National Basketball Association

Denver Nuggets Await Rapid Development From Emmanuel Mudiay

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Emmanuel Mudiay was appointed as the point guard of the future when he fell to the Denver Nuggets in the 2015 NBA Draft. Growing pains were inevitable, but he thrived after the All-Star break — a trend the Nuggets hope continues into 2016-17.

The primary goal for the Denver Nuggets is to continue molding Emmanuel Mudiay into a true point guard.

The unconventional path Mudiay took to the NBA, as he bypassed playing college basketball at SMU to play professionally in China, didn’t pan out due to an ankle injury limiting him to just 12 games.

Instead of receiving the tutelage of Hall-of-Fame coach Larry Brown, Mudiay entered the league as a mystery, with a balance of positive and negative aspects of his game.

There are plenty of glitches to overcome for Mudiay in his sophomore season. The release of his jump shot is far from fluid and he struggled converting shots from all over the court, a problem the Nuggets knew they would have to address when choosing him seventh overall in the 2015 NBA Draft.

Sinking shots was a challenge from anywhere on the court, as he converted just 47.5 percent of his attempts at the rim and his percentage dropped to 29.2 when shooting anywhere from 3-10 feet away from the basket.

Out of 117 players who qualified with enough shot attempts, Kobe Bryant was the only player to convert a lower field goal percentage than the 36.4 percent Mudiay managed last season.

The first two games of the preseason haven’t been any better for the 20-year-old guard, as he has connected on just 23.8 percent of his attempts from the field and totaled just 11 points.

Turnovers were the other primary issue facing Mudiay, as he gave the ball away on 11 occasions in his NBA debut and his 3.2 turnovers a game were only surpassed by 12 other players in the league.

Taking care of the ball has also been an issue, as he ranked 57th out of the 76 players to qualify among the league-leaders.

The lack of depth at the point guard position forced Denver to play Mudiay heavy minutes. The 30.4 minutes a game he spent on the floor was the second most among all first-year players in the NBA, with only Rookie of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns spending more time on the court.

The steady workload paid dividends following the All-Star break, resulting in Mudiay seeing significant increases in his shooting percentages from all over the floor.

His shooting from the field jumped up by 5.3 percent, his three-point shooting increased by 9.2 percent and his foul shooting experienced a 15.9 percent increase.

Mudiay even had a heave from 40-feet out fall through the net at the buzzer to clinch a victory over Philadelphia.

The turnovers for Mudiay dipped to 2.8 per game following the All-Star break, but the problem of maintaining ball control has reemerged in the preseason. Only nine players are turning it over more frequently than the 3.5 times a game Mudiay has posted.

For Mudiay to have a successful season, he needs to simply play to his strengths.

Few players are capable of continually attacking the rim as often as Mudiay. The combination of handle, speed, strength and athleticism enabled him to drive to the rim 7.6 times a night, more frequently than Western Conference All-Star point guards Chris Paul or Stephen Curry.

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Friday night against the Lakers, Mudiay managed to navigate effortlessly all over the court, resulting in a pair of easy assists to Jusuf Nurkic for dunks.

Finishing at the basket will be the key for Mudiay and he needs to make it more challenging for opponents to swat away his attempts.

Mudiay ranked 13th, tied with Russell Westbrook, in the league in most field goal attempts blocked, with opponents turning back 1.2 of his attempts a game.

Westbrook has made a career out of punishing defenders while attacking the rim. Last season he was fouled 49 times, but still managed to convert his shot attempt, matching Dwight Howard for the seventh most three-point play opportunities in the NBA.

Oklahoma City’s point guard also converted 10.7 percent more of his attempts at the rim than Mudiay.

Numerous areas of the game need improvement from Mudiay, so it will be intriguing which aspects he focuses on during his sophomore season.

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