http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nba/...5708467,00.html</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> NENE'S KNEE: Forward Nene didn't appear to be hurting when he had a strong finish last season. But he said a toll was taken on his surgically repaired right knee.</p> "It's going to take one more year to be close to 100 percent," said Nene, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the 2005-06 opener and missed the rest of the season. "I needed to wrap my knee to play in the playoffs and to take shots at halftime. When I finished the playoffs, I had tendinitis."</p> Nene said a "weak" knee meant he couldn't fully prepare to play for Brazil in the Olympic qualifier and that played a role in his suffering a strained right calf Sept. 1.</p> Nene will be limited at the start of camp but vows to be "in good shape" for the season.</p> Nene's summer inactivity led to his beefing up to about 275 pounds. He is down to about 265, and strength and conditioning coach Steve Hess anticipates he'll play this season at 250.</p> ETC.: Recently acquired Bobby Jones likely will start the season with the Nuggets after his contract was amended. Jones, previously guaranteed $200,000 of a $687,456 salary if waived by Monday and all of it if on the roster after that, said the guarantee is now $225,000 and the deadline Dec. 15. . . . The Nuggets offered to re-sign center Jamal Sampson to a nonguaranteed contact, but he will sign a similar deal with Dallas, which has injured centers. . . . Guard Anthony Roberson said he'll sign a nonguaranteed deal with the Nuggets, and center Jelani McCoy also might sign. . . . Coach George Karl doesn't expect Kenyon Martin, who is recovering from knee surgery and will be limited to start camp, to play in the Oct. 9 preseason opener, but he should be ready for the Oct. 31 regular-season opener. Martin hasn't played five-on- five, but Hess said "people will be shocked" by the fine shape of Martin, weighing 229 pounds with 4 percent body fat</p> </div></p> So Bobby Jones will get a chance to make the team now. Without that change, he would have been cut.</p> From the unsurprising department, Nene gained a bunch of weight and Kenyon lost weight.</p>
Well its great to hear the Kmart is getting ready for the year. But wtf Nene....we need him to be strong and healthy the whole season...hopefully its possible.</p>
I wanna see what Jones & Kmart can do this season. if only no injuries would happen to all my favorite players just for one season, that'd be a nice thing to see.</p>
http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_7047376</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><span id="redesign_default"> Nuggets training camp begins Tuesday. Expecting to see Kenyon Martin? Be patient.</p> "I think we've basically got him on the Nene plan," Nuggets coach George Karl said of the approach the team took last year when Nene returned from his season-ending injury. "The first couple of weeks we are going to let him fit his way into practice, probably maximum an hour of work per day, and continue to do the individual stuff that we've been doing with him."</p> No one, and that includes Martin, is willing to risk a setback by doing too much too fast in his return from microfracture knee surgery last season.</p> Karl wants to see Martin play between 1,500-2,000 minutes this season, with the bulk - as much as 60 percent - from February to season's end.</p> "I would say the first two months you're looking at controlled minutes," Karl said. "No matter how well he's playing, he's probably not going to play much more than what (strength and conditioning coach) Steve (Hess) and (athletic trainer) Jim (Gillen) and the doctors feel would be wise."</p> Just getting back in the groove may take time. Martin has played in only 58 games the past two seasons, including just two last season.</p> New, improved Melo?</p> Carmelo Anthony begins his fifth pro season after a standout summer with the U.S. basketball team. Karl hopes it transfers to the Nuggets.</p> "What I hope he learned, and I think he did, I thought this summer he trusted the team," Karl said. "More than forcing his talent, he just said, 'Hey, it'll happen.' He'll have more responsibility on our team, but the trust of each other is an imperative part of a championship team."</p> Anthony has said he desperately wants Denver to take the next step, out of the first round of playoffs.</p> "The trust has to be a commitment, and I saw Melo do that this summer," Karl said. "And I hope that he and (Allen Iverson) and Marcus (Camby) and all the guys will buy in that we've got to be a team. It's one. We have to have a oneness to us this year than ever before."</p> Nene update</p> Nene is still recovering from a calf strain suffered in the FIBA Americas tournament.</p> "I think everybody wishes he could be a little bit better," Karl said. "He'll probably miss a little bit of the first week of training camp."</p> </div></p> </span></p>
Is this a soap opera or a basketball team? GK, with his overly revealing comments, sometimes makes it seem like it's a soap opera. Keep some team inside info a secret for a change, Mr. Karl; don't be making it so easy for the other teams to prepare for the Nuggets.</p> Meantime, the front office continues to show it's skills with the reworking of the Jones contract.</p>
