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“Kyle’s going to be on the floor, Fred’s going to be on the floor a lot, so we’ve got to be able to come up with something defensively, where we’re protecting not only them but our bigs. So we don’t end up coming down the floor and just after a couple of (opposing screens or movements) Kyle and Fred are inside and Jonas (Valanciunas) and Serge (Ibaka) are outside,” Nurse said.

“We’ve got to come up with something (to prevent that) and I’ve got some thoughts and ideas on that and I’m going to have to polish that up, experiment with that a little bit and try to do some things maybe we haven’t done in the past.”

Nurse has made no secret in making the media rounds that part of that includes challenging third team All-NBA guard DeMar DeRozan, by most metrics one of the worst defenders in the league, to at least be passable at that end.

Nurse says DeRozan is completely on board with the idea and in fact is eager to keep proving the naysayers wrong, which he tends to do every season.

“I wouldn’t make the comments if I thought he was shying away from it,” Nurse said. “We sat down, he’s on the edge of his seat saying, ‘What do you got for me.’ I was like, “Well’ … and I start in and he finishes my sentence: ‘I know, I’m better than that, I want to work at it.’”

From there, Nurse gave DeRozan a plan and added: “I don’t expect you to be Bruce Bowen (by) Game 1, but by the time the playoff hits, we’ve got to have you because there’s no place we can hide you,” Nurse said.

“And he’s totally down, he’s got the ability physically, he knows what he’s doing. We’ve got to make a plan and a long-term plan and stick with it a little bit.”