I won't. Nurkic can't do what Anthony Davis did to us in last years playoffs. Advanced stats don't back it up either.
Nurkic might look better because his guards let so many drives downhill that Nurkic has to pick up their slack and he gets more blocked shots. That could affect some advanced stats that aren't properly designed. That's just one example of how surrounding players can skew stats away from being truly reflective of a players individual skill.
I know you have a good eye for basketball, so got a question for you. Have you noticed how much shot blockers effect Dame and CJ? Maybe I'm crazy but it feels like anytime they play a team with a good shot blocker both of them lose a lot of their aggression around the hoop it's like they are always looking for the shot blocker. Do you think they do that more than they should? Is it just in my head?
It's a real thing. That is exactly what I was referring too when I say Nurk doesn't command that respect, yet.
Which first round match up would be good for Nurk ? I don't foresee him playing a lot, if we play the Rockets. But, if we play the Spurs, Clips, Jazz, OKC ... I want to see Nurk (and Enes) get lots of minutes.
Yeah it's true. The one area I think Dame struggles in off the drive is getting to the rim with a change of pace rather than a blow-by. With blow-by's, he often times doesn't have the time to read the rotating weakside help. It also doesn't allow him to decelerate enough to use hanging finishes, which are much harder to predict for a shot-blocker and hanging finishes allow you to release the ball from a wider variety of angles. With blow-bys, the shot blocker knows exactly where Dame is going to release his layup, and he can time it. Basically, Dame has to beat the shot-blocker by getting the ball to backboard before the shot blocker can get to the ball. Sometimes Dame tries to do this and has mixed results, but sometimes he realizes the challenge and tries other things. If we were in a gym I could show you this easily, but hopefully I explained it well. For CJ, I think he's so comfortable shooting mid-range shots that a good shot-blocker is just even more of an excuse for him to shoot from the mid-range (for better or worse). This would be a great question to leave on last weeks Monday Mailbag. If you go back and leave it I'll answer it in the mailbag tomorrow.
He obviously isn't, but on this trip two things have really stood out that I'm excited about...... his age and his contract situation. Both make me happy.
I think that's basically what I see too. Sometimes it bothers me though in that I think Dame does have a good shot at the rim and instead dribbles it out (sometimes he does something with really bad results, but not usually).
Dame's a reigning 1st Team All-NBA. I don't think his play has dropped. Nurk's a good talent and playing well. OP answer? No. Longer answer? As previously stated: We're lucky to have him and he seems to be getting better. He's the same age Marc Gasol was as a rookie. Right now. Let the man grow into himself and the game.
Not sure I buy that. I’ve seen Lillard jack up some very questionable shots this season, and commit a lot of turnovers by forcing passes that weren’t there. That said, I do agree that he is more in charge this year than I’ve ever seen before. He seems to know exactly what he wants to do now.
An underrated part of Dame's game is the "Heat Check" 3 from 35'. Other than Steph, there isn't a player in the league that a team is consistently forced to face up once he crosses halfcourt. Even if he shoots 25% (he shoots better, btw), the threat of it opens up the offensive spacing. Look up "Gravity" stats.
I think the difference in Damian this year started in February. They started going through Nurk alot more,when we picked up Kanter and Hood I believe that Dame no longer feels he has to takeover the game. People are getting hot when CJ is off even though our bench does not reflect as many points as it once did he is finding the hot ticket and feeding him. This is probably the best team that Dame has ever played with so he feels more comfortable in ball distribution for the first time of his basketball career. The 3 greatest Centers of all time and you can put them in any order you like Jabbar, Russell, Chamberlin there is arguments for all 3. They all played against each other and they all said the same thing when asked who is the one person you hated to go against.. Nate Thurmond was the name all of them said. Is Nurk our Nate? I do not think so at least not yet, to see him take the next step would be pretty amazing though and I hope we get to see it.
I really do not understand why Nurk obvious huge improvements especially after December is so ignored by media. If he ads 3 points shot witch judging by look o hes mid-range is not far of , he becomes one of the biggest nimble centar who will be menace on every place on court , and hes defense is great already and hes 24.... so I don't get it ! also when they say in those discussion about Nurk and Simmons , hes All star , All star in EAST , they ave 4 good teams. Also I think it is unfair to Western Conference. If they play like West and east mix up in second round well. Why is East so week? SO ANY IDEA ON THOSE TWO QUESTIONS ?
I love Nurk. Without Nurk we'd probably suck. But that doesn't make him the best player. Just a vital one.
