Chris Andersen Returns to Denver

Chris Andersen was the best feel-good story no one really talked about last season. After being kicked out of the league for violating the league's drug policy in 2006, he was reinstated last March, joining the Hornets for the rest of the season.

Sure, he appeared in only five games and logged all of 34 minutes on the court, but the fact that he was clean, sober and back in the league was a huge step for a guy nearly everybody had written off for good two years ago.

Not surprisingly, NBA teams were cautious with their interest in Andersen this summer, and the best deal he could find was a one-year deal worth the veteran's minimum ($998,389) to return to the Nuggets, with whom Andersen spent the first three years of his career.

Considering the Nuggets gave away Marcus Camby for a bag of peanuts and watched Eduardo Najera sign with the Nets, Andersen has a legitimate chance to log a lot of minutes this season, potentially setting himself up for a richer contract next summer.

At 30, he's probably not quite the high-flyer he was before, but he's still an athletic big man who can help on the boards and defense. As he told me back in March, he's tried to expand his game by adding more range to his jump shot.

"When you're shooting by yourself, you don't want to chase the rebound down, so you better make it," he said while laughing. "It's a lot easier to chase it underneath the basket than chase it across the gym."

Andersen isn't the only diamond in the rough the Nuggets hope will emerge this year: they also signed Dahntay Jones to a minimum contract, as well. Jones -- the 20th overall pick of the 2003 draft who went before Boris Diaw, Leandro Barbosa, Josh Howard and Kendrick Perkins -- bounced between the D-League and the Kings last year and was one of Denver's most impressive players in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.