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Coach Michael Malone and the Denver Nuggets are done resting players and will work towards establishing the rotation they’ll use to start the regular season over their last four preseason games.
“We’re not going to sit anyone else the rest of the preseason,” Malone said. “Unless something comes up.”
Throughout Denver’s first four preseason games, Malone has been careful not to overextend his veterans. Danilo Gallinari has only played in two of four games. Wilson Chandler, Will Barton, Nikola Jokic, Kenneth Faried, Jusuf Nurkic, Jameer Nelson and, Emmanuel Mudiay have each seen action in three games. Only rookies Jamal Murray, Juancho Hernangomez, Malik Beasley, and training camp invite Jarnell Stokes have seen the floor in all four preseason contests.
“Moving forward, once again resting guys and holding guys out is over,” Malone said. “We’re going to start playing our guys and try to sure this up in these last four preseason games.”
Throughout the remainder of the preseason, Malone has to determine who’s in and out of his rotation. Mudiay, Barton, Gallinari, Chandler, Faried, Jokic, Nurkic, Nelson, and Murray all figure to be mainstays once the regular season gets underway, but the Nuggets have to determine who’ll step up with Gary Harris and Darrell Arthur questionable for the regular season opener.
Do those injuries mean Murray, who was already set to play a role for the Nuggets from opening night onward, is thrust into a larger amount of minutes? Will Hernangomez, who showed well during preseason including a 13-point, nine-rebound effort against the Los Angeles Lakers last week, get some of Arthur’s minutes if the forward and defensive rock of the Nuggets isn’t ready to go on October 26?
Those are the types of questions Malone and his staff will answer over the next 13 days.
Malone not worried about chemistry with twin towers frontcourt
Last week, Mudiay expressed that playing with Jokic and Nurkic together in the Denver frontcourt was going to take some getting used to.
“We know each other pretty well, but the groups that are in right now, we haven’t played together a lot, so I think thats what the different adjustment is,” Mudiay said. “Nurk wasn’t healthy at the beginning of last season, Gallo at the end the year wasn’t healthy over the last 2.5 months. With them two being back in there we never had a lineup like that [last season]so I think me, Gary, and Nikola we’re trying to get used to that.”
Jokic and Nurkic spent just 92 minutes together on the court last year, a total which they’ll likely eclipse this preseason. The spacing between them might not be much different than last year, but playing with them is still a change from what Mudiay grew accustomed to during his first NBA season.
However, Malone doesn’t believe that it’s a substantial adjustment for the likes of Mudiay, or even Jokic, who is now sharing the floor with another big man.
“I think it’s been overstated that it’s such a different type of game,” Malone said. “I don’t think it’s a big adjustment because again last year when there was Kenneth and Nikola or Joffrey [Lauvergne] or Jusuf. Whoever it was, we usually had two bigs on the floor a lot last year, and we’ll continue to do so probably a lot this year.”
It’s looking more and more likely that Jokic and Nurkic will be in the starting lineup when the Nuggets tip the regular season off in New Orleans in just under two weeks. Denver has played through Nurkic on the offensive end when he’s been on the floor so far this preseason, but Malone can’t forget about the 21-year-old Serbian who’s coming off a third place finish in last year’s Rookie of the Year voting.
“Nikola was a focal point of our offense last year. Nurkic has been a big focal point this preseason and he’s done very, very well with that, so I have to make sure I don’t forget about Nikola,” Malone said. “Because when we play through him good things happen.”
