Ty Lawson walks like he’s inflated with helium, floating toward an intended destination, as if arrival would be an unexpected bonus.

He wanders more than walks. Some call him “Snail.” As the new guy at North Carolina, he lounged while chiseled upperclassmen ran a timed sprint at a preseason workout. Then the freshman sauntered to the starting line.

“He’s got the pants hanging halfway down his butt, his shoes were like untied,” said Bobby Frasor, a former North Carolina teammate. “And then he runs. Everybody was like, ‘Whoa.’ Super, super fast.”

Lawson says he has an alter ego: Chico. That’s the nickname they gave him in Lithuania during the NBA lockout last year. Ty is the guy who just goes with the flow. Chico is the guy who creates the flow for the Nuggets, the guy who could be an all-star this season.

“He is the tortoise and the hare,” Nuggets assistant coach Chad Iske said of Lawson. “It seems like off the floor, you have to drag him along. He’s so fast on the court all the time that he has to offset it by being so slow off the court. He offsets it by chillin’, I guess.”

In his first full season as the Nuggets’ starting point guard, Lawson — er, Chico — is averaging 17.1 points, 6.3 assists and 1.9 steals entering tonight’s home against the Utah Jazz.

“He’s cat quick,” Miami Heat forward LeBron James said. “And he’s very strong. Getting the starting point guard job has given him a lot more confidence. You have to get back in transition, because he can go. He’s liable to go one-on-five against some of the best defenses.”

Ego: Ty

“Just chillin’, man”

Ty Lawson doesn’t wear glasses, but sometimes he still will wear glasses. Style, you know? Other times, back at North Carolina, he’d wear socks featuring SpongeBob. Sometimes at the Pepsi Center, when he meanders in wearing a backpack, he looks like a kid from Metro State who accidentally made a wrong turn.

“I’m just livin’,” said Lawson, 24. “No superstar, no sunglasses, no nothin’. Just chillin’, man, having fun. It’s different on the court — the alter ego comes out. There’s something about basketball and being in front of fans that just brings it out of me.”

Lawson is refreshing. He’s a dude’s dude. He lives with Brandon Simpson (a friend since middle school) and Nick Watkins (“who I’ve known since we were in diapers).”

They call themselves the “Three Amigos.” They watch DVDs together, play video games together, play pingpong together — well, not yet. They just got a table but, as @TyLawson3 tweeted this past week: “3 homies vs 1 ping pong table.. Land slide victory… Been at it for 2 hrs.” The accompanying photo showed his befuddled buddies staring at perplexing pieces on the carpet.

“It’s still bent up, not even close to being a finished product,” Lawson admitted two days later. “They can’t even get the wheels on it, so every time it folds in the middle.”

Alter ego: Chico NBA’s Barry Sanders

Ty was always fast, but he wasn’t Chico fast. In middle school, back in Clinton, Md., his father tried creative approaches to strengthen his son.

“You know Jumpsoles?” Lawson asked a reporter, who imagined some sort of Suzanne Somers apparatus. “You put a ball on your foot, so it makes you walk on your calves. My dad used to make me run up my hills. And he’d make me wear ankle weights or a weighted vest under my school uniform. I’d be walking around with 10 pounds extra every day. I wanted to jump higher. And it worked.”

“Snail” now is arguably the fastest guy in the NBA.

Nuggets coach George Karl thinks so. His offense thrives off Lawson’s speed, notably in transition, where the Nuggets steal easy points before a defense can set up.

What makes Lawson turn into Chico is not just the speed. A lot of guys are fast. Even teammate Arron Afflalo suggested that in a sprint, he could beat Lawson. But Lawson has the strength to pinball off defenders.

“When he gets the ball, he’s so low to the floor that I compare it to Barry Sanders on the basketball court a little bit,” Iske said, referring to the legendary Detroit Lions running back. “He has such a low center of gravity, he’s able to change directions and speeds so quickly — without losing any speed.”

Ego: Ty A pro at pranks

For years, they didn’t know. The phone call came from a blocked number. The voice on the other end was muffled.

“Go check your cars.” North Carolina players Tyler Hansbrough, Frasor and a couple of others didn’t know what was going on. Was this some Duke stunt? “Our cars were covered with ketchup, mustard, food,” Frasor said.

One can imagine Lawson the next day, his demeanor so innocent, no one would ever consider him being guilty.

“For two years we didn’t know who did it,” said Frasor, now a video coordinator for North Carolina. “But last year during the all-star break, Ty was in town and finally fessed up.”

Nuggets assistant coach Melvin Hunt calls Lawson the “silent assassin,” lounging but lurking.

“He’ll sneak attack at times, whether it’s your shoes or something may be a little too tight on you,” Hunt said. “Did he just say that? Ty will have you laughing. He brings a group together with his subtle humor.”

In the Denver locker room, auras used to collide like floating bubbles. Strong personalities? These personalities were on PEDs. Martin. Melo. A.I. J.R. The personas commanded.

This season, the Denver locker room is refreshed, still searching for its identity. Even though Lawson is the leader on the court, he’s just one of the guys in the locker room, chillin’ next to Afflalo, cracking jokes, waiting for the next guy to walk by in an outfit too tight. Karl hopes Lawson can find a medium. The coach adores the little guy but also is used to tough-willed point guards — Gary Payton, Sam Cassell, Chauncey Billups.

“Ty is a little bit, I don’t know what the word is I’ll use — youthful,” Karl said. “Youthful in his locker room approach. But in the games, he’s a leader. I’d like to see him be more of a leader in the peripheral moments of the team, and I think he will be. I’d like to put the pedal down a little faster.”

Alter ego: Chico “So fast, so explosive”

The highly touted guy with the saggy pants would saunter into the North Carolina weight room. Jonas Sahratian knew he’d have to do his best Roy Williams-type coaching to get him going. But once the Carolina strength coach got the lounging Lawson lifting weights, well, “He’s one of the best athletes I’ve ever trained,” said Sahratian, who has a poster of Lawson in his weight room, featuring this message: Only the strong survive. “He’s so fast, so explosive. When those lights came on, you knew he was going to kick somebody’s (butt). You put the ball in his hands, it’s another gear.”

Hunt has friends across the NBA, including Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown, who admit that they game plan for Lawson like a football defense keying in on Barry Sanders. The Lakers try to play team defense to keep Lawson out of the paint, even with big men Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum on the court. That’s because Lawson is so efficient with the penetration pass.

“That’s when you know that you’re on the cusp of being an all-star, when you’re in everybody’s scouting report,” Hunt said.

So, knowing that Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul will be starters at guard — and Russell Westbrook will be a reserve — can Lawson make the Western Conference all-star team?

“TY LAWSON, all caps,” Hunt said. “Mark it down.”

Ego: Ty Straight shooter

Back at home, the Three Amigos pop in the video game NBA 2K 12. Ty Lawson plays as Ty Lawson.

“I’m the Nuggets every time,” he said.

In real life, Lawson frequently looks to pass. He understands the importance of pushing buttons — Billups did that too when he was with the Nuggets — getting peripheral players involved early in the game to hopefully enhance their confidence. But this is a video game. Does the virtual Ty Lawson shoot more than Chico shoots?

“Way more,” Lawson said. “I shoot everything. I try to have at least 50 points every game. Fifty at least.”

Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com

