Blow Up The Starting Lineup
No more playing good guy. Malone has to fix the starting lineup, even if it hurts some feelings.
If one of the Balkan Bigs is to be coming off the bench — and one should be coming off the bench — there’s no question that it should be Jusuf Nurkic. For one, Nikola Jokic is better. Point blank. Period. He’s a more well-rounded, developed player, and while I love me some Nurkic, he’s simply not as efficient, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.
And two, if you did bring Nurkic off the bench, he would absolutely destroy second-unit big men, even more so than he does now against starters.
But it doesn’t stop there. The Nuggets’ best lineup is one that has Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler on the floor at the same time, and they should be out there as much as possible, starting from the tip.
And it’s the Nuggets’ depth that allows them to take their top bench player and bring him to the starting lineup without losing much in that second unit, particularly when Will Barton returns in the near future.
For Malone, it’s time he takes his best players and puts them on the floor. Simple as that.
