I'm confused. His FT% was bad in Denver but his form has looked great with us and he is shooting much better. What am I missing?
He was missing them on purpose in denver, hoping to get traded to his favorite team, the Portland Trailblazers
expect him to hover around 70-75%. Those were his percentages in Europe before he got into the league, and also in eurobasket last summer. I'm guessing it's just a matter of being comfortable, something he obviously wasn't in Denver. He was even asked about his free throw shooting yesterday and pretty much said the same thing.
When we got him I looked at his stats and thought, free throws are his Achilles Heel. So far, this guy has no Kryptonite. I just hope that Stotts doesn't ruin him. Last night I watched Plumlee play and I thought, he's just a more mobile Meyers Leonard. Both of them play defense 3 feet from their man. When they run up to block a shot, they stop 3 feet in front of the shooter. Nurkic was taught in Europe to close up that 3 feet and really get to know his man, up close, koochy-koo. I hope Nurkic keeps playing the way he was taught in Europe.
His form looked great in Denver as well. Watching some film, it looks like he is slightly more focused
He's happy. He came from sitting on the bench in Denver to being a starter and a fan favorite, almost overnight.
His competition in Denver was Jokic.....his competition in Portland is Meyers....you wonder why he's chuckling? We make his job easy!