14 Denver Nuggets

Kiki Vandeweghe is not your typical general manager. He's taught the Nuggets the finer points of footwork. He's rebuilt the Pepsi Center weight room, enlarged the locker room, converted offices into a massage room and a video theater, and is installing a players' lounge to encourage socializing among his young troops. The players' summer workouts included lessons in proper running technique from a track coach as well as instruction in yoga and martial arts.

A former NBA forward who took over as G.M. in August 2001, Vandeweghe is not afraid to try new things, which explains the makeup of the roster and his choice of a new coach. Recognizing there were no quick fixes, he brought in big raw talent and a rookie coach, Jeff Bzdelik (buzz-DEL-ik) to shape the Nuggets into a high-energy, defensive-minded team. According to 6'11" center Marcus Camby, who was acquired in an off-season trade with the Knicks, Bzdelik, 49, has much in common with fellow Pat Riley disciple Jeff Van Gundy, the former New York coach. "A lot of the plays are the same as we had with the Knicks, and the practices are just as tough," says Camby, who last week underwent surgery to repair torn hip cartilage. "But this Jeff is a lot more approachable than the Jeff in New York."

Camby will be out at least until January, but the frontcourt is loaded with lottery picks: 7-foot Nikoloz Tskitishvili, 19; 6'11" Nene Hilario, 20; and 6'9" Rodney White, 22, a 2001 selection by the Pistons. Reinforcements are expected to arrive next summer, when Denver has the cap room to sign a free agent or two after the contract of 29-year-old forward Juwan Howard ($20.6 million this year) expires. As Howard, the only Nugget to average more than 11 points last year, puts it, "The challenge for us is to keep working and not get caught up in wins and losses."

While Vandeweghe promises long-suffering Denver fans that they'll see "the hardest-working team in the NBA," some deficiencies can't be overcome with effort alone. The Nuggets went into training camp with the league's weakest crop of point guards in 21-year-old Kenny Satterfield, the 54th pick in the '01 draft, who has played in only 36 NBA games, and undrafted rookie Lorinza Harrington of Division II Wingate ( N.C.) University. "I know that what we're doing here is going to work someday," says Bzdelik, "and hopefully I'll be here to see it when it does."

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