Nuggets Michael Malone opens up about Jusuf Nurkic

Depth is a good thing to have in the NBA, but it can also disappear in the blink of an eye. Joffrey Lauvergne suffered an injury to his right zygomatic (cheekbone) just one minute into the second half against the Washington Wizards. He was down under the hoop after taking an elbow to the face and was unable to return to action. He’ll get a CT scan to rule out a possible fracture, but received stitches for a laceration and had a swollen purple right eye when seen exiting the locker room after the game.

Michael Malone turned to Jusuf Nurkic for big second half minutes and the Bosnian Beast responded. After going 0-1 in the first half in a five minute stretch, Nurkic was 5-7 in the second half  (7-9 at the foul line) and tied his career high with 17 points to go along with four rebounds and two blocks in 13:29 second half minutes, including 9:45 in the fourth quarter.

But Nurkic also got a little banged up last night on his last bucket.

“Obviously Nurk got hit in the (left) knee,” said Malone post-game. “we don’t think it’s anything serious.”

Here is the play that Malone is referencing where Nurkic set a pick for D.J. Augustin, rolled to the rim and made the layup with contact from Garrett Temple. You can see Temple made contact with Nurkic’s left leg on the foul.

Nurkic paused after the make at the basket stanchion, then high-fived a young fan. He missed the free throw at the 2:31 mark, the Wizards raced down the floor and made a layup, the Nuggets took a timeout at the 2:15 mark and Nurkic sat on the bench and rubbed his knee a bit, as strength and conditioning coach Steve Hess went over to visit with him. Out of the timeout he remained on the bench as the Wizards went to an extremely small lineup that featured Markieff Morris at center.

If Lauvergne is to miss some time with the injury to his cheekbone, you’d hate to see Nurkic lose an opportunity to play — and hopefully Malone is correct that it wasn’t anything serious.

While Nurkic has been productive in stints this season, Malone has been rewarding Lauvergne with playing time over Nurkic in the rotation. Nurkic has been trying to return to form after major knee surgery this summer, but there has been an obvious disconnect between player and coach to some degree.

By all accounts from current and former players, Malone is a no-nonsense guy that is direct with his players. Hearing Malone praise Joffrey’s work ethic, even with an inferior net rating, shows that Malone is rewarding him for the work he’s putting in. This isn’t to say that Nurkic hasn’t been working hard, but the inconsistency of practice time has been a factor that has helped lead to him being relegated to the third center. But Lauvergne has been outworking Nurkic and Malone isn’t going to just give players minutes, he wants them to earn it and has the hammer of playing time at his disposal.

We examined Nurkic’s struggles to get on the floor back on March 2nd and here are updated numbers on Denver’s three centers and their net ratings.

As you can see above, it’s apparent that Nurkic is effective when he’s on the floor and he must continue to prove to his coach that he wants to play and earn a role in his rotation — and that comes through practice and other aspects not involving in-game play. Malone was quick to point out that Nurkic didn’t earn more time vs. the Wizards due to what he saw out of him in the Suns game alone.

“Not just those four minutes and 30 seconds, but practice, shoot-around, his energy, his work ethic,” said Malone. “He deserved what he got tonight. It has not been easy for Nurk, I admit that wholeheartedly. It’s been a rough go for him at times. This is not the season he anticipated with the injury and… hasn’t gone his way.

“But how he’s been lately — his state of mind, his work ethic, his commitment — allowed him to have a positive impact in that short time (vs.) Phoenix. He had a very big impact in four minutes and 30 seconds. Well, (vs. the Wizards) there’s another opportunity to get him out there and he shows you the force that he can be. Just like he did at Detroit when we won in Detroit. He’s a force to be reconned with, not just on offense — on defense as well. I’m hoping that we can expect a lot more of that moving forward in these last 16 games.”

Can the Nuggets deploy a twin tower lineup featuring Nurkic and Jokic?

A week doesn’t go by without someone in Nuggets Nation asking about the possibilities of a Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic front-court pairing. Harrison Wind of BSN Denver asked Malone about the pairing back on Jan. 13th:

This is Malone’s response to a Q about a Jokic-Nurkic frontcourt. It’s not happening. Jokic is a 5, as is Nurkic. pic.twitter.com/JwWhdtWfGB

— Harrison Wind (@NBAWind) January 13, 2016

With Malone recently telling Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post that, “trying to find a way to get (Nurkic) out there is a priority.” I figured I’d ask Malone about the pairing again to see if his stance on it had changed since January, with Jokic playing much more out of the high-post and out on the elbow in a paring with Kenneth Faried in the starting lineup. And you want to have Jokic, and his +4.2 net rating, on the floor as much as possible.

1.) What hesitations would he have to use the two together?

“The first hesitation is that the league is going so small,” said Malone. “There is very few true centers in the NBA anymore. A lot of teams are playing small-ball, you look at teams’ reliance on the 3-point shot. Obviously Memphis is a team that stands out that has played, when healthy, with Zach (Randolph) and Marc Gasol; a big lineup, a traditional lineup. But most teams have gone away from that. Can they do it in stretches? I’m sure they can and that’s something we may look at in these last 17 games in the right situation.”

He has remained pretty steadfast in his hesitation as his answer above mirrored the the one he gave to Harrison Wind back in January.

2.) What would work with Jokic and Nurkic?

“The positives, the pros to that, you have two very skilled young bigs,” said Malone. “Nikola’s proven he can play away from the basket offensively. Nurkic can be a beast down low with his back to the basket, and they can play off of each other because they’re both very very skilled young players.

“We’ll give that a look. That’s something that we’ve talked about as a staff and with the front office, but we’ll wait for the right time to see when that might be applicable for us.”

As you can see above, the conversation has been one that the coaching staff is having and the front office has also been having with the coaching staff. GM Tim Connelly has always said they’ll let the coach coach the team, and it’s good that there is communication among all parties about different ideas — but ideas that don’t appear to be mandates is a good sign of a healthy relationship between front office and coaches.

The high-low game would be a fun one as Nurkic, as Malone said, can be a beast down low. Here’s Nurkic having his way with J.J. Hickson on the inside last night.

But finding an opponent where the Nuggets have the advantage on defense is a tricky one, the offensive upside is apparent. Would team’s try to match Denver’s size or would they try to exploit the lack of speed on the defensive end? It’s a good debate and one that would be fun to see play out on the court, if Malone opts to try it.

The twin tower experiment could be in jeopardy if Lauvergne’s injury keeps him out of the lineup for extended time as Nurkic will be the primary backup center, but we’ll have to see if he earns that role with the upcoming five-game road trip that sees the Nuggets face the Heat, Magic, Hawks, Hornets and Cavaliers.