BIGGEST NEEDS: The Nuggets could need help up front after C Marcus Camby was traded and F Eduardo Najera bolted to New Jersey as a free agent, but don't expect any to arrive before training camp. With point guards Anthony Carter 33 and Chucky Atkins 34, the Nuggets need a point guard for the future, but it looks as if they will start another season with a stop-gap starter.

FREE AGENT FOCUS: Unrestricted were G Anthony Carter, F Eduardo Najera and G Yakhouba Diawara. Carter re-signed, Najera signed with New Jersey and Diawara with Miami. Restricted was G J.R. Smith. He re-signed.

PLAYER NOTES:

--Nuggets F Carmelo Anthony, who won bronze in 2004 and gold in 2008, said he wants to play in the 2012 Olympics, which would mark his third straight U.S. stint. The only U.S. player ever to play in three Olympics was David Robinson, who won bronze in 1988 and gold in 1992 and 1996.

--After a strong start, the Olympics did not end well for Nuggets F Linas Kleiza, who played for Lithuania. After averaging 14.0 points in the first six games, Kleiza averaged just 2.5 points per game in a semifinal loss to Spain and the bronze-medal loss to Argentina to finish with an 11.1 average. Lithuania failed to medal after winning five of its first six games.

--Nuggets F Renaldo Balkman, recently acquired from New York, wants it to be known he played no role in the December 2006 brawl between the Knicks and Denver, which resulted in the ejection of 10 players and seven being suspended.

"I wasn't involved in that," Balkman said.

--Count F Linas Kleiza as another Nuggets player surprised by the Marcus Camby trade. But count Kleiza as one who doesn't want to go anywhere else.

The forward, who has played all three of his NBA seasons with Denver, can sign a contract extension by Oct. 31 or he will become a restricted free agent next summer. While Kleiza, who was busy during the summer playing for Lithuania in the Olympics, isn't expected to begin negotiations until September, he reiterated he wants to re-sign.

"Oh, yeah, definitely," he said. "I love being there, so, hopefully, it will work out."

It didn't work too well for Camby, as the Nuggets dealt him last month in a salary dump. The Clippers only gave up the possibility of having to swap second-round picks in 2010.

"I think everybody was surprised by the move," Kleiza said. "But I don't know why they did it. I think the Nugget organization has a plan. I'm 100 percent behind them."