Chucky Atkins, Groin Popper, Will Miss 6-8 Weeks.

30-something chucker Chucky Atkins felt his groin "pop" when trying to guard Marcus Banks in the Denver Nuggets' second-to-last exhibition run Thursday, surely feeling more pain than any man need ever know. Whilst Atkins —who is no relation to Dr. Robert Atkins, creator of the high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins Diet— had shaped up as a genuine fantasy contributor when signed by the McNuggets in the summer, he was struggling in preseason even prior to the groin-popping. And, now, with a lengthy stint on the sidelines, the veteran guard has come close to losing all of his fantasy value.

Of course, his absence will open up minutes for others, and with 74-year-old bricklayer Anthony 'Remember When My Agent Forgot To Exercise My $4.1mil Option?' Carter thankfully injured, it won't mean him. Really, there're two guys who would shape up as likely contributors in the absence of Atkins. And neither of them are the likely fifth-starter for Denver, Yakhouba Diawara. Nor are they, at this stage, Von Wafer, who I'm quietly eyeing off as late-rising sleeper.

Firstly, there's our old friend JR Smith. When not hitting the town, spitting on girls, or killing friends in unintentional vehicular homicide, the most notorious JR since Rider is known as an unrepentant jacker from deep. Last year, in his first 41 appearances, JR threw up 292 threes —7.1 per night!— thereby gaining a well-deserved reputation as the most conscience-free of 'volume shooters'. Of course, late in the year, Coach Karl tired of the hired goon, riddling his final months with DNP-CDs and garbage-time appearances; and, this season, the Nuggets've been reportedly seeing if there're any trade takers out there for young, hyper-talented, possibly-crazy wings. Yet, Smith has one characteristic that sets him apart from every other player on the Nuggets roster: he's a shooter. If we're to go by the preseason, Smith isn't a particularly good shooter, his six exhibition appearances finding the 6'6 gunner gunning it for 4/26 from range. Yikes. Of course, lacking any other guys with ridiculous range, and playing at the crazy pace that he favours, Furious George may be forced to function with a short memory. And, if he doles out even a decent amount of court-time for JR, Mr.Smith is immediately back into fantasy play as a deep-ball shooter.

A more intriguing possibility is the Vanilla Gorilla, Linas Kleiza. Though the hulking Lithuanian would probably best be suited to a Nocioni-esque role as undersized, hustling, ornery four, Karl has, at times, dared to play the 6'8 beast at shooting guard. Whilst it mightn't seem to make immediate sense, remember that Karl played Boobs Patterson at the two down the stretch in '06; in a lineup —Andre Miller, Melo, K-Mart, Camby— that actually featured no shooters. Kleiza, at least, has a deep-ball stroke, even if it's not the sweetest. And whereas Smith struggled in the exhibitions, Kleiza's preseason was impressive: 15.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 5/15 threes, 52.1 FG% in 27.5 MPG. Whilst he's unlikely to be hanging up anywhere near that once Melo, K-Mart, Camby, Nenê and the gang are all on the court every night, Kleiza holds definite intrigue as a wait-and-see possibility heading into the year.