As post-up play has dwindled to near-extinction in today’s perimeter-centric NBA, “small ball” has become the new norm with teams favoring wing-heavy lineups with stretch fours in place of traditional back-to-the-basket centers. The Rockets, who always find themselves on the cutting edge thanks to forward-thinking GM Daryl Morey (who championed analytics long before the league embraced it), took small ball to its logical conclusion earlier this year, at one point employing a starting five of Russell Westbrook (6’3”), James Harden (6’5”), Danuel House (6’6”) and Robert Covington (6’7”) with 6’5” P.J. Tucker serving as the nominal “big.”
What would the opposite of that look like? The Denver Nuggets have exactly the recipe you’re looking for. Peep this lineup from Wednesday’s scrimmage in the Orlando bubble:
LSD consumption is apparently on the rise amid COVID-19, but I PROMISE your eyes are not deceiving you. Troll or not, this lunacy is what the Nuggets actually decided to roll out Wednesday against Washington. As soon as John Hollinger’s tweet began to make the rounds on social media, I knew I had to screengrab it because how many times in life do you see a seven-footer at the one (All-NBA center Nikola Jokic making a rare cameo at point guard) accompanied by a 7’2” small forward (rookie Bol Bol out of Oregon)? The shortest player listed is veteran Paul Millsap, who stands at 6’7.”
We knew Bol’s transition to small forward was in the works and Jokic, despite his generous proportions (though he did slim down some during the quarantine), has long been Denver’s offensive catalyst. But it’s still jarring to see a lineup, even in the NBA where seven-foot monstrosities are a dime a dozen, with so much height.
Who knows if the Nuggets actually have the stones to fire up this bizarre configuration in a playoff setting (Wednesday’s stakes were considerably lower), though the looming possibility of three seven-footers clogging the paint for Denver (Mason Plumlee is only 6’11,” but we’ll round up for argument’s sake) should be nightmare fuel for the rest of the Western Conference. Especially when the tallest of the bunch is out here draining spot-up threes.
The Lakers and Bucks are still the favorites to represent their respective conferences in Orlando, but even if the Nuggets can’t keep pace with the high-flying likes of LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, they’re guaranteed to be a fun watch.
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