"…You go and do something like this and totally redeem yourself!" -Harry Dunne, Dumb & Dumber
The Evan Fournier selection wasn’t an exciting one for the Denver Nuggets fans. With talented names still on the board, the Nuggets took a player who might not be on the roster next season (likely staying in France). And as the second round got under way, one name that I hoped would fall … kept falling. With the No. 37 pick, the Toronto Raptors selected Quincy … from Baylor … my heart sank. How could both guys I liked get selected just before the Nuggets picked? But the Raptors took Quincy Miller’s lesser known teammate, Quincy Acy! And with the No. 38th pick, Miller was there for the Nuggets’ taking – and they took him.
Miller is a very intriguing player and a phenomenal value in the second-round. Had he stayed for his Sophomore season at Baylor, Miller might have played himself into the 2013 lottery. His tore his ACL his senior season in high school and was still somewhat recovering from a tough injury during his freshman season. This is a great pick for the Nuggets and a player who mirrors his game after Kevin Durant.
Masai Ujiri spoke about taking Quincy Miller after the draft. In the post-draft presser, I brought up that all the rookies who came to work out for the Nuggets said they were excited to be on the team, but that Miller seemed very sincere about it. Miller even told me in a one-on-one interview, "Man, I hope it's the Nuggets." I asked Ujiri if he had spoken to Miller and this is what Ujiri had to say,
"He's very happy. He'll be here tomorrow. All of them will be here. It was tough for him. He was a top five high school player in America with (Anthony) Davis and (Austin) Rivers. I watched him play early on. He was the guy on the team. You're excited about college and then you tear your knee up and it's almost like you have to start all over again. Pretty cool kid, determined. We'll see where it goes, he works hard. He's worked hard to strengthen that knee. He'll figure it out. It's going to be a big hill for him to climb, but the talent is there and that's what we saw." said Masai Ujiri.
Ujiri and Josh Kroenke both spoke about how the Nuggets considered Miller with their 20th pick. Ujiri also indicated that Miller might have a bit of a chip on his shoulder being selected in the second-round. This was a guy who had scholarship offers from Duke and any other college of his choice and then the injury took that away from him. This is a guy who had the talent to compete with the Austin Rivers of the world and did so on Team USA in the Americas championships.
The Nuggets might have once again found a steal in Miller.
My interview with him after his Denver workout, right here.
Nate_Timmons on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nate_Timmons
[email protected]