Yakhouba Diawara

The Nuggets are expected to sign Yakhouba Diawara to a 2-year, $1.1 million contract. So who is this guy?

The 6-7, 225 pound forward is a native of France, and played on a dominant French Junior National Team alongside with Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Micheal Pietrus and Ronny Turiaf. He came to the United States to play for the College of Southern Idaho CC, and then transferred to Pepperdine.

In his senior year at Pepperdine, he averaged 14 points and 5.7 rebounds and was selected to the All-West Coast Conference team in 2004. After going undrafted, he returned to France and played for Dijon before signing with Bologna of the Italian league, to whom the Nuggets will have to pay $500,000 to buy out Diawara's contract.

As a member of the Nuggets' Vegas Summer League team, he is averaging 11.8 points and 3.0 rebounds a game, while leading the team in minutes played at 23.0.

He is a defensive-minded player who can guard four positions on the floor, and may play shooting guard for the Nuggets. Karl likes the defensive intensity, attitude and work ethic of the aggressive Diawara. "He wins because he competes so hard," said Karl.

USA Today has compared him to Andres Nocioni of the Bulls. If he shoots three's like Nocioni, this could be a very good thing.

But whether he can provide outside shooting or not remains to be seen. Karl believes he has an "upside" offensively, but who knows what that means. With Bologna, he shot 54% from 3-point land, where the line is deeper than college, but not as deep as the NBA.

This seems like another good, cheap pickup for the Nuggets. Our international scouts love this guy, and he has really wowed the Nuggets management during workouts and thus far in Summer League. He has a lot of potential, and we didn't have to waste a draft pick to see if he's legit or not.