Denver Nuggets aim to run the Bulls out of Boulder in third preseason tilt

Preseason games are an interesting animal.

Last Friday night in Los Angeles, the Denver Nuggets raced up and down the Staples center floor, trying to keep pace with a Clippers starting five which posted the most efficient offense in the league last season. Emmanuel Mudiay turned the ball over eight times in 33 minutes and Kenneth Faried went scoreless in 19 minutes.

Immediately, pundits took to social media to pile on the 19-year-old point guard for his passing and chide the Manimal for his effort, when in fact, Faried played some of the better defense I’ve seen from him in years.

This was just one game. More importantly, it was one meaningless, preseason game.

Then, Tuesday night in Dallas, Danilo Gallinari saw his first action of the preseason, a performance that was met with a similar amount of unwarranted criticism.

Gallinari scored seven points on 2-12 shooting, grabbed 6 rebounds and dished out 5 assists in 26 minutes. This was Gallinari’s first preseason game, not his second, and he also just wrapped up a EuroBasket performance less than a month ago where he led the Italian National team to the quarterfinals.

Snap judgements are what preseason basketball is made for. It’s the perfect time to draw conclusions that affirm our own confirmation biases after just one or two games. Yet however accurate we think our observations are in the preseason, it’s just one game, and as author Malcolm Gladwell preaches, we can’t always trust these rapid conclusions we come to.

“Our power of thin-slicing and snap judgment are extraordinary, but even the giant computer in our unconscious need a moment to do its work.” – Blink – Malcolm Gladwell.

Gladwell’s right. The conclusions we draw from one or even two preseason games isn’t enough evidence to formulate opinions for an 82-game season. If you need a refresher on what went right and what went wrong in preseason game two, our recap is available here, but here’s what to look for in preseason game No. 3 tonight.

Denver returns “home” for the first time this preseason after winning in convincing fashion in Dallas earlier this week, 96-86. However, “home” for the Nuggets this week will not be at Pepsi Center in Denver, but on the campus of the University of Colorado – Boulder at the Coors Events Center, an arena they played a preseason game in last year against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Frontcourt:

After the news surfaced that center Jusuf Nurkic will be out to start the year, the positional battle at center instantly became one of training camp and the preseason’s most buzz-worthy storylines. J.J. Hickson was given the first shot at the job, but has underwhelmed shooting just 11 percent from the field and registering a team-worst -28.3 Net Rating (NetRtg) through two preseason games.

While Hickson seemed to hold the Nuggets hostage, second-year Frenchman Joffrey Lauvergne and Serbian rookie Nikola Jokic, the next two in line for the starting center job, have excelled.

Lauvergne, who got the start against Dallas, recorded back-to-back double-doubles and is averaging 15 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. Jokic, who’s come off the bench in both preseason contests is posting impressive averages of 11 points and 5.5 rebounds in just 20.7 minutes per game. Both have been extremely efficient from the field as well, shooting 72.2 and 83.3 percent from the field, respectively.

The Backcourt:

Mudiay, as I noted, has had his own share of growing pains throughout the preseason, but has shown the promise that came with the No. 7 overall pick in this year’s NBA draft.

Mudiay has turned the ball over 15 times in two games, eight of those coming against Chris Paul and the Clippers and seven last game against Dallas. When Mudiay was asked at training camp what the most glaring difference from the level of play in China to the NBA his response was the increase in “lateral quickness.” It’s not that Mudiay lacks any such quickness or the decision-making ability to play in this league, it’s just that some of the passes he may have been able to get away with in China, or in summer league, won’t fly against this level of competition. Mudiay will undoubtably learn from that and move forward.

One area where Mudiay has been as good as advertised is his vision. It’s rare to see a rookie be able to get into the lane and already know where he wants to go with the ball. Mudiay already understands how defenses react when he penetrates and he already knows to look for corner shooters and teammates cutting to the rim, skills that some of the league’s best guards don’t have down.

Gary Harris is still waiting to break out. I already went in depth on why this is such a huge year for Harris developmentally and head coach Michael Malone has been adamant that Harris will get his chance to prove himself this year.

“If he gets consistent minutes and rotation… We need to see, Tim [Connelly] and I have talked. We need to find out: Is Gary Harris a player?” Malone said, “We feel he is, but in order to find that out and to answer that question, we have to put him out there. And not just once every three or four games, every single night so he knows, ‘This is my role, these are my minutes, this is where I’m getting my shots.’”

Harris is already shooting much better than he did last season, but he’s not out of the woods yet. He’s at 33 percent (2-6) from 3-point range and has had significant success driving the ball to the basket. Harris also picked up right where he off in Las Vegas Summer League on the defensive end. The second-year guard is already an expert at denying the wing and has already picked off a few passes that have been floating around the perimeter this preseason.

Hopefully we get to see Harris matched up on Jimmy Butler on occasion and see how he does against an All-Star talent.

Injury Report:

Jusuf Nurkic – Out (Knee)

Darrell Arthur – Out (Leg)

Erick Green – Out (Rest)

Wilson Chandler – Out (Rest)

Checking in on the Bulls:

Chicago is coming off a 105-95 victory in their preseason opening game versus the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bulls also have a new frontman, Fred Hoiberg, the former Minnesota Timberwolves executive who also played for Indiana, Minnesota and Chicago.

“The Mayor,” as he’s known throughout the league brings a much different philosophy and temperament to Chicago than former coach Tom Thibodeau did. Under Hoiberg, the Bulls have more autonomy and freedom to create on offense, a welcomed change from the drill sergeant the demeanor the former coach gave the team.

“You’ve got the freedom to shoot it when you are open.” said Jimmy Butler after the Bulls’ first preseason game, displaying perhaps the biggest difference between the two coaches.

Chicago, who advanced to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs least season before falling to Cleveland in six games returns much of the same roster from last year’s 50-win campaign.

Back is the core of Butler, Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah, Nikola Mirotic, Taj Gibson and expect role players like Doug McDermott, Cameron Barstow, Aaron Brooks, E’Twaun Moore, Tony Snell and rookie Bobby Portis to get significant run in tonight’s game. Gasol, Gibson and veteran Kirk Hinrich all sat out Chicago’s preseason opener and swingman Mike Dunleavy is out 8-10 weeks after undergoing a microdiscectomy procedure. Rose is expected back in 1-2 weeks after suffering an orbital fracture during a Bull’s practice.