Looking back on last season, Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin has said he wished he had sat out the first couple of months to let his damaged left knee heal. But he didn’t, the problem grew worse, his performance suffered, and now the veteran can’t shake his knee problems.
This season, Nene is in a similar situation.
Knee ailments have dogged Nene, the fourth-year forward, as well. He missed virtually all of last season after tearing his right ACL in the first game. This season, a slow-to-heal, badly bruised knee is again keeping him off the court.
Nene did not play Saturday night against Toronto, missing his fourth straight game. But Nuggets coach George Karl said a return to action Tuesday “is a possibility.”
Karl would not comment on whether he has given thought to shutting Nene down for an extended period of time to let him heal.
“The physical part of this last year, year-and-a-half has been kind of nightmarish,” Karl said. “But whoever is ready to go, I’ll coach, make them better, and hopefully win games.”
Najera on Martin
Eduardo Najera knows Martin’s pain. The Nuggets forward had microfracture surgery of his own in 2002 and said he didn’t start feeling right until two years later.
“It’s a long process,” Najera said. “It’s really tough. … When you have a microfracture, your knee is not the same. You’re going to have pain. It gets a lot better, but I don’t think you’re ever 100 percent. You’re going to have days where it’s painful, days where you’ve got to just rest it.”
Better than dad?
On Monday, Karl’s son, Coby, will be in Fort Collins as a member of Boise State’s basketball team to face Colorado State.
Karl has watched the competitive Coby grow from a skinny high-schooler to a borderline NBA draft prospect.
“I think his lifetime goal is to have everybody say he was better than me,” Karl said. “He hasn’t gotten everybody yet. He’s gotten a lot. But he hasn’t gotten everybody. And I’m not going to say it yet. If he plays in an NBA game, I’ll probably say it to him.”
Coby declared for this year’s NBA draft and played in the predraft camp in Orlando, Fla., before deciding to return to school for his senior season.
“I think it put him on the radar,” Karl said. “I think he is a must-see player by NBA scouts. He’s a guy who I think is probably in the 30-70 (draft) range.”
Would the Nuggets take him?
“I think I put in my contract that we have to draft him,” Karl quipped.
Staff writer Marc J. Spears contributed to this report.
