The trade which saw Kenyon Martin become a Nugget had a better effect on young bigman Nene than even the top Denver official could have ever imagined.

Criticized for not spending more time working out in Denver last summer, he has canceled a scheduled promotional tour in Brazil and plans to begin working out regularly at the Pepsi Center beginning next week.

"The last two weeks, I saw a change in him," Nene's agent Michael Coyne said. "He's really fired up. There's a nice energy around the whole team right now, and Nene's definitely feeling it."

Just the words GM Kiki Vandeweghe wanted to hear.

"That's great," he said. "I'm very excited. Nene and I talked about that. . . . Competition is always great."