Showing up in Denver: 1 Nugget, 11 Jazz guys and snow

It has been snowing lightly all day here in Denver, but nothing too major – good news seeing as they predicted up to 18 inches of fluffy stuff could be dumped on us.

Who knows if it was because of the weather or if they’re just so confident they’ll beat the Jazz tonight, but the Nuggets had an optional shootaround this morning and there were more Deseret News sports writers at the Pepsi Center than Denver players.

Anthony Carter was the only one who opted in to the optional shootaround. He left before I could challenge him to a game of 2-on-1 against yours truly and Tim Buckley.

All of the Jazz players showed up to their non-optional shootaround by the way — the 11 mostly healthy ones, that is.

Not here: Kyle Korver, who underwent successful surgery today in New York on his left knee; C.J. Miles, who stayed in Utah with the cast on his left hand as his thumb heals from surgery; and Matt Harpring, who very well could be at his Atlanta home sipping sweet tea on his front porch and yelling at cars to slow down on his road while resting and pondering an official retirement.

Talked to rookies Eric Maynor and Wesley Matthews about gearing up for their first NBA game. They’re both excited but calm. Coach Jerry Sloan wouldn’t divulge whether either would see time tonight, but it wouldn’t be shocking at all if Maynor, Utah’s first-round pick from Virginia Commonwealth, was the first off the bench to back up Deron Williams at point guard with Ronnie Price just getting back into the swing of things after missing four games with a strained hamstring.

Because of Utah’s depleted wing situation, you can almost expect Matthews, the undrafted rookie swingman from Marquette, to get a few minutes here or there. Sloan hinted that he might even play him for short stretches against Carmelo Anthony, though he didn’t want to make any playing promises.