Early Nuggets Draft Preview
What prospects should the Denver Nuggets target in the upcoming draft?
Denver Nuggets fans should be excited. The team currently holds three first-round picks in the upcoming NBA draft. The first, their own, is a lottery pick and can be exchanged for the New York Knicks’ lottery pick if that one turns out to be higher. The second comes from the Houston Rockets (15th overall) and the third comes from the Portland Trail Blazers (19th overall).
Although many NBA scouts may consider the upcoming draft class on the weaker side, the Nuggets’ plethora of picks set them up for an opportunity to grab that No. 1 scoring option the team so desperately needs.
As it stands now with the Nuggets’ current lottery pick, the team only has around a 3 percent chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick. However, with two other first-round picks and two second-rounders at their disposal, trading up for a higher pick could be a serious possibility.
The only acceptable reason to do so would be if the Nuggets chose to draft one of two players: Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram. Both are extremely talented players with the serious potential to assume the No. 1 scorer’s role for a team.
Ingram would seem to be the better fit for the Nuggets because he’s more of a reliable jump shooter than Simmons. His comparisons to Kevin Durant are a little far-fetched at this point, but the fact that that comparison is even being made should excite Nuggets fans. Denver would be ecstatic to land either of the two prospects. Both guys are solid defenders and they each certainly have all the ability to become a reliable 20-point scorer.
Now assuming the Nuggets kept their current picks, their lottery pick is more likely to land in the fifth through eighth range. While Simmons and Ingram will certainly be long gone by then, there are still a few capable prospects who the Nuggets may target.
The first is none other than Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield. Hield, a senior, was one of the best players of the NCAA tournament and truly is an excellent scorer. His ability to create his own shots is his strongest skill and if that ability persists to the NBA, he may be exactly what the Nuggets need.
Another prospect that should definitely be on Denver’s radar is power forward Henry Ellenson out of Marquette. Ellenson has great movement for a player his size, and can shoot the deep ball. At this point his talent is still pretty raw, but he could end up being a long-term solution at the stretch 4 position if the Nuggets decide to move on from Kenneth Faried.
Now as we approach the Nuggets’ later first-round picks, the talent pool starts to thin considerably. However, there are two talented sleeper prospects that could realistically fall as far as 15th or 19th.
If Michigan State had fared better in the tournament, forward Denzel Valentine would probably be considered a borderline top-10 pick. Instead, he finds himself sitting at around the 14-15 range on most NBA draft boards. If he does fall to the Nuggets at 15, he needs to be scooped up in a heartbeat.
Valentine’s shooting and underrated passing ability would provide immediate contributions and could be the steal of the draft.
This next one is a bit tricky, considering Syracuse’s Malachi Richardson has not yet officially declared for the NBA Draft.
Richardson at times absolutely carried the 10th-seeded Orange during their run to the Final Four and his ability to shoot from long range would provide a much-needed boost to Nuggets team that ended up just 25th in the NBA for 3-point field goal percentage. Richardson has until April 26 to declare for the draft, and if he does, the Nuggets should be ready.
The Nuggets are a young and talented team that can only improve moving forward. If they are going to take that next step though into serious playoff contention, they are going to have to have a successful draft. With three first-round picks at their disposal, the future is looking gold.