Denver Nuggets: 15 best draft picks of all-time
By John Buhler
While he didn’t exactly live up to the hype in the pros, there was a good reason that the Nuggets selected center Raef LaFrentz No. 3 overall in the 1998 NBA Draft out of Kansas. The guy was incredible for the Jayhawks. In four years at Kansas, LaFrentz was a two-time Big 12 Player of the Year, a two-time All-American and a three-time All-Big-Eight/12 first-team player. His No. 45 jersey is retired by Kansas.
Overall, LaFrentz would spend 10 years in the NBA with four organizations. He spent the bulk of his time in the league between the Nuggets and the Boston Celtics. LaFrentz would play in 222 games over 3.5 seasons with the Nuggets before being dealt to the Dallas Mavericks in February 2002 in the Tim Hardaway/Nick Van Exel trade.
During his time with the Nuggets, LaFrentz would average 13.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game in 31.3 minutes per contest. His best year in the NBA coincided with him switching teams to the Mavericks mid-season. In 2002-03, LaFrentz averaged 13.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game.
51 of those 78 combined games in 2002-03 came in Nuggets uniform, where LaFrentz averaged 14.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game in 32.7 minutes per contest. Though never an All-Star, LaFrentz was a decent offensive player in the low post and an incredibly athletic defender. This allowed him to carve out a 10-year NBA career with the Nuggets, Mavericks, Celtics and Portland Trail Blazers before retiring at the end of the 2008-09 NBA seasons at 31 years of age.