When the Nuggets conduct their intrasquad scrimmage at the Air Force Academy tonight, coach George Karl will start looking for the player he wants for the 15th spot on the roster.
Or maybe not.
After a week of training camp, Karl said Monday he hasn’t decided what he’s looking for in that player. Or even if he needs that spot.
“We’ve got to evaluate our rookies and decide if we want to keep them here or send them down (to the minors) and see if it’s feasible philosophically to keep a 15th man,” Karl said. “We’ll just have to see how everybody plays and evaluate that probably in the last week of the preseason.”
But if rookie centers Eric Chenowith of Kansas and Nigel Dixon of Western Kentucky want to make the cut, they had better make the most of the minutes they get tonight. The same goes for veterans Mark Pope, Bryon Russell and Theron Smith. Their immediate NBA futures might be riding on it.
“I think that’s where most of those guys are going to get on the court for 20 or 30 minutes,” Karl said of the 7 p.m. scrimmage. “Other than that, when the exhibition season starts, some of them will get some minutes, but I don’t think I’m going to give anybody 30 minutes that’s probably not going to be in our rotation.”
So far, Karl said, the only rookies who have impressed him are the two first-rounders: forward Linas Kleiza of Missouri and guard Julius Hodge of North Carolina State. Both are under contract and count among the first 14 whether or not they are sent to the developmental league. That leaves five players competing for a possible 15th spot. Asked about that group, the only player Karl mentioned was the 6-foot-10 Pope, who got into nine games for the Nuggets a year ago.
“Pope has probably played as well as any of the veteran guys, the older guys,” Karl said.
Pope, 33, has found his way onto an NBA roster for six seasons.
“I don’t think it’s too likely, because I’m not a very good basketball player,” he said. “To be honest, I used to really stress out about it, but now I’m just really here trying to enjoy it.”
The Nuggets begin preseason play with a game Thursday against New Orleans at the Pepsi Center. Karl said he plans to use the preseason to trigger a hot start to the regular season.
“The only thing I’m worried about is our big guys aren’t out on the court enough,” he said. “I’d like to see Nene (hamstring) out there, Kenyon Martin (knee) out there, all of us out there. Eddie (Eduardo Najera) pulled a groin muscle today, so my thing is I think we need to go into the season ready and ahead of the curve with an edge, and you don’t get that with guys sitting on the sidelines.”
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
