Why Does Malone Play Jokic and Plumlee in Same Lineup

[Dasein]

He even put out a lineup of Jokic, Plumlee, and Bol Bol at some point in the game. I do not know the advanced metrics of Jokic and Plumlee together but if I were to guess it must be not good. This is a twin towers lineup that might have worked in the past, but not in today's NBA. Grant is a way better option to play off the bench as the power forward with Jokic - they even traded a first round pick for him. Why does Malone do this?

[OGLife]

Denver trying to get a starting 5 of ~7 foot ahletes who can defend, dribble and shoot.

[Tor_Raps]

Because they're missing their starting PG/SG/SF?

Either you play 3rd stringers or experiment with more talented players...

[Catchall]

He's trying to compensate for limited scoring with more defense and rebounding, since Denver is missing guys.

[Sgt Major]

No Murray, Harris and Barton, he's gotta have weird combinations on the floor in order to rest guys during the game.

[Homer38]

Maybe it would work in the 1990's,but in 2020

[ThunderBolt]

Probably to avoid playing four against five.

[youngthegiant]

Yeah Michael Malone is not a good coach.

[Duke4life831]

They rarely do play together when their team is full. With that said, the small amount of time this year they have played together, they have played extremely well. So not too shocking we are seeing a little more of this lineup since they're missing 3 perimeter guys.

[nedleeds]

Plumlee has pictures of Malone in Bangkok. Now reason he should ever play except maybe against the All-NBA centers, Embiid, KAT and maybe A.D..

[drosereturn]

I want 5 7 footers at the same lineup while they are in a huge lead just to intimidate the opponent coach and players.
Imagine Tucker guarding Bol Bol. And Westbrook guarding Jokic. The Rockets will be humiliated they would ragequit.

[NirvanaFC]

Malone is a defensive coach, he's wasting Jokic's talents

[Domejandro]

They are actually a pretty solid duo on the court together, in the limited minutes they play.

[Brandon-Clyde]

Both are quite good passers and ball handlers. Give them some shooters and potentially a very good scoring team

[will]

Mike Malone just doing what we all did when NBA Live was actually decent.

Play all the bigs at once!

[jlokine]

he is using jokic as point guard

[Liam_Gallagher]

[TheBallsDeeper]

Because Jokic is not a center. He is a massive liability on defense and needs protection.

[Kabookalu]

I recall they played quite a few times together last season, and it was a tactical choice. I think the theory behind it is that it might force the opposing team into having to play 2 big men themselves, and tons of offenses today are reliant on having a PF with guard like skills. Usually having a traditional big men lineup is death in this modern NBA, but Jokic can make it work because of how uncannily skilled he is as a big man. One of the benefits behind small ball is that smaller players tend to be more skilled than big men, and size is the sacrifice for having multiple skilled players. Offenses today are just better than they were in the past because more and more forwards, and now centers, are capable of handling the ball, playmaking, shooting, etc. It's leveled up offenses in a way we've never seen before. Though with Jokic you don't give up size, and you get the bonus of having what makes small ball special because of how skilled he is, kind of. The other reason why small ball is effective is because smaller players also tend to be more athletic. Jokic is anything but, but Plumlee is really athletic, so he can kind of offset the loss of athleticism.

[UcanUwill]

people crapping on the coach, when the team is missing 3 best perimeter players... You think Malone really like playing Bol, Plumlee and Jokic at the same time? I really doubt it, its just desperate time in Denvers rotation.