When the Denver Nuggets war room filled up in late June 2015, there was some serious insecurity about what was going down.
The seventh position is a bit of a crazy one. The first few picks tend to be locked in, but after two or three, it becomes a little more of a Yahtzee roll and then a domino tumble. Once the fourth spot makes their move and the fifth team tosses out a wild card, the seventh either waits to see who falls their way or decide to reach for the unlikely underdog.
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Emmanuel Mudiay was projected as a potential top three pick in the draft. His athleticism and size made him one of the most NBA ready talents in the draft. If it wasn’t for the hype machine that rolled through on D’Angelo Russell, Mudiay may have jumped to be the number one point guard of the draft.
After the Lakers snagged Russell in the two spot and the top two big men were gone, the dice began to roll. International stars, Porzingis and Hezonja flew off and the Kings couldn’t resist another one of Kentucky’s talents. That left the Nuggets with Mr. Mudiay and his killer potential.
Mudiay came in at a unique point for the Nuggets organization. After the 2012-13 season and 57 wins, Denver took a turn for the worst. Now having said goodbye to Carmelo Anthony, Andre Igoudala, and Ty Lawson in consecutive seasons, we are in the early days of the rebuild and those days can get ugly.
Rookies are the pieces that make the rebuilding process more manageable for a fan base. They represent the next era of excitement and winning, a championship dream in the clouds. Everybody wants to be the Warriors of today and everybody wants to find the next version of the splash bros.
The Nuggets 2015 first-rounder may not be the next Steph Curry, but he is still extremely raw. Regardless of any flaws he shows, we shouldn’t write off any skills for the first three full seasons. He is going to grow a ton.
Then out of nowhere pops young Nikola Jokic, the other rookie on the Denver Nuggets roster. The 20 year-old out of Serbia was a second rounder in the 2014 draft, but didn’t come over until this season. He’s had quite the welcoming party since hitting the big show.
At the start of the season, it looked like Jokic would fill in for the hurt Jusuf Nurkic and back-up the preseason standout Joffrey Lauvergne. Instead, he has not only Nuggets fans buzzing about the potential of this kid, but the rest of the league. Jokic has taken full advantage of all the time he’s got on the court.
These two guys represent the beginning of the future for the Nuggets and we’ve seen at times this year how bright that can be. CBS Sports has Mudiay at number five and Jokic at number eleven on their rookie chart heading into the all-star break. While there is not much of a glimpse of rookie-of-the-year on the horizon for either, they are getting plenty of recognition from experts across the board.
Mudiay has seen his stock rise and fall this year to say the least. Turnovers and shooting have been the big issue for the rookie all season. In November he shot a horrid 31 percent from the field with over three and a half turnovers a game. He was an inefficient ball player, the mark of a true rookie trying to get up to NBA speed.
Here in February, he is shooting nearly 38 percent from the field with only two turnovers a game. Averaging about 12 points per game, his scoring is exactly the same as November, just so much more efficient.
Mudiay is getting a ton of minutes for a rookie and with that, is expected to see ups and downs, but his growth month-by-month is awesome to see.
Nikola Jokic’s number are rising every month and the biggest reason is he is getting more minutes. At the start of the season, he was getting 11 minutes a game whereas now he is at almost 24. And there is an argument for even more are deserved. He would be seeing 30 plus on a lot of playoff teams right now. He is a legitimate Center in the making.
He’s now averaging nearly 12 points and eight rebounds in February with massive games. His 27 points 14 rebounds performance in dominating fashion against the Raptors was a huge coming out party. Another 16 point 12 rebound game in a win against the Chicago Bulls showed that Nikola’s big games translate to big wins for the Nuggets.
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Both of these guys get to represent for the Nuggets at the Rising Stars game at All-Star weekend and it is extremely deserved. As I said earlier, the rookies represent the future for an organization and from what we’ve seen thus far, we are in very capable hands. Much more to come over the next two months.