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Denver Nuggets Banking on Young Stars, Healthy Vets to Be 2016-17’s NBA Sleeper
- Updated: October 1, 2016
DENVER — Fresh off a 33-49 campaign, yet oozing untapped potential, the Denver Nuggets internally believe they can end a playoff drought that stretches back to 2013.
“I think we have some guys on our team that last year…quite frankly, leaguewide there’s still not a real sense of belief in. We have a strong belief that those guys will make the next step,” general manager Tim Connelly explained Monday at Nuggets media day, tacitly referring to pieces such as Nikola Jokic, Emmanuel Mudiay, Gary Harris and Jamal Murray.
Jokic—despite earning First Team All-Rookie honors, lagging behind only Kristaps Porzingis and Karl-Anthony Towns in the Rookie of the Year voting, and emerging as one of the league’s top 75 players, according to Bleacher Report’s NBA 200 ranking—is already emerging as a critical building block.
That much was made clear in front of an international audience at the Rio Olympics this summer. Jokic further validated the hype from his rookie season with two impressive performances against Team USA. “He gave USA buckets,” Mudiay said on Monday.
The Nuggets’ best-case scenarios involve Jokic and Mudiay stepping into leadership roles, with Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler staying healthy.
Mudiay, entering his second year at point guard, spent much of media day explaining he’s ready to become a more vocal leader who can challenge his teammates to improve.
Head coach Mike Malone agrees.
“Emmanuel improved in so many areas last year. For the fans, they see just the improvement in his three-point percentage and his decision-making,” Malone said. “What I saw was a guy who came in and was very quiet, was kind of to himself. By the end of the year, you saw a completely different Emmanuel Mudiay—someone who …
