2014 NBA Redraft: A tale of two big men and two missed picks

PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 10: Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers guards Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets in the first quarter at the Wells Fargo Center on December 10, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 76ers defeated the Nuggets 97-92, NBA MVP Ladder: Top 5 MVP candidates at the All-Star break. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

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#16 Pick: Jabari Parker (Originally: Jusuf Nurkic)

With the first of two picks obtained in the earlier discussed trade, Denver selects the former consensus number two pick. Jabar Parker came out of college with a reputation as a generational scorer. While he has not quite lived up to that billing, selecting him at sixteen is a great value play for the Nuggets.

Parker has only exceeded 20 points per game once in his career and only then just barely. He also notoriously does not feel the need to commit to defense. But a scoring punch off the bench would be useful for a team on the slow grind back into playoff contention. While Brian Shaw did not succeed as a coach, getting to mold someone with this potential could have changed that.

The moral of the story is changing this draft drastically changes the future for the Denver Nuggets, considering they were able to add Nikola Jokic, Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris originally and it would be impossible to achieve the same levels of success in any redraft.

Parker has not lived up to expectations and might be on his way out of the league, but he may have been able to be more successful in a different situation from the start.

With the seventeenth pick in the 2014 NBA Redraft, the Boston Celtics select…

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