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Babo and Uncle Nurk: How trust evolved into a friendship...
Jason Quick


Back home in Bosnia and Herzegovina — the old country, as Jusuf Nurkic calls it — one meets strangers with a wary eye. Maybe this reticence was born from the wars the region has endured, or maybe it comes from the hardships of poverty. Or perhaps, as Nurkic says, it is simply a mindset that has been passed down from generations.

“It probably comes from the old people,” he says. “I don’t think it’s a new thing.”

The origins can be debated, but the trait is concrete: Trust is to be earned, not given.

“If I meet a person, there are a thousand reasons why I shouldn’t trust them,” Nurkic says. “There’s only one why I should.”

That one reason, of course, is the person might turn out to be worthy of trust, worthy of friendship. But to Nurkic, that one reason goes against the odds.

So it was with that frame of mind that Nurkic came to the United States in 2014 and joined the Denver Nuggets as a first-round pick. He was a hulk of a man, but he was still a boy, a 20-year-old 7-footer who would soon be more than 300 pounds. His immaturity and insecurity were masked by a trash-talking bravado.

Those traits famously clashed two years later when the Nuggets made a decision to commit to another Balkan center — Serbian Nikola Jokic — creating a reduced role for Nurkic. Hurt by the demotion, Nurkic became petulant and sullen.

By the time the 2017 trade deadline approached, the Nuggets had had enough, shipping Nurkic and his attitude to Portland in a trade. Feeling vulnerable and unsure as he entered the Trail Blazers locker room for the first time, Nurkic needed just five minutes to know his life had changed, professionally and personally.

He had met Damian Lillard, the team’s star, and immediately Lillard made an impression. In their first conversation, Lillard was direct. Honest. But he was also warm and showed an understanding of Nurkic’s story.

Nurkic got a feeling that went against everything that had been ingrained in him by his Bosnian roots. He liked Lillard. He trusted him. And he decided right then that he would open himself and allow Lillard to shape him.

Three years later, thanks to an unmistakable bond that both consider among the strongest in their lives, Nurkic and Lillard remain two of the most important pillars holding up the Trail Blazers.

Because behind their 4 a.m. phone calls and unannounced arrivals at the front door and international vacations is the foundation of what makes the Trail Blazers the Trail Blazers: friendship, accountability and family.

When Nurkic first stepped foot in the Trail Blazers locker room that February night in 2017, he was apprehensive, unsure of how he would be received and whether he would fit.

“I always knew them as players, playing them four times a season, but I didn’t know what it was like in the locker room or how they were going to be as human beings,” Nurkic said.

His first introductions were brief. The Blazers had a game that night against Atlanta, and Nurkic was being held out as his physical and other details of his acquisition were being finalized. After the blur of shaking hands and saying hello to new faces, Nurkic found himself alone in the locker room. The players had left to warm up, and in his curiosity, he examined the video room attached to the locker room.

That’s when Lillard appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and that’s when a bond the two now say will last a lifetime first took hold. Nurkic today says “from day one” the two clicked, but more accurately, it was from that moment in the video room.

“For a couple minutes, we were alone,” Nurkic said. “And he came to me, and I will never forget, the first thing he says to me is, ‘Look, I’m here for you.’”

Lillard made Nurkic get out his phone and put his number in it.

“He said, ‘Whatever you need, don’t be afraid to reach out,’” Nurkic remembers.

There was something about the warmth and sincerity of Lillard’s welcoming that surprised Nurkic, but what really won him over was what followed. Once the niceties were out of the way, Lillard got real. And to the point.

“He was …” Nurkic said, smiling while searching for the right words, “straight up.”

It had been a day since the Nurkic trade had been announced, and Lillard had done his research. He had read about Nurkic’s clash with Denver coach Mike Malone, how he sulked about playing time, how he spoke out about his reduced role and how he could be cocky and brash on the court.

So it was an informed Lillard who was, as he put it, “stepping to” Nurkic in that first meeting.



If Nurkic ever got out of sorts on the court, Lillard was there not only to counsel but also to deliver hard truths. (Troy Wayrynen / USA Today)

“I remember that conversation,” Lillard said. “The first thing I wanted him to know was ‘I’m on your team; I’m on your side.’ But I also wanted him to know that coming into this situation, that he had met his match. Like, I wanted him to know that with me, you’ve met your match, there wasn’t going to be no pushover situation.”

It was classic Lillard, whose leadership has created a culture that defines this era of Blazers basketball in which togetherness and accountability go hand in hand. After the welcomes and boundaries had been set, Lillard ensured Nurkic he would start with a clean slate in Portland.

“I wanted him to be comfortable and to know that I didn’t care about what they said about him and all that stuff going on around him,” Lillard said. “But I told him, ‘That stuff they do say, if it did happen, it won’t continue. But you also need to know you are wanted.’

“I wanted him to know he could help us and that he brought something we didn’t have and that I was going to make sure we got the most out of that.”

Nurkic said he had never met an NBA player who was so real. He was honest, up front and open to helping him. And he felt Lillard looked at him as not just a player but a person.

“He had heard stuff — ‘Oh, he has a bad attitude,’ you know, a lot of that stuff going on around me — but he was like, ‘That has nothing to do with you now,’” Nurkic said. “I felt Dame was caring about me as a person. Probably more than he should.”

Frankly, it was all a bit overwhelming for Nurkic. In Europe, Nurkic had become accustomed to veterans mentoring, but he had yet to see it in the NBA. Now, here he was, on his first day in Portland, and the franchise star was opening himself to him.

“Maybe just because where I’m from, but we respect that more,” Nurkic said. “(Mentorship) happens back home, but that’s not necessarily the case here in the U.S., the NBA especially. Some of them (do), but I don’t see a lot of that.”

As Lillard offered to trust Nurkic, the big man gave the captain a commitment. He told Lillard he wanted to learn and that “I’m not here to do crazy stuff.”

Not long after, Nurkic was on the court and starting for the Blazers. They both estimate it was within the first five games or so that their developing chemistry had a defining moment. Neither can remember the exact game, but Nurkic was struggling with his shot and ticky-tack fouls. Worse yet, he was showing versions of the Denver Nurkic. He was getting mouthy on the court and pouty about his performance.

“I kept trying to make excuses,” Nurkic said. “And saying stuff I’m not supposed to say, and Dame came up and …”

Nurkic stops, shakes his head and chuckles at the memory.

“He came up and said, ‘I don’t give a shit,’” Nurkic said. “He was like, ‘I don’t care what your excuse looks like’ … he was telling me I had to be accountable.”

Lillard said he couldn’t remember which game it was because in the beginning there were a handful of such moments.

“I said that to him a few times,” Lillard said. “I remember the first time, though, because it was just like that first conversation in the locker room. The first time I saw it, I had to nip that shit in the bud. I told him, ‘There’s no excuses.’

“I felt like part of when he came here, a lot of the criticism and his own mentality was kind of from his immaturity and him not being held accountable.”

So Lillard confronted him right there on the court, in the middle of the game. But in true Lillard fashion, after he told him ‘no excuses,’ he also nurtured the big man. He told him to not worry, that he was still going to feed him the ball, he was still going to run plays through him.

“It wasn’t a putdown, and I think he respected it because I had already been showing that I was on his side, that I was going to support him,” Lillard said.

Nurkic didn’t know it until he experienced it, but Lillard’s leadership had been what he had wanted throughout his career. He needed that structure, that accountability, and he thrived in wanting to please his mentor.

“I was young and I was playing with a superstar, and he was allowing me to sit with him on the plane and go over each possession,” Nurkic said. “And he would tell me straight up: ‘This is wrong.’

“I didn’t have experience playing with great players — that’s not disrespecting teammates in the past, but that’s a fact. So to me, it was like, ‘I can be way better if I listen and do what he says.’”

The seeds of trust and respect had been planted. Soon, a friendship would blossom.



Lillard and Nurkic developed a bond shortly after the center arrived in a trade from Denver. (Tom Szczerbowski / USA Today)

When Mario Hezonja joined the Blazers this summer and saw the interactions between Nurkic and Lillard, he was taken aback.

Hezonja is from Croatia, the western neighbor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as a 16-year-old, he and the 17-year-old Nurkic played on the same team in Croatia’s capital, Zagreb. The two lived literally within shouting distance of each other, and the joke between them is that Hezonja became closer to Nurkic’s father than Jusuf.

They played basketball together, and eventually they would go to a movie here and there, but Hezonja said they each kept their space.

“We were never like, ‘Bro,’ and all that stuff,” Hezonja said.

So eight years later, when Hezonja came to Portland and saw Nurkic so connected to Lillard, he did a double take.

“We come from a place where you don’t trust everybody,” Hezonja said. “And I’ve never seen him as close with somebody as he is with Dame. He just never gets close to somebody like that.”

If Hezonja were in Portland three years ago, he would have been even more surprised by how quickly the two bonded.

During the final stretch of the 2017 season, when Nurkic helped the Blazers win 14 of their remaining 20 games, he flourished under Lillard’s mentorship. All the noise from Denver about him being a bad apple was drowned out by the roars inside the Moda Center, where a phenomenon known locally as “Nurk Fever” took hold.

As Nurkic soaked in the adulation around town, he was grounded and grateful inside the walls of the Blazers practice facility. Fearful that his career was in jeopardy after his tumultuous exit in Denver, Nurkic fully appreciated what he had before him in Lillard. With Lillard offering equal amounts of constructive criticism and nurturing, Nurkic became a more focused player, a more disciplined player and a more consistent player.

“When I came, I was in a really bad place, in basketball and probably my life,” Nurkic said. “Everything was just going the wrong way. I was fighting for my status in the NBA because I know I deserved a chance. And Dame showed up and was like, ‘Do you want this? Then do it this way.’

“It was the best part of my life, basketball-wise, what happened to me. He is by far the best thing to happen to me in basketball.”

Lillard said that in that first season, he could see Nurkic changing, not only as a player but also in beginning to let his guard down.

“Once he realized I wasn’t just saying I was on his side, on his team, (but) that I really wanted to help him, our friendship took off,” Lillard said.

They started texting and talking on FaceTime. Then Nurkic started visiting Lillard’s home. On the road, they went to dinner together. When both were out of the game, they made sure to sit next to each other on the bench.

“Our energy started becoming more of a friendship than us being teammates,” Lillard said.

As they grew closer off the court, they became better on it.

“Once we started interacting and he started coming to the house, then it went beyond … our relationship went to a whole other level on the court,” Lillard said. “Then I could yell at him, like, ‘Mother ffff … swing the ball … do this … stop throwing them crazy passes!’”

Nurkic insists that sometimes he and Lillard don’t have to talk to execute a play. They have watched so much film together, conferred so many times on team flights and come to know each other so well that they can just look at each other and know what the other is thinking.

“Communication-wise, we are just different,” Nurkic said. “We understand each other even if we don’t talk. If we just look at each other, we know what we are going to run. The first year I got here, the relationship we established gave us a chance to be more successful on the court.”

Sometimes, Lillard says, Nurkic would tell him he needed the ball, and Lillard would tell coach Terry Stotts there was no need to call a play, that he had one lined up.

“Nurk would be inbounding to me and say, ‘Let me get a post up — he can’t guard me,’” Lillard said. “And when Coach would call so-and-so play, I would tell (Stotts), ‘I got it,’ and I would run a play for Nurk. And if he scored or got fouled, he would just give me a thumbs-up.”

It was late November, the last home game before Thanksgiving, when about an hour before tipoff against Oklahoma City, the Blazers’ locker room doors burst open.

“BABO!”

It was Nurkic, calling out the nickname he gave to Lillard after Lillard and his girlfriend had their son, Damian Jr., in March 2018. Babo means “father” in Bosnian.

“Where is he?” Nurkic said, walking toward Lillard at his locker. Nurkic was referring to Lillard’s son. “Is he here?”

Lillard shook his head in mock disgust. The Blazers had just returned from an 11-day, six-game trip, and Nurkic, who missed the trip to rehabilitate his broken leg in Portland, didn’t even bother to say hello.

“It’s like I’m not even here,” Lillard said to no one in particular. He mumbled something about Nurkic caring more about his son than him and playfully acted hurt as Nurkic reversed and left the locker room.

Moments later, Nurkic returned, holding Damian Jr., or “Fat Man,” as he is affectionately called by the family.

Fat Man and Uncle Nurk have a special relationship. Fat Man doesn’t like to be handled, but with Uncle Nurk and his big hands, he goes on imaginary plane rides: up, down, loop de loop. All with delight.

“Fat Man, he knows Uncle Nurk,” Nurkic said. “He knows when I show up, something good is going to happen and we can probably do whatever we want.”

Oftentimes, Nurkic shows up at Lillard’s home unannounced. And when Lillard answers the door, Nurkic lets himself in, walking past his friend and teammate, in search of Fat Man.

“I care about that kid as much as possible,” Nurkic said. “You know, I love kids, and his kid is super cute, super big for his age, and it’s interesting. Whatever he does is funny to me.”

Nurkic laughs when he recalls the first word he heard Damian Jr. speak.

“I was not hearing him talk, and then I hear him just say ‘pizza’ … I was like, ‘What?’” Nurkic said. “He called for food … that’s funny.”

So on that November night, when Nurkic fetched Damian Jr. from the family room and returned to the locker room carrying the 2-year-old in his arms like a proud uncle, he laughed as he presented Lillard with his son.

“He’s got pizza on his face,” Nurkic said.

As Lillard took his son, he wiped the pizza off and gave kisses while asking his son to say “I love you.”

“No, no,” Nurkic said after a few moments, reaching for Damian Jr. “He don’t love you, he loves Uncle Nurk.”

As he took Damian Jr. out of Lillard’s hands, Nurkic triumphantly held him up and paraded him out of the locker room. They were on to their next adventure, maybe in the playroom, or perhaps on the court.

Weeks later, Lillard brought up that scene as an indication of how comfortable Damian Jr. has become with his “uncle.”

“Normally with people, he will run to me and get right between my legs, put his back to me and grab my arm,” Lillard said. “But you can see, like in the locker room earlier this year, it’s different with Nurk. (Damian Jr.) would have never let somebody take him from me and go away without a fight or a shout.”

It’s been like that for some time. At Damian Jr.’s first birthday party, Uncle Nurk showed up, gift in hand, and soon dominated much of the time with the birthday boy.

“There’s a bunch of people there — kids, parents — and there’s Nurk, carrying him around, holding him in the air, twirling him up and down,” Lillard said. “And that’s the thing: He don’t like to be held usually.”

A playful back-and-forth between Lillard and Nurkic is how Nurkic always shows up at his home unannounced, usually just to see Damian Jr., sometimes with a gift in hand.

“Every time I see Fat Man, I want to bring him something,” Nurkic said. “But it’s gotta be something else than food. That kid is too big. He’s not fat, but he’s tall, big. Every time you see him, he has grown.”

Lillard just smiles at the scenes from his house. Nurkic walking past him, in search of his son, then the two on the living room floor, lost in each other, playing with toys.

“He’s closer to my son than anybody else,” Lillard said.

When March 25 rolled around last spring, nothing, it seemed, could draw Lillard and Nurkic closer.

They had become family off the court, and on the court they had developed into one of the most deadly pick-and-roll combinations in the NBA. Nurkic was having a career season and Lillard was in the discussion for MVP, and they reached those heights playing off each other and their unmistakable bond.

Each knows the other so well that they can detect, without talking, when something is amiss with the other.

“A lot of people don’t recognize when I’m having a bad time,” Lillard said. “But Nurk, he can tell. It’s weird. He will text me, and his words will be something he observed, and I will be like, ‘Damn, I wasn’t showing that.’ But that’s how I felt, and he picked up on it. And I can do the same thing with him. I can watch Nurk take 10 steps and see his body language and I’ll be … something is going on.”

But on that March night, that dynamic — the ability for the two to communicate without talking — was about to be put in action in the most heart-wrenching of ways.

In double overtime of their game against Brooklyn, Nurkic’s left leg snapped as he landed after attempting a shot. It was a gruesome sight, one that caused players from the Nets to sprint away, hands over their mouths, and left Blazers teammates staring in disbelief.

Nurkic was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with compound fractures of the tibia and fibula.

After the game, Lillard could only think about getting to the hospital to see his friend.

“I wasn’t thinking about our team losing a center; I was thinking about him as a friend,” Lillard said.

It was a rushed departure from the arena that night. Lillard arrives at and leaves Blazers games in a sprinter van, and after the game, he and his family loaded into the van and headed home. When they arrived, his family went inside, but Lillard jumped in his car and drove to the hospital. When he arrived, the doctor was in the room going over the next morning’s surgery. The room included Nurkic’s girlfriend, two friends who were visiting and members of the Blazers medical staff.

When the doctor was done, Nurkic and Lillard locked eyes and embraced hands. They didn’t say a word.

“That night, there’s no words,” Nurkic said. “There’s nothing he could say. The thing with Dame, we know when we see each other what it is. So I didn’t need to hear him say something. It was a look, and that goes very far.”

Lillard says he is not a crier, and he said that night he didn’t shed a tear, but he “felt emotion.”

“It was hard not to after seeing him like that, because he didn’t hide his emotions,” Lillard said. “His face was red, and it looked like he had been crying the whole time, and I just remember driving home, like, damn. It was tough for me. Tough to deal with.”

Lillard said on his drive home, he was lost in thought. He thought about their friendship and how they had become so close and why they were drawn to each other.

“Nurk is like one of the best people I’ve ever met,” Lillard said. “And with his personality, it’s weird, but he’s, like, kind. I don’t know if generous is the right word, but he is really kind. He has all that shit with him, where he is going to talk slick and have attitude sometimes, but it’s a situation where he is going to show you who he is and how he feels.

“He’s just such a good person, and you can tell by the stuff that bothers him. It’s never a material issue. It’s always a principle issue. Every time he is upset, it’s about something like respect or how he was treated. He doesn’t hide, he doesn’t pretend, and those are the people you can trust, those are the people you really know who they are.”



Nurkic gets up shots at a practice in Phoenix in December 2019. (Jason Quick / The Athletic)

The biggest question surrounding the Trail Blazers today is when Nurkic is going to return.

The team has been protective and silent about any timeline or progress with his rehabilitation, but at one point last summer, it was loosely projected that Nurkic could return as soon as late January and probably sometime in February.

He began traveling with the team in December and broke a sweat taking part in a non-contact practice in Phoenix on Dec. 14.

Through it all, Lillard has picked his moments of when to counsel Nurkic, when to encourage him and when to just leave him alone.

“He has just needed an honest voice,” Lillard said. “Somebody once told me, ‘Don’t listen to the loudest voice; listen to the truest.’ So from day one, I’ve been there for him, and he knows I’m always telling him the truth. So I’ve told him, ‘If you think you are being overworked, trust your body. But also understand that when you come back from injury, they are going to work-work-work you.’

“And I’ve also been giving him reassurance. We brought in a whole new guy (Hassan Whiteside) to play center, and he is playing well and doing good things, but I’ve had to reassure him that he is always going to be a part of this. Tell him he is a pillar and that’s not going to change. And he needs to hear that. That’s part of the healing process. You can start to feel uncomfortable about your place, so I’ve been telling him, ‘Come to our practice; be a part of this.’”

Nurkic said for the most part, however, Lillard has given him space during his rehabilitation.

“He understands that he just needs to leave me alone,” Nurkic said. “Obviously, he has been there for me, talking to me, asking how I’m doing, how he could help. But he also understands this is my time. Nobody can help me; it has to be me. But being with him the last three years has helped me understand that I need to bring it. There is no excuse for not working. There is no ‘today I’m not going to work.’ I know because of his example.”

As their friendship has grown, so, too, has their summer engagement.

Last summer, the two and their significant others vacationed together in Mexico.

“Just hanging out,” Nurkic said. “You know, enjoy food, movies, exchange the words.”

“More like talk shit,” Lillard said. “I call him out on his little stuff, and he clowns on me. Usually, it’s all just one big joke.”

It reached a head when the Blazers started making a bunch of moves in July. Evan Turner was traded. Al-Farouq Aminu left in free agency. Then Meyers Leonard and Maurice Harkless were traded.

Nervous about the roster movement, Nurkic wanted to talk with Lillard. So he called. And called. And called.

Usually, Lillard says he takes Nurkic’s calls, even at 4 a.m.

“But not every time,” Nurkic said. “He didn’t answer for like a week. So, I don’t know if this is for media or not, but I texted him, quote by quote: ‘If I’m getting traded, let me know. I don’t want to hear it from nobody else.’”

Nurkic threatened to go to Twitter and air his concern. Turns out Lillard was in China at the time, busy on a shoe tour with Adidas. When he finally got Nurkic’s texts, he called.

“He said, ‘You won’t answer your phone, so I’m going to go on Twitter,’” Lillard said, chuckling. “So I called him; he was on a boat. He said, ‘I’m not on the team no more?’ I told him, ‘Nurk, you crazy.’”

“So I told him, ‘OK, we’re friends still,’” Nurkic said.

The two laugh at the memory. They know they and CJ McCollum make up the pillars of the organization, and they know nothing will ever get in the way of their bond.

Lillard calls Nurkic “one of my best friends in the world.” And Nurkic says Lillard is his best friend, “100 percent, yeah. Oh, yeah.”

It is a friendship that, along with McCollum — with whom both are also tight — makes up the pillars that hold up the franchise. It is their trust, their understanding and their commitment to one another that helps solidify the Blazers.

Whether it lasts beyond this summer remains to be seen. Nurkic says he has once again extended an invitation for Lillard to come to his home in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“That’s 10 times I invite him already,” Nurkic said. “He said this summer he would come.”

“Bro,” Lillard said, shaking his head. “You can’t call me at 4 a.m. and expect me to come. He always invites me last-minute.”

And with that, the two chuckled and slapped hands before turning away, each knowing the other had his back.

(Top photo: Sam Forencich / NBAE via Getty Images)



Jason Quick is a Staff Writer for The Athletic, covering the Portland Trail Blazers. From Damon Stoudamire to Damian Lillard, he has covered the team for the past 21 seasons. He has been named Oregon Sportswriter of the Year four times by the National Sports Media Association and has been recognized by APSE and the Pro Basketball Writers Association. Follow Jason on Twitter @jwquick.

 

I love this team.

Makes me proud to be a Blazer fan.

 

theathletic.com

Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins make debut, show why Blazers are so high on them
Jason Quick

Jusuf Nurkic on Thursday had trouble finding the words to describe his emotions after playing for the first time since breaking his leg 16 months ago, but his play did plenty of talking.

The excellence of Nurkic and his breadth of skills were on full display during the Trail Blazers’ first scrimmage Thursday when he had 14 points, eight rebounds, one assist and one block in 20 minutes of the Blazers’ 91-88 loss to Indiana.

During the few times Nurkic spoke to the media during his rehabilitation after a titanium rod was placed in his left leg, he vowed to come back a better player. It’s only a scrimmage, and it was only 20 minutes, but what the 7-foot center showed he just might live up to his goal.

“Man, it’s great to be back. The feeling, the excitement … I’m … I’m … No words, man,” Nurkic said.

Nurkic scored the first time he touched the ball, banking in a post shot over JaKarr Sampson, who was playing because the Pacers were without usual starters Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis. Later in the first quarter, he blocked the shot of a driving Malcolm Brogdan, and in the third quarter, he threaded a pretty bounce pass to CJ McCollum, who missed a wide-open dunk. His ability to do what he did Thursday — clog the lane, initiate offense and score from the post — were missed as the Blazers went 29-37 this season.

“There’s no question having him back makes us a better team,” coach Terry Stotts said.

Thursday’s scrimmage, the first of three the Blazers will play in Orlando before their 8-game NBA restart schedule begins July 31, also marked the return of Zach Collins, who played three games this season before having surgery on his dislocated left shoulder. Collins, too, showed the promise that has the Blazers calling him the power forward of their future. His six points, four rebounds and one block featured some nice footwork inside and defense that was smart, aggressive and mobile.

“I think everybody who was anxious to see Zach and Nurk were probably pleased to see how they played,” Stotts said.

In all, Stotts’ starting lineup of Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Carmelo Anthony, Collins and Nurkic looked formidable. They played all of the first quarter and all the starters except Collins played the entire third quarter. The Blazers outscored Indiana 29-20 in the first quarter but were outscored 30-20 in the third quarter.

“In general, it was kind of what we expected,” Stotts said. “We had some good moments. I thought our defense was pretty solid for most of the game.”

Before the game, the Blazers decided to hold out Hassan Whiteside because of a sore left Achilles and lower leg. Stotts said he intended to start Whiteside at center alongside Nurkic at power forward as he tries to settle on a starting unit for the July 31 opener against Memphis.

“I haven’t made up my mind,” Stotts said of his starting lineup. “I had every intention of starting Hassan tonight with Nurk to get a look at that … but I haven’t made up my mind what we do against Memphis. Right now, I would like to see Nurk and Hassan out there together and we can make decisions after that. At this point, I’m just keeping an open mind about it.”

The next scrimmages are Sunday against Toronto and Tuesday against Oklahoma City, and Stotts said he intends to start Whiteside in one of those two games.

But for a day, the story was the return of Nurkic and Collins. In the two weeks the Blazers have been in Orlando, the players and Stotts have been repeating that each player has looked “great” and both players backed up the praise on Thursday.

“I like that they were themselves,” McCollum told The Athletic. “We’ve been playing for a while, so they did exactly what we thought they would do out there.”

Notes and numbers: Nassir Little (concussion) was not at the arena, but the hope is he will be able to return to practice soon … Stotts on Whiteside’s injury: “He is day-to-day. I don’t expect it is very serious.” … Mario Hezonja had three turnovers but scored a team-high 15 points, which included 2-of-4 on 3-pointers. “Overall, Rio played the way he has been playing,” Stotts said. “The encouraging thing is he’s shooting the ball well, shooting with confidence. And with the guys he’s going to be out there with, that’s going to be important.” … Stotts has indicated his rotation in the eight-game restart will be shortened, much like the playoffs, which means anywhere from seven-to-nine players will see regular action. The top seven are locked: Thursday’s starters, Whiteside and Gary Trent Jr., who had 12 points and a handful of gritty defensive plays. The eighth spot figures to be between Hezonja and Little, or perhaps Wenyen Gabriel, who had four blocks on Thursday, meaning there could be a scenario where Anfernee Simons is pinched out of the rotation. Simons, the second-year guard who the team hyped coming into this season, went 1-for-9 with two turnovers and several defensive lapses on Thursday. He leads the team with 65 appearances this season.

(Photo: David Dow / NBAE via Getty Images)



Jason Quick is a Staff Writer for The Athletic, covering the Portland Trail Blazers. From Damon Stoudamire to Damian Lillard, he has covered the team for the past 21 seasons. He has been named Oregon Sportswriter of the Year four times by the National Sports Media Association and has been recognized by APSE and the Pro Basketball Writers Association. Follow Jason on Twitter @jwquick.

 

The replay guy for Blazer broadcasting continually scares Lillard's kid and Nurk wants to hurt them.