Exclusive The Blazers Offense is Stepping Up Without McCollum & Nurkic

The Blazers have a higher OTRG with EK than with Nurk - and his OBPM is higher - so there is an argument to make that EK is better on offense even when you consider passing. Of course, the difference between them on offense is no-where near as big as the difference between them on defense - which is why Nurk a much much better player than EK.

 

Nurk scores, is a good rebounder, and passer.

Kanter scores and is a good rebounder.

Thus making Nurk a better all-around offensive player.

By mentioning Lonzo Ball you are implying that I'm saying passing is the end all be all for determining offense. That is indeed silly to take the conversation that way. I don't know what forum injustice has to do with the discussion.

 

I really, really like Nurk and while I think he's very good offensively, I think his true value to the team and the part they have no way to replace is on the defensive side of the ball.
I think overall Nurk and Kanter are fairly comparable overall on offense one is a better "scorer" one is more a jack of all trades on offense.

 

I love Nurk, but he is not an efficient scorer for a bug guy. His TS% for a guy that is that big is rather bad.

Of the 6'9''+ players that played at least half a season - Nurk is 51st of 61 in the league. EK is 39th and if we use his TS% while playing in Portland he would be 23rd.

 

It's not a discussion. We disagree.

 

What are you disagreeing about though?

Do you think Nurk isn't a better passer?

Or are you saying passing doesn't factor into offensive ability?

 

Personally i don't think they are even close on the offensive end. Kanter is better all around on the offensive side of things. But there is no question Nurk is better on defense.

 

Hope it doesnt come off as argueing to argue, one other thing Nurk does very well that I dont think Kanter is as good is setting screens.
Part of that may be just not having the same Chemistry with the team as the Nurk did.

 

Kanter has been a pretty good passer for us. Better? I don’t know but it’s pretty close.

 

Enes with Portland: 1.3 APG, 10.2 AST%

Nurk this year: 3.2 APG, 17.9 AST%

That's not that close.

 

Nurk is also a much better screen setter, while Enes seems like a better scorer in the low post. Given that Dame is an elite pick and roll point guard with (at best) mediocre defense, you want a good defensive center who can set great screens.

Anyway, Enes + Zach= Nurk, which may be why we haven't lost more games than we have without him. Very glad we have them both.

I do think there's a collective mental block we all have about next year. Without Canter, Hood and Steph, it could get brutal pretty quickly for us. Like when we were on pace to win 27 games before trading for Nurkic.

 

Why do people assume we wont bring back any of those 3?

 

Team did OK without Steph this year, Just sayin'

 

I would say Kanter is the more polished offensive player, but Nurk is equally effective in scoring.

 

TS% strongly disagrees with this assessment.

The good thing is that if Nurk gets back healthy (something we all hope for) - there is still place for him to get much better.

 

Another overlooked stat in Nurk's favor is he was getting to the free throw line 5.1 times per game this year. Kanter with the Blazers is averaging 2.9 attempts per game and 2.7 for his career. The ability to get to the line consistently is an underrated offensive skill. It's one of the reasons CJ isn't as efficient as Dame is because he doesn't draw as many fouls.

 

The problem is there is a stat that incorporates free throws shot, and Kanter is better in that stat as well (TS%).

 

TS% only incorporates free throw %, not attempts or free throw rate (I'm pretty sure).