Update on Denver Nuggets

The draft is done, but the hardest work is still ahead for the Nuggets in one area that had a dire look to it just a month-and-a-half ago: convincing Nene to stay. The 6-foot-11 center is expected to opt out of the final year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent, which leaves him free to sign with whomever he wishes. Nuggets executives Josh Kroenke and Masai Ujiri, however, reported good news on that front, saying they've had good meetings and positive feedback from the Brazilian big man since the end of the season. "We've been having good talks," Ujiri said late Thursday night after all of the draft day picks and trades were made. "We're making good progress, I think. And I think Nene is excited. We've met a few times with him and a few times with his agent." "It's been great," Kroenke said. "We had one meeting with Nene, Masai and I did together. Masai has met with his people several times. I've had on-going dialogue with his agent. We're going to continue dialogue into next week. I can't comment any further at this point in time, but Nene is a player that we want to have here for a long time. He's been a backbone of ours for the last several years, and he's a big part of our future." Nene is currently in Brazil. He is expected to be in Denver sometime next week. Meanwhile, Kroenke did his best to quell talk that drafting Kenneth Faried, a young, rugged power forward, means veteran unrestricted free agent Kenyon Martin would not return to the team. "I wouldn't say it diminishes the chances of re-signing Kenyon," Kroenke said. "Masai has had several talks with Kenyon's representation and we've had continued dialogue since the end of the season. I wouldn't say that anybody we drafted is a replacement for anybody on our roster, whether they are free agents coming in this summer or not. We were just excited about having the opportunity to add two quality players to our roster." Shooting guard J.R. Smith is the other big Nuggets name on the market. Smith is also an unrestricted free agent with a situation up-in-the-air. "We've been having dialogue with J.R.," Ujiri said. "He's been doing a good job working out, I think he's been working out with John Lucas in Houston and he's been back here (in Denver). We'll see how it goes. Obviously, J.R. is a big part of our program here. He's been a big part of Denver the last few years. So I think all of those evaluations, we're still on. But I think it's very positive."