Realistically, whom could we have got in the season who would be a better backup for Nurk when Jokic inevitably gets him in foul trouble? I mean, we have a BUNCH of SFs who never play (or shouldn't) but either Kanter or Covington just gets abused by Jokic when Nurk is out. I can't help but wish we could've got Marc Gasol. He's slow as shit now, but Jokic isn't exactly nippy, and Gasol is strong and a defensive savant. It's looking like both Gasol and the Blazers will be out of the playoffs soon.
It’s actually laughable that Giles gets DNPs when a big agile center like him is exactly what we need.
Gasol is a scrub. He’d get torched like Kanter. At present they should’ve used Melo and had Covington / RHJ as the roaming helper. Don’t know who was available and honestly probably doesn’t matter. They probably would get torched too.
remember when people kept pushing the narrative that stotts empowers players and they have their best seasons here? Giles/Jones/Little are wasting away on the bench as this idiot plays a 7 man rotation. his lovefest for Kanter is incomprehensible.
If nothing else Giles and Little should have been beating the hell out of Jokic when Nurk was out of the game. And Nurk had 3 dumb fouls. Regardless of how bad the refs were, they didn't foul him out. He did half of the work himself.
Olshey had tons of time to address our depth back when CJ and Nurk were out. It was PAINFULLY obvious that we needed another big, but did we do anything? Nope. Our bench is what's losing us this series. If you compare the benches it's clear why the Nuggets are winning. Simons is invisible. Melo is the streakiest player on the court and plays no defense. We don't have a big who can stay on the floor.
Agreed - but seeing as how we are playing a max contract guy against their bench in the non-Jokic minutes, we should be ok. Alas, he's not chosen to contribute anything.
Cousins. Was available before the season started & again mid-way when we were desperate for big men. Yet Olshey said that he had no interest in pursuing Boogie.
What loosing this series is defense. After 5 games here there defense ratings: Nurk 107 Covington 116 Powell 117 Dame 118 CJ 120 Melo 132 Simons 132 Kanter 143
Olshey dropped the ball on getting a C when Nurk was out, but there was no need for one after he returned. Here are the backup centers in the west playoffs right now: - Favors - Kaminsky - JaMychal Green - Zubac - Boban - Gasol - Brandon Clarke Not a single one of these guys is playing more than 10-15 mpg in the playoffs. Backup C is not really relevant anymore. What we needed to do was stagger minutes to get Roco in as a backup C as he is plenty capable in that role. To do that, Stotts had to insert Little/Jones in as a PF earlier and use Nurk/Roco as the C rotation. But that requires an ounce of creativity and a dash of flexibility, something our idiot coach severely lacks. Steadfastly sticking to what has effectively become a 7 man rotation is idiotic.
Cousins is getting DNPs. He's as unplayable as Kanter. Roco is fine as a backup C. Our coach does not use him there for some dumbass reason.
I think Cousins might be as big a liability as Kanter, to be honest. The Clips haven't played him one minute, despite not having Ibaka.
Did you know that over the series Nurk is our leader in +/- with +54 (Dame is +38 in many more minutes), while Jokic is actually MINUS 25? We would be winning this series if Nurk was allowed 10 fouls, like in Summer League...
I think that next season we should bring back Ed Davis as injury insurance. He can play that Kanter role as a somewhat undersized big that sets good picks and hits the boards hard. However, I think he should play as a third option, with the first two being (i) Collins as b/u center and (ii) small-ball with Little/Roco/strong SF or PF as in a switching lineup.
That one is on Nurk. I know he gets shafted by the refs sometimes, but 2-3 fouls every game are just idiotic plays where he's putting the ref in a position to make the call. You can SEE his offensive fouls coming from a mile away, and he usually compounds it by fouling again.
I dont want a new backup for Nurk. I want a new starting Center. Nurkic is a gifted player who doesnt have the IQ to reach his potential. He never will. He is a good player, dont get me wrong. But you simply cant foul out last night, playing 24 mins. He led the team in turnovers, 6 in 24 mins, from your starting C isn't acceptable. He will always have those really impressive statistical games because he has the raw talent, but I'm not sold on his intelligence.
