Yes some in here has brought up his defense not being good and your right some of the time. But what I see his lateral quickness isn't there like it use to before he got the injury. Something he has to work on during the off season. Plus his vertical is not as high and that could be his leg might be strong enough yet. But I think he has play pretty good on the offense side for missing that much time plus a death in his family. You know Nurk might be but it's not a long talk. Davis and McGee are really long and Nurk always had some with that type player.
For not playing over a 16 month stretch and not walking for part of that Nurk may be in "shape" now but he's not in "game shape" yet....you can tell at the end of games he's sucking fumes....that was to be expected in my view
he is averaging between 4 and 5 minutes per game more during the 8 game play in and first 4 playoff games than he did over the course of the 2 previous seasons. he has always avg. less than 30 for his career and is currently closer to 32.
Nurk is obviously the second most important player on this team. CJ is likely the second best but due to his fit next to Dame defensively and his refusal to take on the most effective role he could take on offense CJ is almost a detriment to this team. I actually don't know where I rank CJ in terms of his value but it's definitely after Nurk. Nurk's ability to facilitate is probably the best on the team even over Dame. With the ball in Nurk's hands at the top of the key, with our best lineup in, we are at our most potent offensively. He is a great passer, screener and a threat to score (either by diving to the hoop or making a wide open jumper). I know he could finish around the hole stronger and I really believe he will more consistently going forward. On defense as a 5 he is a real disrupter, lane protector and rebounder. Obviously we need to make sure that we give him his best shot at success and keep him inside on defense because a guy that big shouldn't be expected to cover the perimeter but that doesn't mean he can't be incredibly effective for us as a defender because he is. He is also getting rid of a lot of rust and will be a lot better than he is now whenever the next season is. I think Nurk's future is so bright, he's a real keeper.
I like Nurk but no way he’s untradeable, it’s really time for a change, i think Dame needs to see that and let NO know it.
Lots of things go into returning from a major injury. I'm certain lateral quickness would be one of them. Most players say it's also the mental part. Moving and jumping at the rim seems to be one of those for him. Maybe not so much jumping but landing.
He's just lost the 'Beast' part of the Bosnian Beast tag. he's had a lot going on, being out for so long, rust, confidence, covid, family loss, and as mentioned some pretty rough positional match ups. that's a lot to deal with and I accept it's not ideal and has resulted in a some rather avg performances but this whole year is fucked up, i aint mad at this.
