Let the education of Emmanuel Mudiay begin. At 19 years old, he could be a sophomore in college rather than holding down a job with the Nuggets that pays him a $3.1 million salary. Yes, that's a lot of money, but it definitely won't be easy money.
Learning to play point guard in the NBA can be as stressful as any weed-out course on an Ivy League campus, and there will be nights when a rising star crashes and burns.
"You can't let it get to you," Mudiay told me.
What will determine whether Mudiay is indeed the one to lead both the fast break and the downtrodden Nuggets' revival is the toughness of his mind, even more so than the beauty of his passes.