The Nuggets lined up a new look in their reserve backcourt Saturday with the return of Randy Foye and the home introduction of Jameer Nelson.
Foye, who last played Nov. 23 at Los Angeles against the Lakers, played his first minutes since missing 26 games with a strained right quadriceps.
And Nelson, who arrived from Boston via trade Tuesday in exchange for Nate Robinson, played his first game for the Nuggets in Denver.
Foye was averaging 8.4 points and 2.0 assists over 19.0 minutes in 11 games before injuring his thigh. But he won’t jump right back into the Nuggets’ full rotation.
“He won’t be on a minute restriction,” coach Brian Shaw said. “But I won’t play him a ton of minutes. I expect him to be tired, because running on a treadmill is very different from running up and down in a game with somebody guarding you.”
Shaw said he hopes Foye, even in limited playing time early in his comeback, will bolster the Nuggets’ shooting touch from long distance.
“We’ve been up and down shooting the ball,” Shaw said. “He can bring in better shooting, and he is a good free-throw shooter as well.”
Nelson scored 14 points in 28 minutes off the bench Friday in his Nuggets debut, a 97-89 loss at Dallas. His appearance Saturday against Minnesota came more than 10 years after the Nuggets picked him in the first round of the 2004 NBA draft, then traded that same night to Orlando.
Miller’s return. Quincy Miller’s exit from the NBA wasn’t long-lived. The former Nuggets forward signed a 10-day contract Saturday with the Sacramento Kings after stellar play in the NBA D-League. Miller averaged a D-League-high 26.3 points per game on 52 percent shooting.
