Denver Nuggets: The Balkan Brothers Of The Mile High City

The combination of Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic create quite the formidable Balkan frontline for the Denver Nuggets

When the Denver Nuggets decided to bring Nikola Jokic over at the start of last season, most fans and the coaching staff alike, thought he would take some time to adjust to the NBA game.

But that wasn’t the case, as the Serbian big-man showed off some star potential throughout the year, with his excellent play.

He was one of the best playmaking big men in the league last season, with an assist percentage of 17.6 percent. And he was also one of the better three-point shooting 5’s we had, making 33.3 percent of his shots from behind the arc.

The offensive versatility Nikola Jokic brings, allows him to play alongside Jusuf Nurkic.

Referred to as the Bosnian Beast, Jusuf Nurkic likes to do most of his damage inside. With the strength he possesses it’s hard to push Jusuf off the low block, because of that, once he get’s position down low, it’s almost impossible to stop him.

That’s why offensively they work so well together, because they can feed off of each other.

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But defensively, they both lack the lateral quickness needed to defend the 4 spot, which is why it’s hard playing both of them together. One of them is going to have to defend the quicker 4’s in the league, and neither Jokic nor Nurkic possess that type of foot speed.

However, a strict offseason regiment has seen Jusuf Nurkic lose 35 pounds. If that can help him move his feet quicker in the upcoming season, it will go a long ways in allowing both the Balkans to play together, because if they can’t, the Denver Nuggets are going to have to choose who they want to keep.

So let’s hope it doesn’t come down to that, but you never know. As the league continues to play smaller, the Nuggets have a challenge ahead of themselves figuring out how both big men can play together.

Last season, when they both played alongside each other, Nikola Jokic was tasked with guarding the opposing 4. And it didn’t go too well for the Serbian youngster, as he had trouble staying with his man.

Now, in 2016-17, they’re going to be playing together for extended minutes. But if Jokic nor Nurkic can figure out a way to guard the opposing 4’s, the experiment will most likely come to an end quickly. So they need to find a way to make things work together.

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It isn’t an ideal situation, especially now in the modern day pace and space era of basketball. But the Denver Nuggets have got to deal with it. They have two young, talented big men that most teams would love to have. Now they just need to figure out how to make things work together.

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