Three years ago, there were many Knick fans (many of which were on this board) who were on Team Mudiay prior to the 2015 NBA draft over Team Latvia. I was one of them (see...I can admit it). We had not seen much of either prospects. KP was a 19 year old kid playing in Spain in a limited capacity and Mudiay decided to forego college and play professional ball in China. Both were international players--one from the Republic of China, the other from Latvia.
Luckily, probably the only good move Uncle Phil did while here was listen to Clarence Gaines and draft KP (and the Knick fans at the Garden boo'ed at the unknown, lanky international prospect reminiscent of Frederic Weis). Kp went 4; Mudiay went 7.
Three years later, prior to the trading deadline, KP suffers a season ending ACL injury with a long rehab awaiting where he may possibly miss even part of next season, and Mudiay finally becomes a Knick in a trade on the cheap.
There is no mistake about it, Mudiay has been a bad NBA player so far. He has not lived up to expectations and his games has regressed since his rookie season when he was named All-Rookie second team. He lost his starting job and played limited minutes this year off the bench as a backup. It was apparent that the Nuggets FO were done with
But let's take a look back three years ago on why he was so heavily touted by prospects and why many Knick fans wanted him to see why this was a good trade by Perry and the Knicks.
1) When you look at Mudiay, he has all the physical tools you would want from a top tier point guard prospect: 1) great size and strength at 6'5", athleticism and agility for that size and a lightning quick first step and speed. I think it would be generous to say that he has not put it all together yet (he's been terrible).
2) Also coming into the draft, he was touted as an unselfish, cerebral type pg who could get his teammates easy buckets from his penetration (something this team desperately lacks from a point guard).
All these physical tools and skills made him into a can't miss lottery prospect. So what happened? It's been 3 years. He's gotten worse. He's been a bust!
1) He has no consistent jump shot (and it has not improved while in the league). Until he develops into an average jump shooter and forces opposing teams to respect him from the perimeter, he will never become a starting pg in the NBA. This is his biggest weakness where he must improve in.
2) He fell out favor with the Denver FO. It's obvious they gave up on the guy and moved forward without him. Instead of developing him, they cut back his minutes and made him a very limited role player off the bench. Sometimes a situation is bad and a change of scenery is needed to develop and grow. The Knicks brass are hoping this is the case.
Why this trade works as a low risk?
Mudiay has been in the league 3 years (and has not shown much) but he still ONLY 21 years old. That is incredible. He would be a junior in college right now. He still has a chance to live up to his potential and still has tremendous upside as a project. The only way we were able to get him for McBuckets, who to me is a 1 trick pony--is how much of a let down he's been (but the raw talent is still there).
I digress.
To the subject of my post: Frank is still developing and is only 19 years old (one of the youngest players in the NBA). The jury is still out on him, but he has at least proven that he can at least be a defensive stopper and competent combo guard in the league. He still has tons of upside, as well.
Mudiay is 21 years old and fits the age trajectory and timeline to grow with Frank. He has the complete opposite skill set as Frank. His strength is to penetrate and get in the paint to create for himself and others. If you pair them together and let them grow together through experience and playing time, they could potentially form a formidable compliment to one another with their skill set in the backcourt. Frank can play off the ball; Mudiay can be on the ball and they can play off each other. It makes for an intriguing experiment, at least.
And now you have KP, who will be back next year and only 23 from the same draft class as Mudiay. 23, 22, 20 ( 3 young, promising players (nucleus) to build around; this is one of the youngest cores in the NBA)
It's a low risk, high reward move, which is why I like it. We did not give up anything to take a chance on Mudiay, who still has a chance to pan
out.
Kudos to Perry. These are the moves we should be making going forward in our legit rebuild. It's amazing that he was able to flip assets from the Melo deal (with dwindling value) into a prospect like Mudiay.
2/8/2018 4:32 PM