Michael Malone sees defensive versatility in Nikola Jokic's future

Every heard the phrase Rome wasn’t built in a day? 

The French proverb came about in the late 1100s, but hit the English language a bit later in 1545. Hopefully it won’t take that long for a frontcourt pairing featuring Jusuf Nurkic at center and Nikola Jokic at power forward to show positive results. The Adriatic Cs lineup (okay, horrible nickname for the twin tower duo) was deployed by head coach Michael Malone for its first extended minutes against the Cleveland Cavaliers… in a 124-91 drubbing at the hands of LeBron James and Co. 

Nurkic got the second-half start due to a right shoulder injury suffered by JaKarr Sampson (test results came back negative, but he may miss some time). Malone saw an opportunity with the Cavaliers frontcourt pairing of 7-footers Channing Frye and Timofey Mozgov for Jokic and Nurkic to match up against them.

The duo only played 6:51 together and were a -8 as the Cavs outscored Denver 19-11 in the opening minutes of the second half, but there were some positive signs. They combined to go 4-7 from the floor on the offensive end (2-3 for Jokic and 2-4 for Nurkic) and Jokic got to the foul line a couple times (3-3 on his free throws). They were also clearly looking for each other on the offensive end, but the biggest questions were on the defensive end.

Cleveland shot 7-13 from the floor in that stretch, with Frye going 2-3 from the field and 1-2 from 3-point range. Jokic got switched onto King James a couple of times, and was put to the test covering him and Frye on the perimeter. Today at practice, Malone was optimistic of Jokic’s potential on the defensive end against power forwards in the NBA.

“Nikola, he’s got a great feel for the game. Things come very easy for him, and to him,” said Malone. “I think the biggest challenge is going to be, not necessarily scheme and game plan coverage, it’s going to be, ‘Okay, can I cover this guy away from the basket?’

“Channing Frye is not the athlete that some other guys may be, but he’s a great shooter spacing the floor. So, now you get yourself caught down the floor and now have to close out to him. But I think from a mental standpoint, Nikola will have no problem adjusting to guarding power forwards compared to centers.”

The example Malone was referring to above can best be seen in the video below, captured by Adam Mares of Denver Stiffs.com, where Jokic is tasked with covering Frye out on the perimeter.

As you can see above, there are three separate occasions where Jokic jets away from the paint to recover to Frye out on the perimeter, on one long Cavaliers possession. You can see that Jokic wants to stay near the paint, and checks multiple times to see if Frye is still where he last left him. However, he got caught with a slow reaction to J.R. Smith‘s drive and Frye was able to drive right to the rim for the dunk attempt that resulted in a Nurkic foul.

The second play in that video above also shows Frye’s ability to shoot from deep, that caused Jokic to hesitate just enough that Frye is able to again beat him off the dribble for the easy finish at the rim. As Jokic is tasked with guarding more guys out on the perimeter, the more he’ll learn the proper spacing and then the angles to cut off those types of drives. He has shown some of that ability already, especially when covering point guards out of pick-and-roll plays, but needs more practice defending the Frye and Paul Millsap types that can put the ball on the floor, in addition to taking the outside shot.

Is it a good thing to ask such a young player to try to learn multiple defensive positions? Malone, after careful consideration, dispelled the notion that Jokic cannot learn how to guard centers and power forwards and that it isn’t asking too much of the 21 year-old.

“I don’t think so because it’s not rocket science,” said Malone. “We’re not reinventing the wheel, by any means. We have our defensive foundation and our base defensive package that we do a good job of 29 games this year and [42] we’ve done a bad job of.”

Jokic has found himself guarding opponents on the perimeter at various times this season and has found success. Let’s look at a few cases of Jokic covering point guards out in space.

Play 1 vs. Cavaliers: Jokic finds himself as the last line of defense against a Kyrie Irving drive in transition. Notice how Jokic sees the drive coming, positions himself for the stop and gets Irving to turn the ball over after he sees his layup attempt is no longer feasible.

Play 2 vs. Hawks: Jokic blitzes Jeff Teague off the pick-and-roll and cuts off his attempt to drive, gets his arms up to prevent a pass over the top and then steals the pass — finding Emmanuel Mudiay in transition.

Play 3 vs. Hawks: Jokic closes out on Teague in the corner, Teague passes up the shot to drive baseline, Jokic stays with him and gets the block in the paint.

Those three plays above are not perfect examples of Jokic’s defensive ability as they are not against power forwards, but they give us a sense of what he can do against quicker players and for his instincts as a defender. The Nuggets have 11 games left this season to put Jokic in various situations on the defensive end.

So far, Jokic has shown an innate ability not to get rattled against any opponent. As Malone says above, he has the mental makeup to adjust his defensive game. We’ll see how far he can take it. If he’s able to play more at power forward, that’ll open up more options for the Nuggets and could allow for more on-court time for defensive juggernaut Jusuf Nurkic.