Denver Nuggets’ Emmanuel Mudiay, left, goes up for a shot against the Atlanta Hawks’ Walter Tavares during the first half of an NBA summer league basketball game Friday, July 10, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
So let’s just make it official: Rookie first round draft pick Emmanuel Mudiay is the starter at point guard.
Right?
“That’s up to coach Malone,” said Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly.
So…yes, then. We’ll just take it that way.
Malone handed Mudiay the keys to the summer league team without a second thought, and he’ll likely do the same when the regular season begins in the fall. But just how much is too much of workload for a 19-year old just getting his feet wet in the NBA?
“I think it’s certainly a slippery slope,” Connelly said. “If you look at a lot of the elite players, they were thrown to the wolves early. Their early failures led to big-time success down the road. There’s going to be nights when Emmanuel is going to look like a 19-year old and hopefully there’s nights where he looks like one of the elite point guards in the league. But we’re not going to put too much pressure on him. We’re going to kind of let it happen organically. And having a guy like Jameer (Nelson) behind him makes the transition that much easier.”
Nelson, who the Nuggets re-signed earlier in the month, is the safety net. The veteran has not just been a starter, but a productive one. If he needs to play big minutes for whatever reason, the Nuggets can still breathe easy.
“Jameer has been a starter every year until he got to Boston and here,” Connelly said. “He’s been in the Finals. He’s been an All-Star.”
But this is about Mudiay, who had a star-like presence in Las Vegas at summer league. Hoards of media wanted time with him, fans wanted pictures and autographs. The Nuggets haven’t had a player to command this kind of attention since Carmelo Anthony.
It’s not difficult to ascertain just how excited the Nuggets continue to be about having Mudiay in the organization. All you have to do is say the name — Mudiay — and watch the smile rise on any one of the exec’s or coach’s face.
“I can’t overstate how excited we are about Emmanuel,” Connelly said. “I think we got lucky to draft him seven. And certainly we envision him as the guy we can hand the ball to and get out of the way.
“He’s just a really special kid. I think it speaks to what type of family he’s from. His brothers are fantastic. His mom is a special lady. I think what’s very unique about him, and especially exciting is he wants to be great. He kind of embraces the responsibility that comes with it.
Yet Connelly keeps perspective on the road ahead for Mudiay.
“We don’t want to put too much pressure on him,” Connelly said. “He’s a 19 year old kid. We saw some good in summer league and we also saw some bad. I thought that he struggled shooting the ball. We’ve got to improve his free throw line percentage. But I think you see things like positional size, natural playmaking ability, and kind of the will and the approach to be great that excites us.”
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
