Big man bearing 'bust' label takes on new expectations
Steve, Star Tribune
October 22, 2005

Big man bearing 'bust' label takes on new expectations

MILWAUKEE - Nikoloz Tskitishvili is Ndudi Ebi, maybe, one year from
now.

Tskitishvili is Detroit's Darko Milicic without Joe Dumars in his
corner or the coaching change.

Tskitishvili is a project, a long shot and a chance for the
Timberwolves to make up for some of their poor drafts and nondrafts
in recent years. He is 7 feet tall, flies up and down the open court
and has the soft outside touch of a silky shooting guard. He is only
22 years old and, for the first time since he hit puberty, lugging
hardly any expectations at all.

Maybe that's what he needs.

The other way didn't work so well.

"Maybe I shouldn't say this . . . but why not?" Tskitishvili said
recently, talking about his first three, largely wasted NBA seasons
in Denver and (briefly) Golden State. "Everybody was telling
me, 'Skita, you're going to be a good player.' I was like, 'How? I
don't understand.' I don't play. I knew I wasn't practicing enough.
I could not do it by myself."

Tskitishvili, born in Tbilisi in the Soviet Union, barely touched a
basketball until age 12, when he grew 3 inches in one month. Within
three years, he was playing professionally, first in Italy, then in
Slovenia. In June 2002, the Denver Nuggets drafted him fifth
overall, a lofty status that hung on Tskitishvili a label not of
can't-miss but better-not-miss.

Except that he did, with both the Nuggets and the player shouldering
blame.

"I needed somebody to bust my butt every day -- like they do here
now," Tskitishvili said. "Sometimes you cannot do it by yourself. I
thought in two years I was going to be ready. Probably I haven't
done a good job; I should have worked harder and harder. But I
needed a little push, too."

The Nuggets tested Tskitishvili as a rookie and he struggled,
shooting 29 percent while averaging 3.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and
16.3 minutes. His scoring increased in each of the last four months,
from 3.0 to 5.3, but he ran out of season. By October 2003, coach
Jeff Bzdelik was worried about his job, small forward Carmelo
Anthony had arrived, Tskitishvili was too frail to play power
forward, and developing his game dropped off Denver's to-do list.

His playing time got halved and so did his opportunities, from 81
appearances to 39.

By last season, the Nuggets were in win-now mode, firing two
coaches, hiring George Karl and packaging Tskitishvili to Golden
State in a deal for Eduardo Najera. The Warriors had more players
than patience, too, and Tskitishvili became a free agent. One who,
out of frustration, came very close to heading back to Europe.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself, and when I don't get a chance,
first year, second year, third year, I was like, 'Let me start all
over. Let me go back there and play,' " Tskitishvili said. "But all
I was missing was playing time -- I've been doing all these drills
all my life. Run, shoot, five days a week. But it does not help if
you do not play."

Tskitishvili was hanging out at the Las Vegas summer league when the
Wolves contacted him about playing for their squad at Target Center
in July. He had an amazing debut -- 25 points, 4-for-5 on three-
pointers, 10 rebounds and a block in 17 minutes -- then broke a bone
in his right hand the next night.

It didn't matter, though. Wolves Vice President Kevin McHale liked
what he had seen, and Tskitishvili liked the Wolves back. He agreed
to a one-year contract, with the onus on both him and the coaching
staff to get something out of Tskitishvili's "second" rookie season.

"We've got to put him on the floor, let him make some mistakes and
let him have some success, and then build from there," said Wolves
assistant coach Rex Kalamian, who was with Tskitishvili last season
in Denver. "He had a shorter leash in Denver and wasn't ever able to
get into a good flow, as far as playing time.

"My thing with him is, when he catches the ball and he's wide open,
he's got to shoot it. He can stretch defenses for us. . . . He
probably was never in great shape to play at Denver's altitude, and
he probably took it a little lightly, as far as how hard he has to
compete against men. But I'm going to be his personal guy. I'm going
to be all over him."

Kevin Garnett has been all over Tskitishvili, tutoring him one-on-
one after practice. "It seems like no one's ever given 'Skita
patience," Garnett said. "I don't know if he's ever played with
someone who is as driven as I am. . . . When I'm teaching him
things, I'm telling him things that I've learned from McHale, things
I've learned from experience. If he can get better, it makes it
easier on me."

Easier on the Wolves, too, and a lot more satisfying for Tskitishvili