Malone: Look for Mudiay to be back soon

oakland, calif. » The Nuggets’ injury news Saturday wasn’t limited to the return of forward Danilo Gallinari and the season debut of center Jusuf Nurkic against Golden State. Coach Michael Malone told reporters before the game at Oracle Arena that rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay, who has missed 11 consecutive games because of a right ankle deltoid sprain, is on track to return inside a week.

“Hopefully, we’ll get Emmanuel back in the next five to seven days, andwe can get healthy in the point guard position,” Malone said.

Mudiay has not had a fullcontact scrimmage since exiting early in the Nuggets’ 111-108 win over Minnesota on Dec. 11, but he is doing more extensive pregame work in anticipation of getting back. His return would ease some of the burden on veteran Jameer Nelson, who has made 10 starts in Mudiay’s place.

Nelson, 33, has averaged 32.2 minutes per game since the rookie went down, and logged at least 40 minutes twice in the Nuggets’ previous three games.

“We’ve got to constantly check the treads on his tires,” Malone said of Nelson. “Jameer’s been great. With that, we have to monitor practice time, giving off days, whatever itmay be so guys can be fresh for the games.”

In addition to jumping into the starting lineup, Nelson, now in his 12th year in the NBA, provides some perspective to a young Nuggets roster, along with fellow veteran Mike Miller.

“They’re two of our hardest workers,” Malone said. “So if you have guys that have that kind of success and been around as long as they’ve been, hopefully guys like Emmanuel, Gary (Harris), Nikola (Jokic), Jusuf, Joffrey (Lauvergne), Will (Barton) can look at that and say, ‘OK, this is how you last in the NBA. This is how you get better in the NBA.’ I love the example they set on a daily basis for us. Jameer’s been outstanding for us in that regard.”