Kings coach Keith Smart says he keeps one bag for travel and never really unpacks.

"I put a little laundry in this morning before I left to come over here," Smart said following his team's practice session Tuesday. "I get home, I'll go put it in the dryer, and we're ready to go again."

The approach has served him well recently as the Kings played a stretch of nine games in nine cities over 14 days – including one in Sacramento last week – that concluded Monday night with their 101-89 loss in Portland, Ore.

After hosting the Denver Nuggets tonight at Power Balance Pavilion, the Kings will take to the road for two more games, though one is at nearby Golden State.

The travel-heavy early schedule – their 11 road contests were tied Tuesday for most in the league – has been a challenge for the young Kings. They are 2-9 away from home, and all nine losses have been by double-digits.

"The camaraderie has to develop in hostile environments," said Smart.

"Can you still maintain your composure? When a team goes on a run, will you still execute the play? All of those little things are building character for us.

"We've shown so far, a little bit, that we can play in some environments on the road," he said. "Now we've just got to clean up a four-minute segment here, a five-minute segment total, where the game gets away from us."

Such was the case Monday, when the Trail Blazers rolled off a 13-0 second-quarter run, and in the Kings' first game against the Nuggets on Jan. 4, in which Denver began the second quarter with 10 unanswered points en route to a 110-83 win.

The Kings began their recent three-game trip with a promising win over the San Antonio Spurs, but were blown out the next night at Memphis.

Becoming a consistently good team on the road, said veteran forward-center Chuck Hayes, comes partly from disciplined play.

"You've got to execute," Hayes said. "You can freelance it at home, because you've got the home-court advantage. On the road, that window of freelancing pretty much disappears. You've got to run your stuff."

Guard Francisco Garcia said he believes the Kings are "growing" as a road team, but reiterated they need to limit those "spurts for three minutes, five minutes, where we just break down."

Garcia said he couldn't remember playing in nine cities in two weeks, and that the Kings are "just happy to be home at least one game."

The travel is somewhat magnified for rookies, who are adjusting to an NBA schedule in this lockout-condensed season.

"I feel like it's been going pretty well, trying to keep my body as good as I can, stretch every day, take care of yourself, get sleep, eat well," said guard Jimmer Fredette. "I've been doing pretty well so far, but it's definitely a tough schedule."

Hayes update – Hayes practiced full-contact Tuesday for the first time since dislocating his left shoulder Jan. 5 against the Milwaukee Bucks. He wore a protective sleeve on the shoulder.

"We did some contact drills where I had to engage my shoulder muscles and see if it'll hold up with some resistance, and it felt good," Hayes said. "I just think it's the mental standpoint now, just trusting the rehab, trusting the doctors and trusting the treatment that my shoulder's OK."

Smart said the Kings do not have a plan for when Hayes will play again, but did not explicitly rule out Hayes' availability tonight.

"The doctors and medical staff haven't said yet when his timetable to go is," Smart said. "So we'll wait until they discuss that and see how he does."

Thornton hurting – Guard Marcus Thornton (left thigh contusion) did not practice Tuesday and is not expected to play against the Nuggets.

Said Smart: "I don't think he's going to be ready for a little bit."

Honeycutt recalled – The Kings recalled rookie forward Tyler Honeycutt from the Reno Bighorns of the NBA Development League, the team announced.

Honeycutt, who averaged 12.7 minutes in 10 games for the Bighorns after being assigned to Reno earlier this month, practiced with the team Tuesday.

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