His play in a vacuum, coming off a rookie contract warrants a Max deal. Defense be damned. He's about as impactful to that franchise as Dame was when he got his Max. Think there's quite a bit of hyperbole here. If we're trying to look for comparables to Nurk, we need to come down a few tiers. Guys like Brolo, or Vucevic, or in this FA class, Noel, Kanter are more appropriate
Certainly he is too stupid to ever be able to play the position. Or is it his 7' tall body and 9'3" standing reach that makes it impossible. Maybe it is his 44% defensive field goal percent within 10 feet of the rim that makes it impossible for him to play center. Which one do you think it is? https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/colliza01.html http://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/4066650/zach-collins http://www.nba.com/players/zach/collins/1628380 But, I'm sure you know more than Basketball-Reference, ESPN and the NBA about what position Collins is.
Running out and giving Nurk a max at this point would be equivalent to paying Turner what we gave him. You are bargaining against yourself and you end up with a contract that is completely untradable. I truly hope the Blazers don't do that. If things don't work out with this team, the last thing I want is a big anchor contract that runs long term. Given his performance last year, I don't see him as a max player at all. $15M-$20M seems reasonable. Much more than that and I think they blew it.
Someone go tell Orlando that Bamba isn't a center. He only weighs 225 lbs. They have to play him at PF.
Got it. I still think it is short sighted given their lack of success over the span of his improvement. Time will tell.
In this market, anything above 12/yr will be a case of Neil bidding against himself. Which he is prone to doing.
` Not saying he's stupid, but simply small framed, and even with maturity , I doubt he could handle the banging he'd take on a regular basis at the center position.
The kid just turned 20. He will fill out. Most of this depends on what is trending in the NBA. If we go back to having more big centers then Collins plays PF. The current trend is having centers who can defend the rim, but still get out to guard the 3pt line. That is Collins and definitely not Nurkic. BTW, Tyson Chandler was at least five pounds lighter than Collins when he came into the league.
It would probably help our ability to build a competitive team if Nurk sees it that way Even Paul Allen doesn't want to pay any more lux or repeater tax than he has to.
If Nurkic were a FA today, I honestly believe he would offers in the $10M-15M range. There is just too much uncertainty about the future of the center position and his numbers were not super this last season. Primarily his shooting percentages and rebounding (inconsistent). If I had to guess I would guess Blazers will offer him more 15-20, but he will be thinking 20-25, so he will take the qualifying offer and see what happens next year. I hope he does. Either he will prove that he is worth $25M+ or he will end the year with question marks and then the free market will decide what he is worth.
