Denver trades up, Magic draft Jarred Vanderbilt for the Nuggets with pick 41

The Denver Nuggets decided they wanted a young power forward who could play some small ball center and traded with the Orlando Magic for Jarred Vanderbilt, the freshman from Kentucky. He was a rebounding demon in college despite a recurring foot injury that limited him to just 14 games in college: his rebounding averages are higher than many first-round big men including DeAndre Ayton and Mohamed Bamba.

Denver is betting on upside and against injury concerns, taking players in Michael Porter Jr and now Vanderbilt who fell because of availablity concerns. Vanderbilt can’t shoot at the moment and his upside is an unknown, but as a potential defensive version of Kenneth Faried who can cover…