Emmanuel Mudiay was tipped to be a top three pick in the 2015 draft following an impressive high school showing. However, a decision to play in China, combined with an injury, allowed Mudiay to slip to Denver with the seventh pick.
Mudiay, while obviously extremely talented, may be relatively unknown to his fellow rookies, given that he played in China. Therefore, its interesting to see how he was represented in the NBA’s Rookie Survey.
Mudiay was tied in fourth place for Rookie of the Year, coming in behind Jahlil Okaford, Stanley Johnson and Karl Anthony Towns, tied with D’Angelo Russell. Okafor is the obvious choice here, as he’s NBA ready, and on a team where he can be an offensive focal point. However, Mudiay has a great chance, given that guards generally put up better numbers than bigs as rookies. Plus, Denver should look more like an actual NBA team than Philly, which can only help.
Mudiay came in tied third with the question, ‘Which rookie will have the best career?’. He was also third in, ‘Which rookie is the best playmaker?’, trailing D’Angelo Russell and Tyus Jones.
Overall, Mudiay polled well for an ‘international’ player. He has the respect of his peers, which can only mean good things.