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Nuggets' Atkins to miss preseason after knee surgery

By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 24, 2008 at 5:17 p.m.

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Another training camp, another point guard injury.

Nuggets point guard Chucky Atkins underwent surgery on his right knee Wednesday to repair torn cartilage and clean out loose bodies. He’s expected to miss about six weeks, which would keep him out all of training camp, which begins Tuesday.

Atkins missed much of the preseason last October with a groin strain, an injury that kept him out for the first 1 1/2 months of the regular season. Later, he missed two months following sports hernia surgery.

The Nuggets last October also were without point guard Anthony Carter for the entire preseason and the first three weeks of the regular season due to a broken hand. But Carter recovered to have a fine regular season.

“You could write an article on our injuries over the years,” said Nuggets coach George Karl. “It’s not been a smooth ride. I feel bad for Chucky because some of the guys (Nuggets personnel) went down to visit him in Orlando (his offseason home) about two or three weeks ago and they said he was in great shape. ... It was like a week ago (his knee) kind of locked up on him (a team statement said the injury occurred two weeks ago while playing pickup games). He’ll be back early enough to hopefully give him a big-time opportunity to help us.”

Karl hopes Atkins will be able to return early in the regular season, which begins Oct. 29 at Utah. With that in mind, Karl said the Nuggets expect to sign veteran free-agent point guard Mateen Cleaves and also are looking to bring to camp Jamon Gordon, a rookie from Virginia Tech who averaged 1.6 points and 1.2 assists for Denver’s summer-league team.

While Gordon isn’t considered much more than a camp player, Cleaves, 31, has played six NBA seasons. Cleaves hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since 2005-06, although the Nuggets had brought him in for a workout out in April 2007 before deciding instead to sign Carter for the remainder of that season.

Cleaves has NBA career averages of 3.6 points and 1.9 assists. The former Michigan State star played parts of the past two seasons with the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA Development League.

After returning to Denver last weekend, Atkins told the Nuggets about his knee. He had an magnetic resonance imaging exam done Monday, and it was determined that the surgery, performed by Nuggets orthopedic doctor Steve Traina, would be necessary.

“He had an MRI done in Orlando, and it came back OK,” Karl said. “But we just feel we had to clean up stuff that needs to be done. ... It’s not one of those injuries where there’s a small chance he’ll be able to get back in the rotation. But I think there’s a good chance he’ll get back in the rotation.”

In the meantime, Karl will get creative. Other than Carter, Cleaves and Gordon, the Nuggets have Allen Iverson able to play the point and J.R. Smith can handle the ball.

“I think you’ll see me mess around with point forward and J.R.,” Karl said.

Atkins turned 34 last month, and has been plagued by injuries since the Nuggets signed him in the summer of 2007.

Asked if he’s concerned about Atkins’ ongoing health troubles, Karl said, “That’s for philosophical personnel meetings.”

Atkins will make a guaranteed $3.24 million season. He’s due to make $3.48 million in 2009-10, but only $760,000 of it is guaranteed.

Had he not gotten hurt, Atkins would have challenged to be a starter to begin the season. As it is, Karl said, the guard spot opposite Iverson is the only starting spot up for grabs.

Karl said he could start Carter at the point and Iverson at the shooting guard, which is what he did last season. Or he could start Iverson at the point and Smith at shooting guard.

Comments

  • September 24, 2008

    7:18 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    jsppro1 writes:

    Why did they sign this guy in the first place. He's only 5' 11" they needed size. The blew it on M. Williams former Net who is now with golden state. They need size in the backcourt. Are they going to start AI at the 1 and JR at the 2, 6' 0" and 6' 5" not bad.

  • September 25, 2008

    7:20 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    kmeissner writes:

    When they got rid of Camby, why didn't they just give Atkins up too? This guy is great when he actually plays, but he's not worth the hassle. How many minutes did he play last year? 15? They should have went after Hinrich. I really hope they win 50+ this year again, but things aren't looking great. They got rid of our 2 best defenders in Camby and Najera. If they don't play "D" this year, it's going to be a LONG season.

  • September 25, 2008

    9:07 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    denver15 writes:

    Can they please at least experiment with AI at the point and JR at the 2? This way they wouldn't have to compensate for AI guarding a bigger player every game and wouldn't start every game of the year with a defensive matchup problem.