Michael Malone hints at how the Nuggets will approach their eight seeding games

The Nuggets’ 7-foot-2, 19-year-old rookie caught the ball on the left baseline, pivoted on his right foot and launched a high-arching fadeaway that dropped softly through the net.

Assistant coach Ryan Bowen and Denver’s head strength and conditioning coach Felipe Eichenberger, who were double-teaming Bol Bol during the play, didn’t stand a chance.

“You cannot teach 7-foot-2. You cannot teach a 7-foot-9 wingspan and the soft touch that he has,” Michael Malone said. “He’s getting stronger. He’s getting healthier, and right now it’s just great to see him compete against some of the other players down here. I’m proud of Bol and he has all the potential in the world, and it’s fun to watch him grow up right in front of our eyes.”

The video, which was released via the team’s social media channels during the Nuggets’ recent Saturday night practice, was a reminder of the depth that sits at the end of Denver’s bench. It’s depth that will come in handy when the NBA restart begins at Walt Disney World as the Nuggets and other rival teams attempt to keep their rosters healthy and intact after a four month layoff while chasing an NBA championship.

Maintaining that delicate balance will be no easy task, especially for coaches and executives on contending teams. How do NBA staffs work their players into game shape in time for the restart when the risk of injury is at an all-time high due to the hiatus? How hard do you push them?

Malone offered a bit of insight into how the Nuggets will approach the eight seeding games that lead into the playoffs.

“By no means are we going to try to win the battle and lose the war,” Malone said. “I’m not going to run guys into the ground against Miami on August 1 and all the games after that. We have to get guys in shape, we have to find a rhythm and a chemistry and reconnect on the floor.”

For the Nuggets’ reserves, that means, be ready. Mason Plumlee, Keita Bates-Diop, Noah Vonleh, Vlatko Cancar, PJ Dozier, and Tyler Cook will likely see more playing time during the eight-game tune-up slate than they normally would in a regular season game as the Nuggets look to carefully ramp up their starter’s minutes.

And what about Bol? The talented and tantalizing rookie only practiced with the Nuggets a few times during the regular season and appeared in just eight G League games where he averaged 12 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. That was after Bol underwent foot surgery at Oregon which ended his freshman season after he logged only nine games of action.

I’d expect Bol to be inactive for the seeding games and playoffs if Denver has its full roster available, which if the season resumed today it wouldn’t. The Nuggets’ entire roster hasn’t arrived at Disney World yet, and only Grant, Plumlee, Daniels, Vonleh, Cook, Bol, Jamal Murray, Paul Millsap and Will Barton have appeared in photos posted by the team throughout the last week.

However, Bol shouldn’t be listed on the Nuggets’ injury report like he was throughout the year once the season resumes and would be available to play if Denver’s depth takes a hit. If the Nuggets’ three exhibition games are televised, we could get our first look at the rookie in just over a week.

“He’s special. Super talent, and I can speak to certain skills that he has but he’s a welcomed addition,” Mason Plumlee said. “He’s had a great attitude in the time that we had back in Denver and down here. … So be ready.”

How the Nuggets are talking about Bol right now feels awfully similar to when they spoke glowingly about Michael Porter Jr. this time last summer.

The eight seeding games may also present an opportunity for Malone and Denver’s front office to evaluate Bates-Diop and Vonleh, who the Nuggets received in the three-team deal that they executed at February’s trade deadline. Bates-Diop and Vonleh have played just 36 combined minutes in a Nuggets uniform but could be brought back next season as low-cost reserves that Denver can stash on its bench. Bates-Diop is under contract for just $1.7 million next year and Vonleh is a free agent but would be a shrewd and economical option at backup center if the Nuggets lose Plumlee in free agency.

The Nuggets would love to get an extended look at PJ Dozier as well. Denver inked Dozier to a multi-year contract last month after the 6-foot-5 guard appeared in 21 games and the Nuggets are high on his skill-set and makeup.

Still, for a team with championship expectations like the Nuggets, it will be imperative for the Denver’s key figures — Murray, Barton, Millsap, Grant, Nikola Jokic, Gary Harris, Michael Porter Jr., Torrey Craig, and Monte Morris — to rediscover their cohesion and chemistry during the upcoming seeding games before attempting a deep playoff run.

When Malone spoke with the media via Zoom after Denver’s third practice at Disney World, he said that the team is still working out the details on Jokic’s arrival, but the Nuggets’ All-NBA center should be joining his teammates in Orlando soon. Denver isn’t commenting on who else is and isn’t currently with the team.

When Jokic and the rest of Denver’s roster arrives, goes through the NBA’s required quarantine protocols, returns multiple negative coronavirus tests, and starts practicing, there’s belief within the organization that the Nuggets will pick up their offensive and defensive concepts quickly even after a several month layoff.

Nine members of Denver’s 10-man rotation were on the roster last season with Grant being the lone newcomer this year, and the Nuggets have been running the same system on both ends of the floor with the same core of players for the last several seasons. There’s a great deal of “corporate knowledge” as Malone put it Sunday within Denver’s locker room, errr, the Gran Destino Tower.

“From an offensive and defensive standpoint we may try to simplify things,” Malone said. “But I think a lot of the things we have that are fundamentally based and are a part of who we are, a foundation of who we are, I think are pretty well ingrained in our players.”

In nine days the Nuggets will scrimmage the Washington Wizards in their first of three exhibition matchups. Ten days later, Denver opens its seeding game schedule against the Heat. Don’t expect the Nuggets to look like a finished product by then. Don’t anticipate an unveiling of a strict seven or eight-man playoff-ready rotation either.

Yes, the Nuggets would love a favorable first-round playoff matchup. But with no home-court advantage for the Western Conference’s top-4 seeds at Disney World, it doesn’t appear that Denver will chase a seed at the expense of losing a key member of its rotation to injury.

“We want to find our rhythm and go into the playoffs playing our best version of basketball possible after a four month layoff,” Malone said. “What that is, we’re not sure. We’re going to find out.”