Over the next month, we will be previewing every team in the NBA. Here's the next installment of our series on the Denver Nuggets.

2014-15 Record:30-52

Notable Acquisitions: Mike Miller (FA), Emmanuel Mudiay (Draft)

Notable Departures: Ty Lawson (Trade)

Temperature Check:

The Ty Lawson era is officially over for a Denver franchise struggling to right themselves after the shock firing of George Karl two summers ago. Enter new head coach Mike Malone and lottery pick Emmanuel Mudiay. These two individuals will join a nice mix of young players and veteran holdovers in an attempt to get the Nuggets back into playoff contention.

Inside the Playbook:

Starting fresh with a new team in a city with some built-in, geographical advantages will make it hard to accurately predict the broad strokes of the offensive system Malone plans to deploy in Denver. But if Summer League was to give us any clue, one complementary series will be following him from East from Sacramento: Corner Action.

As a coach that, at least with the Kings, prefered to slow his offenses down with sets in the halfcourt, Malone relied a fair amount on the principles popularized by the king of the Corner Offense, Rick Adelman. Yet of all the teams in the league that still run “Corner” or “Push” action, Malone has his teams do it in a unique way.

The reason for the name of the offense (or play call) is because it basically signals where the primary pieces are moving on the floor: the corner.

Above is the typical set up for Corner action: a big at both elbows, a guard located along the sideline with, and the other two perimeter players occupying spots in the strongside corner and on the weakside wing. From here, the ballhandler (Erick Green in this case), enters the ball to the big at the nearest elbow, moves down to the player in the corner and performs an improvised, two-man screening tango that can trigger a whole series of reads.

Malone, however, eschews the typical strongside entry and instead seems to place a heavy emphasis on getting the ball quickly to the two players seemingly out of the play -- the big at the elbow furthest from the ball and the perimeter player chilling on the opposite wing. The idea behind this is likely that Malone views the two-man game these two players get into at that opposite elbow bends defenses more effectively than the standard strongside entry. And even Denver’s Summer League squad was able to showcase how effective this can be:

During that Summer League stretch, the Nuggets seemed to run Malone’s version of Corner stuff with the intention of immediately bypassing the big at the strongside elbow to initiate the two-game on the opposite side right off the bat. That’s a little different than how it looked when Malone used it with the Kings. There was still an emphasis on getting the ball back to the weakside two, but most possessions would start out with the typical entry, like this one in an early season game against Phoenix last year:

As a basketball junkie, the evolution of tried-and-true NBA sets is always really enjoyable to watch unfold. Corner action, when run well with the proper personnel, has produced some beautiful basketball poetry for decades at this level. After all, nothing screams “pure basketball” to fans than improvised cutting and passing sequences that leave defenders baffled. With Malone’s twist on it, the hope for Denver fans is that there is plenty more poetry readings coming their way in the future.

Lineup to Watch:

Kenneth Faried-Danilo Gallinari-Wilson Chandler-Randy Foye-Emmanuel Mudiay

This lineup would be a redux of the same one interim head coach Melvin Hunt rolled out to end the last season. With Ty Lawson in place of Mudiay, that quintet outscored opponents by an impressive 8.7 points per 48 minutes in the 267 minutes they shared the floor together, per NBA.com data.

Now obviously Mudiay is not Lawson, so it’s unlikely they will match that group’s success (How sustainable that success was is debatable due to the smallish sample size and the fact that lineup logged the majority of its minutes in April, when data is skewed by certain NBA teams just going through the motions at the end of a long season). That said, this lineup puts all of the Nuggets' most talented (or maybe just, highest-paid) players in their best spots.

If you listed Faried’s skill set -- great rebounder, solid pick-and-roll finisher, non-threatening jumpshooter, passer or ballhandler -- the position that comes to mind is likely that of a center, not the playmaking fours currently taking over the NBA. The drawback in playing Faried at the five, however, is obvious; the dude is 6-foot-7. But in terms of fit, there are far less ‘stretch 5’s’ than there are ‘stretch 4’s floating around the league, so it’s easier to shift Faried up to the center spot and choose from a larger pool of capable players to play power forward.

One of those players is Gallinari. Who after a string of injuries to his knee, is a true power forward masquerading as a wing player at this point. If you polled executives around the league, they would likely all agree that the four is Gallo’s best spot at this point and this lineup plays him there around a big man who can draw lots of help while rolling to the rim.

Chandler has always been more of a slasher, so slotting him between shooters at power forward and shooting guard helps him more than asking him to provide the spacing himself. Foye is solid enough, but hardly is the driving force behind this lineups production. And finally we get to Mudiay.

Life in the NBA is hard enough as a rookie and if the Nuggets prized rookie is stuck playing with traditional frontcourts that jam up the paint and complicate his reads, Mudiay will face even more of a challenge. But this lineup is takes the pressure off him in a lot of ways. Having an explosive finisher in pick-and-roll can help a lot of players rack up assist totals. Stretch 4’s are a penetrating guard’s best friend and the presence of Foye and Chandler as additional ball handlers/scorers means Mudiay doesn’t have to do all the heavy lifting.

So while this lineup may be as dangerous as it was to close out last season sans Lawson, it still may be one that best suits this year’s roster.

The Wildcard:

Trades!

It’s hard to pinpoint what direction Nuggets GM Tim Connelly is taking the franchise. After parting ways with Lawson, something the Nuggets basically had to do, and handing the keys of the team over to a teenage point guard in Mudiay, it seems the Nuggets were poised to develop some young pieces. But as we finally hit training camp, the overall big picture of Connelly is trying paint is unclear.

Jameer Nelson, a beloved, 33-year-old veteran that’s trending downward from a production standpoint was signed to a multi-year deal, in effect being paid to be a good influence around the young Mudiay. That’s fine, except when you consider his presence means less opportunities (and roster spots) for young guards like Erick Green and the newly acquired Nick Johnson to develop.

Randy Foye (32) remains on the team, likely as a starting two-guard, despite the presence of last year’s first round pick, Gary Harris and the newly re-signed Will Barton. Chandler and Gallinari just locked into long term deals despite their best positions being blocked because of the ripple effect of their overstocked front court (which we’ll get to in a second).  And yet despite this already overflowing backcourt, Connelly recently signed another sage veteran, Mike Miller, presumably to have his wisdom and experience in a young(ish) locker room. But in a cruel twist of irony, Miller’s presence on the team also means there will likely be one less youngster hanging around in that locker room to mentor.

Now getting to the abnormally tall humans division, Denver’s frontcourt is filled with interesting, young talent. The headliner, Jusuf Nurkic (21), is an emerging big man with some wonderful Eastern European don’t-give-a-fuck charm. Joffrey Lauvergne (24) and Nikola Jokic (20) also show enough promise to warrant minutes, especially Lauvergne whose inside-out game and positional flexibility suits this modern NBA well. And of course there is the Nuggets main frontcourt attraction, Faried, and a former starter, JJ Hickson competing for minutes as well.Once again, despite what seems like a crowded roster, Connelly chose to re-sign (struggling) veteran Darrell Arthur, a solid pro who just hasn’t seem to be able to come back from an achilles tear.

With so many overlapping pieces and an unidentifiable timeline, it seems like deals aren’t just likely, but inevitable for Denver. Foye and Hickson are on expiring deals. Given the extensions to Gallo and Chandler and an already overstocked frontcourt, might mean Faried will wind up on the block as well. And the rush to add all these veteran influences may force Connelly to deal one of his younger prospects in order to avoid losing them for nothing.

How and when any of these potential departures, especially if it’s someone like Faried, shake out could drastically impact the Nuggets’ results not only this season, but down the road as well.

Coach’s Question:

Will Mike Malone commit to smaller lineups despite so many traditional bigs on his roster?

Part of the conflict that led to Malone’s shocking dismissal in Sacramento last season was a refusal to get away from a heavy use of lineups featuring two legit bigs. In Denver, Malone will have more bigs with unique skill sets than he’ll know what to do with.

But as mentioned in the section above, the Nuggets' best lineups could potentially be ones with only one true big on the floor. On top of that, there’s already been a lot of talk from the new staff about an emphasis on playing fast in order to continue to push the Mile High advantage in Denver. Yet Malone is a blue-collar, defense first coach who likely stuck with bigger frontcourts in Sacramento in order to maintain defensive stability.

With Denver not expected to contend for much, there isn’t a ton of pressure on Malone to figure all this out right away. That said, watching him wrestle with this clash of ideals will make Denver fascinating to watch, no matter how far they drop down in the standings.

Best Case Scenario:

33-49 If…

Mudiay ends up in the Rookie of the Year hunt. Malone sorts out and sticks to his best lineups, even if it means leaving his stable of big men out in the cold. Gallinari maintains his stellar play and a backcourt player (Erick Green, Will Barton, Gary Harris) emerges alongside Mudiay to give the team a backcourt for the future to lock in on.

Worst Case Scenario:

20-62 If....

Malone spends the entire season trying to ascertain if staying with traditional lineups is better than a commitment to small ball. Mudiay struggles mightily in his rookie season but is allowed to work through the growing pains with no reduction in playing time. Gallinari regresses considerably and none of the other wing players pick up the slack.

Click here for a full list of NBA Season Previews from Brett Koremenos.