The frontcourt conundrum that the Denver Nuggets find themselves in has been a healthy topic of conversation for the past year.
The debate, which has centered around whether or not Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic can play together in Denver’s frontcourt, took a turn when the Nuggets had their way with the Spurs in an early April tilt where the Jokic and Nurkic combo dominated a depleted Spurs’ frontline.
The duo reappeared two nights later against the Jazz, except this time, Utah’s smaller frontline featuring Trey Lyles at the four, exploited the Nuggets’ twin towers look.
When last season drew to a close, we had just 92 minutes of Jokic and Nurkic playing together to reflect upon. The combo produced a 96.2 OffRtg, 103.4 DefRtg, rebounded the ball at about a league average rate of 49.4 percent and played at a slow, 96.45 possessions per 48 minutes, per NBA.com
Last season was a small sample size as to what Jokic and Nurkic could do on the floor together, but in order to play minutes at power forward in the future, Jokic needs to improve his defense. He has to be able to close out on and stay with perimeter oriented power forwards that are thriving in today’s pace and space NBA.
That’s exactly what Jokic is planning to improve on this summer.
“I want to do everything,” Jokic said to CBS 4 in regards to what he’s working on this offseason. “Shooting, especially my defense. I want to play as the four next season so I want to defend the four-man.”
It’s an interesting tidbit from Jokic after a year in which coach Michael Malone was adamant about not playing Jokic and Nurkic together but then started to experiment with the combination over the last couple weeks of the season.
I’ve gone on record to say that I wouldn’t craft the Nuggets around a frontcourt featuring the two big men, but I do think it’s something that can be potent at times, especially in small doses and against the right matchups.
How the Nuggets position and conduct themselves in the draft and free agency, and if they go after a rumored power forward or center, will go a long way in determining just how invested they are in a Jokic and Nurkic frontcourt.
Jokic’s innate ability to pass the ball will have the Nuggets playing through the big man a lot next season, regardless of what position he plays. Credit: Ron Jenkins, AP
