Stillwater wrote:Johnny Firpo wrote:Stillwater wrote:tbh I cannot understand the gamble Denver took knowing his entire family is injury prone and he is the opposite of a team player and a terrible fit there. Maybe I am missing something? I just don't see a lottery level prospect healthy or not.
Kurucs would have made a lot more sense there and they could have traded back for him as it turns out.I mean if you are going to gamble on big upside at 14 at least take Simons or Mitch Robinson who were not injured or injury prone...
If MPJ turns into a beast and takes over the league it will be more of a surprise than if he doesn't is all Im saying at this point
It was a huge risk, sure, but it's not like they didn't know it. They could do this because they have one of the youngest teams in the league that's already close to being elite, and they have found some amazing gems in the dirt (Morris, Beasley). So they can go for the home run with their 14th pick.
but the odds they hit a tater taking an injury prone iso dominant forward who barely played at all in college with a bad back and who knows whats next over say a Mitch Robinson or Anfernee Simons who fell due to lack of competitive film not playing in college at all is just beyond going for it and more like throwing the mascot out there hoping he can get you a ribby on a bunt
Stan Kroenke is a well known Missouri alumni, Josh Kroenke was a top 100 recruit that choose to go to and play at Missouri for 4 years, they have very strong ties to the school even today.
Leading up to that draft the Nuggets admitted to wanting to trade their pick, they had to many young guys that they couldn't get minutes to already if we were healthy. Last year they started as the youngest team in the league, after cuts and trades it went to 2nd, but they already had Juancho, Beasley, Monte, Craig, Welsh, Lyles, and Lydon who literally could not get minutes in 2017-2018. They also had Gallo who was rumored to want to come back, and the other veterans were still there struggling to keep their minutes as well.
Every rumor had the Nuggets looking to trade out of the draft up until 2 days before the draft, then suddenly it was rumored they wanted to trade up in the draft.
Coincidentally the rumors that Porter Jr was dropping out of the top 5 started about 3 days before the draft. Maybe even not top 10 started the morning of the draft.
It was discovered that Porter JR was still in pain and needed a 2nd surgery at the time, that mill had it that they had to clean up scar tissue and fix the 1st surgery. It has since been reported that the 1st surgery only fixed 1 disc, they actually missed the 2nd disc, which is what the 2nd surgery was actually for.
Doctors and medical reports all say that there is a 95% chance that he makes a full recovery with only a slight chance of injury issues.
It was widely reported that MPJ changed his diet well over a year ago, adding eggs and fish to get more protein, and it reportedly was a huge help in his recovery.
Now where does Simons or Robinson get minutes last year? Neither one would have gotten past our guys who were already of the depth chart. Especially Robinson who has a very limited game.
So consider this, the Nuggets may have had a very good idea on what was up with Porter's JRs back, they also know how hard he worked on rehab and his attitude, and they had no need for another young player. Is it possible that they took MPJ knowing more than you knew, and were more than happy that he was going to be out a year?
By the way the Nuggets also took Vanderbilt who was a top 15 recruit before getting injured his freshman year and the Nuggets knowing was that best case was that he would be healthy in March. and Bol this year. They drafted Beasley in 2016 after he broke his leg and could not attend march madness or workouts, he had been a lotto pick according to most writers before the injury. If they hit on 1 of the 3 we are waiting on than that is better than the average 14th pick and 2 2nd rounders. If they hit on 2 than they are well ahead of the game, 3 and the league is in a lot of trouble. Simons or Robinson are not the types of talents, if you think they are huge needs for the Nuggets than you are not paying attention. Those 2 would have been buried eating up roster spots and cash.
