TORONTO ? Jared Jeffries, the former Nuggets scouting director and ex-Knicks forward, told The Post that Emmanuel Mudiay desperately needed out of Denver before his entire career was shot.
Denver had moved on with their 2016 first-rounder, Jamal Murray, and Mudiay, 21, was regressing.
Jeffries, who helped draft Mudiay with the seventh pick in 2015, commended the Knicks for getting him on the cheap ? the worse of their two 2018 second-rounders and slumping Doug McDermott.
?I know how tough it was for [general manager] Tim [Connelly] and [owner] Josh [Kroenke] to let him go,?? Jeffries told The Post in a phone interview. ?They did the right thing for the kid. They could?ve held on to him to the point of no return and ruin his career. It?s really good the Knicks trusted what they believed at draft time and got him for a discount. If he?s on top of the world and playing great, you?re not going to get him for that.?
Jeffries, who left the Nuggets last summer to be top executive for Rick Fox?s sports video game empire, Echo Fox, disputes the big knock on Mudiay that he?s a poor outside shooter.
Playing in 43 of the Nuggets? 54 games, Mudiay averaged 8.5 points, but shot just 40 percent overall and 37.3 percent from 3-point range. He?s a career 37.5 percent shooter from the field.
?He?s not a bad shooter ? he?s a bad finisher,?? Jeffries said. ?That?s why his field-goal percentage is a big focus. If he becomes a better finisher ? something very possible ? his whole game transforms. Take out his layups, he?s not a bad shooter. If he?d finish at a 60 percent clip, he?d be 48 [percent] from the floor.?
Indeed, Mudiay is fourth-worst in the league in field goal percentage on layups (45 percent). Mudiay also happens to be a good free-throw shooter (80 percent this season).
As The Post reported Wednesday, the Knicks sought Orlando?s Elfrid Payton as they looked for a big penetrating point guard who can dish to complement Kristaps Porzingis.
?He?s big and gets to the rim,?? Jeffries said of Mudiay. ?But the best finishers in the league ? Tony Parker, Kyrie Irving ? are over-the-top finishers with a softness to their shot and they shoot with their hands under the ball. Scoop, rolling layups are difficult and easier to get altered or blocked. Maybe he didn?t work at it enough at a young age because he didn?t go to college.??
Mudiay played an injury-shortened season in China after eligibility issues stemming from the now-defunct Prime Prep, a Deion Sanders-funded school in Dallas, likely would have prevented him from ever playing at his preferred college choice (SMU). He was something of a risk when he entered the draft. Former Knicks president Phil Jackson and his top adviser Clarence Gaines, still a team scout, were concerned about his triangle fit.
The Nuggets went all-in with Mudiay, even though he declined to work out for them.
?His agent thought he?d go higher,?? Jeffries said. ?We found out in the morning the Knicks were going with Porzingis, so we were doing extra work that day on him.?
In and out of the rotation, Mudiay?s distaste for his situation, according to Denver insiders, led to his refusal to talk to the local media this season. A fresh start is needed, says Jeffries.
?He?s at the point now, he?s got to turn the corner and be more confident,?? Jeffries said. ?If he can do that, he?ll transform his game. Murray is 20 and if he keeps playing this way, Denver is going in that direction and there?s not much for Mudiay.
?It?s a fresh start, a new beginning and the kid attacks that stuff with aggression when he has focus. There?s only 48 minutes in a game and it?s hard to just play Mudiay 13 (minutes) in his third year and expect him to find the rhythm to improve. He?s not a rookie or second-year player.?
https://nypost.com/2018/02/09/the-shot-that-can-take-knicks-emmanuel-mudiay-to-next-level/