The Denver Nuggets may be overflowing with talent and depth, but it remains to be seen how head coach Michael Malone will organize and distribute minutes.

The general consensus is that the Nuggets will role out the same starting lineup they used for the majority of last season, with Emmanuel Mudiay at point guard, Gary Harris at shooting guard, Danilo Gallinari at small forward, Kenneth Faried at power forward and Nikola Jokic at center. But is that the right move? The Nuggets have an abundance of intriguing rookies, up-and-coming stars, established veterans, important role players and everything in between on this roster, and they’re all deserving of minutes — many need those minutes, too, whether for individual development or team success. So what is Malone supposed to do?

Let’s start with the two guys who are locks to start: Jokic and Mudiay.

Even before he had his breakout game in the Rio Olympics against the United States, Jokic was doing work against international competition. And before that, he had a tremendous rookie season in the NBA, earning First-Team All-Rookie honors and finishing third in the Rookie of the Year vote. He has a fluid game in the paint and a physical force to him. Things look easy for the 21-year-old, and expectations are sky high.

Denver’s other big name rookie from last season, Mudiay, was selected by the Nuggets to be the face of the franchise, and he’s well on his way. Although he had his ups and downs last year, that’s exactly what you should expect from a 19-year-old point guard that didn’t play a minute of college basketball. His upside is through the roof, and with another offseason of development, he’ll get a chance to reach those heights as the Nuggets starter in 2016.

The largest question is at the two-guard position, where the incumbent Harris will be tasked with holding off the seventh-overall pick, Jamal Murray.

Harris is a tremendous two-way guard, and as a third-year player, he’s still growing, but Murray’s shooting stroke is hard to pass up. The idea of pairing Mudiay with a knockdown shooter and scorer like Murray would seem to be the best use of both players. It would allow the Nuggets to space the floor and give Mudiay the room needed to drive to the rim.

If Denver feels their offense is becoming congested early in the season, Malone may feel the need to move Murray into the starting lineup.

At the forward positions, the Nuggets have more options than they probably want. Faried and Gallo have been cemented into the starting lineup for years, and moving either one of them to the bench won’t be an easy move for Malone.

Gallinari is probably sticking in the starting lineup (as long as he’s healthy). He isn’t the best defensive option, but Denver could use his proclivity for scoring, and he’s a veteran leader on this young team. The better question is whether he gets some time at power forward in small-ball lineups, which moves us to the elephant in the room: Faried.

The Nuggets would love to test out other options at the power forward position, all of which involve Faried coming off the bench. They could go big with Jusuf Nurkic and Jokic in the front court. They could go small with Gallo at the four and Wilson Chandler at the three. They could go young with Juancho Hernangomez.

The best option, though, may be to have Darrell Arthur in that spot. He doesn’t have the rebounding resume of Faried, but he’s a more versatile defender, especially along the perimeter, and he’s an asset from the outside, shooting a career-high 38.5 percent from three last season.

But, again, getting Faried to come off the bench is easier said than done.

At the end of the day, Malone may end up beginning the game the same way he did last season, but in the NBA, it’s not whom you start with, but with whom you finish with that matters. Expect Malone’e end-of-game lineups to be a lot more interesting and creative than the one you see at tip-off.