Denver Nuggets: 3 ways to replace Jamal Murray’s production this offseason
By Sean Carroll
Denver Nuggets: Jamal Murray season replacements via the NBA Draft
The Denver Nuggets own the 26th pick in the upcoming NBA Draft after losing a tiebreaker with the LA Clippers.
The late first round is a familiar position for Connelly and a spot he has excelled at in recent history. Some of his recent draft steals have been around this area and into the second round with Malik Beasley, Monte Morris, and, of course, Nikola Jokic.
Nugg Love contributor Martin Znasik recently went through some of the guys available in this area. He identified two NBA-ready prospects and two high-ceiling players.
Out of the two NBA-ready players, the one that sounded great for Denver was Ayo Dosunmu out of Illinois. Dosunmu just put up 20 points a night in college with just over five assists and six rebounds. He did it while shooting 49 percent from the floor and 39 from 3-point range. That 3-point percentage was on a career-low amount of attempts last season so there’s definitely a question as to how it’d translate to the league.
In some mock drafts, Dosunmu jumps into the late lottery or late-teens range, so maybe it’s a bit ambitious to think he’s going to fall into Denver’s lap, but there’s always the opportunity to trade up in the draft.
The New York Knicks have the 19th and 21st picks in the 2020 Draft, if Ayo is still around at 19, would Denver be able to swap their 26th pick and an asset to move up a few spots.
The beauty about an early NBA Draft preview is that we simply don’t know enough yet. Dosunmu, among many other prospects, will be at the 2021 Draft combine which starts on Jun. 21 and there are always risers and fallers there.
Tim Connelly had an interesting comment during his press conference which looks like he’ll be prioritizing the draft before moving on to free agency decisions:
"“We’re always trying to get better. Certainly, we have a handful of free agents that we’re hopeful we can retain, but we won’t have real certainty about what our roster might look like until post-draft.”"
Obviously, he’ll be focusing on the draft first literally because it is first, but if the team thinks they have a capable replacement through the draft, free agency can be a way to upgrade other aspects of the roster.