Inside Access: "Nurkic is that 'third guy'"

[OSUBlazerfan]

“We always talk about this -- that we didn’t have a ‘third guy’ on our roster,” said Olshey. “We needed that third guy. Now that we have him,” and here Olshey was referring to Nurkic, “we can see what the role players can do. Because Allen Crabbe, Evan Turner -- they are role players, and if you were asking them to be the third guy, you were going to be disappointed.

The injury had been diagnosed Friday morning, and yet it was by no means damning. Nurkic had been in a good mood that night while dining in Portland with backup center Meyers Leonard.

“Right now I have no pain,” Nurkic said Saturday. “Just a little discomfort.”

The plan was to re-evaluate Nurkic in two weeks, in hope that he may be available for an opening-round series – most likely against the Warriors.

http://www.nba.com/article/2017/04/02/inside-portland-trailblazers-quest-berth-postseason

 

[Nikolokolus]

If he's not fully recovered by the start of the playoffs, they better rest his ass.

 

[OSUBlazerfan]

If he's not fully recovered by the start of the playoffs, they better rest his ass.

It really sounds like they are being uber-cautious already, seeing that he played a full game with the injury. If we were truly battling for a higher seed, bet he'd be playing.

 

[illmatic99]

There is so much revisionist history here.

Neil made the trade for a pick and to get rid of Plums. It was almost universally understood that we were getting worse for the present and hope to get better for the future.

And so, he had made the trade for Nurkic not to tear down, but rather to replenish.

Such bullshit.

Go watch Neil's initial trade PC. He talks about the pick and Mason way more than he does about Nurk.

 

[Natebishop3]

"He’s huge, and he actually sets real screens.” - Dame

 

[BlazerCaravan]

There is so much revisionist history here.

Neil made the trade for a pick and to get rid of Plums. It was almost universally understood that we were getting worse for the present and hope to get better for the future.


Such bullshit.

Go watch Neil's initial trade PC. He talks about the pick and Mason way more than he does about Nurk.

Well it's the GM talking to a league reporter; do you expect him to say "Look, I wanted to tank. We needed to punt on re-signing Plumlee because he was going to be expensive, and he can't even set a fucking screen, y'know? Maybe Nurkic turns into someone, maybe he doesn't. I had to get in under the Luxury Tax because Moe Harkless was hitting more threes than I expected. Check out my fucking balance sheet, I'm four thousand ducats under. That's my fucking genius."

 

[Hobbesarable]

Well it's the GM talking to a league reporter; do you expect him to say "Look, I wanted to tank. We needed to punt on re-signing Plumlee because he was going to be expensive, and he can't even set a fucking screen, y'know? Maybe Nurkic turns into someone, maybe he doesn't. I had to get in under the Luxury Tax because Moe Harkless was hitting more threes than I expected. Check out my fucking balance sheet, I'm four thousand ducats under. That's my fucking genius."

It would make headlines and I would be busting a gut laughing my ass off!

 

[BlazerCaravan]

It would make headlines and I would be busting a gut laughing my ass off!

It probably is all there off-record, too; but I'm happy to accept the retroactive truth because it's at least good news.

 

[Hobbesarable]

It probably is all there off-record, too; but I'm happy to accept the retroactive truth because it's at least good news.

It's all good even if Olshey mistakenly had a golden goose fall into his lap. Nurkic is now ours, baby!

 

[Scalma]

Olshey only gets blame, never credit. He just threw a dart at a board and it landed on Nurkic. Lucky.

 

[Natebishop3]

Olshey only gets blame, never credit. He just threw a dart at a board and it landed on Nurkic. Lucky.

And it's obvious that he wanted Nurk all along because he was using the Sixers to up the offer from Denver. He played the deadline masterfully.

 

[Scalma]

There is so much revisionist history here.

Neil made the trade for a pick and to get rid of Plums. It was almost universally understood that we were getting worse for the present and hope to get better for the future.


Such bullshit.

Go watch Neil's initial trade PC. He talks about the pick and Mason way more than he does about Nurk.

What press conference?

 

[Haakzilla]

"He’s huge, and he actually sets real screens.” - Dame

...was thinking the same thing!

 

[illmatic99]

It will take a while for Jusuf to get acclimated to our system, but we're always going to compete. Being led by guys like Dame and CJ we have a chance to win every night. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to keep rolling the ball out there and giving ourselves the best chance to win. We're going to compete for that last playoff spot, but we're also going to take a long term view to building the roster.

 

[Natebishop3]

I don't think anyone, including Neil, thought that Nurk would have such an immediate impact on our team. Not just with his own play, but on other players as well. Vonleh has been markedly better. Dame has been markedly better. CJ and Crabbe have been better. The whole team is playing on another level since the trade, and that even carried over to the game without Nurk against Phoenix. How could anyone possibly predict that?

 

[Boob-No-More]

He also played PHI to get DEN to throw in that 1st round pick. Or would some of you arm chair GMs rather have Jahlil Okafor and no MEM pick?

He made the trade. I don't give a shit why or how. He's the one that did it and deserves the credit. He got the younger player, he got the better player, he got him for cheap for another year and he got a 1st round pick. If that's the only great trade he ever makes, it doesn't diminish the fact that it was a GREAT trade.

BNM

 

[BlazerCaravan]

I don't think anyone, including Neil, thought that Nurk would have such an immediate impact on our team. Not just with his own play, but on other players as well. Vonleh has been markedly better. Dame has been markedly better. CJ and Crabbe have been better. The whole team is playing on another level since the trade, and that even carried over to the game without Nurk against Phoenix. How could anyone possibly predict that?

This is why you make one move at a time. I'm glad as hell he didn't try to move two more guys at the same time in some other trade.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

This is fucking nuts, and can't be shown largely enough.

If I want to talk about "Big Three", I think I'm actually dancing around the fact that CJ is #2A and Dame is #2B of the Big Three; Nurk is the Big #1A with a bullet here.

 

[Natebishop3]

This is why you make one move at a time. I'm glad as hell he didn't try to move two more guys at the same time in some other trade.

I still think it's likely that a major trade will happen this summer.... most likely before or right after the draft. I don't think we're keeping all those picks.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

I still think it's likely that a major trade will happen this summer.... most likely before or right after the draft. I don't think we're keeping all those picks.

Me neither; I think they get packaged up for a lotto pick or a player. It'll be a backup center. I really want to swing for a good one like Chandler, but who knows.

 

[Natebishop3]

Me neither; I think they get packaged up for a lotto pick or a player. It'll be a backup center. I really want to swing for a good one like Chandler, but who knows.

My favorite part of the season...... the offseason!

 

[BlazerCaravan]

My favorite part of the season...... the offseason!

Where everyone has the same record and all the moves are potential championship makers!

 

[Natebishop3]

Where everyone has the same record and all the moves are potential championship makers!

And the refs can't fuck us...... yet!

 

[Dougnsalem]

As much as I detest having Butters on our team, this was my favorite line.....

Nurkic had been in a good mood that night while dining in Portland with backup center Meyers Leonard.

If we're stuck with Butters as a 3rd stringer, or whatever capacity- Nurkic is spending time with him. HOPEFULLY , his attitude and style of play will rub off on Butters. PLEASE!!!

 

[Boob-No-More]

You have to also remember that Olshey will never say anything bad about a former player. After trading Plumlee, he's not going to come out and throw him under the bus. Look at how the question was worded, it wasn't about Nurkic, the question was about Plumlee:

Neil, as you know, Blazers fans are very knowledgeable. They know this is a business, but they’re also very passionate about their team and loyal to their players, so for those who are wondering—Why Mason Plumlee and why right now?

We felt like we needed to get younger at the center position. We wanted more of a low-post player, someone who could defend size and strength. We found that with Jusuf and, look, this is the hard part of the business is you have guys you get attached to, but you’ve got to make business decisions, and we felt like, in the long run, this will pay longer dividends, having a younger guy on a rookie scale. We manage our cap with it, he gives us a different look defensively, he’s a big time rebounder, and I think he’ll make the game easier for guys like Dame and CJ because we’ve got more presence in the paint now, defensively.

He may not have known the immediate impact Nurk would have, but he knew we needed more size and strength in the paint to shore up our defense and that Nurk would make the game easier for Dame and C.J. Which makes it sound like he was never really interested in Okafor and was just using PHI as leverage to pry that MEM pick from DEN.

BNM

 

[Scalma]

I don't think anyone, including Neil, thought that Nurk would have such an immediate impact on our team. Not just with his own play, but on other players as well. Vonleh has been markedly better. Dame has been markedly better. CJ and Crabbe have been better. The whole team is playing on another level since the trade, and that even carried over to the game without Nurk against Phoenix. How could anyone possibly predict that?

Check my post history lmao just kidding but not really.

If an idiot like me could see the potential in nurkic why couldn't a professional?

 

[Natebishop3]

Check my post history lmao just kidding but not really.

If an idiot like me could see the potential in nurkic why couldn't a professional?

You thought that Nurkic could come in and completely change our entire team, including Vonleh, almost overnight? If you can show me where you thought that he would completely revitalize our roster and propel us to the playoffs, I would love to see it.

 

[Dougnsalem]

You have to also remember that Olshey will never say anything bad about a former player. After trading Plumlee, he's not going to come out and throw him under the bus. Look at how the question was worded, it wasn't about Nurkic, the question was about Plumlee:





He may not have known the immediate impact Nurk would have, but he knew we needed more size and strength in the paint to shore up our defense and that Nurk would make the game easier for Dame and C.J. Which makes it sound like he was never really interested in Okafor and was just using PHI as leverage to pry that MEM pick from DEN.

BNM

Great post. That's one thing I really like about NO. He's not gonna try to make himself look better, by bashing other people. Classy, IMHO.

 

[Boob-No-More]

As much as I detest having Butters on our team, this was my favorite line.....

Nurkic had been in a good mood that night while dining in Portland with backup center Meyers Leonard.

If we're stuck with Butters as a 3rd stringer, or whatever capacity- Nurkic is spending time with him. HOPEFULLY , his attitude and style of play will rub off on Butters. PLEASE!!!

More about that dinner...

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

Check my post history lmao just kidding but not really.

If an idiot like me could see the potential in nurkic why couldn't a professional?

I'm pretty sure Neil knew he was getting a very good player.

As a GM, Olshey is smart enough not to brag about how he fleeced another team. Remember the whole Pritch-slap thing and how teams basically refused to deal with him after that? No one in a position of power, like an NBA GM, wants to be made to look like a fool and publicly humiliated by one of their colleagues. Neil knows that. He didn't go around gloating after he got CP3 from New Orleans and he's not going to go around gloating about stealing Nurkic from Denver.

BNM