NBA Draft 2020: Top 3 options for Denver Nuggets with the No. 22 pick

Possible NBA Draft target for Denver Nuggets — Tyrese Maxey

Guard | Kentucky | 6’3 | 198 lbs | 20 years old

When it comes to trotting out multiple “small” guards on the floor together, the Denver Nuggets know what they’re doing, more so than any other team in the league, save for the point guard guru (Rick Carlisle) down in Dallas. Whether they’re throwing out Jamal Murray (6’4), Gary Harris (6’4), or Monte Morris (6’2), the Nuggets routinely allot significant minutes to a guard core that is unquestionably lacking in height.

Part of this is because Denver targets players who can hold up against opposing guards due to impressive levels of functional, impactful strength. Murray is quite beefy at 215 pounds. Harris is a pest at the point-of-attack and also weighs north of 210 pounds. And Morris, while diminutive in size, competes with the best of them.

More than that, though, is the offensive dynamic that is set in stone for years to come — the offense revolves around Nikola Jokić’s gravitation pull, with the masterful center serving as the team’s engine as a soft-handed scorer and otherworldly passer.

He is, inarguably, the best big man to match up with guards who lack pure instincts or polish as playmakers, which makes Kentucky combo-guard Tyrese Maxey such an obvious target for the Nuggets with the No. 22 pick in this year’s draft.

Maxey’s freshman year stat line of 14.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists on .427/.292/.833 shooting doesn’t exactly jump off the page, but his numbers don’t tell the full story of what he brings to a team on a nightly basis. Maxey is one of the better bets to become a potent secondary option with tangible two-way impact as a downhill finisher, spot-up scorer, connective passer, and burly on-ball pest.

While his average passing vision and good-not-great handle may prove to be obstacles to reaching primary upside, Maxey still offers enough complementary passing and scoring once a team’s initiators — in this instance, Jokić and Murray — have already created advantages and tilted an opposing defense.

Maxey wins at the basket in a multitude of ways, using his strength and elasticity to absorb contact without flinching, body control to evade rim protectors and re-extend midair, and truly special touch, both on long-range floaters and glass-kissing finger-rolls. He finished 65.1% of his rim attempts this year per barttorvik.com despite a mere 19.7% of them being assisted, speaking to his talents as a downhill slasher.

There are some concerns present regarding how his perimeter shot translates after hitting 29.2% of his 113 three-point attempts at Kentucky, but between his track record at the foul line (83.1% free throw shooter between Kentucky and HS/AAU), impressive floater touch, and amount of unassisted two-point jumpers (38 makes), there are indicators in his favor. Plus, the shot is smooth and functional off the bounce and off the catch, even with the flat arc and lower set point.

Maxey’s strength also shows up on the defensive end, where he has legitimate potential to be a positive force despite being a 6’3 guard without outlier length (6’7 wingspan). He moves his feet quickly, gets low in his stance with admirable regularity, mirrors ball-handlers well, and flat-out competes on that end of the floor.

He should be a slight positive as a team defender, despite his lackluster steal percentage (1.5 STL%), showcasing a keen understanding of where to be and when to stunt/dig on drivers, along with decent body control and verticality when making interior rotations.

Tyrese Maxey shouldn’t be sliding as far as he is, well into the mid-teens and early-20s. He’s far too good, even with the down shooting year, for teams to pass up on, between his complementary offense, two-way potential and fiery competitiveness. If he’s still somehow on the board by the time the Denver Nuggets are picking at No. 22 overall, he would be a steal. A complete, absolute, inarguable steal.