He’s a top five player so you’d have to give up a lot to get him and he would duplicate much of what Nurk already gives us. Not assets well spent.
The really nice thing is he's playing with three guards (Dame, CJ and Seth) who really can help him with his game. He's shown a willingness to work and learn. All three of them are players that developed games not based greatly on athletic ability, and all three of them took their skills to develop in different ways. Ant can pick up things from each of them, but he's got better size and athletic ability than any of the three.
100% agree. This Stotts twit has had Simons, Skal & Trent DNP on the bench, whilst giving dead-end minutes to Turner and Meyers; players that absolutely should not be on the roster in the near future. Rookies can only learn so much from watching. CJ should have played sooner. Meyers was just f'd around with. Zach is getting the same treatment. Stotts has totally Vonleh'd them. Yet another reason the Blazers need some new coaching Also, Skal should have been ,and moving forward, should be getting all of Meyers minutes.
Like CJ, he can take a defender off the dribble, get his shot off, looks to be able to score from just about anywhere, and will be a good three point shooter. Also, he has better PG instincts, better passer, quicker, will be a better defender. Jackpot!
I don't understand why people are so filled with blind hate towards Nards. Last time he got on the court before the Kings game he was asked to defend Millsap. While Collins was tasked with shutting down the prolific offensive threat in Mason Plumlee. Talk about horrible coaching. Nards has looked like a role player for a year and a half now. Anyone saying otherwise is just not watching the game. Yes he makes mistakes, yes he has weaknesses. But that's why he's a role player and not a starter. Simons & Skal showed they can score. Trent showed he likes to shoot. They've shown this in the g-league as well. Zero difference in what they did against the Kings. At the end of the day that group gave up how many points in the first half? If the Kings actually played their starters more than 18 minutes or if the Kings bench could hit a wide open shot in the 2nd half... Portland would've been the 4th seed. But they didn't, and their bench went ice cold. While Portland's bench didn't go cold. I've wanted Stotts gone since the Pelicans series. But seems really sketch to hate on the man for playing to win games, rather than player development. With how close the West is, a game here or there usually means you're out of the playoffs. Not sitting with HCA. Considering how young players have developed under Stotts & co. I'd say one of the last things to complain about Stotts is player development.
It's impossible to argue this. If you have an opportunity to get a top 5 player, you do it. Only a fool would say no if they asked for anything other than Dame
So you would trade Nurk plus another good player from the Blazers, say CJ, for top 5 player James Harden? I’m just following your stated rule. I wouldn’t even consider doing that and I’m not that hot on CJ.
He still needs to work on his handles he got lucky couple times the ball bounce the right way. Still can't handle pressure on him on his dribble like end of the game situations and he needs work on his D. But he is getting there and show he can score at all 3 levels and show me he can hit clutch shots at end games situations. But this way you have off season to work on your weaknesses and continue strengthening your strengths.
Agree with this. As much as I love Nurk and CJ, their contributions are replaceable. You don't get one of the top five perimeter weapons in the history of the NBA (Harden; just for the sake of this argument) without giving up something, but you aren't going to get a talent like him anywhere else. Always have to be careful about falling in love with your roster. If you aren't winning titles, you always have room to improve, and you have to be open to making tough decisions. But you always have to be closing.
