Denver Nuggets host Utah Jazz in final home game of season

From a game-saving block by rookie Emmanuel Mudiay early in the season versus the Portland Trail Blazers, to a game-sealing steal by Danilo Gallinari on Steph Curry, and another pick-pocket courtesy of Mudiay (and coach Michael Malone) against the Dallas Mavericks, it’s been a fun ride at Pepsi Center this season.

That roller coaster slows to a halt today, as the Nuggets take on the Utah Jazz in their final home game of the season.

In many ways, the Jazz represent the blueprint approach for building a team in a small to medium sized NBA market that’s not high on every free-agent’s ideal destination list. Scout responsibly, draft well and hit on a second round pick or two, hire a coach who can develop talent while scheming effectively, and play a style that suits your roster.

Utah’s rebuild jump-started when they traded All-Star point guard Deron Williams to the then New Jersey Nets for Derrick Favors, Devin Harris and a couple first round picks. That rebuild really took shape when they jettisoned Al Jefferson, who hit free-agency and ended up signing in Charlotte and traded Paul Millsap to Atlanta as a part of the Warriors trade which brought them Andre Igoudala.

In the draft the Jazz were able to acquire Gordon Hayward in 2010, Alec Burks (and Enes Kanter) in 2011, Rudy Gobert in 2013 (thanks to the Nuggets), and Dante Exum and Rodney Hood in 2014. They also drafted Trey Lyles this past summer, who’s already looking like a current and future rotation piece.

Coach Quin Snyder has effectivly crafted a game plan around those franchise cornerstones and have turned the Jazz into a defensive juggernaut who like Denver, is still searching for that one guy who you can reliably give the ball to at the end of games and say ‘get me one.’

The Nuggets, in my mind, have that coach in place and have started to effectively build through the draft with Mudiay, Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris and hit on second rounder Nikola Jokic. They’re in line with the Jazz’ rebuild blueprint, but have to decide on what to do with their high profile players like Danilo Gallinari and Kenneth Faried, much like the Jazz had to do with Williams, Jefferson and Millsap. But that’s another topic for another day.

Jurkic is finally upon us

No, Jurkic is not a typo, it’s just how I’m referring to the Jusuf Nurkic and Jokic combo from here on out.

We finally saw what Jurkic has the potential to do when on the floor for long stretches of time together as they did against San Antonio. In 27 minutes, Jurkic had a 100.1 OffRtg, 72.4 DefRtg for a 27.7 NetRtg and finished as a +17.

Now that was against the Spurs b-squad, but it was an opposite result to what we’ve seen from them in sporadic minutes this season.

In my mind, playing Jurkic against certain lineups and teams will work. When you play a front court like the Spurs did, that doesn’t stretch the floor, doesn’t play a high number of possessions per game and doesn’t present players which can out-athlete Jurkic, that duo can be effective.

But if you draw a stretch four, who is a hyper-athlete, or are playing a team who is going to wind up with a high number of possessions, that combo may not be as effective.

With the Jazz, we should see that lineup again. Favors and Gobert aren’t going to stretch you out to 3-point range (yet) and Utah plays at the slowest pace in the league.

Part of me wonders why Malone didn’t employ Jurkic sooner. We know this season is about development, we know what the Nuggets have in Kenneth Faried, Darrell Arthur and Joffrey Lauvergne, and losing games while playing first and second year guys wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Better late than never I guess, but Jurkic is finally here. But time will tell if it’s here to stay.

Jazz in the drivers seat for the eighth seed

As I stated in my column last week, the eight seed should be the Nuggets’ realistic goal for next season. It’s a seed the Jazz are desperately trying to hang on to as the regular season wraps up.

They’re currently a game up on the Houston Rockets with three games left and a win versus the Nuggets would go a long way to locking up that playoff spot. The tiebreakers are a headache sort through and if you want to, here’s a good explanation, but Utah controls their own destiny.