In an interesting bit of video, Vic Lombardi of CBS 4 got inside access to the Nuggets draft “war room” a day before the NBA Draft. What come out of it is an interesting exploration in how decisions are made and the give and take that goes one from various draft scouts and experts employed by the organization
In the war room are Nuggets General Manager Tim Connelly, Arturas Karnisovas (Assistant General Manager) Rafal Juc (International Scout), Jim Clibanoff (Director of Scouting), Jared Jeffries (Pro Personnel Scout) and Tommy Balcetis (Manager of Basketball Analytics). All have their opinion about certain players. All have to compromise on their opinions.
I'm not entirely convinced that the "goal" was to get Emmanuel Mudiay at pick seven. I'm sure the Nuggets were convinced that they would have to trade up to get him, or try to get an additional, later round pick to get another point guard along the lines of Tyus Jones or Cameron Payne. Mudiay falling into the Nuggets laps at 7 was truly a stroke of good luck. One wonders what the Nuggets would have done if things didn't line up the way they did and Mudiay went ahead of them.
Goes to show that you can’t plan on everything and sometimes teams ahead of you (cough … the New York Knicks … cough) make interesting decisions that shape the draft.
