"So Kenyon Martin's out, and the Nuggets are winning anyway — and fairly easily in a couple of cases. I wouldn't get too comfortable with that.

But it does bring up a question I've gotten fond of asking lately.

What is the value of defense?

"Not $90 million," a friend of mine said.

Fair enough. But shouldn't it be fairly high?

If you stop a last-second shot as often as say, Kobe Bryant makes a last- second shot, are those two things equal?

If you hold elite scorers under their averages night after night and your team wins because of it, is that equal to an elite scorer putting high numbers on the board and his team winning because of it? If defense wins championships, why aren't the players most responsible for influencing and dominating that end of the court as revered as those who simply score?

They should be.

In a game against Cleveland this season at the Pepsi Center, Martin helped the Nuggets seal the deal by coming up with two critical stops while guarding LeBron James. It was the first of two Nuggets wins over the Cavaliers.

But if LeBron blows by him for a layup or dunk or hits a critical jumper to win it in the late stages, he would be rightfully lauded for coming through in the clutch. Martin, however, was the player who came through in the clutch in that situation. And that's a value hard to quantify in a sporting culture in which points are the lead actor."