With the NBA Draft fast approaching on June 28, 2012 the experts are still all over the board on who the Nuggets will select with their first round draft pick, No. 20 ovreall. And we also get a couple educated guesses on who the Nuggets might be looking at in the second round with their No. 38 and No. 50 selections.
Mock Drafts, pick No. 20:
The folks over at Hoopsworld.com have the Nuggets selecting 6'11'' and 220 pound power forward Perry Jones out of Baylor (Sophomore). Nate's take: Don't expect Jones to slip all the way to No. 20, but Jordan Hamilton slid way down last year …
Sam Amick, from Sports Illustrated, has the Nuggets selecting 6’2” and 180 pound point guard Marquis Teague out of Kentucky (Freshman). Jeff Goodman, from CBS Sports.com, also has the Nuggets selecting Teague. Nate’s take: This isn’t a “sexy” pick to some, but if Teague pans out he could push Ty Lawson for the starting gig in a couple seasons.
Both Draft Express.com and NBADraft.net have the Nuggets selecting 6'8'' and 207 pound small forward Moe Harkless out of St. John's (Freshman). Nate's take: I don't know a lot about Harkless, but this would surely mean a trade of Danilo Gallinari or Wilson Chandler would be down the not-so-distant-road.
Sean Deveney, of AOL's Sporting News.com, has the Nuggets selecting 7' and 255 pound Fab Melo out of Syracuse (Sophomore) – a Brazilian center with a former player's nickname for a last name? That'd be awkward. Nate's take: Deveney must have been throwing darts at a board for this pick, with JaVale McGee, Timofey Mozgov, and Kosta Koufos, the Nuggets don't need another defensive minded center.
Chad Ford from ESPN.com (according to Kevin #3), Matt Moore from CBS Sports.com, and Scott Howard-Cooper from NBA.com all have the Nuggets selecting 6'11'' and 233 pound power forward Arnett Moultrie out of Mississippi St. (Junior). Nate's take: Three big time news outlets all agree here … hmm … might they be onto something?
Mock Draft, picks No. 38 and No. 50:
Draft Express and NBA Draft.net both extended their mock drafts into the second round …
Draft Express has the Nuggets selecting Drew Gordon out of New Mexico, a 6'9'' and 240 pound power forward, at No. 38 and Turkish big man Furkan Aldemir (6'9'' and 220 pounds) with the No. 50 pick. Nate's take: I like the selection of Gordon here, he's a big kid that could give Denver depth behind Kenneth Faried, I'm not terribly excited about Euro Aldemir though … he'd be stored over in Europe most-likely.
NBA Draft.net has the Nuggets taking undersized shooting guard Darius Johnson-Odom (6'3'' and 212 pounds) out of Marquette with No. 38 and oversized point guard/shooting guard Tomas Satoransky (6'8'' and 201 pounds) out of the Czech Republic with the No. 50 pick. Nate's take: Johnson-Odom could provide some scoring pop as an undersized shooter – think Voshon Leonard or hopefully Eric Gordon and Satoransky, while staying over in Europe for a bit, is also an interesting prospect that plays the game a bit like Gallo, a nice passer with size for his position.