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DENVER — Coach Michael Malone has been adamant throughout the offseason that Gary Harris is the Nuggets shooting guard heading into next season even with No. 7 overall pick Jamal Murray on the roster.
However, when asked at media day if he cared to share who his starting power forward is going into training camp, Malone declined.
“No,” he said.
“Right now, I’m not sure who’s going to start at power forward to be very honest,” Malone explained. “I think when you win 33 games, you have to look at everything and I think competition’s very healthy. I like to see guys compete and earn spots and that’s why I’m excited to get on the floor tomorrow.”
Kenneth Faried started 64 of the 67 games he played last season. The 26-year-old, who didn’t make himself available to the media Monday, averaged 12.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game last season – numbers that are consistent with what the Manimal put up in 2014-15.
But like in years past, Faried was a minus on the defensive end. When Faried was on the floor, the Nuggets gave up 109.1 points per 100 possessions, compared to the 104.5 they allowed with Faried on the bench.
“Obviously we have Kenneth Faried who is a tremendous player,” Malone said. “At the end of the season, we toyed around experimented with a big lineup with Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic playing together. We have guys like Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler who are more than capable of playing the four. What I love about our roster and again Josh [Kroenke] hit it before, I think Tim has put together a roster that has so much versatility. We can play really big, we can play small and we can play really small. Golden State won the championship two years with their Death lineup: [Andre] Iguodala and Draymond Green. I look at our roster and I think we have the capability to do that as well at times, depending on the situation.”
Darrell Arthur, as I explained last week, provides a better defensive option than Faried and fits more cohesively in the frontcourt with Nikola Jokic. Last year, the Nuggets routinely closed games with Faried on the bench in favor of a more defensively sound Arthur. Arthur actually ended up averaging more fourth quarter minutes last year (7.2) than Faried (6.1).
Is this a real training camp battle to watch or simply a case of Malone not wanting to tip his hand and keep every player on his roster motivated as the Nuggets head to Omaha, Nebraska for training camp Tuesday? It’s too early to tell, but either way, the Nuggets are bringing an extremely versatile lineup to camp; one that can play both small and big.
