Preseason: Nuggets fly to Los Angeles for first road trip, take on D'Angelo Russell, Lakers

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Preseason game No. 2 | Denver Nuggets (1-0) at Los Angeles Lakers (1-0)

STAPLES Center, Los Angeles, California | 8:30 PM MT | TV: NBA TV

Injury Report

Gary Harris – OUT (groin)

Darrell Arthur – OUT (knee)

The Denver Nuggets left Calgary with a win in their first preseason game after squeaking by the Toronto Raptors 108-106 behind a double-double from Jusuf Nurkic. They now fly to Los Angeles to face the Lakers after a couple days of practice back in Denver without Gary Harris.

Nuggets move on without Harris

The news of Harris’s injury has thrown a wrench into coach Michael Malone’s starting five. Will Barton is the easy choice to step into the starting lineup, especially if Harris is not ready for the regular season opener. Barton’s ability to handle the ball in the pick-and-roll will be a welcomed addition to the starting five. He’s also an upgrade from Harris in that deptartment if Malone elects to pencil the 25-year-old in as the starting shooting guard, being that the Nuggets were a better team with an additional playmaking guard sharing the back court with Mudiay last season.

Malone could start one of his rookies, almost certainly Jamal Murray, and let him learn from his mistakes. While it would be developmentally beneficial in the long term for Murray or Beasley to start, the Nuggets are truly looking to contend for the playoffs this year. Thus, getting Will Barton into the starting lineup, something that he said at media day is a goal of his, would be the smart way to go. Throwing the potential new starting lineup on paper and getting them a chunk of minutes together in the preseason could help with the transition from Harris, who will likely miss that start of the regular season.

Murray and Beasley both need time to acclimate themselves to the NBA and will have significant growing pains. While both should get time to showcase their abilities this year, I would be surprised to see either start a game against the Lakers, who the Nuggets also face, Sunday.

How much will Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic play together?

In the Nuggets first preseason game Malone chose to start both Jokic and Nurkic together and delegate Kenneth Faried to a bench role. While the Raptors do play with more size then most teams in the NBA it was a surprise to see the two starting together.

Their time spent together on the court was a mixed bag of beautiful and intuitive interior passing, sloppy perimeter rotations, a sizable rebounding advantage and the surprising ability to continue to use transition basketball to their advantage. Being that both Nurkic and Jokic are plus distributors for their positions, Denver were able to run on the Raptors thanks to each of the Balkan Buddies’ passing the ball into transition opportunities off of defensive rebounds.

Jokic was also more comfortable on the defensive end when guarding smaller players on the perimeter than he was last year. On multiple occasions Jokic switched onto a smaller player and was able to keep his feet moving and contest the shot without fouling.

Jokic seems to be slightly more fleet of foot and looks slimmer after playing for the Serbian National team this summer but still needs more live repetitions before he’s a sure enough thing to guard on the perimeter. Being that the Nuggets are putting so much stock in Jokic as a building block for the future it would only make sense to use the preseason to get him the reps he needs to learn to play at the power forward position if they truly intend to play him there in spurts this season.

The coaching staff and front office have been so vocal on playing Jokic and Nurkic together that I would expect a heavy dose of the two sharing the court Friday night. What will be most interesting to see is if Malone will match the smaller lineups of Luke Walton‘s Lakers with size or if he elects to go small as well.

Wilson Chandler is still shaking off the rust

Chandler made his long awaited return to the Nuggets after rehabbing his surgically repaired right hip Monday night against Toronto. In 16 minutes Chandler posted nine points and a rebound while hitting a two 3-pointers and of course this beauty of a reverse slam:

While there was a lot of positive play in his return it seemed as if he was still a bit hesitant. Considering how much time Chandler has missed to injury in the past three years it makes complete sense that he is easing his way back into his former self. These type of issues will dissipate in time as Chandler begins shaking off the rust.

Look for Chandler to slowly bring himself back to 100 percent. The combo of the aging Luol Deng and the unproven rookie, Brandon Ingram, seem to present a good opportunity for Chandler to begin asserting himself on the offense and show the defensive force he can be when healthy.

After missing all of last year, if Chandler can have one complete game this preseason where he plays above average defense, uses his versatility, and scores consistently, it will go a long way towards building his confidence going forward. The Lakers wings seem like prime candidates to boost Chandler’s confidence.