Even back in college Dame has always been touted as a pick-and-roll point guard. Yet since joining the league he played off LaMarsha (pick and pops), LaMonster (post ups), Lopez (no real skill around rim), Plums (no real ability to set a decent pick, no skill at finishing in traffic), Leonard (no, well, anything).... Nurkic is the complete pick-and-roll package. He'll use his 280lbs to wipe out a defender on the pick, he'll rumble to the front of the rim and if you overreact he'll lay the perfect dish for the weakside guy. I'm really, really excited to see him develop. In his first two games he was arguable the second best player on the team. He's not going to get the most shots, but action off him in the pick and roll is going to be the bread and butter of our offense going forward.
In two games, Nurkic is a combined 11-17, 25 pts, 19 reb, 6 ast, 6 stl, 3 blk, +41 In two games, CJ is a combined 15-36, 40 pts, 3 reb, 6 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk, -19 You don't think it's arguable that Nurkic has performed as the second best player on the team over the past two games?
3rd Best? 2nd Best? I think Beast has been the best out there for us. He's impacting both sides of the ball, something that can't be said for perhaps the whole rest of the team. . .
This is very true, but some of the optimism comes from the way Nurkic is impacting the game. He isn't just getting lucky shots here and there (Layman), he is doing very fundamental things that impact the team on both ends of the court. I'm sure he will have games with too many missed shots or too many turnovers, but the combination of his size, low post skills and passing ability is not going to disappear completely. I'm just shocked that they guy is only 22 and only started playing at 14. Even if he never develops into a top 5-10 center he will have a big impact on this team's offense and defense for some time.
I feel like every post in this thread needs to be read with a heavy accent and we need to lose a few of the English articles. There, that's better.
I was expecting a Bosnian center to come and save the Blazers. But I expected it years ago and his name was Nedzad Sinanovic.
I almost want to bring back Kaman for a season just to see him play with Nurk ......that would be fun to watch..Kaman at the 4 and Nurk at the 5...