Not much about learning to play basketball at the highest levels worldwide is easy.
Now take that foundation and move to a different country to play in a different league where the rules as they pertain to your position are wholly different. Relearning parts of the game can be as challenging as learning a new language.
At least Joffrey Lauvergne doesn’t have to learn a new language.
The Nuggets’ rookie forward, a native of France, already knows English. But now he’s learning the syntax of post play in the NBA on the fly.
“I try to stay focused on the NBA rules like three seconds in the paint,” Lauvergne said. “Because in Europe the defense can stay in the paint and that’s it. So (here) you have to go in and go out, and that’s not so easy sometimes. There are rules like this that are a little bit different. So I have to be focused on this during the (last) few weeks and it’s going to be OK.”
There is a lot Lauvergne, the 55th selection in the 2013 draft whom the Nuggets acquired in a draft night trade with Memphis, has a complete grasp of. Physically, he’s not overmatched and has already drawn an offensive foul for a screen he set with too much mustard behind it, driving through the defender instead of planting himself in one spot and not moving.
In three games, Lauvergne is averaging seven rebounds and has been aggressive in going to the boards as well as going to the rim with the ball in his hands. Around the rim, he goes up to dunk the ball, not to lay it up.
He has a decent feel for the pick-and-roll play, though the Nuggets are imploring him to roll harder to the basket more often.
Coach Brian Shaw praised Lauvergne’s effort against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, a game in which he scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Shaw lauded “Joffrey, going after rebounds, and he’s trying to get after it defensively.”
The fact that Lauvergne is with the Nuggets now is a pleasant surprise. The sides weren’t able to make it work to get him with the team last summer, so Lauvergne ended up signing a two-year contract with Khimki Moscow in Russia. But by January, that situation had worn thin. Lauvergne wasn’t getting the minutes he expected to get when he was persuaded to sign there.
“I was going there to play like 30 minutes (per game), the way I was playing the year before for Partizan Belgrade (of the Euro- league),” he said. “When I received the offer from the Nuggets, I said I would like to go, but they would never let me leave. So my agent in Europe did a great job about it, and I finally am here.”
Lauvergne said the process of getting him out of the contract with Khimki Moscow and to the Nuggets took three weeks.
“During the three weeks I was like, ‘Should I practice (with Khimki), should I not?’ I didn’t know,” Lauvergne said, laughing. “So I am very happy to be here.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
UTAH AT DENVER
7 p.m. Friday, ALT; 950 AM
Spotlight on Rudy Gobert: If he continues down this road, the 22-year-old Gobert will go down as a second-round steal. A massive shot-blocking presence at 7-foot-1 and 245 pounds, Gobert was a second-round pick of the Nuggets in the 2012 draft. His rights were traded to the Jazz on draft night in exchange for current Nuggets point guard Erick Green.
NOTEBOOK
• Nuggets: Jusuf Nurkic (ankle) won’t play Friday against Utah and Darrell Arthur (calf) is doubtful. They were injured during Wednesday’s game against Phoenix. Kenneth Faried (thumb) didn’t play Wednesday but is likely to play Friday. … The Nuggets didn’t practice Thursday because of the snowstorm.
• Jazz: Alec Burks, a former Colorado star, will miss the rest of the season after having shoulder surgery. … This will be the second Denver-Utah game this season. Denver won the first meeting 103-101 in Salt Lake City on Dec. 1. Gordon Hayward scored a game- high 25 points. Burks scored 22.
— Christopher Dempsey, The Denver Post
