"I have to guard 4's now, too?" (Getty Images) |
George Karl is not your standard NBA coach. Outside of the winning percentage and longevity, Karl has been known to stretch the boundaries of traditional lineups. Not just playing one guy out of position, but playing multiple guys in weird configurations. A popular and successful one last season featured dual-point-guard lineups of Ty Lawson and Andre Miller, and at this point Danilo Gallinari has played every spot but referee, I'm pretty sure.
And this year could get even wackier with the addition of Andre Iguodala. From Sports Radio Interviews:
"We think Iguodala is a top 10 defender in basketball and I don’t know if he can cover big guys but I don’t think he’d be afraid of the challenge. Play he and Gallo (Danilo Gallinari) at three and four and see if we can get away with it but the whole thing comes down to, he fits our personality, he’s one of those players in basketball that on any given night he can get a triple double and he helps you win basketball games by doing little things and team things as much as he does statistical things.”
Platitudes on Iguodala's intangibles aside, that's going to be pretty insane.
Iguodala traditionally plays either the 2 or 3, with Gallinari playing 40 percent of his minutes at the 4 last season. Interestingly, according to 82games.com Gallinari had the same net PER (his production vs. his opponent's) at the 3 as at the 4.
So we could conceivably be looking at a Lawson-Miller-Iguodala-Gallinari-Javale McGee/Kenneth Faried lineup. Which is pretty much going to be the weirdest looking lineup ever. A dual-point-guard, dual-combo-forward, hyper-athlete-center lineup that would be one of the smallest in the league.
The Nuggets are going to be so much fun to watch, but can Iguodala make enough of an impact defensively on his own for them to win more games?