I've appreciated our correspondence over the years.  It pleased me to see that, right after I sent that memo to you that Andre might not be our starter, you began to speak up about that as well.  It was good to see that our strategy of using Andre to make the second unit into a devastating weapon worked so well against the Rockets.

We've both had a lot of positive things to say about Travis and his potential over the years, and it was nice to see in the last game.  Please mention to him that I'm proud of him, and that I hope he'll bring that defensive and rebounding effort on a consistent basis.  One game doesn't a season make.  But that was an "out of this world money" kind of game, I must say.  Perhaps we can see a few more of them.

Nate, the real reason I'm writing, though, is about tonight's game.  As you no doubt know, Denver played last night, a tough game against Utah, and got a nice solid win in their home opener.  These kinds of games, home opener against a strong division rival, can leave some guys feeling rather drained emotionally.  And, of course, physically drained as well, since Melo played 40 minutes, and other key players played over 30 minutes.

You will know that J.R. Smith and Renaldo Balkman are both suspended for this game.  That means their depth is kind of suspect.  Lawson is a nice backup, and so is Birdman, but they aren't deep.  Foul trouble could be a problem for them, and when guys are tired, they tend to foul more (ask Greg about this from last year).

Nate, make them even more tired.  I'm especially thinking about Carmelo, who played 40 minutes, and is a dangerous player.  Please make sure that the guys understand that a valuable weapon in defending players like this is to wear them down on the other end.  I'm thinking particularly about Martell.

Please, Nate, for this evening, have Martell constantly running off of screens.  It is harder to fight through a screen then it is to run around it.  And of course, if Martell gets tired from constant effort, we can have Travis do the same, or Rudy.  I would like to see Anthony chasing Martell, and then chasing Rudy.

Keep that four seconds across mid-court thing going tonight.  And please avoid Roy isolations except for final possessions in the quarter, or when Melo is guarding Brandon, or when we get down to the last six minutes or so.  We want these guys, and especially Anthony, to work on the defensive end.  We don't want Carmelo standing around and watching while a teammate tries to guard Brandon.  He must work, work, work.  We know he makes a lot of clutch shots at the end of the game.  We want him to be very tired by then.  If he gets tired sooner, clutch shots might be irrelevant.

We can wear these guys down.  And their bench is so depleted, they won't be able to keep up with ours.  Have Andre post up Lawson -- he's not used to defending a player like Andre.

We should be able to give these guys a whipping.

Oh, did I mention the weather?  Seems like they had a foot of snow in Denver, which means the travel to Portland will have been worse for them.  The more we push them, the more likely they are to fold.  Fatigue will set in at some point -- the more we work them, the worse that will be.

Best of luck, Nate.  You know how well my suggestions work out when you follow them.  I don't expect you to follow them all, of course.  You are the coach, and I am not yet ruler of the world, so you have some leeway on taking my suggestions.  For now.  Yet, should you ignore too many of my suggestions, I unfortunately might remember that later.  World dictators (even the benevolent ones) have a tendency to remember things.  Especially if it is things that led to their favorite team losing a game.  Perhaps it should not be that way, but it is.  I say this with the utmost consideration and respect for you, knowing that you will listen with the utmost attention to anything I say on the Internet about your duties.

Yours sincerely,

jscot (future ruler of the world and Internet bletherer supreme)