Nuggets Power Rankings: No. 3, Emmanuel Mudiay
By Evan Wheeler
The Denver Nuggets’ preseason roster includes 19 players, and the team will try to figure out which 15 of them deserve a shot during the regular season throughout the team’s seven-game exhibition slate.
But, for now, how do these players stack up? We polled our staff writers and editor at Nugg Love to get a consensus power ranking of every player on the roster, and we’ll be releasing one player each day throughout October, starting from No. 19 and finishing at No. 1.
Emmanuel Mudiay was selected by the Nuggets with seventh overall pick in this past June’s draft. His arrival signifies hope for a franchise that has been desperately seeking some and has the most raw talent of any player the team has had since Carmelo Anthony. Let’s take a look at what Mudiay’s strengths, weaknesses and what to expect in 2015-16.
Who is Emmanuel Mudiay?
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Mudiay is a 6’5″, 200-pound rookie point guard from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is the new face of the franchise in Denver.
His father Jean-Paul passed away when Mudiay was only a toddler and his family struggled during the Second Congo War. Mudiay’s mother, Therese Kabeya, moved to America in 2001, getting herself and her three sons out of harm’s way in Congo.
Mudiay’s two older brothers, Stephane and Jean-Micheal, both were huge influences on Emmanuel. Both brothers also played basketball, as Stephane finished a respectable collegiate career at Texas Wesleyan while Jean-Micheal was the more highly touted of the two. Jean-Micheal was an All-District player his junior year of high school but suffered two ACL injuries that derailed any hope of playing basketball at the professional level.
Mudiay ended up playing his high school ball in Texas for Prime Prep Academy, where he became a McDonald’s All-American and one of the most highly touted recruits in the country. He then committed to Southern Methodist University in the summer of 2013, but ultimately chose to forgo playing in college and play overseas professionally in China.
During his one season with the Guangdong Southern Tigers, Mudiay averaged 18.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.9 steals per game in 12 appearances for the club. Mudiay was then, of course, selected with the seventh overall pick by the Nuggets in this June’s draft, ultimately given the keys to the franchise after the team traded Ty Lawson a month later to the Houston Rockets.
Strengths
I’m sure most of you probably know (or at least should know) about Mudiay’s skill set by now, given the fact that every Nuggets writer and their mother has written about the young point guard since the team selected him.
We won’t totally dissect Mudiay’s game because you’ve probably already read multiple breakdowns of his skills. If you would like a super in-depth breakdown of Mudiay’s game, check out this scouting report of Mudiay I did back in May for Denver Stiffs.
Obviously the first thing you notice with Mudiay is his exceptional size for the point guard position. Standing at 6’5″ and sporting a 6’8.5″ wingspan, he’s one of the bigger points in the league. He does a great job of utilizing his size to grab rebounds and finish strong at the rim. Mudiay can finish with either hand while doing a great job of overpowering defenders and finishing through contact at the rim, something that will be a welcome addition to Denver. Probably the most underrated part of Mudiay’s game, in my opinion, is his body control. He is an acrobatic finisher who can hang in the air, brace for contact and then still finish at the rim effectively.
Mudiay’s best asset is, without a question, his court vision and playmaking ability in the pick and roll. His size allows him to see over taller defenders and make passes that most guards in the NBA can’t. Mudiay can thread the needle through multiple defenders and is a deadly passer in the open floor. He has tremendous velocity and strength on his passes as well, making several great full-court passes over in China this past season.
Mudiay’s at his best in the pick and roll, seeming to always make a positive play out of those situations. His knack for reading the defender and ability to be a dual-threat in the pick-and-roll should open up some things offensively for the Nuggets this season.
Lastly, the 19-year-old’s defense needs work, but he is very capable on that end already at just 19 years old. He has the lateral quickness to stay in front of most guards and is great at getting into passing lanes to force steals. Mudiay’s also a solid team defender, seeming to always give adequate help to his teammates and showing a decent motor on that end of the floor.
Weaknesses
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Mudiay’s shooting is definitely his biggest deficiency at this point in his young career.
He is a mediocre shooter and will knock down the occasional 15-to-20-foot jumper or three-point shot.
Like most average shooters, Mudiay is extremely streaky and consistency is a big issue for him. His mechanics are fairly bad, and an area in which he must improve to take the next step at the NBA level.
He has a classic hitch motion in his shot, shooting the ball directly in front of his face and leaning backward at times after he releases his shot. Mudiay’s shooting concerns also carry over to the charity strike, where he only shot 57 percent from last year in China. He has shown improvement in the area in the preseason so far, though, shooting 75 percent from the free throw line in six games for the Nuggets. Getting rid of the hitch that exists in his shot, as well as utilizing better weight distribution, should help improve Mudiay’s shot.
Emmanuel, like most young guards also struggles with turnovers and decision-making at times. This is something Nuggets fans will have to be patient with as Mudiay will more than likely turn the ball over quite frequently in his rookie year. We’ve already seen this again in the preseason for Denver as he has averaged four turnovers per game through six preseason games.
This is mainly caused by Mudiay just trying to do too much, which leads to him telegraphing passes or forcing his shot at times. He also desperately needs to work on not rushing his dribble, since much of his turnovers come because he doesn’t control his dribble enough. Again, this is part of the process when starting a rookie point guard and, as he adjusts to the speed of the NBA game, I expect Mudiay’s decision making to improve.
Just for reference, guards like Russell Westbrook, John Wall and Stephen Curry all have averaged over three turnovers per game for their respective careers. Turnovers are going to happen, especially from the point guard position, and Nuggets fans should have perspective of this when talking about Mudiay’s turnover problems.
2015-16 Outlook
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Even though these rankings are averaged out from all of the Nugg Love writer’s individual rankings, personally I think Mudiay being slotted at number three is too low, especially given the player that was ranked above him at No. 2.
I had him ranked No. 1 in my own rankings, and believe he is the most important, talented and valuable player to this Nuggets team heading into the season. I’ve mentioned numerous times that Mudiay was a top-three talent in this past class in my opinion, and I believe most people are underselling his talent currently. He reminds me of a combination of John Wall and former Sonic guard Gary Payton. The Nuggets got extremely lucky that Mudiay fell in their laps at the seventh pick, and they should reap the benefits of selecting him immediately.
I believe that under new coach Mike Malone and backup point guard Jameer Nelson, Mudiay will blossom slowly but surely into the franchise player the Nuggets expect him to be. Yes, he will definitely struggle with turnovers and shooting the ball consistently his rookie season, but both of those concerns should die down with time.
I preach to Nuggets fans to trust the process, stay patient and have perspective with Mudiay; give him time to grow into the franchise star we’ve been aching for. Ultimately, Mudiay should have a very good rookie year, probably playing anywhere from 30 to 35 minutes a game and lead all rookies in assists per game.
He will immediately improve the Nuggets pick-and-roll offense, making players such as Joffrey Lauvergne, Nikola Jokic and Darrell Arthur more valuable on that end.
Mudiay will also open up things offensively, setting up multiple open shots for guys like Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Will Barton and Randy Foye this season. I think Gallo and Mudiay will be one of the better playmaking duo’s in the Western Conference this season.
Mudiay could definitely win Rookie of the Year, probably finishing in the top three or five in voting for the award at year’s end. I have 100 percent confidence in Mudiay to become that star that everyone in Denver hopes him to be, and you should too. Expect a really exciting, productive and at times frustrating rookie year from Mudiay, but remember that patience is the key for the Nuggets’ new king.