Slow and steady could lose the race.
A couple of Nuggets need the preseason forum to showcase their abilities to coach George Karl. But rookie Sonny Weems and veteran Steven Hunter have been in and out of practices, and notably the rookie has yet, really, to do anything.
The forward Weems, an Arkansas product, didn’t practice but worked out with the training staff before Tuesday’s practice while he nurses a groin injury.
Weems won’t play tonight in the Pepsi Center preseason game against Utah (7 p.m. tipoff). Asked when he might start practicing, the forward said: “I don’t know right now — we just go day by day. It’s just frustrating, real frustrating. I can’t rush anything, because that’s how people get hurt.”
Karl said when Weems finally returns to the court, it will be “Piranha Day” because “he’ll be eaten alive by the veterans.”
Karl has stressed he needs to see guys work out in the preseason so he can become comfortable with their abilities. This didn’t happen last fall with Hunter, and he seldom played last season. This fall, Hunter has been in and out of practice. He didn’t go Tuesday.
“Same as always: sore knees, old knees,” Karl said of Hunter. “Utah would be a team he could probably play against. But if we have to play small, we’ll play small.”
Melo a go, A.I. no?
Forward Carmelo Anthony practiced Tuesday and, as stated Monday, will play in tonight’s game, his first of the exhibition season. During practice, Anthony did tighten up at practice — his calves have been bothering him — but “I was able to go through the majority of the practice,” said Anthony, who had an injured ring finger on his nonshooting hand. “I’m anxious to play against somebody else. Playing against my teammates, they beat me up every day in practice.”
Guard Allen Iverson didn’t practice Tuesday, “so I would doubt he’ll go,” Karl said. “But we’ll find out (this morning). His knee is still sore.”
Bird out.
Reserve post Chris “Birdman” Andersen, who has played well this preseason, will miss the Utah game because of a calf injury.
“I got kneed in the upper part of my calf muscle, and it was swollen,” Andersen said. “I’m just trying to do all the treatment, icing it and all the necessary precautions. I had two good games, and I’d much rather let it heal and save it for the real thing.”
School reunion.
It’s possible that if it weren’t for Gerry McNamara, Anthony never wouldn’t have won the national championship at Syracuse. The feisty guard made six 3-pointers in the first half of the 2003 championship game against Kansas. McNamara is on the Jazz roster and could play against his former Syracuse teammate tonight.
“It’s just good to see him in the NBA,” Anthony said. “I know he’s been in the D-League, overseas, so to actually see him in an NBA jersey feels good. I know what he did up there (at Syracuse), and the work he put in off the court and on the court, especially in that stretch run.”
Benjamin Hochman, The Denver Post
