Breann Lujan-Halcon
blujanha@uwyo.edu
Boasting a 2-2 record, Denver Nuggets fans are ecstatic following a road win over the down and very much out 0-4 Los Angeles Lakers, and riding the high on their self-proclaimed golden boy, Emmanuel Mudiay.
The 6’5” point guard coming from the Chinese Basketball Association, played for the Guangdong Southern Tigers in the 2014-15 season, before being drafted by the Nuggets with the number seven overall pick. Mudiay played only 10 regular season games with the Chinese league before his position was signed over on an injury replacement.
“I didn’t think he was a true point guard,” Lakers head coach Byron Scott told Bleacher Report. “I didn’t think he was a guy who made great decisions when we saw him and had him here. I thought that was something he would have to learn to do to run that position.”
Nuggets fans, used to settling with mediocrity in the western conference, ooh’d and ahh’d at fresh legs that could dribble the ball all the way down the court and make the occasional slam dunk. Settling for two and a half star center Kenneth Faried, and shrugging when he’s posterized in the post, Denver doesn’t ask for much. A shiny new point guard with the seventh pick is hot news for Denver, but it’s no saving grace. Leading the league in turnovers, don’t put all your chips on this guy, he’s not the next Kyrie Irving.
“They passed up on me; that’s definitely a motivation,” Mudiay told Bleacher Report in an interview. “They took another point guard ahead of me. I’m a point guard. So I guess they saw something in [Russell] that they didn’t see in me.”
But he had 12 points against the Lakers, you cry? The 0-4 Lakers? The double air ball, don’t drop back and play D Kobe Bryant having Lakers? The let’s bench the number two pick and play the bench Lakers? Okay Mudiay fans.
The kid is a rookie, and putting all your faith and relying all your ball-handling on a kid with no college experience, and 10 games overseas, isn’t enough to make me sleep well at night. He takes awhile to hit a stride, as expected of a rook, missing his first eight shots against LA. This is an 82 game season, consistency is key-and the kid don’t have it.
You keep your six-turnovers-per-game savior, and his 30.9 field goal percentage. Let’s see if he takes you to the promise land, but even if he doesn’t; I guess you beat the Lakers.
