The Nuggets have a big (man) problem right now. To start the season, Denver has been without sophomore center Jusuf Nurkic, who has been sidelined from the start of the season due to a knee injury that required surgery back in May.

It’s no coincidence, says Adam Mares of Denver Stiffs, that the Nuggets have struggled to get out and play the kind of basketball that new head coach Michael Malone envisioned for his team.

Malone expects his team to be defensive stalwarts who open up a running offense with defensive stops, but without Nurkic they are without a reliable big man to hold down the center of the lane on the defensive end of the floor.

“It’s hard to run when you don’t get stops,” Mares told Gil Whiteley on Mile High Sports AM 1340 on Monday.

Not only has Denver not been able to set up the run, without an efficient big man in the middle they’ve had to rely on pick-and-roll play to generate offense – a major weakness that has carried over from last year.

Denver was one of the worst open-look shooting teams in the league last year, something Michael Malone said at his introductory press conference he intends to fix, but that trend will take time and new bodies to correct. At present, Denver is 29th in league in hitting open shots, according to Mares.

Whiteley thinks that the absence of Nurkic is also hurting new point guard Emmanuel Mudiay, who isn’t finishing strong in the lane. Without a 7-footer like Nurkic to absorb the big bodies, Mudiay, who is still learning to finish at the rim at an NBA level, isn’t completing dribble drive penetration plays with as much ease as he could be otherwise.

The Nuggets have not put a timeline on his return, but last week Malone said he’s still “a ways away.”

Behind Nurkic the Nuggets are thin at the five position, as Denver Stiffs pointed out last week, depending on Kenneth Faried in “small ball” lineups, the also-injured Joffrey Lauvergne, the still-developing (and injured) Nikola Jokic or a combination of Darrell Arthur and J.J. Hickson. It’s not a pretty picture.

Nuggets fans will need to have some patience, says Mares. But Whiteley fears an already fractured fan base might not be willing to give them much time. They’re already starting to turn away at the turnstiles, he says.

Listen to the full discussion between Mares and Whiteley in the podcast below…

Catch Gil Whiteley every weekday from 11a-1p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of what’s new and what’s next in Colorado sports.