I'm thrilled if he turns out to be a 20 10 guy and I don't care how he gets em...
I care, very much how he gets them. I detailed it in my first post, but it seemed to get overlooked.
We finally have a big that plays like a big and not taking advantage of that bigness us a waste of his biggest strength.
We finally have a big that can get other bigs in foul trouble. I want to see the Blazers pound the ball into him in the low post at every opportunity, especially early in the game, to get the opposition's best rim protector and best rebounder in foul trouble. He's not going to draw any fouls on Rudy Gobert, DeAndre Jordan, Hassan Whiteside, Dwight Howard, Andre Drummond, etc. when he's shooting 3s. Every 3-pointer Nurkic shoots is a missed opportunity to draw a foul on the opposition's big man, and that's a waste of his size.
Getting the other team's best rebounder and best rim protector in foul trouble doesn't just benefit Nurkic, it benefits that entire team. Get that rim protector off the floor and it opens up the paint for Lillard and McCollum to penetrate. Get their best rebounder off the court and we get more possessions.
Nurkic is an elite offensiveness rebounder. Every 3-pointer he attempts draws him 23' from the basket. How many offensive rebounds is he going to get out there? As poorly as this team shoots, we NEED offensive rebounds to get us extra possessions. Nurkic can give us that - as long as he's not 23' from the basket shooting 3-pointers.
Nurkic has made ZERO 3-pointers in his NBA career. Obviously, it's not a strength of his. We currently have 12 other players on the roster that are better 3-point shooters than Nurkic. We currently have ZERO players on the roster who can score in the low post, get opposing bigs in foul trouble and grab offensive rebounds like Nurkic. Shooting 3-pointers negates those strengths.
So yes, I care how he gets his 20/10. It's not just about his final stat line. It's about his overall impact on the game. I want him getting the opposing big men in foul trouble and getting us extra possessions with offensive rebounds. Even if he only attempts 1 or 2 3-pointers a game, on those possessions, we as a team, are not playing to our strengths.
Bottom line, he wasn't bought here to shoot 3-pointers. We have 12 other players that shoot the 3 better than Jusuf Nurkic. Let them do their jobs and let him do his.
BNM