As the new center for the Nuggets, now he'll see the ugly. "I feel sorry for [rookie coach] Bill [Hanzlik],'' Garrett says. "He has the hardest job. They're throwing us to the wolves without any weapons. They're throwing him out there with nothing.''

When the Nuggets traded their best player, power forward Antonio McDyess, to the Suns in a three-way deal on Oct. 1, they guaranteed that they would be in a highly competitive race for the worst record in the NBA. McDyess wanted a six-year, $100 million contract to stay in Denver, which may have been unreasonable. But management's having gotten no solid player, only draft choices and an undisclosed amount of cash, in exchange for McDyess may prove to be unforgivable. One Western Conference coach rolled his eyes in disgust and said, "The Nuggets must know about someone in next year's lottery that no one else knows."

Denver is stockpiling draft choices and conserving cap room to sign free agents after this season, which means that this year's Nuggets won't even match the anemic win total (21) of last year's team. Without McDyess, Denver is puny up front. It has little perimeter shooting, and its primary point guard is a rookie, Bobby Jackson. On opening night, the Nuggets' best player, forward LaPhonso Ellis, was on the injured list because of a torn right Achilles tendon. Denver started the season with four first-year players, including first-round picks Jackson and forwards Tony Battie and Danny Fortson. Hanzlik's only hope is that his young team will embrace his up-tempo, pressing style.

"The good part is that our young guys will get a quicker look at the league than other rookies," says Garrett. "But Tim Duncan, because he has great players around him, won't have the pressure on him with the Spurs that Bobby and Danny will. I mean, they're throwing these guys out there real quick."

One of the few bright spots for the Nuggets was the signing of Garrett because it spared us having to watch journeyman Joe Wolf start at center. Moreover, it allows Battie to ease into the NBA at power forward, not in the pivot. That should benefit Battie because he's probably closer to 6'9" than his listed 6'11".

After banging around Europe for eight years praying for an NBA job, the 6'11" Garrett got one as what he calls "a favor" from Minnesota coach Flip Saunders, who had scouted Garrett when the latter played in junior college. "If it weren't for Flip and Kevin [McHale, the T-Wolves' vice president of basketball operations], I don't know where I'd be," says Garrett. He loved playing with All-Star forwards Tom Gugliotta and Kevin Garnett, and point guard Stephon Marbury. Plays weren't run for Garrett; he just picked up the passes and missed shots the stars left for him. While he wanted to explore the options free agency presented, Garrett acknowledges that "I thought I'd be going back to Minnesota." The Timberwolves offered him a three-year, $9 million pact, but Garrett, who'll turn 31 on Nov. 27, opted for the Nuggets' longer-term deal.

Now, with no stars to surround him, Garrett might be asked to do more than he did with the Timberwolves. Can he? "Those guys in Minnesota were the Big Three," says Garrett. "Maybe I'll be one of the Big Three on this team ... except we don't have a Big Three. It's time for Denver to establish some superstars."

That could take years.

—Tim Kurkjian