if he can stay outta foul trouble, im happy to for him to play as much as he can if he's producing like he has been. i love ed davis, but we can find minutes for him as well. must say, its great to have meyers so far away from the rotation, really frees up our ability to play real players. the big man rotation of nurk, ed, and collins should be taking up the vast majority of the time
another thing on nurk, it looks like he has now finally gotten used to being a little lighter and adjusted to his old mindset with some new attributes.
One important factor about foul trouble that you seem to be avoiding is how aggressive one can be when not in foul trouble. That is why the 2 fouls in quarter 1, 3 fouls in quarter 2, and 4 fouls in quarter 3 exist. If Nurk was left in with 2 fouls in the 1st he would be way less effective because he wouldn't be contesting shots the same way as he would with no fouls. The other team would attack him and force the issue so he picks up a 3rd foul. Or they would try to flop on defense to draw a charge. The rule you mention allows players to play aggressively until they reach those points at those times in the game. You want the 4th quarter to be a time where all of the team is playing as aggressive as possible without worrying about fouls. Since Nurk doesn't usually foul out I think that prooves that strategy is working.
I thought Nurk played the right amount tonight given his foul situation. If he had 1 less foul I think Stotts would have played him more.
This is what I was going to say. I don't watch the games, just highlights so maybe it is more apparent than if you watch every game. Like the reverse of how your car wears out over time and one day you realize it is an old car. If you drove a new one one day and one with 200,000 miles you'd notice the difference right away
I agree with B Roy's premise that Nurk should get more time in general. Regarding foul trouble - if you are purely trying to maximize minutes, I agree with your logic, you don't sub out. But as hoopsjock points out you need to factor in the quality of those minutes. Being in foul trouble limits a player's aggressiveness. Being tired is also a factor. If Nurk is at risk of playing limited minutes due to fouling out, it makes sense to play him more "rested" minutes than "tired" minutes. Also IMO Nurk is our 2nd best player. With Nurk, Aminu, Harkless our interior defense is elite.
Nurk is averaging 29 MPG in the last 5 games. His stinkers over the past month have been far and few between. He's up to 19.2 PER and climbing while playing some of the best defense we've seen from a Blazers in years. The game just looks easy for him. Nurk Fever is back baby!
Stotts has been doing the "Carrot and Stick" thing with Nurk... and it's working - he's back to dunking and finishing strong. With the injury to Davis, I'm sure Nurk will continue to get more minutes.
He was rubbing his hand often in the Clippers game....seemed like he dunked too hard and smacked the rim ....after that dunk he was checking his hand out whenever there was a stop in play...didn't seem to stop him from playing though
He really looks confident and able to alter his on the spot situations better than he did before. He is what every team needs. A mobile big man who can grab an assist, score ...and tries to defend in the paint.
Dame and Nurk have been clicking on what almost seems an unconscious level recently, its amazing to see.
These days, 200,000 miles is nothing. You must be an old timer. For example, I can remember when getting 50,000 miles out of your car was a big deal.
