What veteran Center can we bring that protects the rim?

Damn, its depressing looking at possible C's we would be able to get

 

I think the best option is to keep Nurk, but add a journeyman backup in order to keep his minutes down. Nurk can give 20-30 solid minutes, but beyond that his motor runs down.

 

I'd keep Nurk and pick up a better backup which to me would be an Ed Davis

 

Yeah there are always these abstract suggestions like "get a more mobile center" or "get a better defensive center" or "get a center that can dunk with authority"

But then you start looking at the centers available and the flaws for guys that are going to make more than the MLE and it gets hard to find something better than below average Nurk.

 

Also need someone taller than 6'8" for the weeks or months of games Nurk has always missed with injury. Eubanks is fine as a 12th man or sometimes backup. But he shouldn't be an every game backup or sometimes starter.

Thats why I've thrown out the Meyers Leonard name for the minimum - no he's not a great backup, but he's at least a big body and has a change of pace skill with his shooting.

 

The centers we need either aren't gettable or are way too expensive to get without gutting the team. Role player back up big with the MLE works for me. That's about 8 mill I believe. That's what we paid Aminu and Ed Davis when we signed them back in the day. Meyers Leonard never sniffed the court for the Bucks as a backup in the playoffs. He's no rim protector.off the bench I want a good screen setter and good rebounder at the 5

 

It's Brook Lopez for me if there is any way? Cannot for the life of me figure out why Cousins didn't get picked up. Played well for the Nuggets the previous year.

 

As far as Dwight Howard is concerned? I kind of agree with Shaq. You have to be able to lead a team and in doing that there is no way his team in Taiwan should have been losing games. Pretty bad look for Howard to say the least?

 

I'd love a Steven Adams as a Blazer with Nurk...couple of huge guys to lean on skinny rookies in the paint and wear them out. You need two guys to bang with the Jokic's and Embiid'sof the world.

 

I like the idea of Steven Adams. Great guy on an off the court.

 

The Griz want to contend. They are not getting rid of him, imho.

 

by the way, Eubanks had better rim protection stats than Nurkic. he allowed 59% of FG's, 6ft<; Nurkic allowed 61.6%. Eubanks also blocked 3.1 shots/100-possessions while Nurkic blocked 1.5. But Nurkic has become floor-bound since his injuries

this website rim protection stats are revealing. It's kind of wonky and you have to play with the criteria on the left to see a lot of players ranked:

https://craftednba.com/player-traits/rim-defense

it shows the same thing that NBA.com does and that's Portland's best rim protector was Eubanks who ranked 87th among all players

 

Basketball reference also shows his DBPM to be higher than Nurkic's last year (in 200 more minutes, to be fair).

I do not for one minute believe that Eubanks is a better defender than Nurkic, but he is about the same given the system Chauncy plays. Sad, but true.

 

It's not that Nurkic is bad (I think he'll be great with more movement players), it's that we know he's going to be out a number of games. The backup becomes the starter and the 3rd string becomes the backup.
Cronin needs to plan for that.

 

Nurk can be a really good player when he wants to be.

Nurk's issue is his health and motivation. If he could stay healthy and if he actually had some drive, he could be an All-Star.

 

Nurkic made Walker Kessler look like the rookie he is, one game after Kessler had stiffed Domantas Sabonis.
That's the value of Nurkic. There are still other big men in the NBA to contend with, whose size for smaller forward/centers can be a big problem.

 

It was was only one game, but the lineup of Dame / Sharpe / Thybulle / Watford / Nurkic looked great in their win in Utah.

Utah had beaten Sacramento the game before, so both teams were still trying to win at that point.
That was the last game before the Blazer tank rolled in.

 

If Grant is back, the Blazers will have Grant,
Murray, Rupert, Watford, Walker, who can play PF.

 

Nurkic is floor-bound compared to Eubanks, so it's understandable why Eubanks is a better rim-protector and shot blocker. Nurkic has more mass and I think defends the paint better, which may be more important than pure rim protection. Eubanks appears to have more mobility and probably defends the perimeter better

Nurkic/Eubanks as a C rotation kind of illustrates Portland's overall talent deficit

 

For whatever its worth, probably little or nothing... RoLo is/was in town (saw him at PDX this morning)