PHOENIX — The expected return of Al Harrington to the lineup did not materialize, but the new Nuggets forward has his sights set on a productive season.
Harrington injured his left foot only 79 seconds into the preseason opener and has not played since. He also spent the summer dealing with plantar fasciitis.
“It’s actually a relief now that I actually tore it,” said the 6-foot-9 forward, who was a late scratch in Friday night’s preseason finale against the Suns. “Now I can just move on, excited about getting some good practices next week and then ready for the opener.”
He is confident that he will be durable and dependable once the season begins.
“Yeah, definitely, I should be good, pretty reliable during the season, plan on playing 75-plus games like I do. So I think the foot is just a minor setback,” he said.
Coach George Karl said Harrington looked good early in training camp, and he was hoping to get a preview of team chemistry. Despite getting only a brief look at Harrington thus far, Karl is not overly concerned.
“You’re anxious to see how that would mesh, but I think almost every NBA team . . . I don’t think anybody starts the season in regular-season form anymore.”
Smith suffers quad injury.
The Nuggets ended the preseason with a 144-106 victory Friday after jumping out to a 78-61 halftime lead.
Guard J.R. Smith suffered a bruised left quadriceps in the second quarter and did not return. He is listed as day to day.
Karl sat several others players, including Nene (calf).
“I give a lot of my guys a choice,” he said. “Like Chauncey (Billups), I said, you can have three or four games. Melo, I think we said three games.”
Thumbs up to Afflalo, Lawson.
Karl said the final tuneup game gives him a chance to do more evaluation.
“You give an opportunity to some guys that have earned minutes to play but haven’t gotten a lot,” Karl said. “I still think this training camp has been about Al Harrington, Arron Afflalo and Ty Lawson, those were the priorities of training camp.
“I think Arron and Ty have passed the grade at a high level. They’ve been our best players probably in training camp.”
Negative into positive.
The Carmelo Anthony saga could have caused a huge disruption in the preseason, but Karl is proud of the way his team has been able to turn a distraction into a positive.
“There is a way that a problem can create mental focus, can create a discipline that you have to overcome on a daily basis,” he said. “I think there’s been very few practices you felt there was a little bit of a distraction.
“Most of our practices have been better than our games. I’m not sure that’s good either, but transferring what you do in practice to a game is why you have preseason, and we’ve done it enough in games,” he said.
The flip side: “We have not pieced good offense and good defense together. It seems like it’s an offensive game or a defensive game.”
