In NuggLove’s latest Twitter poll, Denver Nuggets fans overwhelmingly voted to retain Jamal Murray instead of having the first and second pick in the draft.
It is pretty easy to see where Denver Nuggets fans stand at the moment with their current team. For several years now, the popular sentiment has been that Nikola Jokic was far and away the best player in green, and Jamal Murray was ascending as one of the better point guards in basketball.
Now, through six grueling games between the Nuggets and the Utah Jazz, Murray has completely flipped the script and now appears to be the best player on the floor. He’s had two fifty point games so far in this series and looks completely unstoppable late in games.
Nuggets fans were given the choice to either have Murray and all his abilities, or the first AND second overall picks of this year’s draft. Murray won with 95.1 percent of the vote. Even one season ago, one can imagine this being far closer, if not a loss for Murray altogether. This is albeit a rather weak draft, with the likely first overall pick, Anthony Edwards of Georgia, being a weaker prospect than the top three of last year’s draft.
But even so, having the first and second pick in any draft could be completely franchise-changing. Very few times in recent history has a team in any sport had multiple top-five selections. The Cleveland Browns had the first and fourth overall picks when they drafted Baker Mayfield and Denzel Ward.
The Cleveland Cavaliers also had the first and fourth picks in 2011, when they drafted Kyrie Irving first overall and then Tristan Thompson three picks later. For Murray, his stock has risen to such a level that hardly anyone can appreciate the type of player the Nuggets now have in their stable.
Stay tuned for your next decision, NuggLovers.