"There's definitely some Balkan buddy ball going on": Malone thrilled with Nuggets' twin towers look

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The biggest takeaway from the Denver Nuggets 108-106 preseason win over the Toronto Raptors was coach Michael Malone followed through on what he said at media day: The Nuggets would play to the strengths of their roster.

Malone trotted out the frontcourt pairing of Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic to start against Toronto to the surprise of some and let the two play together throughout the Nuggets preseason opener.

“Loved it,” Malone said after practice Tuesday, giving his thoughts on the Nuggets frontcourt. “They got us off to a great start. I felt that Nurkic had a great game on both sides of the ball. He had a defensive presence, blocked a couple of shots, played great positional defense all night.”

The Bosnian did put forward Monday’s standout performance, registering a stat line of 15 points (4-9 FG, 7-7 FT), ten rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks. He was a rock defensively for much of the night and played with more bounce than he did during his first two seasons.

“I thought he set the tone for us on both ends of the floor,” Malone said.

After a phenomenal rookie year that saw Nurkic grab first-team All-Rookie honors, the 22-year-old had a rough second season as he was late getting back from offseason knee surgery and didn’t see his first minutes until Jan. 2. Nurkic responded by reportedly dropping 35 pounds this summer and came into camp in the best shape of his career.

“People forgot who I am,” exclaimed Nurkic. “It’s the first time I’m healthy in one year, and I started practicing with guys from the start [of camp]. It’s a really nice feeling.”

Who Nurkic is, if you forgot, is a true center, a throwback five. Malone compared his skill-set to Dallas Mavericks big man Andrew Bogut and you can see a similar toughness, IQ, passing touch, and rim protecting ability in Nurkic.

“That’s my job right?” Nurkic asked rhetorically in response to his two impressive blocks against Toronto.

The other component to the “Jurkic” equation is Jokic, the third-place finisher in Rookie of the Year voting last year who’s coming off a breakout rookie season and has franchise center written all over him. Jokic and Nurkic aren’t your usual modern-NBA frontcourt but they work well together offensively. Jokic can space the floor and initiate the offense from the elbows, while Nurkic can pin his man under the rim and await a pass from his Eastern European kin.

“There’s definitely some Balkan buddy ball going on with those two guys,” said Malone in regards to the chemistry Jokic and Nurkic have shown while playing together. “They do look for each other which is great. They’re so skilled and the great thing about Nikola is he can space the floor to three, so it’s not like we have two guys that are stuck on the block which takes away driving lanes from our perimeter players. The floor is open.”

“A lot of people say you can’t play two bigs together,” Malone continued. “We disagree. We think we have two special bigs that can play together because you can space the floor with them and you can play through them in the post on the high post and even on the elbows.”

Offensive output won’t be the issue with the Jurkic combination; both players have a high enough IQ to play well together and skill sets that balance each other out. However, defensively is where they struggled in limited time on the court together last season. Jurkic succumbs to true stretch fours and athletic frontcourt players that can space the Nuggets out and take the lumbering Jokic off the dribble when he’s closing out to the 3-point line.

“The concern is not on offense, it’s on defense,” Malone said. “Can Nikola Jokic guard different types of fours?”

We’ll likely find out the answer to Malone’s question this preseason as it doesn’t appear that the Nuggets will shift away from the Jurkic frontcourt anytime soon. By my count, they were a +/- 0 (even) in nearly 20 minutes of action against Toronto, but they’ll soon face more athletic frontcourts than Toronto that include Julius Randle, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Draymond Green that will all test both Jokic and Nurkic.

In any case, Malone doesn’t plan to change his lineup based on what team Denver is facing.

“We’re not going to be reactionary,” said Malone on if Denver plans to adjust their starting five based on who they’re up against. “If we decide that that’s our lineup, we’re going to play it. We won’t be a team that changes their lineup every single game depending on who they play. We haven’t come to that decision yet, nothing is set in stone. I like it. I thought last night reinforced the potential [Jokic and Nurkic] had on both ends of the floor.”