FanHouse George Karl

Raw Like Sushi was the name of a Neneh Cherry album. It also could end up being the title for the Hasheem Thabeet rookie highlight video.

Of course, if you think this guy is green now, Memphis coach Lionel Hollins says you should have been around for his first workout after the Grizzlies took the 7-foot-3, 267-pound Connecticut center with the No. 2 pick in last June's draft.

"He was really bad,'' Hollins said. "Even though he's a shot blocker, he only had to stand in the paint in college. Now you've got guys attacking you and how you have to go meet them, he knew none of that. He had no footwork. He had no jump hook. He had nothing. And I can say that out of all the rookies in this draft, he probably has come the farthest. He has the farthest to go, and he still has a long ways to go.''

DENVER -- Midway through Wednesday's game, Denver coach George Karl suddenly stopped writing "Rookie'' on his coach's board and instead wrote "Ty.''

Could it be that Ty Lawson, in his very first NBA game, dispelled the myth that Karl doesn't have an appreciation for rookies?

"Things might be changing,'' Lawson said. "Every day up until (Wednesday) he wrote 'Rookie.' But he changed it to 'Ty.' I don't know what that means.''

What it means is Karl has got himself one heck of a rookie. Lawson scored 17 points and handed out six assists to help the Nuggets to a 114-105 opening-night win over Utah at the Pepsi Center.

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DENVER -- George Karl isn't telling the Cleveland Cavaliers how to run their team. Then again, maybe he is.

Karl admits he's providing an "amateur fan evaluation'' regarding his son Coby Karl, a guard for the Cavaliers. But how many fans throwing out opinions on Coby have more than 930 NBA coaching wins?

Unless Lenny Wilkens, Don Nelson, Pat Riley, Jerry Sloan, Larry Brown, Phil Jackson, Bill Fitch or Dick Motta have spoken up, that would be none.

George Karl, the coach of the Denver Nuggets, doesn't understand why the Cavaliers might sign guard Antonio Daniels, which could result in his son being waived after making Cleveland's opening-day roster.

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

Denver's previous coach wasn't bashful about title talk.

"To win a championship, you've got to talk championship,'' Michael Cooper said on several occasions as members of the media attempted to keep from snickering.

Let's just say Cooper, who compiled a 4-10 interim coaching stint before being silenced in January 2005, didn't do much more than talk championship.

Now, the guy who replaced Cooper is doing a lot of such spouting. But nobody is snickering.

"I believe this team can win a championship,'' said George Karl, who has led the Nuggets to five straight playoff berths since taking over.

SALT LAKE CITY -- It seemed as good of a time as any to test these rookies.

Thursday's preseason opener marked the first NBA game for three replacement officials. The Denver Nuggets didn't wait long before resorting to some trickery.

Late in the first half of their 103-87 loss to Utah at EnergySolutions Arena, Nuggets forward Renaldo Balkman was fouled, and timeout was called. After the timeout, rather than have Balkman, a 53.6 percent career free-throw shooter, go to the line, up stepped Nuggets guard Arron Affalo, a 79.7-percent career marksman.

Thankfully, the replacements caught it and ordered Balkman to the line. If not, they might have been replaced.

DENVER -- Kenyon Martin can joke a little about replacement officials. Overall, though, he doesn't think it's too funny.

In an interview with FanHouse, Martin said he believes games will be "terrible'' with the replacements.

"I joked the other day with [Tim Grgurich] and Jamahl Mosley,'' the Denver Nuggets feisty forward said about talking to a pair of assistant coaches. "I'm going to get suspended in the first month of the season. I'm going to have 15 technicals in the first month just for the simple fact [replacement officials] don't know how I run my mouth. They don't know how I approach the game.''

They might find out in a hurry. Martin and his Nuggets play Thursday at Utah in the NBA preseason opener and first game using replacement referees.

Bert Smith has been there, done that, so when an NBA replacement official calls him this week to ask for advice, on what to expect from star players and volatile coaches, on what it's really going to be like doing the games, they would be wise to listen closely.

It will range from obstacle course to gauntlet.

Smith was a young, promising official working college basketball games in the Big 12 and Conference USA when the NBA plucked him to be a replacement in 1995 during the last referee union lockout.

He worked 16 games that year, including a Sonics-Pacers game Nov. 18 in Indianapolis when he ejected then Seattle coach George Karl, who kept riding him over a call he didn't like, got a technical foul, then drop kicked the ball into the stands to show his displeasure. Smith tossed him.

DENVER -- In this faltering economy, there are have been lots of good deals. Low-interest car loans. Double frequent-flyer miles. A cheaper menu at Quiznos.

Many good deals won't last. But some in the NBA might.

Everybody knows about NBA salaries having spiraled out of control the past few decades. Owners are determined to reel them in, which is why there's a decent chance there will be a lockout after the 2010-11 season.

Yes, there was Mount St. Helens in 1980. But there was another pretty impressive eruption in 1994.

That would be the one by Mount Mutombo.

Dikembe Mutombo's Denver Nuggets, the No. 8 seed in the West, stunned the top-seeded Seattle SuperSonics 3-2 in a first-round playoff series. Mutombo led the way by blocking 31 shots, the most ever for an NBA five-game series and his 6.2 average per game remains the highest ever for any series.

That series ended with the unforgettable image of the big center sprawled on the floor, holding the ball over his head in triumph and screaming with joy.

DENVER -- For the first week, J.R. Smith just stared at the walls. Finally, he got a radio and listened to sports talk shows.

Eventually, though, there was so little to do in jail that Smith found himself perusing a chemistry book that was sitting around. Not that Smith claims he now knows his periodic table of elements.

The Denver Nuggets guard spent 23 days in jail in July after pleading guilty to reckless driving for a June 2007 accident that killed his passenger and good friend.

"Oh, by far," Smith said Friday when asked if it was the most humbling experience of his life. "I was in protective custody. They wouldn't let me interact with anybody. I was on 23-hour lockdown. I was pretty much in there by myself. The whole time you definitely see the difference between freedom and not being free."