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George Karl, speaking in the coach's preseason conference call a couple of days ago:

Yakouba was a guy we brought to our summer league and was very, very, very impressive and we immediately tried to sign him to a deal and he agreed to sign with us. I think the best way I can say it, is that he is in the running to be a starter on our team. He's a kid that, I think, has a very competitive personality, loves to play defense, and is getting better everyday offensively, even though that's probably his weakest area. And just his toughness and competitiveness will give him an opportunity to play. The guy who kind of was our defender last year, Greg Buckner, signed with Dallas and we're looking at Yakouba to kind of be a defensive specialist and then, hopefully, on a weekly basis, get better offensively.

Diawara made a little news this summer when he reportedly had a handshake agreement with Denver, then got a bigger offer in writing from Dallas, but honored the agreement with Denver nonetheless.