Nuggets awaiting Orlando reinforcements
Officially or unofficially, the Nuggets are in a pickle. At least seven of their players weren’t inside the NBA bubble as of Thursday afternoon, when new Nugget Troy Daniels estimated that between 8 to 10 of his teammates were in Orlando. The team isn’t disclosing or discussing which players aren’t there or why players are MIA. But functionally, not having enough players when the team opens its scrimmage schedule Wednesday vs. Washington is a problem.
Seven-foot-two rookie Bol Bol told reporters he’d actually played some small forward in the team’s wonky practice lineups. On Friday, Nuggets coach Michael Malone issued a correction.
“Bol Bol as a two guard is pretty exciting,” he quipped.
Videos from the team’s social media accounts have trumpeted Malone and his fellow coaches racing the players through conditioning drills. One celebrated an elbow jumper that Malone buried in Jerami Grant’s grill. While Malone has often relished running drills with his players, this is next level. When you consider that most of the team’s frontcourt is there, it’s hardly surprising to see Malone mixing it up with his guys.
A verified roll call: Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Will Barton, Paul Millsap, Noah Vonleh, Tyler Cook, Mason Plumlee, Grant, Daniels and Bol.
“We will have some unique lineups out there,” Malone said Friday, acknowledging a concern over guys’ minutes. “We will be playing unique defense. … And if we have to play Bol Bol at point guard, we’ll play Bol Bol at point guard.”
When Murray tweeted Thursday, “Put me at the 4,” no one knew if he was kidding.
Malone said that the NBA was considering dropping the first scrimmage to just 40 minutes to account for teams (like the Nuggets) who are missing their full complement of players. It’s a start. Their next scrimmage is scheduled three days later vs. the Pelicans.
But the larger problem is that the entire team hasn’t played meaningful basketball in four months, and will be asked to do so beginning Aug. 1 vs. Miami in the first seeding game. Their most significant player, Jokic, only recently arrived to the bubble after an international flight followed by a mandated quarantine period. Anyone who thinks they’d risk playing Jokic any significant period Wednesday hasn’t listened to the cautious approach the Nuggets have preached.
“I think a team like us who is undermanned, across the board, the objective is to get through these games, try to create some chemistry and continuity and try to show signs of improvement on both ends of the floor,” Malone said. “But the No. 1 thing for me is, can we get through these three scrimmages healthy and not getting guys obviously putting them in a position where they’re overworked, playing too many minutes and getting hurt?”
So the Nuggets, who already missed crucial practice time after closing their facility before heading to Orlando, are up against it. Malone did manage to find a silver lining, though. After mentioning that Grant had also played some shooting guard, Malone sounded pleasantly surprised at certain guys who’d found success while playing out of position. Nevertheless, he’d prefer the alternative.
“Does it (stink) that we don’t have all our players here?” Malone
said. “Yes it does.”
From now until Wednesday, the Nuggets can only hope some reinforcements start to trickle in and that they can clear quarantine in time.
If not, Wednesday might be a spectacle.
“We really have no expectations (for the scrimmage),” Barton said. “Only thing we’re going to ask is to compete with who we have.”