The Nuggets are back. I was happy to learn that rookie Yakhouba Diawara, 6'7" and a native of Paris, joined the Denver Nuggets for the upcoming season. They signed him after he averaged nearly 12 points in 23 minutes per game during their summer league. I was impressed that Yakhouba (ya-KOO-ba) turned down a more lucrative offer from the Dallas Mavericks, certainly a team much closer to his hometown of Paris, Texas. Then I found out he was actually from France.

The Nuggets reportedly got him for the league minimum, certainly not $5.15 an hour, but many euros south of the two-year $1.8 million deal offered by the Mavs. So a Frenchman without a fundamental grasp of personal economics could be the next hope at shooting guard. Yes, those exchange rates can be bewildering, but is Inspector Clouseau this guy's agent? Though contract terms were not "officially" announced, the difference was likely to be in the range of several $100,000s, that's a lot of burgundy or Roquefort. Finally, we have an athlete who doesn't appear motivated only by the cash. That is so rare, they have to be imported.

Yakhouba Diawara chose to make Le Centre Pepsi his new place of employment. Bon jour, we hope you like it here. Merci buckets. Ten NBA cities do have a French Consulate, Denver's was somehow given to Honolulu.

Yak will be battling for court time with J.R. Smith who himself is newly arrived from the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, arguably our most French-influenced city. The distinct French character of Oklahoma City is subtle, yet unmistakable and that Franco-Okie cuisine is fantastic. Though, the Michelin Guide is usually used there to find the right sized tires for the pickup truck.

This latest international investment suggests the Nuggets have halted that disturbing trend of signing athletes with serious knee injuries to enormous NBA contracts. Presumably Peekaboo Street would have been next in line at the two guard if Yak hadn't nudged his way in there. Nobody in the NBA scouts the recovery room of the Stedman Hawkins Clinic for talent better than the Nugs.

Yak is not the first Frenchman to play for the Nuggets. In February 2000 Tariq Abdul Wahad arrived via a trade with the Orlando Magic that sent Denver resident Chauncey Billups packing for Disneyworld. Abdul Wahad had a short, injury plagued career in Denver, playing 64 games in parts of three seasons, averaging 6.5 points per game before being shipped to Dallas. We all know the NBA player Chauncey turned out to be.

Both Diawara and Abdul Wahad attended college in California, Tariq at San Jose State, and Yak at Pepperdine. That talented players must leave France to get a college education speaks volumes about the sad state of the basketball program at the Sorbonne. Wahad, to his credit, became known here for sharing his interest in art with underprivileged kids, organizing and leading group tours to museums. That mix of culture and sport is very admirable, and unusual in the present day NBA. It is hard to ever imagine the Stephon Marbury tour of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

None of us knows Yak all that well, unless you are an absolute basketball zealot. He had been busy honing his basketball skills in a variety of European leagues. French athletes, in general, are largely unknown to us in the United States. Other than Zinedine Zidane, the soccer player who delivered a wicked head butt at a crucial moment in front of one billion people watching the World Cup final. Though I don't know soccer very well, pure athleticism is a universal truth in all sport and Zidane was absolutely mountain goat-like in his technique. That kind of mastery deserves that red card of distinction, another of those soccer traditions I do not fully understand. He was allowed to sit while others on the French team had to keep playing kickball.

And we all recall French tennis star Yannick Noah. Mostly because CBS reminded us so many times that it was his talented son, Joakim, who was leading the Florida Gators to the NCAA Tournment Championship last March. Not since Griffey Jr. was in Triple A ball has a dad's faded athletic career been afforded so much airtime.

Yannick is an interesting guy. Not only winning the French Open (1983), the first Frenchman in 37 years to do so, but he made the transition to pop music idol. John McEnroe has tried just about everything else in show biz (actor, game show host, talk show host, and sportscaster) in his post-playing days. I suspect he can't sing. This is the one place you can safely say that McEnroe is no Yannick Noah. Noah has a little bit of Jimi Hendrix in him too, reworking the national anthem "La Marseillaise" in his own unique style, ruffling a few French feathers.

The Jeopardy category of "Famous French Athletes" has to be the most dreaded one on the whole board. Most of us can name far more French painters and authors than French athletes. Jean Claude Killy, the grand gentleman of French skiing does come to mind. He is certainly a national hero there on par with Balzac, Hugo, and Monet. Still, if you have to dredge up a star athlete from the 1968 Winter Olympics as evidence of athletic prowess, you probably do have to go back to the 19 th century to point to your nation's artistic and literary glory. This has to be very awkward for the French. That would be kind of like us choosing Jerry Lewis over Mark Twain as proof of our country's accomplishments in humor. Nobody would ever do that.

Yes, there are notable French players currently playing in the NBA. Boris Diow, of the Phoenix Suns refused to surrender his NBA career, despite languishing on the bench for the Atlanta Hawks. He had a terrific breakthrough season averaging 18.7 points and 6.7 rebounds for the Suns. Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs has established himself as a star. Many think that talented Mickael Pietrus, 6'6" guard/forward of the Golden State Warriors has real NBA star potential. Ronny Turiaf of the Lakers is from Martinique, but played his high school basketball in Paris, France. Mix in Joakim Noah, and Yakhouba, we soon are witnessing a real French revolution in basketball. I predict Yannick Noah will someday be invited to sing a national anthem before the NBA All Star game. We will all be asked to stand and remove our berets.