Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic is having an unbelievable defensive season. Out of all eligible players, he is #1 in the NBA in defensive FG%, holding his opponents to a 52.1% FG rate. He is also 6th in the NBA in defensive rating. Huge props to the big man from Bosnia.
I definitely feel like fat Nurk was better at moving bodies around and being a good rebounder. But skinny Nurk is probably better for his health.
Thick bone structure, excellent lean muscle ratio. I have a very slim body type and am thought of by everyone as "skinny" at 6'4" 190 (though it is slightly above the "optimal" BMI of 22.5). With better musculature, I could carry 210 easily and still look thin. Add 8 inches of height to that, and 270 and skinny would not be unreasonable at all.
"fat" Nurk definitely could move bodies around easier and I think its safe to say that weight loss is bothering him on the offensive end, but when it comes to defense, it doesnt look so at all... he does rebound less, but that doesnt have anything to do with weight loss, POR was if not still the best rebounding team in the NBA, so as long as we rebound well as a team, I dont care who gets the rebounds and apparently Nurk thinks the same Nurk himself said he needs to figure out his body, so there you go...
If his body breaks down less because he lost weight, then yes it was a good idea. Because a "skinny" Nurk is better than no Nurk. No reason why he can't get stronger though while keeping the weight off. I hope he is still lifting....
I wonder why people always talk about Nurk offensive game and never his defensive game people saying hes having a bad season etc, but those datas are saying whole different story yes, hes not having a good season on offense, but hes killing it on defense and theres a lot of time to improve his offense till the end of the season Blazes obviously significantly improved their defense and Nurk is the main reason behind that
Nurk is actually ranked 3rd in entire NBA in defensive rating... https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2018_leaders.html
I don’t know how to post an image... I added link to website... just scroll near bottom and you will see defensive rating
Nurk looks to me like he's still growing...I think the weight loss is good and now he needs to learn to adapt his game to it...early in the season he was rushing everything...especially layups and passes...he's quicker...now he needs to harness that a bit. He could add muscle and maintain 270...he was limited from rehab restrictions...he could probably stand to build some lower core strength..support those ankles and knees with some Vonleh-like thighs and calves..consider that he's about 3 or 4 years younger than most of his teammates and he's way ahead of the curve for a big man. I'm not worried about Nurk....he's a keeper.
Nobody said anything Bad about his defense. He ist Elite in That. On Offense he puts nearly the same numbers like during Nurkfever, but on much less Efficiency. On Offense he looks like a different player than during Nurkfever
