Nene savors chance to be a starter

With Camby gone, he will take over as Nuggets center after playing four straight seasons as a backup

By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 26, 2008 at 11 p.m.

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Photo by Chris Schneider / The Rocky

Nene acknowledges the crowd at the Pepsi Center on March 27, his first game back last season after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. Having served as a backup to Marcus Camby or Kenyon Martin, Nene will start this season. "Now coach has no option," Nene teased about George Karl.

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For four straight years, Nene showed up for training camp in line to be a backup. Or he just waited until power forward Kenyon Martin or center Marcus Camby got hurt.

Well, there's no longer any need to wait. For the first time since 2003, Nene will show up Tuesday for a camp as a definite Nuggets starter.

"Now coach has no option," Nene quipped about Nuggets head man George Karl, who didn't start Nene unless Camby or Martin was absent.

But the Nuggets traded Camby to the Clippers in July. Enter Nene as his replacement at center.

Of course, to stay there, Nene must remain healthy. He has missed a staggering 165 games during the past three seasons, including 66 last season, 37 because of testicular cancer.

But Nene, who returned from his cancer to play three late regular-season contests and three playoff games, said he's close to being fully healthy. There have been only some minor expected complications.

"I had a lot of pains in my stomach when I do a lot of exercise, but then I started getting better," Nene, who underwent testicular cancer surgery in January, said of working out in Denver throughout the summer. "That I can't control. It's a year to have things get out of my system."

The Nuggets also will need Martin to remain healthy as they seek to make up for the loss of Camby and forward

Eduardo Najera, who bolted to New Jersey as a free agent. Martin, who played in 71 games last season after appearing in only two in 2006-07 because of knee surgery, has slimmed down and said he hasn't "felt this good in a while."

Martin called the Camby trade "a shock" but said "the season is right around the corner, so we've got to move on."

The Nuggets will move on with Nene and Martin as the starting post players. Karl hopes neither goes down again.

"I can't tell you after Nene and Kenyon who's going to play," said Karl, who added that Camby's departure will result only in significant changes on defense and that defense will be the emphasis in camp.

BIG-MEN CAMPAIGN

With Camby and Najera gone, the Nuggets had a desperate summer search for big men.

They came up with Chris Andersen, who played for them from 2001-04 and returned as a free agent, and Renaldo Balkman, acquired from New York. Then it was seen if cobwebs could be removed from Steven Hunter, who played in only 19 games last season.

Yes, the Nuggets can slide Linas Kleiza into some duty at power forward and Carmelo Anthony can play some minutes there. But, ultimately, of the Andersen, Balkman and Hunter group, at least one is going to have to play significant minutes in the post.

With this being election season, the Rocky asked the three for their campaign platforms. Each was asked why he should be elected to play big minutes:

* Chris Andersen

Campaign theme: Happy days are here again.

Platform: "Things haven't changed (since Andersen had stints as a Denver rotation player). I've been working my butt off. . . . I sat out two years (from January 2006 to March 2008 because of an NBA drug suspension), but I still played five-on-five. I still got my work in. . . . I'm just ready to play."

* Renaldo Balkman

Campaign theme: A strong defense is needed.

Platform: "Defense is why I came to the Nuggets. We've got a lot of offensive guys. When it comes down to it, my job is to play defense, and that's what I'm going to do."

* Steven Hunter

Campaign theme: Experienced and an incumbent.

Platform: "I've got a year under my belt under George's system. I know what he expects from his players. I know what he expects from me. I've been preparing all summer. I didn't take any time off."

'BIRDMAN' GROUNDED

When Andersen previously was seen in Denver, the "Birdman" had a nest at many a nightspot. But this former man about town says those days are over as he prepares for his second stint with the Nuggets.

Andersen said he's a different man since returning from his two-year drug suspension. Further hampering any temptation to hit a downtown spot, he has taken up residence in Larkspur.

"I really don't do too much, other than go home and get my rest and do the right things," said Andersen, who played for New Orleans after leaving Denver, both before and after his suspension. "I'm smarter. That's all there is to it."

Physically, Andersen, 30, claims he didn't lose an inch of his well-chronicled leaping ability during his two-year layoff. He said he has added an outside shot, something he never really had before.

Anything Andersen might have lost or gained was pretty hard to tell in his return late last season. He played in only five Hornets games, averaging 1.2 points in 6.8 minutes, while shooting 2-for-7.

RACKING UP MILES

There's one disadvantage about the Nuggets having a team plane.

No frequent-flier miles.

If players and coaches earned miles this preseason, they might be looking at free trips.

"The worst in the history of the NBA," Karl said of Denver's preseason schedule. "I've never seen that many miles. It's crazy."

In the first road outing, the Nuggets face Phoenix on Oct. 11 at an outdoor game in Indian Wells, Calif. Then it gets crazy, with the Nuggets playing Phoenix on Oct. 17 in Syracuse, N.Y.; Minnesota on Oct. 19 in Bismarck, N.D.; and Toronto on Oct. 21 in Edmonton, Alberta; before they limp into Los Angeles on Oct. 24 to conclude against the Clippers.

"That is a terrible schedule," Nene said.

At least the Nuggets aren't playing any games in a rodeo arena, the case last season when they faced Portland in Redmond, Ore.

"We see cows over there. Horses," Nene said. "I said, 'Next time it will be at the zoo.' "

BY THE NUMBERS

1 starting spot open in training camp. Karl said the only battle is in the backcourt, where he'll either start Allen Iverson at shooting guard and Anthony Carter at point, or Iverson at point and J.R. Smith at shooting guard.

2 Nuggets players in training camp who have won NCAA titles. Anthony won at Syracuse in 2003 and point guard Mateen Cleaves with Michigan State in 2000. Cleaves, trying to make the opening-night roster with Chucky Atkins out because of a knee injury, will sign a one-year, nonguaranteed minimum contract.

41.8 minutes averaged last season by Iverson, his lowest since 40.8 in 1999-2000. Asked if he might again cut the minutes of Iverson, 33, Karl quipped, "Of course. He did admit to me he's getting old." If his time is cut, Iverson said, "I'm not going to like it, but George is running this."

27.8 is the average age on opening night of Denver's 13 players with guaranteed contracts. The team's average age should be about the same as last season, although Karl said the Nuggets' recent moves, most notably dispatching Camby, 34, show the "pendulum is swinging to the younger guys."

He said it

"He's still the 'Bird.' But if he keeps getting tattoos, he's going to be like blackbird."

Nene, on Andersen, who got his "Birdman" nickname in summer 2002 and has added a number of tattoos since he was last with the Nuggets in 2004.

• September 27, 2008

  8:49 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  not2serious writes:

  I like the Nuggets. I think the effort Kenyon Martin showed at the end of last season is going to put him into more of a position as a team leader this year. That's good, I think, because he is a guy who plays with a lot of heart. He busts his butt, and sets a great example for the rest of the team. Too bad about Marcus Camby, I know that pro sports are a business, but fans get mad when you treat people in such a classless way. George Carl's last year? Who knows, we've gone through more personal here then a lot of other teams, so the real test will be to see if Silent Stanley has the patience to let George shorten the leash this year on players with attitude and expect more discipline and cooperation from the ones who make the team.

• September 27, 2008

  10:39 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  jbowen43 writes:

  That's not a bad lineup. Nene if healthy can be a low post presence and an offensive threat that Camby never was.

• September 27, 2008

  11:40 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  paguy1955 writes:

  I kind of like where the Nuggest are at now.. Nobody thinks they are gonna be sucessful so they have nothing to lose but handle their business...But i kind of miss the old sparkplug George...where are U george come back home we miss you!!!!You got nothing to lose...

• September 29, 2008

  10:10 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  denver15 writes:

  Finally! Karl is at least thinking about starting AI at the one, so he could guard people his own size and to get their 3rd best offensive player on the court. Long overdue

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