Chucky Atkins excited to backup Allen Iverson

DENVER — Chucky Atkins is used to playing behind All-Star point guards. That's just the way he likes it.

Atkins was signed by the Denver Nuggets in July to back up perennial MVP candidate Allen Iverson but he doesn't mind not starting. In fact, the primary reason he came to Denver is to play with A.I.

"The same thing that burns inside him, burns inside me," Atkins said. "The will to win, the will to leave it all out on the court. If it kills me, that's just the way it is."

Playing for his seventh NBA team and entering his ninth season, Atkins has played with All-Stars Chauncey Billups and Gilbert Arenas and he has has been a starter — but it's the sixth man role he seems to relish.

He finished eighth for the Sixth Man of the Year award last season with the Memphis Grizzlies, averaging 13.2 points and 4.6 assists per game even though Memphis had the league's worst record. He also played on the best team in 2003-04 with the Detroit Pistons, though he just missed a championship when he was traded to Boston midseason.

Atkins said coming off the bench is easy for him. "You come off the bench, you don't have any pressure," he said. "If you've got it going, you've got it. If you don't, you go back and sit."

The veteran player said he has never seen a team as intense as the Nuggets are early in the preseason.

"Just seeing 12-year veterans like Marcus Camby and Allen Iverson working as hard as they are working in training camp, shows me these are guys that really and truly want to win," he said.

Even Kenyon Martin, who has played in just 58 games over the past two seasons because of a knee injury, has been working out with his surgically repaired right knee wrapped tight and occasionally iced.

Martin is only able to practice for about 45 minutes each day but it's a testament to the team's dedication, Atkins said. "Kenyon's not able to go for the whole time, but guys see Kenyon and he's on one-and-a-half legs, but he's coming out there and giving us everything. There ain't no slacking," Atkins said.

On paper, the Nuggets are one of the league's most talented teams. Carmelo Anthony and A.I. finished second and eighth in the NBA scoring race last year; Marcus Camby won the Defensive Player of the Year award and Nene averaged career highs in points and rebounds. Atkins is coming off one of his best seasons as a pro.

But it's still a team that was bounced rather unceremoniously from the playoffs, beaten by the San Antonio Spurs in five games in the first round.

What's the key to avoiding a fifth straight early exit?

"Getting off to a good start," Camby said. "Solidifying our home court. The last couple of years we always talked about playing here in Denver should be to our advantage. But we haven't been getting the job done at our home court, especially last year."

Augmon signed

The Nuggets signed veteran forward Stacey Augmon on Wednesday. Augmon, 6-8, 213, has played 15 NBA seasons with Atlanta, Detroit, Portland, Charlotte/New Orleans and Orlando. Most recently, he averaged 2.0 ppg and 1.5 rpg in 36 games with Orlando during the 2005-06 season.

Iverson sued

A lawsuit has been filed in Douglas County (Neb.) District Court against Iverson, claiming he did not show up at a weekend of booked appearances in Omaha in early August.

Kermit Brashear, the lawyer for the promotion company that booked Iverson for the events, said Wednesday they know nothing more than what Iverson's representatives told HYB Entertainment promoter Dave Chambers: that Iverson had a family emergency.

The lawsuit seeks $44,000 in damages.

Iverson was unavailable to comment Wednesday after the Nuggets' morning practice. A call to his manager, Gary Moore, by The Associated Press was not immediately returned. Moore is also the president of Crossover Promotions, Iverson's promotions company.

The company's Web site still listed the three Omaha events on its schedule.