The Nuggets’ game of musical chairs was always going to leave at least one or two players on the outside of the rotation.
Lately, that’s been Torrey Craig and Malik Beasley. Both were mainstays in the rotation over the first three weeks of the season, but as the second unit sputtered, Nuggets coach Michael Malone decided to tinker with his substitution patterns.
“I felt going into the season, I think Torrey earned the right (to play),” Malone said. “Torrey started 11 playoff games for us, so it’s easy for all of you to sit here and say, ‘Why did it take Malone 10 games to play Juancho (Hernangomez)?