Best Nugget

Baffled Denverites who can name four current Denver Nuggets deserve some kind of prize -- a Dan Issel bobble-head doll, perhaps? -- but Juwan Howard has emerged as the star acquisition in the big midseason trade that sent whiny guard Nick Van Exel and slow white guy Raef LeFrentz to Dallas. With injured Antonio McDyess limited in terms of minutes, Howard is leading Mike Evans's semi-resurgent Nuggets in scoring and rebounds; his sheer toughness in the post has given GM Kiki Vandeweghe new hope that he can finally build a winner at the Pepsi Center -- otherwise known as Avland.