The Denver Nuggets have decided to pick up the fourth year option on forward Nene's contract, but for forward Nikoloz Tskitishvili things were not so rosy.

General manager Kiki Vandeweghe announced before the Nuggets' preseason win against Houston the team won't pick up the $3.69 million 2005-06 contract option on the raw 21-year-old forward.

"Nene was an easy decision," Vandeweghe said. "Skita was a very difficult decision. I believe he's going to be a good player, but we haven't seen him play very much."

Vandeweghe did not rule out Tskitishvili returning to Denver. He pointed out forward Rodney White's option wasn't picked up last October, yet White ended up re-signing.

"Hopefully, (Tskitishvili is) on our team next year," Vandeweghe said. "It's been a tough road for him. He's so young. But he has a lot of talent. My challenge is the same to Rodney: Make me pay you next year."

The Denver Nuggets released guards Mitchell Butler and Melvin Sanders.

Sanders, a rookie free agent from Oklahoma State who also can play forward, averaged 3.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in three preseason games for the Nuggets.

Butler had two points and three rebounds two preseason games.

Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik said he didn't expect to make any more cuts until after Denver's final two preseason games this week.

In a poll conducted by NBA.com, the league's GM have voted the Denver Nuggets as the most exciting team to watch.

They were vastly improved last season, with the addition of Carmelo Anthony and strong years from Nene and Marcus Camby.

This year the Nuggets will be even more exciting with the addition of Kenyon Martin from the New Jersey Nets.

Finishing behind the Nuggets were the Grizzlies, Suns and Mavericks.

Moving from behind the scenes to in front of the bench, Adrian Dantley has plenty to teach the talented but inexperienced Denver Nuggets.

"It's just a matter of practicing, knowing your opponents and shooting the basketball," Dantley said. "You've got to shoot the basketball and you've got to be able to dribble the ball a little to be successful. That's what I'm trying to teach them."

That Dantley is teaching at all may come as a surprise to some.

In his 15 seasons with seven teams, Dantley developed a reputation as being a selfish player and somewhat aloof, someone more concerned with his numbers than helping his team win. A bitter holdout in 1984-85 didn't help his image, nor did clashes with Utah coach and general manager Frank Layden; Dantley's still waiting to have his number retired by the Jazz.

When he first arrived in Denver last season, most of his work came in side sessions with the Nuggets' younger players. This year, Dantley has moved to the bench as an assistant to coach Jeff Bzdelik.

Though his role has changed, Dantley's main task remains the same: making Denver's post players more effective. He's done it by teaching the techniques he all but perfected.

Footwork was a key reason Dantley was able to get off his shot against much taller players, and he's been working with Denver's players on being able to pivot with both feet instead of just one. Dantley also is teaching them to use their backsides to "seal" defenders, something he perfected over the years with his sturdy rump.

And perhaps most importantly, Dantley is widening the young Nuggets' arsenal of shots, showing them the up-and-unders, fadeaways and flip shots he used so effectively.

"A lot of these guys today just want to shoot jump shots or get close to the basket and shoot a good percentage," Dantley said. "They'd rather have a dunk than have three or four nice layups or 5-foot jumpers, 10-foot jumpers -- the mid-range jump shot. That's what's kind of lost today with the big men. I just try to work on things they might get in a game."

It seems to be working. Under Dantley's tutelage, Denver's frontliners have made dramatic improvements.

Power forward Nene has learned to harness his athletic exuberance inside the lane, expanding his repertoire to include jumpers, flip shots and jump hooks instead of just bulling his way to the basket.

Nikoloz Tskitishvili, who at times has seemed lost in the NBA, has started showing signs he might not be a total bust as the fifth pick in the 2002 draft.

Carmelo Anthony was cited for marijuana possession while boarding the team plane last week, though the Denver Nuggets star says the bag was left in his backpack by a friend.

Anthony, 20, was issued a summons last Friday at Denver International Airport while the Nuggets were waiting to board a flight to Milwaukee for a preseason game.

"I am innocent of this charge because I did not use or intentionally possess marijuana. I had no idea that there was marijuana in my backpack," Anthony read from a statement Thursday. "I sincerely regret any embarrassment this unfortunate incident has had on my family, supporters and the Denver Nuggets organization. They have always stood by me, and that means the world to me."

Anthony's attorney, Daniel Recht, said that the marijuana was left there by an out-of-town friend who borrowed the backpack last week.

"The friend obviously uses marijuana and left a small amount in the backpack when he returned it to Carmelo," Recht said. "Carmelo had no idea there was any marijuana in the backpack."

Recht said Anthony's friend, James Cunningham of St. Louis, has signed an affidavit taking responsibility for leaving the marijuana in the backpack. Cunningham often stays with Anthony when he's in Denver on business.

Recht said he has met with a city attorney and believes the citation against his client could be dismissed as soon as Friday.

"I am perfectly confident that the city attorney will be fair and it is my belief that he will in fact dismiss the case against Carmelo Anthony," Recht said.

Two summers the Nets gambled that Kenyon Martin would not receive a maximum offer from any other club.

"In retrospect, I must admit, I did not think he would get a max-out contract in August of 2003. We offered him $66 million at that point, which was about 20 million less than a max-out deal. He was adamant that he wanted a max-out or he wasn't going to take anything," said Thorn, whose new multi-year extension, pegged at five years and more than $20 million, was announced yesterday. "Give him credit, he was right. Not one team, but two teams offered it to him."

Denver creatively structured its offer to handcuff the Nets by the luxury tax and did a wonderful selling job on Martin, who ultimately received a seven-year, $90 million contract he signed with the Nets before being traded. By the time the Nets had agreed to match, the "small window" to re-sign the power forward slammed shut. So now Thorn, 63, aims to return the Nets to the contender status they enjoyed the past three seasons.

As for Jason Kidd, one of his most pressing issues on the immediate Nets' horizon, Thorn was diplomatic. Thorn predicted Kidd would return to the court for basketball work by "the first of the month" but said a play-date is guesswork.

"He made it known to you guys that he would like to be with a team he considers to be a championship-type," Thorn said. "He realizes that in order to enhance his value, he needs to play and show people he can still be Jason Kidd. [If he asks to be traded] I'll tell him exactly what I tell any player: 'If we can make a deal that makes sense for us, then we'll look at it. If it doesn't make sense for us, then we don't do it.'"

Jeff Bzdelik, signed a one-year contract this past offseason, meaning for the second consecutive season he will be a lameduck coach.

GM Kiki Vandeweghe is taking a wait and see approach with how Bzdelik handles his core of players, and he will surely become the scapegoat if anything goes wrong.

Vandeweghe already has a replacement waiting on line in assistant coach Michael Cooper.  Vandeweghe signed Cooper to a three-year contract, which must be unsettling to Bzdelik to have one of your assistants having two more years on his contract.

Carmelo Anthony was cited with possession of marijuana while boarding the team plane. He claims that it was left in his bag by a friend.

"The friend obviously uses marijuana and left a small amount in the backpack when he returned it to Carmelo," Recht (Anthony's attorney) said Thursday. "Carmelo had no idea there was any marijuana in the backpack."

'Anthony was charged with possessing less than 1 ounce of marijuana, a petty offense with a maximum $100 fine and no jail time.'

Anthony's attorney said that the friend will confess that it was his marijuana and wants the citation to be dismissed. The attorney also has letters saying that he has passed random drug tests.

"He was devastated to learn there was marijuana left in the backpack," Recht said.

The Denver Nuggets signed New York Knicks free agent guard DerMarr Johnson to a one-year contract, General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe told ESPN.com today.

The former Knick averaged 5.4 points and 1.9 rebounds last year after coming back following a potentially life threatening neck injury stemming from a September 2002 automobile accident.

Johnson was drafted sixth overall in 2000 by the Atlanta Hawks.

While Nikoloz Tskitishvili was far from shy in coming forward with his request to part ways with the Denver Nuggets after only the second day of the team?s training camp, GM Kiki Vandeweghe advised the forward to be patient and ?cool what you say?, the Denver Post is reporting.

While understanding the frustrations of his young forward, Vandeweghe stressed that it's much too soon to know how the season might unfold and as a result Tskitishvilli?s concerns may be very premature.

"It was the second day of training camp," said Vandeweghe, whose team opens the preseason next Thursday. "It's very, very early in the process. We're not even close to playing a game. Let's see how things develop."

Tskitishvili, concerned about playing time, appears willing to be patient and to restrain his comments. He said Thursday he realizes he's "lucky to be in the NBA."

"I asked (agent Steven Heumann) before to get traded," Tskitishvili said. "I've decided to stay quiet now and see how it goes. I want to stay here, but it depends how I do. I'm sure I'm going to do well and make sure (coach Jeff Bzdelik) has confidence in me and that he will play me a lot.

"Not a lot. Five or 10 minutes. I'm just going to see the first couple of months. If it goes well, of course, I want to stay and enjoy it with my team."