Chauncey Billups coaching and basketball stuff ONLY!

Nurk was very happy with Stotts when he arrived here - but once things did not go his way he started to be upset at the system. It's exactly what happened in Denver and I suspect will happen with Billups after an initial love affair. The problem with Nurk seems to be that he believes he knows best and when it is proven wrong - it is someone else's problem.

I am calling it right now, he will have a great start, contract year + new stuff, he will be over the moon and when things stop going his way - he is going to sulk.

Prove me wrong Nurk, I really want to love you, but it is so hard to do...

 

Sulk or not, it didn’t affect his production. He was better this past season than when he initially got to Portland. He has always played hard, but he’s also human and wants to feel included. I love that he believes in his skill set....he shouldn’t get knocked for wanting more responsibility. He’s just never had that consistent belief from a coach (the two he’s played for aren’t necessarily known for their inclusiveness) It also must’ve been frustrating being relegated to screen setter/handoff guy while Dame/CJ/Melo launched dumb shot after dumb shot.

He has a past relationship with Billups (instant trust) and Chauncey hasn’t talked up anyone more than him this offseason. I think he realizes just how much of a game changer an engaged Nurk is. I think I’d be more surprised if he didn’t have a career year than if he did. Just stay relatively healthy please.

 

The problem in Denver was he got benched.

The problem with Stotts was that he sucked.

Don't see either being an issue with Billups and Nurkic.

 

Time will tell. All I am saying is great players bend the situation in their favor, be it Jokic in Denver or Dame and to a lesser degree CJ under Stotts. With Nurk it is always the coach's fault. We will see if it changes under Billups. I hope it does. I do not have that much hope tho unless he grows up. My worry is he will start great, hit some kind of obstacle and wilt / sulk. It's the pattern we have seen before.

I would love to be proved wrong.

 

id be pissed too if my role was what nurks role was last season

blazers played like a 3-point shooting team and nurk was a non factor, setting screens & doing handoffs and then occasional pnr

unlike terry stotts, chauncey billups will use players to the best of their abilities and all chauncey has said so far about how our offense is going to look, fits nurks game perfectly and therefore you will get the best out of nurk

make no mistake, next season will be the continuation of that 18/19 season, when nurk was well on his way to become an all-star caliber player!

 

What does this even mean? He seems like a top human being to me and a great teammate. Has never shown up Stotts either. He’s allowed to feel upset.

 

Nurk is excited about Chauncey and he loved Stotts...he said so when Terry left...Nurk gets upset with refs....so do I...he's going to beast and his goal is to become an allstar center...he's young and I think he can do that. Chauncey and Roy Rogers are going to be eye openers for Nurk...I can't wait

 

Of course he is allowed to be upset. My belief is that the main thing in his way was never the coaching but his willingness to better understand what he should and should not do and what to work on.

 

If Nurk can stay away from the injury bug and can finish better around the basket, he will be in line for a raise. I would expect him to come back in excellent condition and hopefully having added a new offensive weapon. Something he did not do the previous year.

 

he did improve his 3-point shot and from what ive been seeing in his workouts, he keeps working on it

it looks like stars have aligned for him (coach that really likes and trusts him, contract year and hes fully healthy)

 

Nurk probably more than most centers in the league feeds off the crowd....he's not a guy who's going to get pumped up for playing in an empty gym....after a couple years of setbacks he finally got on the court and broke his hand swiping at a ball...Nurk will benefit from fans in the stands and a training camp with the same starters playing more than a few games together....we had something like 19 starting lineups last season....it's time to have a starting five that are the Blazers identity and not searching for that identity all regular season...Nurk is pumped for Chauncey's coaching and I'm pumped for Nurk to beast again. Nurk is also in a contract year and this is the time to work towards a bigger payday

 

it isn't like he was frozen out of the offense:





he shot at the same frequency that Powell did, and had a higher usage rate

 

And unfortunately at a terrible efficiency for a big guy. Just look at the difference to EK.

I remember the first full year he was on the roster when the team tried to force feed him down low. It was a disaster. They had to go away from it.

 

Until i see Nurkic start to take the ball to the hoop with authority and dunk instead of his soft Euro finger rolls i would just as soon see him get less touches.
Seriously how many times have every one of us screamed at the TV for Nurk to play like a true 7 footer instead of a soft Euro trash player.
Now if he actually made all those finger rolls i would have to shut up but we all know that isn't the case.

 

1) I think that Nurk will have more respect for Billups. If Billups has to have that conversation with Nurk, “look, you’re just not as good as you think you are” I think Nurk will take that a little more seriously given Billups reputation, respect and he is a championship point guard in his own right.


2) Agree with the above. He needs to stop with the soft foo foo stuff and start postering people. It’s ridiculous.

 

Wow we have a Coach for the first time in years