Las Vegas – Nikoloz Tskitishvili wants a clear conscience, and he has come to Las Vegas to get it.
“Wherever I’m going to be, I don’t care,” Tskitishvili said. “Europe. Here. It’s not going to happen the same way.”
“It” is the constant joking, the condescending remarks, pointed fingers and sideways looks. “It” is five years of struggles. All of it, the 2002 No. 5 overall pick of the Nuggets says, has got to go.
Only, maybe it isn’t in a game that he’ll find it.
“He’s still a project, seems like,” Suns coach Mike D’Antoni said. He should know.
D’Antoni coached a young Tskitishvili for Benetton Treviso in Italy in 2001-02, when he was described by some scouts as the next Dirk Nowitzki. And who in his right mind would pass on the next possible NBA MVP?
Not the Nuggets.
“When I came here at 19 years old, probably I was just a good talent,” Tskitishvili said. “I played like 11 games in Italy. I had a couple, three, four good games and everybody thought ‘This kid has good talent and not a lot of experience.”‘
Said D’Antoni: “He came from Europe, and didn’t play a whole lot there and then didn’t play here (in the NBA). He never really played.”
All of which raises the question: If the prospect barely plays, particularly an international player, how well is the player really known? And in the end, is it the player’s fault if he doesn’t pan out? Or did the scouting let the organization down and put the player on a path he was never prepared to take?
“If we all knew that, we wouldn’t make mistakes, would we?” D’Antoni said. “It’s not a science, and that’s the problem. You don’t know how they can assimilate guys getting bigger, stronger, faster, and game speeds for some guys slow down, for other guys speeds up. You never know. You kind of just have to go with the flow.”
For then-Nuggets scout Jeff Weltman, that flow led him to believe “Skita” was the man for Denver. Weltman insisted to then-Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe that Denver make Tskitishvili its top draft pick. Vandeweghe had never seen Tskitishvili but made the selection.
After Tskitishvili turned out to be a bust with the Nuggets,Weltman was asked by owner Stan Kroenke if he would do it all over again.
Weltman’s response: “Yes.”
But Tskitishvili might not want that. His struggles affected his confidence, which affected his play, which bounced him around to six teams and eventually out of the league. The 7-foot, 225-pound forward is back with the Nuggets, playing for their summer league team and trying to work his way back into the NBA.
“I felt like I started basketball all over again from the beginning, like baby steps,” he said. “I really understand the game more now.”
Said Nuggets coach George Karl: “You have to have a mental skill, which is confidence. I think the kid’s confidence somewhere along the way, it got lost and he’s fighting to get that back. I think fans think it’s easy, and it isn’t. When you’re playing against the best players in the world, sometimes it’s hard to re-identify your confidence, your inner strength and your mental toughness. All those things are a part of playing in the NBA.”
Tskitishvili has been just average through two games in the NBA’s Field of Dreams – the Thomas & Mack Center on UNLV’s campus – where players are battling for their livelihood.
“It’s definitely an important week for a lot of guys,” said Julius Hodge, another former Nuggets first-round pick looking for work. “Free agents pretty much working for jobs.”
D’Antoni remains a fan.
“He needs to keep working,” D’Antoni said of Skita. “He’s got a lot of skills. He’s big and runs and all that. But it’s a little bit different in that you have to be able to assimilate all that into a game. It takes time. Hopefully he’ll keep working at it and get better.”
But even that comes as small solace to Tskitishvili, who remains frustrated he can’t play at the game’s highest level.
“Of course it’s not a good feeling,” Tskitishvili said. “I’m still upset about it. But I don’t get down on myself, saying ‘Why?’ I wasn’t ready. I see a lot of people who were the 10th pick, 15th pick that have great careers.
“Why not me?”
Footnotes
The NBA set the salary cap for the 2007-08 season at $55.630 million Tuesday. Of more importance to the Nuggets, the luxury tax level was set at $67.865 million, meaning Denver, with a payroll of nearly $80 million as of now, is nearly $13 million over.
Meanwhile, the midlevel exception is set at $5.356 million, and this is of particular importance to Nuggets free-agent guard Steve Blake, who, in a perfect world wants to sign for the full midlevel rate. …
The Nuggets dropped their second consecutive summer league game, 87-83, to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday. Denver was led by Von Wafer’s 19 points. …
Coby Karl scored 23 points in the Lakers’ 98-95 loss to Philadelphia.
Bad picks
Nuggets writer Chris Dempsey looks at the five biggest first-round flameouts in team history:
2002: Nikoloz Tskitishvili
(No. 5 overall) – Five years later, out of the league.
1998: Raef LaFrentz
(No. 3) – Four decent seasons, never a star.
1997: Tony Battie
(No. 5) – “El Busto,” meet Denver. Denver, “El Busto”
1991: Mark Macon
(No. 8) – His game didn’t translate to pros.
1989: Todd Lichti
(No. 15) – Averaged a career-best 14.0 ppg in 1990-91.
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
