Torrey Craig didn’t ask for weak-side help. But Bruce Bowen was more than happy to offer it anyway.

Craig was introduced to Bowen — a member of the NBA’s All-Defensive first team with the San Antonio Spurs five times from 2004-08, the godfather of the NBA’s new niche of “3-and-D” wing players — in early October, before Denver’s preseason junket against the Los Angeles Clippers. As the Jedi master spoke, the Nuggets’ young wing forward took careful mental notes, especially when it came to pregame homework. Bowen recalled how he made late-night cramming sessions routine, studying film of his upcoming defensive assignment on the eve of their eventual meeting.

“He’d go on YouTube, watch guys’ tendencies, and all those types of things to prepare to guard somebody,” Craig recalled. “So he was really helpful.”

The pointers stuck. Hard. A third of the way through his second NBA season, Craig ranks fifth among Nuggets players who’ve appeared in at least seven games in terms of Basketball-Reference.com’s Defensive Rating — as in, opponent points allowed per 100 possessions — with a mark of 107. That’s a five-point improvement on his Defensive Rating of 112 as a rookie, which has him tied for the third-best single-season jump on the roster.

“To be a good defensive player, you have to have the tools,” offered Nuggets coach Mike Malone, whose Western Conference-leading squad takes an 18-9 record into a matchup with Oklahoma City (17-9) on Friday at the Pepsi Center. “It’s also desire. It’s also want-to. And Torrey knows that’s how he can leave his mark on this game: ‘I can go out there and guard the other team’s best player and make it really hard for those guys.’”

To wit: With the 6-foot-7 Craig raising Cain on the perimeter, the Nuggets limited Memphis point guard Mike Conley this past Monday to a 5-for-14 shooting night, 2-of-8 from beyond the arc, in a 105-99 win to kick off a four-game, eight-night homestand.

Next up: Russell Westbrook, who — with Craig in his grill — turned in his worst shooting line of the season on Nov. 24, the last time the Nuggets and Thunder locked horns. The All-Star guard misfired on 11 of 12 3-point attempts and 17 of 23 tries from the floor against Denver, a 16-point night that was high on volume but low on results.

“Yeah, I mean, he makes life hell for those guys,” Malone continued. “He might get beat initially, be he’s got the innate ability to get back in the play right away.”

So-called 3-and-D players usually aren’t born so much as cajoled. Craig was gifted with the frame to body up with forwards, the feet to keep up with smaller guards, and the wingspan to smother the snot out of all of them. But he joked that defense didn’t interest him in the slightest until his senior year at South Carolina-Upstate.

Credit NBA scouts with the assist on that one. And a not-so-gentle prod to the backside.

“They told me, ‘We know you can score,’” Craig recalled. “‘There are a lot of players that can score. But if you want to make it to the next level, you’re going to need to play defense.’”

The change of mind — and a marked change in effort — first started showing dividends Down Under: Craig was named the top defensive player in Australia’s National Basketball League in 2016-17 while a member of the Brisbane Bullets. During a stint with the Nuggets’ summer league squad in 2017, he led the team in blocks (six) and offensive rating (118.4), the kind of athletic ceiling that led to a two-way contract with the big club in July 2017.

“So that’s kind of what clicked for me, right then and there,” Craig said. “It wasn’t even (that I had to) ‘work on it.’ I was always athletic. I had the foot speed. I had the size and strength. It was all about effort. I put all my effort into offense. And then once I asserted more into defense, I became a pretty solid defender.”