The Nuggets came away from draft night victorious last week, scooping Jamal Murray, Juan Hernangómez and Malik Beasley all in the first round.
On Wednesday, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone joined Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro on Afternoon Drive on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 to discuss how he felt about the draft.
“I’m very excited,” Malone said. “It’s two years in a row for me coming in here that we have gotten the guy that we targeted. Last year in Emmanuel (Mudiay), and we had Jamal Murray ranked third on our board. That’s how high we thought of him. We did not think he would be there, but things fell our way. And then to follow up with Juan (Hernangómez) at 15 and Malik Beasley at 19, that’s a great first round for us.”
Former Kentucky Wildcat Jamal Murray averaged 20 points per game in college, and he looks to bring his hot shot to Denver.
“We addressed a major need in shooting,” Malone said. “We were 26th in the NBA in three-point percentage this year and that was something we knew we had to address in the offseason.”
Murray averaged 3.1 three pointers in college, but according to Malone, you can’t judge a draft class until something has been proven.
“Everybody is so quick to give out draft grades the day after,” Malone said. “My theory on that is you don’t grade a draft until three years later. If you go back after Gary Harris’ first year, people would have said Gary was a bust. Well now two years after Gary was drafted, he is an NBA starting two guard.”
Only time will tell what will actually happen with the Nuggets this season, but one thing is for sure, the offseason is not over quite yet.
“Our offseason is not done,” Malone said. “We still have free agency, we have the potential of trades to try to continue to improve the roster and add pieces. We are in a very good place right now, and I love our young core moving forward.”
To hear to the full discussion and more about Malone’s thoughts on Murray, listen to the podcast below…
https://soundcloud.com/milehighsports/6-29-16-afternoon-drive-speaks-with-nuggets-coach-michael-malone-on-his-thoughts-on-the-draft
Catch the Afternoon Drive every weekday from 4p-6p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.