Pressure is the lump in the throat caused by carrying an $18 million wad of somebody else's money in your pocket. Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe better not blow it. To fix the worst team in the NBA, he gets one chance and no excuses.

"We only get one swing at this," said Vandeweghe, given a rich allowance by franchise owner Stan Kroenke to splurge on free-agent players expected to turn the Nuggets from a league-wide joke to a serious contender. "A general manager gets to spend $18 million ineffectively only once in his career. So we've got to do it right."

So where do the Nuggets start? The answer might surprise you.

The No. 1 candidate on the list of Denver free agents should be a true NBA giant who owns an Olympic gold medal, has been honored as an all-star seven times and did not play a single second of basketball last season.

On the first minute of the first day of July, at the first instant Tuesday when Vandeweghe can woo free agents, the first place he needs to be is face-to-face with Alonzo Mourning, the 33-year-old center of the Miami Heat.