There are many what-ifs when it comes to professional sports. In the 2004 NBA Draft the Denver Nuggets selected point guard Jameer Nelson out of Saint Joseph’s, but promptly traded him to the Orlando Magic. The Nuggets already had a point guard duo of Andre Miller and Earl Boykins, and had no use for Nelson at that time. We’ll never know what Nelson’s career path would have looked like if he remained in Denver, but with a twist of fate he has become the perfect player at the perfect time for the Nuggets.
“We’re building, but not rebuilding, in my eyes,” Nelson told Matt Moore of CBSSports. “It’s not going to happen overnight, but as long as we’re working together, that’s what made me want to sign back. They’re doing everything right. I can be part of something special.”
Entering his 12th season in the NBA, Nelson has embraced the role of a leader with a young team, especially with 19 year-old Emmanuel Mudiay.
“You’re going to be young. You have to go through things. The best judge of character is someone going through things. I can’t tell Emmanuel, ‘This is going to happen, that’s going to happen.’ It’s not going to happen that way. His life is going to be different from the next guy. My life is different from your life.”
Nelson is no longer the player that got him to the All-Star game in 2009. He won’t play as many minutes or come close to matching those statistics. But none of that matters anymore. At this stage of his career, he is in the perfect place to be the leader the Denver Nuggets have lacked ever since Chauncey Billups was included in the Carmelo Anthony trade to New York.
