What a difference - Bear Nurkic making a BIG impression

Loving me some Nurkic so far. Hopefully he continues to impress and improve.

 

That drop step is just an advanced post move. It took Aldridge like 4 yrs to master that. And he can drive right or left. And he just uproots guys on the first dribble backing down. And he clearly studied Mason's plays so he knows where the cutters are.

Haven't been this excited about a big man prospect since Aldridge.

I have to keep reminding myself that he's only a year older than Noah, and look how far behind Vonleh is in comparison.

 

I don't. As if you ever bring facts to the table....

 

Stotts will obviously have to shift the team's offensive approach to take advantage of Nurkic's skill set. In the interest of continuity, I would like to see Stotts utilize Meyers off the bench in the same manner as Nurkic, instead of parking Meyers at the three point line as only a pick and pop player. That might be something though that has to wait until next season's training camp to implement.

 

It may be Meyers' preference, but I think the execution of it is ALL Stotts. Meyers' job is to stay at the three point line and set screens, and be ready to catch the ball for a three point shot. That's it. And we thought Travis Outlaw was only given a limited number of things to do in the offense.

 

That's a decent idea. Stotts has to try it. What have we got to lose?

 

That's bollocks. He's not afraid of contact. He's just not very good at contacting effectively.

Which is a vast improvement for him.

 

Meyers shoots threes, he doesn't make them. And more than half the time, he doesn't have a defender within five feet of him. He does nothing to actually space the floor-- this is one of the biggest myths propagated by our announcers and some in here.

I'd rather have Nurk shooting 15-20 footers than Meyers playing at all.

 

I expect we'll see some of that once Aminu returns and Davis is able to shift back to backup center. I'm not usually a fan of twin towers basketball, but Meyers' ability to play on the perimeter makes is something that would be interesting for short periods.

 

What ability?

 

Personally, I don't think Biebs shoots enough 3s. He's been indecisive all season and it has hurt his 3 pointer.

 

I just realized who Nurk reminds me of: Boris Diaw. A bigger, interior-oriented version. I know, I know, we're not supposed to compare players across racial lines, but at least I compared Euros.

Diaw has always been a match-up nightmare, and a deceptively good defender because of his strength and mobility. Guys like that are worth building a scheme around.

Not in the NBA he didn't... Old Sabas moved like he was on stilts. Going across the lane for those baby hooks, he was way easier to ride off the shot than a guy that size should be.

Meyers Leonard, the anti-contract year player! Which is ironic, because we got him resigned much cheaper than everyone feared, and he's still viewed as over-paid.

Leonard might be bipolar or something. When he's beasting, like he did in the Memphis series, or in any Gasol/DMC match-up he inexplicably loves, he's as physical as anyone on the court.

 

Meyers isn't the only one who doesn't deserve to start. And, that's the problem. We need a starting quality PF to put next to our new center. Vonleh seems to get a pass because he's still very young, but if anything, he's a bigger disappointment than Meyers.

He's a year and a day younger than Nurk and has been playing organized basketball much longer, was drafted the same year, but his "development" is light years behind Nurk. Of course, we didn't draft him, but we gave up something of value to get him. CHO gave up on him after one year, and he's been worse here than there. He was handed a starting role for much of last season (56 starts) and was recently handed it again.

You're right about Meyers. He doesn't deserve to start, but neither does Noah. Meyers has started a total of 17 games the last two seasons. Vonleh has started 72. So, its mot like Meyers has been a fixture in our starting line up. Vonleh is, and if anything, he's been worse than Meyers. They have the exact same PER (8.3), but Vonleh's TS% of .463 is atrocious for a big man and the worst of the players in our 10-man rotation. The fact that his TS% is that low and nearly 1/4 of his made FGs are dunks just underscores what a terrible shooter he is. Excluding dunks, his 2FG% is .328. How can a player whose average FG distance is 8.9 feet shoot the ball that horribly - and still be an NBA starter?

Vonleh was picked higher in a much deeper draft than Meyers. So, if Meyers is such a huge bust and should never be starting, why isn't the same said about Vonleh? I get that he's younger than Meyers, but he's nearing the end of his third NBA season, has started 72 games and played over 2000 minutes. He's actually been given more opportunity to improve during his first three seasons than Meyers did - and he hasn't, not one single bit. He put up better numbers as a 19-year old rookie in CHO than he has with the Blazers.

He has the lowest PTS/100 possessions on the team and if you go to 82games.com, you will see that as a team we get outscored by 11.2 PTS/48 while he's on the court (exactly twice as bad as Meyers, in this regard). I'm not even sure how that is even possible, given that he gets to play most of his minutes with Dame and C.J.

OK, enough Vonleh ranting, but this just proves we need a MAJOR upgrade at the PF position. You can't be starting a guy there with a PER of 8.3 (be it Meyers or Noah) and expect to win.

BNM

 

Last night was the first time since last Halloween that Jusuf Nurkic has played more than 30 minutes in a game.

It was also his first double:double since before Thanksgiving and only the second time since before Thanksgiving that he's had at least 12 FGA in a game.

No wonder he's happy to be here!

It was only the third time all season he's played more than 29 minutes in a game, but in those 3 games, he's averaging 13 PTS, 14.7 REB, 3.3 AST, 1.3 STL and 3.0 BLK.

Free the Nurk! Feed the Beast!!!

BNM

 

Excellent post, Boob. Unless a bright light illuminates for Noah in the next month, PF is our new No. 1 priority this off season, IMO. No one is pinning our future on Meyers; but a lot of us, including me, have been pinning our hopes on Vonleh. A lot of posters seem to have recently given up on Noah ever being a starter, and I'm getting close. I have though pretty much given up on him being a starter any time soon.

 

Not to defend Noah (because he hasn't been great) but I think a lot of people have a problem with Meyers and not Noah due to the contract. Of course that is more on Olshey but Meyers deserves some of the blame for not working on certain parts of his game to live up to it.

 

Also, if you go to 82games.com, you'll see that the Blazers outscore their opponents by 40.6 PTS/48 when Nurk is on the court. That's just through the UTA game, so ridiculously small sample size, but a rather amusing number.

At this point, I'll just be happy if that number remains above zero for the remainder of the season. For comparison, Plulee and Aminu are the only rotation players than have a positive on court margin for the season. Plumlee was at +0.7 PTS/48 amd Aminu is at +1.2 PTS/48.

BNM

 

Meyers was bashed mercilessly for the first four years of his career, even when he was making less than Noah is now. The new contract has made Meyers an easy target, but he's always been a target regardless of his pay grade.

BNM