.

Honorable mention: Trevor Ariza, Nick Collison, Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, Craig Smith, Darius Songaila, Royal Ivey, Anthony Parker and the remains of Malik Rose.

Straight Shooting

Gary Payton has recently claimed that the Lakers would have beaten the Pistons in 2004 if Karl Malone hadn't been hurt during the championship series. Payton may very well be right, but he failed to mention how important his own stubbornness and selfishness were to the Lakers' downfall.

When Malone and Payton agreed to accept drastic pay cuts in order to play alongside Shaq and Kobe, many pundits forecast another Lakers title. I was even berated on the air for not agreeing with a radio interviewer that the Lakers would go undefeated!

What eventuated, however, was that Payton stoutly refused to change his game and accept the discipline mandated by the triangle. All he wanted to do was post-up, run low screen/rolls on the left side, and drive into the lane whenever the spirit moved him. On several occasions, his displeasure was such that he even threatened to abandon the team.

As for Malone, he never quite grasped the basics of the offense, especially those turn of events that moved him to the high post. To compensate for his confusion, Malone would simply shoot the ball whenever he could see the basket.

This is not to say that Malone's injury wasn't a critical development. Although his lateral movement was mostly a memory, the Mailman was still able to out-muscle and thoroughly intimidate Rasheed Wallace in the low post. With Malone down and out, Wallace used and abused his substitute, Luke Walton.

Still, even with Malone on the shelf, the Lakers' chances of beating the Pistons would have been much greater had Payton bought into the program.

Travels with Charley

There have been a multitude of tough players in the league, and Dave Cowens and Don Nelson are among them.

Here's Nelson's testimony: "When Cowens was a rookie, he introduced a game that he called Butting Heads. It was simple. Two guys would bang their heads together until one of them gave up. I could outbutt everybody except Cowens, and he was almost always the champion. After a while, the other guys didn't like to play too much, but sometimes me and Cowens forced them to."

Sounds like a good idea for another reality show. NBA hard-heads.