An expedited experimentation course of has begun for the Nuggets this month.
With a completely wholesome roster finally (minus one exception), coach David Adelman has more and more ventured away from a set bench rotation. Perhaps essentially the most notable growth has been his willingness to eschew a standard backup heart behind Nikola Jokic.
Entering Friday night time’s conflict with the Raptors, Jonas Valanciunas had performed single-digit minutes in seven of Denver’s final 11 video games. Prior to that stretch, his minutes had dipped beneath 10 solely twice all season.
It portends an fascinating query about Denver’s depth as the tip of the common season nears: Can Adelman play Valanciunas in a playoff sequence?
“It’s not about him in those units,” the first-year coach stated when requested about Denver’s latest struggles with Valanciunas on the courtroom. “It’s about those units (as a whole), all five guys not being good enough to start the second quarter.”
For a lot of the season, the Lithuanian massive man performed a stint of 5 to eight minutes at first of the second and fourth quarters. He’s been an effective innings eater for essentially the most half, simply definitely worth the empty energy Denver traded for him last summer. But Jokic’s relaxation minutes have was a slog late in the season, particularly when opposing lineups have stretched the ground towards Valanciunas.
Last week, the Nuggets had been outscored by eight throughout one in every of his first-half stints at San Antonio. Adelman pivoted to a smaller lineup in the second half, utilizing Spencer Jones on the 5. Jones picked and popped for a number of 3s whereas giving Denver a extra versatile defensive look. The Nuggets overcame a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to win.
Adelman went away from Valanciunas once more for the fourth quarter of their subsequent recreation in Los Angeles, enjoying Jones and Aaron Gordon in the frontcourt collectively. Valanciunas completed at three minutes — and one other minus-eight. He performed simply shy of six minutes on Wednesday in Memphis. Adelman went small once more for the fourth.
“We put some random lineups out there last week against the best teams in the league, and that’s the best way to see if something actually works,” Adelman stated, “as opposed to winning a disgusting game when you try things, and you say, ‘I guess it worked because we won.’ That doesn’t translate for me.”
Valanciunas did play 19 sturdy minutes in a blowout win over the 76ers early this week. But the opposing heart was the important thing variable. With Joel Embiid out, Philadelphia was leaning closely on Andre Drummond and Adem Bona, a pair of extra old-school inside anchors that Valanciunas might match up towards extra conveniently.
Defensive optionality is the first concern when the minutes go poorly. Valanciunas is slow-footed and performs down the ground in pick-and-roll protection, leaving the Nuggets extra susceptible to pick-and-pop bigs and different ripple results of their assist rotations across the flooring. They’ve tried enjoying plenty of zone in the non-Jokic minutes to work round Valanciunas’s lack of mobility, a scheme that has yielded various outcomes all year long. With Jones and Gordon, they will swap extra reliably on screens, trusting their athleticism towards five-out offenses.
“In the NBA nowadays, you have to be able to have a lineup that can (switch one to five),” Adelman stated. “There are too many talented small-ball lineups that abuse pick-and-roll coverage, and if you can make it a 1-on-1 game and force turnovers, that adds a layer to your team that we had when we won it. Our second unit was Jeff (Green) and Aaron. You have to be able to go there. There’s nights where Valanciunas makes total sense, and there’s nights where the matchup is the matchup, and there’s a spread five out there or whatever it may be. And you have to downsize and control the game defensively.”
Valanciunas himself identified earlier this season that Denver’s larger, bulkier lineups aren’t essentially the best-equipped to deal with smaller, sooner, floor-stretching personnel — even when the dimensions benefit has its perks. “When he’s in the game,” as Adelman outlined, “he’s gotta get to the front of the rim. That’s where he’s best. He can get an offensive rebound. He can pound smaller lineups.”
It simply hasn’t labored out that approach in observe just lately. Which leads the Nuggets again to a doable conclusion they’ve reached earlier than, with lesser backup facilities than Valanciunas: that Gordon is likely to be their most reliable second-string 5 in the playoffs. Or in this case, a doable mixture of Gordon and Jones, who’ve a 2.4 web score collectively when Jokic isn’t sharing the courtroom with them.
Or it would possibly merely rely on the opponent. It is likely to be that Valanciunas isn’t meant to play towards Oklahoma City’s Jaylin Williams, because the Nuggets realized in latest video games, however he is towards Houston’s massive males. Adelman is effectively conscious that his playoff rotation won’t encompass the identical eight gamers in each possible sequence.
“I’m not there,” he stated when requested how shut he is to figuring out his playoff rotation, “but I do think the good thing is, we can ask each other questions in these coaching meetings and actually have a conversation that means something (with a healthy roster), as opposed to just guessing. The Aaron start of the fourth quarter was a major positive for me to see. And you’ve gotta find the right combination of guys that fit Aaron and Jamal (Murray). It’s not just about those two guys.”
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