Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkic will not be ready for the regular season opener on Oct. 28 at Houston, but may not be too far from returning to the court after that.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone said the 7-foot center looks on track to return to action “sometime in November.” Nurkic has been out of action since having surgery on his left patellar tendon in May.
“I hope to have him back as soon as possible,” Malone said. “From all reports I get from my training staff, he’s ahead of schedule. Every time I see him working with our strength coaches and our player development coaches, he looks great. I’m going to say right now, maybe sometime in November. But, again, that’s not my expertise. I just take the reports that they give me. I know he’s progressing well, he’s working very hard and he is ahead of schedule.”
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In the meantime, the Nuggets have been grooming temporary replacements. Second-year player Joffrey Lauvergne has played well during the preseason and is the likely starter at the position in Nurkic’s absence.
While he is out, Nurkic is being required to stay on top of learning the new system.
“If we’re teaching something or putting something in, I want him to learn and listen as much as possible,” Malone said. “But once we get into practice, he gets with Steve Hess and Steve Short and works on his body, works on his conditioning, his explosion, strengthening that leg and that knee. And then get some player development work in with the coaches. He’s somewhat limited in what he’s able to do, but he is working hard — weight room, court, all aspects.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or @dempseypost
