After an eternity of wandering in the wilderness looking for outside shooting to help space the floor, Denver has drafted the man they hope will fill that role for a long time to come: Jamal Murray. The 19 year old averaged 20 points a game at Kentucky and has both the ball-handling and the shooting touch to make a huge difference for the Nuggets.
From the Stiffs Draft Series on Murray:
The Nuggets should be aggressively pursuing getting into the #4 spot to ensure they can draft Murray, and there’s even a possibility that Boston takes him at #3. Chances are though that he’s not slipping down to #7 and the Nuggets can’t let both Murray and Buddy Hield get away from them. While there would be some difficulties finding enough minutes for everyone, an elite shooter like Murray is exactly what the Nuggets need. I get that he is a liability on defense but the offensive explosion Murray provides far outweighs the cons. He’s got a superstar ceiling, perhaps the highest of anyone outside the top 2 picks. At last year’s draft the Nuggets tried to trade back into the lottery to snag Devin Booker and came up short, it would behoove them to not let another sharp shooting two guard from Kentucky slip through their grasp.
The rumor was that Denver tried to move up to the #3 slot but Boston’s asking price was too high. As in 2015 with Emmanuel Mudiay, however, the prospect that should not have fallen wound up getting to Denver anyway, and is the final piece in the Carmelo Anthony trade.
And what a final piece it is.
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