Thursday, January 03, 2002 - It is hard to imagine mild-mannered Mike Evans being ejected from an NBA game. But should the Denver Nuggets' interim coach get tossed, assistant Kim Hughes would take his place.

Hughes is in his fourth season as assistant coach with the Nuggets, and also had served a role as player personnel director. The former Nuggets player coached Denver's summer league team during the 2000 Rocky Mountain Revue.

While Evans hopes he never is ejected, he is comfortable with Hughes taking his place.

"Kim knows the guys very well," Evans said. "He knows all the players, their strengths and weaknesses. He knows the offense very well. He'd be fine. He'd be very calm and collected and do it the right way."