Bryant Stith

Eric Spyropoulos

The current iteration of the Denver Nuggets is mainly a result of impressive scouting, draft selections and player development. In the 2018-19 season, the Nuggets won 54 games, made the Western Conference semifinals and had seven players that scored in double figures. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Denver’s 2018-19 team is that five of those seven players were under the age of 24.

The Nuggets have drafted and developed key players in the team’s rotation, which has set Denver up for an extended run of success as their players begin to enter their prime years.

However, the Nuggets also have a history of nabbing All-Star and Hall-of-Fame talent in the draft. With the 2019 NBA Draft set to take place on Thursday, June 20, let’s take a look back at the top five draft picks in Nuggets history.

With the fourth pick in the 1991 Draft, the Nuggets drafted big man Dikembe Mutombo from Georgetown University. After getting to college at 22, Mutombo played for Georgetown for three years, where he established himself as a fierce shot-blocker and rim protector. Mutombo went on to average 12.9 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.8 blocks per game across five seasons with the Nuggets.

Mutombo also played a key role in one of the most significant upsets in NBA history, as the eighth-seeded Nuggets upset the top-seeded Seattle SuperSonics in the first round of the 1994 playoffs. Mutombo was a three-time All-Star with the Nuggets and won Defensive Player of the Year in the 1994-95 season. Mutombo went on to have a Hall-of-Fame career as he was an eight-time All-Star and four-time Defensive Player of the Year during his 19-year career.

After missing the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season in 2002-03, the Nuggets entered the 2003 NBA Draft with the third pick. With that selection, Denver drafted Carmelo Anthony, who had just completed his freshman year at Syracuse University, where he led them to the NCAA championship.

Although Anthony didn’t make his first All-Star team until his fourth season, he instantly helped turn around the team’s fortunes. Starting in Anthony’s rookie season, the Nuggets began a streak of seven consecutive playoff appearances with Anthony leading the way.

Anthony made four All-Star teams during his eight-year tenure with Denver, as he averaged 24.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Anthony also played a key role in leading the Nuggets to the Conference Finals in 2009, which was the teams’ first trip to that stage since 1985.

In due time, Jokić will likely be topping this list. Despite only playing in 308 games across four seasons, the Serbian big man is already ninth in total Win Shares among Nuggets’ draft picks. At 24 years old, Jokić has yet to hit his prime, but that hasn’t stopped him from taking over the NBA.

Jokić just wrapped up a 2018-19 season that was for the ages. Not only did the former second-round pick averaged 20.1 points, 10.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game, he also made his first All-Star team and was rewarded with All-NBA First Team honors. Also, Jokić led the Nuggets in points, rebounds, assists and steals, as he joined LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo as the only players to do that during the 2018-19 campaign.

More importantly, Jokić stepped up his play in the playoffs, as he averaged 25.1 points, 13 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game as he led Denver to the Western Conference semifinals.

"I would say it [Jokić’s playoff performance] has only strengthened my belief that he is a future Hall-of-Famer, All-NBA player and MVP candidate,” Nuggets head coach Malone added. “Nikola embraces the moment."

One-year after drafting Mutombo, the Nuggets found themselves back in the top-five of the 1992 Draft, where they selected LaPhonso Ellis, a power forward to slot in alongside Mutombo. Ellis instantly made his presence felt, as he averaged 14.7 points and 9.1 rebounds per game in his rookie season, which led to him being named to the 1992-93 All-Rookie First Team.

Ellis also played an important role in the Nuggets’ first-round upset of then top-seeded Seattle in 1994, as he averaged 16 points and eight rebounds per game in that series. Although Ellis never became an All-Star in his career, he averaged 15.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game across six seasons for the Nuggets.

After drafting Ellis to pair with Mutombo, the Nuggets focused on adding to their backcourt with their second pick of the 1993 draft. With the 13th overall selection, Denver drafted Bryant Stith, who had just completed four impressive seasons at the University of Virginia. Stith was named First-Team All-ACC in three of those seasons and also led Virginia to an NIT championship in 1992.

Upon joining the Nuggets, Stith developed into a physical perimeter defender and capable support-player on offense. Across eight seasons with Denver, Stith averaged 10.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Stith stepped up his play when it mattered most, as he averaged 12.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game across two playoff appearances with the Nuggets.

With the Nuggets currently being led by players such as Jokić and Jamal Murray, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see several changes to this list in years to come.

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Top five NBA Draft picks in Denver Nuggets franchise history

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This Wednesday, April 10, 2019, former Nuggets star Bryant Stith will be returning to Pepsi Center for a Nuggets Skyline Night. Challenge your knowledge on our alumni with this quiz:

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Pop Quiz: What do You Know About Bryant Stith?

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Former Denver Nugget Bryant Stith is certainly enjoying this week. 

And it isn’t just because his alma matter Virginia won the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship on Monday night. On Wednesday night, Stith will be making his long-awaited return to Pepsi Center – a venue he hasn’t been to in over 19 years.   “I’m very, very excited to be back,” Stith told Nuggets.com.   Stith immediately points to his current job, an assistant coach at Old Dominion, as the reason why he hasn’t been back to catch a Nuggets game in almost two decades. The popular former Nuggets guard, who played for the team for eight seasons between 1992-2000, is looking forward to being a part of the team’s final Skyline Night on the last game of the regular season.    “To have an opportunity to finally get out there and see a game and be able to reconnect with old friends and be able to share that experience with the Nuggets fans is a tremendous feeling that I have,” he said.   In a Q and A with Nuggets.com, Stith shared his feelings about this current Nuggets team, how far it can go in the playoffs. He also reflects on his time in Denver, including the historic upset of the No. 1-seeded Supersonics in 1994, and talks about his work as an assistant coach. Here’s his responses:   [Editor’s Note: Responses have been edited for length and brevity purposes]  Nuggets.com: What do you think about the Nuggets this year? Are you surprised about what they’ve shown this year?  Stith: Absolutely. Going into the year, if anyone would’ve told you that the Nuggets would have the opportunity to finish in the top half of the Western Conference, they would be telling you a lie [laughs]. I read all of the basketball magazines at the beginning of the year and Denver didn’t factor that high into the equation.   The similarities between this team and the ’94 Nuggets is that against all odds, this team has risen and taken itself to a new level. If this team believes and has a small amount of faith going into the playoffs, then they will be able to literally move mountains. So I hope they have the confidence in themselves and believe in what they’ve done all year. Trust what their coaches are telling them. This could be a special [postseason]. Any team can be beat, we [the ’94 Nuggets] are a witness to that. I just pray for the next six weeks that they can play their best basketball of the year.   Was the 1994 upset of the Sonics your proudest moment as a Nugget?  Definitely when we upset Seattle, the first No. 8 seed to upset No. 1, was by far the highlight of not only my experience in Denver, but my entire NBA career. I was just so fortunate and honored to be a part of that group. This is something that will go down in the annals of NBA history.  What were the emotions that you had in accomplishing that upset?  When we dropped the first two games, it felt like an insurmountable challenge. After the second game of the series, we understood that we weren’t that far away. We understood that we hadn’t played no where near our best basketball and we gave ourselves a chance to win in game two.   When we came home in Game 3, [it was] probably the best atmosphere that I’ve experienced in the NBA. When [then Broncos quarterback] John Elway announced the start of game three, it just got the crowd rallied up into a frenzy – the rest is history. After we won Game 3 and 4 in Denver, it gave us the confidence that we could pull off the impossible. It allowed Dikembe [Mutombo] to dream. It gave us the confidence that we could do something really special.   When you look at this year’s Nuggets team and the 1994 team, are there any specific similarities that you notice between the two teams?  When you look at the makeup of this team and the makeup of our team, the key position is at the five [center].  [Nikola] Jokić is different from Mutombo, but he’s the centerpiece of that team. They are different players, but they are effective in their own right. The teams are built around them…Everyone understands their roles and does their roles to the best of their ability. Which makes them so effective. That’s the reason why this team is so much like the team we had in 1994.   Anyone on the current team remind you of yourself or any other player on the team?  I would hate to compare one person to me because we’re so different. The pieces are so different from what it was in 1994.  If there was one [player similar to me], I would say it was [Gary Harris] and I would say that Jamal Murray reminds me of Mahmoud Abdul Rauf. There are a lot of similarities there, without a doubt.   How is life treating you as a coach?  I absolutely love it. My last couple of years in the NBA, it was nothing like when I first got to Denver. There was so much excitement and buzz around the Denver Nuggets team [back then]. Once Dikembe signed with Atlanta…My last several years in Denver, they weren’t a great experience for me. It wasn’t what I was used to when I first got there.   When I [retired], I was running [away] from basketball, I wanted to get away from it. The high school I went to was looking for a change and they asked me if I was interested in becoming the new head coach at Brunswick. Those kids at Brunswick gave me the love of the game back. I’ve been enjoying basketball ever since. I was a high school coach for seven years and I’ve completed six years as a college assistant and I think my coaching future is bright. I’m learning a lot and I love the game.  

Skyline Nights returns to Pespi Center as the Nuggets face the Timberwolves in their final regular season game. Buy tickets here. 

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Nuggets Q & A: Bryant Stith excited about Denver's playoff potential

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Throwback Thursday | Bryant Stith

Q: Did you have any idea before the Draft in 1992 that Denver was a possible landing spot for you?

A: Yeah we did. As a matter of fact, my projected range was anywhere from 10-15, so I knew that there was a possibility that I could go to Atlanta, who had the 10th pick. I know that they had expressed a lot of interest in me and that interest extended down to the 15th pick, which was held by the Lakers. The way the draft fell, Atlanta ended up taking Adam Keefe followed by Robert Horry to Houston. Harold Miner went to Miami and I was slotted 13 to Denver. As a matter of fact, LaPhonso was the one that screwed up the draft (laughing). Nobody had expected Phonz to go as high as he did. Actually, a lot of the draft experts thought that Denver was going to take Adam Keefe at the fifth position. When that domino fell it kind of had a ripple effect throughout the first round (laughing).

Q: Did you workout for the Nuggets prior to the draft?

A: I did. I did. I worked out for every team from 10-15. When I came there, Dan Issel had just taken over the job so I got a chance to workout before him, Mike Evans, Gene Littles. At the time, Bernie Bickerstaff (was the coach) and Tim Leiweke was the team President so after the work out I sat down with and had a meeting in a conference room with those gentlemen.

Q: What were your impressions of the city of Denver? Did you get to do anything in the city other than your workout?

A: I didn’t know a lot about Denver. Being from the East Coast I had only identified Denver with the Broncos. They were very prevalent back in the ’80s so I knew a lot about the Broncos but I didn’t know a lot about Denver and I didn’t know a lot about the Nuggets franchise. I did my research on every organization that was interested in drafting me and that’s when I started to learn about who the Nuggets were and about their past and their affiliation with the ABA coming into the NBA. When I walked in I had some general idea of who Dan Issel was and what he meant to the franchise. I knew who Bernie Bickerstaff was because I wanted to make sure that I was familiar with who could potentially draft me.

Q: Take us through that night when you hear David Stern announce that you had been picked by the Denver Nuggets. What was going through your mind?

A: Oh my goodness. Draft night for us was in Portland, Oregon. My mom was working, my girlfriend was also working. So it was only my father and I who made the trip across country.

I was very nervous. I couldn’t sleep. I had butterflies all day long. The only time that I really had some peace was when I actually went to the gym. I went to a local gym and worked out. When I started preparing to get dressed and get ready to attend the draft, the butterflies came back again. It was a long night. Once David Stern called my name, it was the best feeling in the entire world. I was so excited. I just wanted to get to Denver as soon as possible so I could begin working out with my new teammates. Obviously, I was educated on the business of basketball and we had to negotiate a contract and I had to be patient; I had to sit and wait for that process to be over, but I was so anxious to get out there and get started and make a name for myself.

I want to tell you a story. After we got drafted they took us back to a little waiting room and we were able to get on the phone and talk to the team that had drafted us. So I had gotten on the phone and I was talking to Bernie Bickerstaff and Dan Issel and they were congratulating me and they were very excited that I was part of the Nuggets family. They asked me, “What number do you want to wear?” I said, “I’ve worn the No. 20 my entire career in high school and in college,” and their response to me was, “You’re about eight picks too late!” (Laughing.) I didn’t really get it at first and I thought about it and LaPhonso went to Denver too and he was No. 20 at Notre Dame (laughing). It was very funny and when we came in I always used to joke with him that he had my number. We ended up being the best of friends and to this day we still stay in touch.

Drafted 13th overall in 1992, shooting guard Bryant Stith averaged 10.9 points and 3.5 rebounds in eight seasons with the Nuggets.

Q: You and LaPhonso have been linked together ever since. Did you know each other at all before coming to the Nuggets?

A: I had been playing against LapPhonso ever since we were in high school. The first time that I ever knew who LaPhonso was there was a magazine that used to be published that was called Hoop Scoop and they had this section called “Sensational Sophomores”.  I was looking to see if my name was mentioned in that elite group of players in the country – and I was not,  but I saw that a player named LaPhonso Ellis was one of those and he was from East St. Louis. I put that article on my wall and I made a mental note that I wanted to be able to catch up to be a part of that elite group, and lo and behold, we were able to play against each other in high school and different All-American camps. Then when I went to the University of Virginia and he went to Notre Dame we ended up playing each other several times throughout our collegiate career.

Q: Do you any specific conversations between you and LaPhonso stick out?

A: The most extended conversation that we had was our senior year. We had just played them for the NIT Championship at Madison Square Garden and that night after the game was over we had an opportunity to talk back at the hotel. We were sharing our experiences and who our agents were and where we were projected to go in the draft. We were young and were just trying to feel out the process – and we were just trying to be another ear that we could each listen to. We ended up being pretty good friends from that moment moving forward.

When we linked up in Portland, it all came full circle because we had further conversations talking about the teams that we had visited. Both of us had obviously visited Denver and both had great workouts there and we thought that there was a good possibility that we both could land in the Mile High City together. It just worked out that we both ended up going there and became the best of friends. We have been linked together ever since high school, but it seems like some of the most memorable moments in my basketball career he has always been a part of.

We played against each other at Madison Square Garden at the NIT Championship where we were victorious, but he was right there. When we played in Denver and we were part of that first No. 8 seed to upset a No. 1 seed, LaPhonso was there. In my coaching career, the biggest win that we had this season when Old Dominion beat Murray State to go to Madison Square Garden for the NIT Final Four, LaPhonso was commentating and doing the call for that game. He’s been there every step of the way. It’s just great because we have been able to share so many memorable moments together.

Q: You were known for having so much Nuggets pride when you played. When did that develop? Right away, or did that take some time?

A: When I was growing up, my parents always instilled loyalty in me. I was blessed to come from a two parent home and my parents have been married over 50 years. My mother and my father met when they were in elementary school. My mom and my dad always preached to me about the importance of loyalty and giving one organization all that you have. My father worked for the same company for over 30 years and my mom was a school teacher in the same school system for 30 years. It was engrained in me to sell out to whatever organization was going to draft me. I’m very thankful that Denver gave me that opportunity in the NBA and I wanted to show that appreciation back when I became a free agent. I was able to turn down larger contracts to stay in the city that I thought had given me that opportunity to realize my dreams. So when I talk about Nugget pride, it goes back to my upbringing and I’m very proud to be a Denver Nugget.

Q: 23 years later you still carry around that Nuggets pride. Can you talk about that?

A: In my prime, I played my best basketball in Denver. All of my kids were born in Denver. I have some great memories in the Mile High City and that will never change. If I would have had an opportunity to end my career in Denver I would have loved to have done that. It didn’t work out that way. It was part of the business and I understand that, but when you talk about Bryant Stith in the NBA, I see myself as No. 23 with the “C” on my jersey, and I reserve great pride for those eight years that I was able to stay in Denver, Colorado.

Q: The Nuggets hold the seventh overall pick in the draft this year and the highest pick the Nuggets have had since 2003. As a former member of the Nuggets, what kind of advice would you give to this player, whoever that ends up being?

A: When you look back on the history of sports there in the Mile High City, there has been an expectation that has been set by one of the greatest athletes of all-time in John Elway. That’s a guy who has sold himself out for an organization and for a city and that’s what people had come to measure their athletes by, so anybody that is drafted by the Nuggets I would say when you come in, come in and play with great passion.

I think people appreciate that genuine spirit that an athlete has and it shows its way in several actions on the basketball court. Diving on the floor, giving up your body for your teammates, doing whatever it takes to win. I think once people can identify an athlete with those special qualities, then I think everything else will follow. It’s a definite order that has been established by some of the great players that have ever played with the Nuggets, Broncos, the Colorado Rockies or the Avalanche. The fans want to identify with a player that gives their all for their team and for that city there in Denver.

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Draft Memories: Bryant Stith

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