Nene walked off the Pepsi Center court Thursday morning smiling from ear to ear. He had just finished an on-court drill with assistant coach Jamahl Mosley. Nene’s left thumb was the focal point.
After tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in that digit Nov. 17 at Boston, Nene is close to returning. He’ll begin full-contact practices after this weekend.
“It’s sore,” Nene said. “It’s all right. I want to play next week.”
Nene, who averages 6.4 points and 5.2 rebounds, has missed the past five weeks of play. The Brazilian forward has worked to get into better condition and appears to be a thinner version of himself. He said pain in the thumb is the issue, but as long as he can tolerate it, he’ll play. Nene will wear a splint on the lower half of his hand.
Logistically, Nene said he has been in constant conversations with assistant Tim Grgurich to “learn the plays again.”
No hard feelings for D.J.
Unbeknown to most, former Nugget DerMarr Johnson slipped in and out of town this week as part of the D-League’s Austin Toros. The team played the Colorado 14ers in a back-to-back set Tuesday and Wednesday.
He said he knew long before the end of last season that he’d no longer be a part of the Nuggets this year.
“I knew that chapter was closed,” Johnson said Wednesday. “The last year and a half, my minutes just went down and down and down.”
Johnson signed with the Italian League’s Benetton Treviso but stayed for only five games. “It wasn’t for me,” he said.
When he returned to the states, the Spurs showed interest and assigned him to Austin.
Footnotes.
Karl said the team would be cautious in adding another player through free-agent signings. “I think we’re more in tune to add players that will get on the court for us,” he said. The Nuggets spent their last game in the visitors’ locker room Thursday and will return to their normal digs when they return from a weekend road trip. The Nuggets were forced to spend the week in the visitors’ locker room when a dryer caught fire, resulting in smoke and water damage from sprinklers.
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
DENVER AT PORTLAND
8 p.m. tonight, ALT2, KKFN 950 AM
Spotlight on LaMarcus Aldridge: A year that may have been uncertain for the Blazers’ second-year forward, with the addition of Greg Oden, has been instead a breakout season, with the rookie big man sidelined. Aldridge ranks second on the team in scoring and rebounding. He played Wednesday after missing five games because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot and helped Portland to a season-high ninth-straight win.
Chris Dempsey
