Portland, Ore. – With a boisterous outburst from a chicken wing-eating Kenyon Martin, the subject of J.R. Smith’s demotion from starter to reserve Sunday went largely unanswered by the principal subject.
“Man, nobody wants to talk about that,” said Martin, the injured forward, from the next chair in the cramped visitors’ locker room at the Rose Garden. “We ain’t doing that on this team no more. He ain’t going to answer that.”
Smith quietly listened. Then offered: “That’s my captain. I have to do what the captain says.”
In an effort to continue to find a winning combination, Nuggets coach George Karl opted to start newly acquired guard Steve Blake over Smith against the Trail Blazers. Much of the decision stemmed from Smith’s slow start since coming back Wednesday from a 10-game suspension. He has averaged 11.5 points on 30 percent shooting (9-of-30) from the field, including 2-of-11 from 3-point range.
“It’s hard to come back over 10 games and just perform like that,” Smith said. “So I have to take it under consideration that (Karl is) doing what’s best for the team right now and wait till the rust gets off.
“I just have to focus more on my shots, and work with my teammates more on the defensive end. Getting stops and helping out on the defensive end will definitely get me in the groove.”
Karl said he didn’t “have time to be patient. I don’t have time to say he’s earned the right to come back (and start immediately). I just have to find out who fits with who and how it’s going to work.”
Smith’s absence from the starting lineup is a game-to-game decision, Karl said, adding that he wasn’t worried he was playing his two best ballhandlers from the start and has no true point guard coming off the bench.
“You can manage that,” Karl said.
Nene’s future
Getting Nene into basketball condition is a top concern of the Nuggets, but it is also proving to be a difficult task, given the forward has knee injuries that limit his ability to run for any significant stretches of time.
“In the middle of the season, when you have guys hurt, it’s hard to get them back into top shape,” Karl said. “The injury is usually tender, and you don’t have a lot of time. So you manage between playing, resting and working out.
“I’m hoping if we get Nene, by the end of the year, to a 28-30 minute player, it would be fantastic.”
Footnotes
Karl admitted he made coaching errors at the end of the Nuggets’ loss to Houston on Friday night that may have cost the team a victory. … Portland coach Nate McMillan said Carmelo Anthony’s suspension would not figure into whether he votes for the forward for the All-Star Game.
