Karl continues to be impressed with the way his forward shows such versatility on defense. Martin can play both inside and outside.

"He kind of gives me a feeling of what a middle linebacker does for a (football) defense," Karl said. "Sometimes you're up and sometimes you're back. He mixes it up. He makes those reads on his own a lot. And when he's on we're kind of on the same page. It's pretty impressive."

On Tuesday, Martin went against New Jersey, which he played for from 2000-04. While Martin didn't do a lot offensively, shooting 2-of-10 for six points, he was impressive on defense. Martin had four steals and a blocked shot in Denver's 101-87 win.

--It was music to Nuggets coach George Karl's ears to hear a recent statement by F Carmelo Anthony.

Anthony said he gets as much thrill out of making a nifty pass as he does scoring on a dunk. Karl has been telling Anthony for years to step up his passing.

"The simple (pass) will be just fine," Karl said.

Anthony has been making plenty of those lately. He had three of his four assists in the first quarter Monday against New Jersey, letting the Nets know early he was willing to pass.

"Teams are playing me differently," Anthony said. "For some reason, they're leaving Nene and Kenyon (Martin) and Chris Andersen wide open under the basket."

Now that Karl is seeing Anthony become a better passer, he hopes it will carry over to guard J.R. Smith, not exactly known as a distributor.

"If we can get J.R. to sign that (passing) contract, it would be great, too," Karl said.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "Nothing against them, but coming into a game where you know a team like that hasn't won and coming in 0-13, you don't want to be their first win." -- Forward Carmelo Anthony after the Nuggets' 101-87 win Tuesday, which dropped New Jersey to 0-14.