NBA Draft 2015: April Mock Draft -- Denver Nuggets select Willie Cauley-Stein

With the seventh pick of the 2015 NBA Draft . . . the Denver Nuggets select Willie Cauley-Stein from the University of Kentucky. The man I affectionately call "Steamboat Willie" (is my audience too young to get that reference?) brings his overt size, defense, and athleticism to a team that really needs some more of that. The Denver Nuggets are a team that is built to play fast, and in order to do that they need to get stops, and get in transition. Willie is a great rim protector who excels in this up and down game. Paired up with the smallish in height Kenneth Faried this Denver front court becomes a terror to play against. Both players are kind of raw, but Ty Lawson, Jameer Nelson, and Danilo Gallinari are full of polish. Also, Willie also makes life easier for Gary Harris, who isn't a great defender. We all saw what a Rudy Gobert can do, be a transformational player as a big, athletic center who can own the paint defensively. The Nuggets know now what they gave up, and want to make up for it as best as they can. WCS being available at #7 is a no brainer, even if they have J.J. Hickson, Jusuf Nurkic, and Joffrey Lauvergne all on the books for next season.