Nuggets F Nene ready to practice

Dec 18, 2007 - 8:51 PM DENVER (Ticker) -- Denver Nuggets forward Nene on Tuesday was cleared to begin ball-handling and shooting drills.

Nene, who had surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb on November 9, has been cleared to participate in a full practice beginning on Friday.

The 25-year-old Nene suffered the injury during an embarrassing 119-93 loss to the Boston Celtics on November 7.

It has been an injury-plagued career for the 6-11 Brazilian, who tore the ACL in his right knee in the first game of the 2005-06 season.

After sitting out the rest of that campaign, Nene battled nagging injuries but returned to average 12.2 points and 7.0 rebounds in 64 games last season. He has averaged 11.0 points and 6.4 rebounds in six seasons with the Nuggets.