Nugs won’t Balk at bigs
The Nuggets have had too much Manimal and not enough victories during the past three years.
For a team desperately trying to find a place in Denver’s heart and earn a spot in the NBA playoffs, it’s obvious what the Nuggets must do, even if Kenneth Faried might not be crazy about the idea.
The Nuggets need to start Nikola Jokic at power forward, give him as many minutes as he can handle at both that new position and at center, then nurture the all-star talent in him. Combine Jokic in the starting lineup with Jusuf Nurkic and let a league infatuated with small ball wrestle with a 6-foot-10 player who starred for Serbia at the Summer Olympics and the 7-foot beast whose father might be the toughest 400-pound cop in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The Balkan Bigs,” coach Michael Malone said Thursday, chewing on an idea that might get the Nuggets back in the playoffs and get fannies back in the seats at the Pepsi Center.
Now all Malone has to do is make the idea work. This is not to suggest Faried has a bit of diva in him, but the Manimal is the center of his own universe.
An NBA coach wears many hats: strategist, motivator, disciplinarian, babysitter.
“We have a lot of different lineups that we can play. I think that’s going to be my biggest challenge. It’s finding and using that versatility and depth to our advantage, while also trying to keep everybody happy. That’s impossible. I can’t keep my wife and kids happy,” said Malone, cracking a joke at his own expense.
Over the past three years, Faried has averaged 13.0 points, 8.7 rebounds and 26.8 minutes per game, while Denver has won an average of 33 games per season. His limitations make it impossible for him to be a starter for a winning team.
Why not maximize what Faried does well for 20-24 minutes per night? He is never going to be an all-star at power forward. For an energy guy, Faried is sometimes lazy on defense and oftentimes needs the ego stroked to keep his motor humming. If he can go from zero to warp speed in 5.3 seconds off the bench, however, Faried could be a serious contender for the best sixth man
in the league.
I asked Malone if he felt the need to sit down with Faried and conduct that man-to-man, heart-to-heart conversation about what’s best for the team.
“All summer, we had talked about the potential of starting the two bigs together and what that means for Kenneth,” Malone replied. “But I wasn’t positive that we were definitely were going to start that way (with Nurkic at center and Jokic at power forward), so I didn’t want to say something and it not happen. But, obviously, before the season starts, we will have a conversation.”
Nurkic can be a black hole on offense. Jokic will struggle when guarding the league’s most athletic power forwards. Some nights, as Faried peels off his Denver warm-ups, he will wonder whether the Nuggets still love him as the inevitable trade rumors swirl.
Of course, there will be bumps in the road. Isn’t that the only way the Nug- gets know how to travel?
“We’re a deep team, and I don’t think you can get caught up in who’s starting, because we’re going to play a lot of guys. We’re going to finish small some nights, we may finish big some nights,” said Malone, who praised the work ethic and attitude of Faried throughout training camp, saying that rather than dwelling on whether or not he’s starting, the Manimal has focused on how he can help the Nuggets win.
Jokic dished assists and swished jumpers while operating from the elbow during the Olympics, and he does evoke some of the grace that Pau Gasol has used to earn six invitations to the NBA All-Star Game. And Nurkic does rumble in a way that echoes the impact that Marc Gasol can have in the lane.
This is not a promise that Jokic and Nurkic are going to make the Nuggets championship contenders.
But it’s time to dream. Dream big. Balkan Bigs.