It's possible the Denver Nuggets may have landed the best center in the 2003 NBA draft.  

No, not second-round pick Xue Yuyang from the Hong Kong Flying Dragons. Rather, it's a prospect they didn't even spend a draft pick on, Western Kentucky's Chris Marcus.

The 7-foot-1, 325-pounder arrived in Denver on Saturday and plans to spend the summer with the Nuggets, hoping to make the team as a free agent.

Marcus began receiving national notice in 2000 as a freshman in the Sun Belt Conference when he was named to the all-league team and was the defensive player of the year and newcomer of the year. As a sophomore, he led the nation in rebounding, averaging 12.1, and was named Sun Belt player of the year.

There was talk Marcus should have turned pro after his sophomore season, but he decided to stay in school. That's when his basketball career took a turn for the worse. Marcus led the Hilltoppers in scoring (15.9), rebounding (8.9) and (2.6) blocked shots his junior season, including 20.8 points and 9.5 rebounds the last six games. But he also missed two months with a stress fracture in his left foot.

He was supposed to be a top 10 lock, perhaps going as high as No. 5 to the Heat.

He was supposed to be the next coming of Dirk Nowitzki, and surely no general manager in his right mind would let that slip through his hands.

He was supposed to shake David Stern's hand on the stage at Madison Square Garden.

Instead, Polish forward Maciej Lampe wound up shaking Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik's hand Thursday night after the Knicks picked him with the first pick in the second round on the NBA draft.

Now, the player many believed the Heat would select is going to find it difficult just to play in the NBA next season.

Lampe, a 7-0 forward with unlimited shooting range, fell in the draft in part because teams were afraid it would be difficult for him to get out of his contract with Real Madrid, which runs through 2008.

There was a long line Saturday morning outside the Pepsi Center, and people weren't waiting for tickets for Cher, Stars on Ice, the Rolling Stones, Jay-Z or Tony Robbins. Rather, it was a chance for Nuggets fans to welcome Carmelo Anthony to Denver.  

The Nuggets selected Anthony on Thursday with the third pick in the NBA draft. While the second annual Nuggets open tryout took place outside the Pepsi Center, fans braved a long line in hot weather to meet the Syracuse star.

"I never thought that line was going to end, and I have no problem with it because I love signing autographs," Anthony said. "They made me feel welcomed and excited. I wish I could have gone on the court and showed them what I can do."

Anthony signed numerous basketballs, pieces of hardwood, newspapers and Sports Illustrated covers. Colorado Springs native Derek Haynes and his 8-year-old son, D.J., were the first in line.

"(Anthony) was hot in college," Haynes said. "I followed him when he was in high school. I'm pretty excited. Real excited. I'm a big fan. He's worth the wait. Plus, I am in front in the shade."

The basketball hoops got erected early and, in a nod to those chilling west Iowa winters, strategically.

One hoop got set up outside. Another was installed in the living room, all the better for Kirk Hinrich to practice his shooting form year-round and round-the-clock.

Anytime a trip to the gym didn't work or a trip outside needed too much work?snow shoveling and all?Hinrich would take advantage of the vaulted ceilings in his Sioux City home and arch shot after shot at the 7-foot basket.

Sometimes, a Christmas ornament or two got in the way.

His father, Jim, the coach at the local West High School for 24 years, would analyze Kirk's form. And even at a young age, Kirk's form rang true.

Kirk is, after all, someone whose first word as an infant was "ball." Or so Jim says.

You want other signs that the coach's son was going to grow up and make his father proud? On the day Kirk was born, Jan. 2, 1981, Jim's team had lost three straight games.

With a successful draft under his belt, graded as best in the league by several media sites, Pistons President Joe Dumars now looks to the free-agent season.

It probably will feel like a mini-vacation.

Unlike last year, when the Pistons targeted and aggressively pursued Chauncey Billups, there is no urgent need to be filled. Heck, there really isn't even a shopping list.

"It's not like we have a dire need, where we just have to go out and find somebody," Dumars said. "At this point, where we are as a team, it's about finding the right person to add to the mix. I don't want to make any mistakes."

The Pistons are over the salary cap, so they won't be in the bidding for top-shelf free agents such as Jason Kidd or Jermaine O'Neal.

They have essentially two options. One is to use the mid-level exception, which is expected to be worth $4.8 million. With that the Pistons can offer a six-year deal worth more than $34 million, which is what Billups received. The other is through trades, either a straight trade or a sign-and-trade.

"Is there a chance the free-agent time could pass and we don't use our mid-level?" Dumars said. "Yeah, that could happen. It has to be somebody we all agree is right or we will pass."

After surviving the first round of cuts for the United States junior national team earlier this month, Al Jefferson, a 6-foot-9 high school senior, wrote USA Basketball a letter saying he would not be joining the team.

Instead of playing for his country in a prestigious international competition against top-flight opponents, Jefferson chose to play for his Nike-sponsored summer traveling team. Jefferson, one of the top ? if not the top ? high school seniors in the country, will play at Nike's all-American camp in Indianapolis in July and help his Amateur Athletic Union team defend the national championship it won last summer.

So while the junior national team practiced this week under the eyes of top college coaches at the American Airlines Center ? where the Dallas Mavericks practice ? Jefferson was hoping his high school coach in Prentiss, Miss., would unlock the gym, according to Larry Stamps, Jefferson's summer traveling team coach.

"He had made some prior commitments," Stamps said of Jefferson in a telephone interview. "Obviously, he respects USA Basketball a lot. But we all have to make tough decisions sometime in our life."

Basketball's changing culture, and its focus on self-interest, has undermined the junior national team and the Pan American team.

Zoran Planinic woke up to air-raid sirens when he was 10 years old and followed his mother and older sister downstairs into the basement.

Living in Mostar, a city in Bosnia-Herzegovina, his family ate from humanitarian aid packages during the war in the Balkans.

For six months they were without electricity. For 10 days, he was without his father, Jozo. The family had made frantic attempts to reach Jozo as he was fighting for Croatia but heard nothing. Then one day, Planinic saw his father through the basement window, walking through the door of the apartment building.

The war stretched for four years, but its scars are still embedded in Planinic's consciousness at age 20.

"It was hard," Planinic said Friday, sitting in the lounge bar of the Regency Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. "But we made it somehow."

Shrugging, he added, "That time I have kept to myself; I don't think about it."

Josh Howard was asked about Tim Duncan, the last Wake Forest player taken in the first round of the NBA draft until Howard on Thursday night.

The Mavericks' 29th overall choice said he's talked to Duncan on the phone a few times but hasn't met him yet. That will have to come on the court, he said.

"Don't worry," Mavericks coach Don Nelson piped up, "you won't be guarding him."

Sitting a few feet away, Del Harris couldn't resist amending that comment.

"With Nellie's system," Harris said, "you never know."

And if it happens, Howard would gladly accept the assignment. The unveiling of the 6-6 Howard at a news conference at American Airlines Center was spiced with humor, but also heavy on vignettes and insights into the newest Maverick.

The day after his humiliating draft experience was played out on televisions and in newspapers across Canada, Carl English finally managed to drum up some interest in the National Basketball Association.

After being snubbed through the two rounds of the draft on Thursday night, the 22-year-old from tiny Patrick's Cove, Nfld., was contacted by several NBA teams yesterday inquiring about his future plans.

Harold Cipin, English's Toronto-based agent, said that he had been in touch with a number of NBA teams who were inquiring about his client's availability to participate on their summer league teams. Cipin refused to identify the NBA teams he had spoken to about English.

"He is a free agent now, he can pick and choose who he wants to talk with and negotiate with," Cipin said yesterday in an interview. "He's in a better bargaining position at this point in time."

A strong showing in a summer league for an NBA team could lead to a training camp tryout and a chance to make an NBA roster for the coming season. All that English is looking for now is a chance.

It's not going to take long for Chris Bosh to show his Raptor teammates what he can do on the court.

The teenage draft pick is expected in Bradenton, Fla., on Monday to join a group of Raptors ? including Vince Carter ? at an informal training session.

He should make his playing debut about a week later with Toronto's entry in the Los Angeles summer league.

"The sooner the better," coach Kevin O'Neill said of Bosh's indoctrination.

And with the No. 4 pick in Thursday's NBA draft on the roster, there will be some extra attention paid to Toronto's summer league team.

But Bosh certainly won't be the only player O'Neill wants to see play.