Phoenix expected to make drastic change by removing Bradley Beal, Jusuf Nurkic from starting lineup

We wasted so many years of Dame Lillard’s prime by relying on Nurk as a starting center. Nurk has been a liability more often than not. He’s inconsistent, injury-prone, and can’t defend in space, a nightmare in today’s NBA. His turnovers in key moments and lack of offensive versatility always seemed to come back to bite the team when it mattered most.

While Dame was putting up MVP-caliber numbers and dragging us to the playoffs year after year, the front office stuck with Nurk like he was irreplaceable. It’s honestly frustrating to think about what could’ve been if the Blazers had invested in a more reliable center earlier. Dame deserved better.

At least the Suns needed only 99 games to come to their senses.

Then again, it's probably Plumlee replacing him, and we've been there as well.

 

http://www.sportstwo.com/forums/phoenix-suns.128/

 

Beal trade was bad, but I'd argue the Durant deal was worse. They lost all their depth, athleticism, youth, defense, salary flexibility, and draft picks. Haven't seen Durant team contend since he was being carried by Curry. Guy has talent for sure but he's a shell of the old dominant MVP player.

Nurk was not a good starting center going back to when Cronin signed him. Mistake by Cronin to pay him so much. He's great as a backup or temporary starter though. I'd much prefer to have Nurk today over Ayton. Although it's a bit like arguing if it's better to die freezing to death or burning.

 

Dame and Stotts got a lot of not very good players paid.

 

Didn’t we just draft a guy like that

 

Portland with a +700?

 

I'd take freezing. It would remind me of my dating life in college.

Nurk has been made a giant scapegoat for the massive dysfunction and roster miscalculations in Phoenix. They are misusing him and parking him way too often out at the 3 point line, and he's simply not effective that far from the hoop. Nurk's career 3PT attempt rate is .077. This season it's .361. His career shot distance is 6.2 feet; this season it's 12.0 feet. That's fucking idiotic coaching. As expected with his new floor positions, his offensive rebounding rate is at a career low, basically confirming the idiotic coaching because he obviously hasn't lost his rebounding ability considering his defensive reb rate is at a career high and he ranks 2nd in the NBA; he also ranks 4th in total rebound rate

and I agree....I'd rather have Nurkic than Ayton. Nurkic's salary would make him easier to offload. Of course, personally, Ayton is just about the last NBA C that I want to see in a Blazer uniform

 

it's a fucking idiotic list. Beal makes 50.2M this season and over 55M/year over the next 2 seasons. He has the worst contract in the league. Who is going to trade for that considering the Suns don't appear to have an available 1st till 2030?

 

Yeah they couldn't even trade that 2030 pick because the 2029 pick is already owed without one returning. So I'm pretty sure Stepien would prevent them from sending out 2030 in any deals but 2031 would be available.

I don't think attaching an unprotected 2031 FRP will be enough for them to get away from that very toxic contract but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

Lazy research. Shocking right?

My guess is they looked at teams who had a salary or two that would match and listed them
Detroit has a ton of cap space, plus a couple of possible contracts, but they don't make sense either. Actually, no one makes sense.

 

I’m not getting gaslit anymore today lol. Nurk most definitely was gassed many a night in Portland over his tenure.

 

Yeah, I think I'd do it. If Beal agreed to take the rest of the season off. Maybe next season, too...

 

Our Nurk was better than Phoenix Nurk. Nurk put up amazing stat lines for us. The first 20/20 5x5 ever. Nurk Fever was real and the Dame/Nurk two man game was very effective. His problem was injuries which weren’t his fault.

 

Yep.