Stiffs Mock Draft: 10 days until the lottery

The second round of the NBA playoffs are underway, but for teams in the lottery like the Nuggets, the next big date to circle on the calendar is May 17.

You likely know the details regarding the Nuggets roster next season. The Nuggets have nine players with guaranteed contracts for 2016/17 – Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, Wilson Chandler, Jameer Nelson, Will Barton, Emmanuel Mudiay, Jusuf Nurkic, Gary Harris, and Nikola Jokic. Darrell Arthur has an option he can exercise, or he can opt out in search for a new contract in free agency. Joffrey Lauvergne, Axel Toupane, and JaKarr Sampson have unguaranteed contracts that gives the Nuggets flexibility in regards to their roster size.

I would not be surprised if the Nuggets were aggressively trying to move up in the draft. Teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, and New Orleans Pelicans might find themselves in a position where they can improve more by trading down and adding a veteran than by selecting a young player in the draft. With three picks and veterans on affordable contracts, the Nuggets have the assets to make a move up if they find a partner.

Of course, if they win a top-3 pick, that won't matter. But if not, I expect the Nuggets to either move up or use one of their picks on a draft and stash player.

If you're in Denver, and want to watch the lottery order announced with other Stiffs, come out to Jake's Sports & Spirits in Denver. Denver Stiffs is hosting a Stiffs Night Out lottery party there on May 17th.

If you haven't attended a Stiffs Night Out event before, there are a lot of fun (so I've been told). It's a chance to meet the Denver Stiffs writing staff and other Nuggets fans in the area. You also never know who might show up – I'm excited for my first opportunity to attend. I'll try to be cool and act like it's not a big deal if Wilson Chandler, Emmanuel Mudiay, or some of the Nuggets staff attends.

You can see Mock Draft 1.0 here, where I included more position breakdowns.

Team needs have been taken into consideration, and the final order of the draft will be determined May 17. For this draft, I randomized the order of the lottery with the tool on Tankathon (I did reset it once, because I couldn't give the Jazz the No. 1 pick). I am willing to concede that every single pick will be proven incorrect.