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Nene: Nuggets need help at center

Karl is confident athleticism, speed can prevail in post

By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 1, 2008 at 8:49 p.m.

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The Nuggets' Nene doesn't consider himself a true center and would like help going against the likes of Tim Duncan, left, this season.

Photo by Chris Schneider © The Rocky

The Nuggets' Nene doesn't consider himself a true center and would like help going against the likes of Tim Duncan, left, this season.

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Nene is a lot of things.

Talented basketball player.

Cancer survivor.

Soccer fan.

Wednesday, he put on his general manager hat.

"We need one more big man," the Nuggets center said. "We have good players in the post, but we need (to be) strong just to bump big men. That's my concern."

It's one shared by many after the Nuggets' offseason trade of 6-foot-11 Marcus Camby and the free-agent departure of 6-8

Eduardo Najera, who might not have been that big but made up for it with hustle and craftiness.

The 6-11 Nene, primarily a power forward before replacing Camby, doesn't consider himself a true center and would love some help. But the Nuggets most likely will enter the season with what they've got.

After the exits of Camby and Najera, the Nuggets did acquire 6-10 Chris Andersen and 6-8 Renaldo Balkman to back up Nene and 6-9 power forward Kenyon Martin.

But it remains to be seen how they'll match up with all the T-Rexes that roam the West.

* The Lakers, with Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.

* Phoenix, with Shaquille O'Neal and Amare Stoudemire.

* Portland, with Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge.

* San Antonio, with Tim Duncan and whomever the Spurs want to call their center.

* The Clippers, with Chris Kaman and old friend Camby.

"The Western Conference has gotten bigger," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "You must throw that out there."

But Karl remains confident that with quicker, more athletic post players, the Nuggets can thrive.

"We're going to miss Marcus. We're going to miss Eddie," Karl said. "That doesn't mean we can't be a better basketball team. Balkman and Chris, whoever, (Linas Kleiza, a small forward who can slide to power), Steven Hunter (the team's only 7-footer). Someone's going to have to play."

Karl has no clue who will end up logging big minutes in reserve. Primarily, he's hoping Nene and Martin will play 70 games and average 30 minutes, which could be the key to the season.

But that's a big if. During the past three seasons, Nene has missed 165 games and Martin 117.

"That's in God's hands," Nene said of whether both can remain relatively healthy.

Even if both do, the Nuggets still will have questions in the post. But at least candidates for playing time are talking good games.

* Andersen said "not at all" when asked if the Nuggets will have trouble with big teams. He added that such opponents must "keep up with us."

* Balkman said he's "hard- nosed" and "gets it done" on defense.

* Hunter, who played in only 19 games last season while battling injuries, called it a "lost year" but said he's healthy and will be "the real Steven Hunter."

One key for the Nuggets will be whether they got the real Ander- sen. After leaving Denver to sign with New Orleans, Andersen broke loose with averages of 7.7 points and 6.1 rebounds in 2004-05.

But then came his January 2006 NBA drug suspension. Andersen, 30, returned in March and made five cameo appearances for the Hornets before the Nuggets signed him.

"(Andersen) kind of brought it to our attention he wanted to come here rather than go back to New Orleans," Karl said. "We met a couple of times and talked about what happened the last couple years. He convinced myself and the organization there's a good chance we could find a hell of player that we get very cheap (a minimum deal).

"You get (the suspension) on the table. . . . When you make a decision, you wipe the board clean. . . . (Andersen) will learn from it, and now we might be the guy who gets the benefits of it."

Karl hopes so. The Nuggets need all the help they can get in the post.

ETC.: Karl said training camp "has a different energy," one more serious. Asked why, he said, "They might fear the Marcus trade." . . . Karl, a North Carolina alumnus, said Dahntay Jones is the "first Dukie I've coached." While Karl quipped "going to Duke is not a good thing," he lauded Jones for playing "every possession like it's a playoff possession."

Comments

  • October 2, 2008

    9:07 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    J_Phil writes:

    Even months later, I'm still bitter about the Camby trade. Probably even moreso now. Back then, I was sure that the front office would bring in another talented center to fill his role, but now it looks like they're committed to a season with Birdman and Hunter there, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

    Can we just fast forward to our first round playff exit and spare us the pain of watching another season of disappointment?

  • October 2, 2008

    11:01 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    denver15 writes:

    Birdman and Hunter are planned to be the backups, did you read the article?

    Of course with Nenes' injury history it could come to that.