The guy is balling out. I posted this in another thread, but I feel like the Bosnian Beast needs some love. Nurk is averaging 15 and 10 on 53.6% shooting in 24.9 minutes per game. That's really damn efficient. Per 100 possessions, he's averaging 29 ppg, 19 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, 1.5 steals and he currently has a PER of 24. He is still only 24 years old.
I do not think we appreciate how lucky we are. Between him and ZCo - that is a stout defensive anchor - and they both work well on offense too. Just 2 years ago we were running Plum and Ed Davis - both great guys, but the Blazers sure upgraded their big-men rotation.
I think he's credited fine. His numbers make him look better than he is and his defense has dropped considerably so far this year. Teams are running him off the floor this year by going small. I'm glad we have him to go against teams with other bigs (because good teams need all different kinds of players/attacks) but feel like his impact will be minimized in the playoffs.
Slander. Nurkic is under appreciated and under paid. To think a guy like Steven Adams makes more than twice as much yet never gets criticized by thunder fans nearly as much as Nurk does by some Blazer fans is hilarious to me. I actually think the under appreciation extends to within the team. When Dame and CJ are struggling, we should be dumping the ball down to Nurk more instead of hoping the other two “shoot their way out.” Nurk looks much improved in the post..feel free to use him. Also, feel free to run more plays through him like when he first got to Portland. It’d be one way to counter all the hedging teams do against our guards. Stotts mentioned this as a point of emphasis this season, but so far I haven’t seen it.
Another thing that annoys me is whenever the national media talks about Nurkic, the talking point somehow always reverts back to Denver, and Jokic. Like who gives a fuck about Jokic, did we trade Jokic for him? We traded Plumlee, who’s nowhere near the player, and we also got the pick that allowed us to pick up Collins. Huge L for Denver (who btw also traded Donovan Mitchell for fucking Tyler Lydon, but that somehow never seems to get mentioned)
He's shooting nearly 78% from the line and is putting up a staggering 15/10 in 25 mpg. He's never shot more than 66% for a season. Doesn't seem sustainable. If Terry found him more valuable as his stats indicate, he wouldn't have been glued to the bench in many of these first ten games.
Or it's as you said and the league is built for speed and shooting. He plays Nurk when he can, but Collins is quicker and a better overall defender. I don't think it's Nurk's fault that he's a traditional center in a league that doesn't have much use for traditional centers.
You're making my point for me. His stats so far are amazing, and seem like they're primed for a regression (career high FG and FT), but even if they don't his impact will be minimized because he won't be able to actually play. As a result, I think he's getting the right amount of credit.
I'll take 15/10 in 25 min from my center, ANY time, no questions asked. Could give a shit HOW he gets em.
I will say that Nurk has pretty good form on his free throws. Maybe he corrected a mental issue or maybe since he is trying to improve his shooting range his free throws are becoming easier. As for the minutes thing, everyone's minutes have been down including Dame. Would you say that Stotts isn't trusting Dame to play as much either? A few games he rode Collins in the 4th that doesn't mean that Nurk's stats are hollow.
