Kentucky center Willie Cauley-Stein will have a solo workout with the Denver Nuggets on Monday. The consensus first-team All-American would bring a much-needed defensive presence in Denver.
Mock drafts have the big man going anywhere from 5th to 8th, and very much in the cards for Denver at No. 7. However, none of the leading draft predictors have Denver selecting the 2015 SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
Matt Fitzgerald of Bleacher Report projects him at No. 8 to Detroit.
Jonathan Givony of draftexpress.com and Yahoo! has him going 5th to the Orlando Magic.
Sam Vecine, Garry Parrish and Zach Harper, all of cbssports.com, believe he’ll go to Sacramento at No. 6, as does Chad Ford of ESPN (paywall).
The emergence of Jusef Nurkic last year gives the Nuggets options at the center position, not to mention the very intriguing proposition of moving Ty Lawson (and parts) to Sacramento in exchange for DeMarcus Cousins, which could mean that this workout is simply obligatory, but there’s no faulting Denver for doing it’s due diligence.
Cauley-Stein is widely regarded as the best defender in the draft and Denver has been without a shutdown defensive presence since Andre Iguodala left town.
Denver tied for 27th in the NBA in 2014-15, allowing 105.0 points per game in the regular season.