But a lot of those guys play better than Nurk without as big a role as Nurk seems to need to play well.
I know you don't like it when I post stats, but here goes FGA/100 possessions over the last 3-4 seasons: Nurkic 2018-19 20.3 2019-20 20.5 2020-21 18.5 2021-22 18.6 Sabonis: 2018-19 18.6 2019-20 19.1 2020-21 19.2 2021-22 17.4 Adebayo: 2018-19 12.4 2019-20 16.0 2020-21 18.5 2021-22 20.4 Ayton: 2018-19 19.0 2019-20 21.8 2020-21 16.0 2021-22 18.8 then there are the usage rates: Nurkic: 2018-19 24.7 2019-20 24.0 2020-21 22.32021-22 23.7 Sabonis: 2018-19 23.5 2019-20 23.3 2020-21 24.1 2021-22 21.9 Adebayo: 2018-19 15.8 2019-20 21.2 2020-21 23.7 2021-22 25.3 Ayton: 2018-19 21.2 2019-20 23.7 2020-21 18.2 2021-22 21.0 now, to gauge those two sets of numbers we can look at TS% because that can measure who deserved more shots and who deserved less: Nurkic: 2018-19 .570 2019-20 .567 2020-21 .554 2021-22 .586 Sabonis: 2018-19 .630 2019-20 .586 2020-21 .601 2021-22 .644 Adebayo: 2018-19 .623 2019-20 .598 2020-21 .626 2021-22 .577 Ayton: 2018-19 .608 2019-20 .568 2020-21 .653 2021-22 .654 also, Nurkic has a higher career assist rate than Ayton (but Nurk doesn't play with Chris Paul), while he has a significantly lower assist rate than Saboni and Adebayo so, of those 4 players, over the last 4 seasons, sure looks like Nurk has had the highest rate of FGA's & the highest usage rate, while also posting the lowest efficiency. I don't see reasons there why Nurkic has been short changed in opportunities now I didn't compare Valanciunas, but looking at his history, he's had a little higher FG rate and usage rate than Nurk. But then, his career TS% is .616 while Nurk's is .541. Over the last 4 season's Nurk's mark is probably around .570. But over the same time frame, Val's TS% is around .625 you think I'm a Nurk hater; I'm not. I want Portland to re-sign him. But because of Nurk's inconsistency and injury history, I want the contract to be a lot more team-friendly than Nurk-friendly
Why can't Nurk have a big role? His scoring efficiency has gone way up in the games with Winslow and Hart. He's rebounding like a beast. I don't understand the problem of a player playing better the more he is used, especially in a position we don't have an alternate for. If Chauncey or whomever decides we don't want a big role for Nurk, then we shouldn't re-sign Nurk at all.
At any rate Nurkic is playing on a different team. it's pretty much like he had been traded. None of these guys were starters for Portland at the beginning of the season, and they are playing quite differently than they did before. Look what happened to Andrew Wiggins. He was one of the biggest under performers compared to his salary in the league. I can't see how someone would say that Nurkic's past is more relevant than how he is playing right now. Is Andrew Wiggins going to go back to what he was in Minnesota?
I would definitely include All Star Jarrett Allen in that list. He is incredible this year. I don't think Nurk's efficiency has increased with his bigger role. Of course the counting stats are better by getting more mins and touches
Nurk is way better in Chauncey's system but I won't truly BEAV until he shows it in a playoff series where they have game-planned for him. He's never been good at handling double teams, seems to be poor at dealing with blind side doubles, and I think if an opposing coach plans to bluff/hard double and mix it up on defense Nurk will turn it over a ton. Maybe he'll get better at that but my suspicion is that he'll underwhelm if they force feed him the ball in a playoff game. Hope I'm wrong...........at least he seems to be maturing a bit making less dumb fouls. I'm rooting for him.....I want to BEAV!
Maybe, but why would you pay a player $35 million (Gobert) and not give him a big role? I think a lot of big guys are under-used on offense. Nurk can be difficult to defend. Sam Mitchell on NBA TV said that Nurkic's offense was having an effect on Jaren Jackson's offense. He also wondered aloud, what the hell were coaching staffs doing in the past not using Nurkic as much.
I agree. Pretty much all players can be shut down in playoffs if smart coaches game plan for it. Especially bigs because few of them can put the ball on the floor. Force-feeding him won't work. The key is to have multiple scoring options so they can't game plan for just 1 or 2 players. Of course, good ball movement helps a lot.
