Been awhile -- you know: road trips, family reunions and all that lazy, crazy summer stuff -- but I thought I'd check in and offer some hope for the Denver Nuggets' fans out there who feel the upcoming NBA Draft will be an exercise in futility with their squad without a top-10 pick.
Yeah, sure, having a little lottery luck and a top-three pick never hurts, but there are gems to mined later in the draft. In fact, there are likely more than you think.
I examined the 20 NBA drafts from 1992 to 2011, and some quick and dirty research reveals that 37 players selected outside of the top 10 -- or not even drafted at all -- have either gone on to play in an All-Star Game or have been named to an All-NBA team. The list ranges from Marc Gasol (48th in 2007) to Ron Artest (16th in 1999) to Manu Ginobili (57th in '99) to Kobe Bryant (13th in 1996) to Steve Nash (15th in '96).
Six of those 37 -- including the likes of Ginobili, Rajon Rondo (21st overall in 2006), Tony Parker (28th in 2001) and Sam Cassell (24th in 1993) -- have even gone on to play significant roles in NBA title-winning seasons with the team which selected them or traded for their selection rights on draft day.
A future All-Star or All-NBA selection has been selected outside of the top 10 in 16 of those 20 drafts from '92 to '11, with '94, '97, '10 and '11 currently being the exceptions. You didn't need to have passed trigonometry to figure out that's nearly an average of two mid-to-late round finds per draft.
Even in the second round -- where the Nuggets slated to pick 41st and 56th this year -- there are future finds to be had with seven of the aforementioned 37 having been selected 41st or later.
So even if the Nuggets don't trade up or somehow swing a monster deal for Kevin Love, there are draft nuggets to be uncovered outside of the top 10.
Now it's up to GM Tim Connelly and Co. to find them.
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