The chosen ones

By Aaron J. Lopez, Nuggets.com

In search of another winning recipe, Nuggets coach George Karl will start the 2009-10 season with a baker’s dozen.

The Nuggets trimmed their roster to the NBA-minimum 13 players Wednesday, waiving guard Dontaye Draper, center Kurt Looby and swingman James White. All three were in training camp on non-guaranteed contracts.

"You can’t have a good camp without guys like that," coach Karl said. "James White, I definitely think’s an NBA player. He just has to find the right spot."

"Draper’s a damn good little player and the Looby kid, the improvement he made in one month, if he continues that over a couple years, he has a chance of being good, too."

The only non-guaranteed player remaining on the roster is swingman Joey Graham, who has started the past two preseason games at shooting guard. His contract becomes guaranteed if he is still on the roster on Jan. 10.

NBA teams can carry up to 15 players during the regular season, but the sagging economy is prompting many of them to retain only 14 or 15.

While every coach would love to have as many players as possible to help lighten the workload in practice, the Nuggets are comfortable carrying 13, considering nine were part of the Northwest Division-title team from last season.

Barring an injury, the Nuggets will open the season against Utah on Wednesday with 12 players available. Guard J.R. Smith will miss the first seven games while serving a suspension. Karl said Smith’s pending absence may influence how he handles his playing rotation when the Nuggets face the Los Angeles Lakers in Anaheim, Calif., on Thursday.

"Maybe one half, I’ll play J.R., and the other half I might not," Karl said. "The competitive nature of the game might dictate how hard I go after it. If there’s something to be won just by competing the right way, I might stay with my normal rotation."

The Nuggets and Lakers, who met in the Western Conference finals five months ago, conclude the preseason with another game in San Diego on Friday.

"How we play in the first one will determine a little bit of what we do the second one," Karl said. "We want to play a little better than we’ve been doing. I think we have to against a team like the Lakers."