Expectations for Mudiay already sky-high among experts and peers

Emmanuel Mudiay has been the talk of the Mile-High City ever since he was drafted No. 7 overall in the 2015 NBA draft and lofty expectations from the Denver faithful have already been placed upon the 6-foot-5 point guard’s shoulders.

Apparently the rest of the league also feels that confidence is warranted.

In another installment of their 2015 NBA Summer Forecast, the ESPN.com “Forecast team” ranked their top three choices for the 2015-16 Rookie of the Year. Mudiay came in third out of all rookies, garnering eight first-place votes just behind Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns and Philadelphia 76ers center Jahlil Okafor, who earned 11 and nine first place votes respectively.

One of Mudiay’s first-place votes came from ESPN.com’s Chad Ford who had high praise for the rookie.

Mudiay was my choice for ROY in #ESPNForecast Towns was No. 2, Okafor No. 3 https://t.co/33zuK0eEZn

— NBA Big Board (@chadfordinsider) August 19, 2015

ESPN.com’s first installment of their summer forecast projected the Nuggets to finish 13th in the Western Conference with a 27-55 record. Last year Denver went 30-52.

Fellow rookies have high praise for Mudiay

NBA.com released their seventh annual Rookie Survey where the newest members of the league ranked their fellow draft-class in categories like “best playmaker,” “rookie of the year” and more.

Mudiay was voted as the third “best playmaker” from the rookie class, garnering 14.3 percent of the vote, trailing just the Los Angeles Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell and the Timberwolves’ Tyus Jones. Russell took home 40 percent of the vote, while Jones collected 17.1 percent.

In the category of “which rookie will have the best career?” Mudiay ranked third with 13.8 percent of the vote, tied with the Dallas Mavericks’ Justin Anderson. Okafor and Towns ranked first and second with 24.1 and 17.2 percent of the respective vote.

Mudiay ranked as the fourth most likely first-year player to win Rookie of the Year and took home 9.7 percent of the vote, which tied him with Russell. Okafor, who amassed 41.9 percent of the vote, the Detroit Pistons’ Stanley Johnson, who had 19.4 percent and Towns, who collected 12.9 percent ranked one through three.

Most of the rookies who received votes were lottery picks, but there were a couple of later selections like the Mavericks’ Anderson who already have the respect and attention of their piers.

Besides collecting the same amount of votes as Mudiay in the “best career,” category, the 21st overall pick in the draft was also voted “most athletic” and received votes for “best defender” and “funniest.”

38.6 percent of rookies felt the biggest adjustment to playing in the NBA was “speed or pace of the game,” 18.6 percent said “length of season” and 17.1 percent went with “physicality.”

Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder was the most popular player among the 32 rookies polled. 21.2 percent of rookies polled named Durant as their “favorite player,” while 18.2 percent said Kobe Bryant and 15.2 percent favorite LeBron James.

Durant was also first in that category last year, taking home 25 percent of the vote.

You can view NBA.com’s entire rookie survey here.