Sam Adams Sam Adams joined the Rocky Mountain News in 1996, first as the Denver Broncos beat reporter before taking his current role as sports notes columnist. The Colorado Association of Black Journalists voted Adams the Print Journalist of the Year award in 2003.

Question: Is Denver Nuggets power forward/center Nene worthy of a contract averaging $10 million per season? The answer, in this space, is in the form of a question, as well.

How much is potential worth these days in the NBA?

Nene has the size (standing 6-feet-11 and weighing over 260 pounds) and the "potential" to become one of the top low-post players in the Western Conference. And he's really a nice "kid" -- all of 23-years-old -- who seems to have a friendly smile painted on his face.

But $10 million dollars a year? That's a lot of Monopoly dough to pay for smiles -- along with 11 points and six rebounds per game. Add to that, Nene played only three minutes in the Nuggets' season-opener last year before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
Eleven points plus six rebounds minus three minutes divided by an ACL injury.

The math doesn’t seem to add up to 10 million bucks a year.

NOTEWORTHY

International Female Boxers Association bantamweight champion Teri 'Lil Loca' Cruz successfully defended her title at Denver Coliseum on Friday, winning by unanimous decision over Stephanie Dobbs. Cruz improved her record to 14-4-2.

The news flew under the local sports radar screen this week, but not without notice at the Colorado Crush offices. Offensive coordinator Brian Partlow has left the team to accept the head coaching position with the Austin Wranglers. In doing so, Partlow, who signed a five-year contract, leaves one former Stanford University and Denver Broncos alum (Crush president John Elway) to play for another (Wranglers general manager Glyn Milburn).

The Colorado Rockies improved to 41-38 on the season with a 2-0 win Friday night against the Seattle Mariners. The Rockies now have five hitters ranked among the National League's top 20 in batting average -- Matt Holliday (third at .349), Jamey Carroll (sixth at .327), Garrett Atkins (11th at .314), Brad Hawpe (tied for 14th at .307) and Todd Helton (18th at .303).

Here's your number for the day: 222. That's the total of games played in a Nuggets uniform by 11 of the team's previous 12 draft choices (excluding Carmelo Anthony and this year's draft.) Seven of those 12 picks never played a minute for the Nuggets. The 11 players combined to score 892 points, 455 of them by Nikoloz Tskitishvili and 406 from Vincent Yarbrough.

National Hockey League players -- including Brad Larsen, Marek Svatos, Dan Hinote, Peter Budaj -- are scheduled to provide on- and off-ice hockey specific training during camps for youths ages 6-14 to be held at Velocity Sports Performance-Centennial and Family Sports Center. Call 303-768-8988 for more information.

Quote, unquote: "I have played with quarterbacks like Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and I tell Philip all the time that he reminds me of that caliber of quarterback." -- San Diego Chargers' Pro Bowl tight end Antonio Gates, talking about quarterback Philip Rivers on NFL Network.

READER COMMENTS

I was floored, totally shocked about the deal for Nene. What, did they not know that Ben Wallace was available?

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