Is Nurk the best player on the team now?

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kjironman1 said:
Nurkic ranks 71st among all players. But also Defense is the team part of the game. So very tough to use any kind of stat for a defensive ranking. I can always make a case for why a player should or should not be ranked where they are or above another player.
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Nurk is at or near the top in just about every defensive measure available.

DRPM - 5th in the league and 5th among centers.

DBPM - 5th in the league

DRTG - 15th in the league

In terms of rim protection he's also near the top in terms of shots defended and % affected:

https://stats.nba.com/players/defense-dash-lt6/
 
Nurkic won't get a single vote for Defensive Player of the Year, nor will he come close to making an All-Defense Team. Some of that is because he's hiding in Portland but there's no way you can justify every voter overlooking him.
 
hoopsjock said:
Nurkic won't get a single vote for Defensive Player of the Year, nor will he come close to making an All-Defense Team. Some of that is because he's hiding in Portland but there's no way you can justify every voter overlooking him.
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I basically agree with you, but that is also part of the problem with how DPoY and the ADT are chosen, even the player awards are mostly popularity contests.

The one thing I'd say though, is very few teams see such a drastic difference in their defense because of one player. Even with Zach who's a very good defender, there is a pretty notable difference defensively when Nurk isn't out there.
 
B-Roy said:
Nurk is at or near the top in just about every defensive measure available.

DRPM - 5th in the league and 5th among centers.

DBPM - 5th in the league

DRTG - 15th in the league

In terms of rim protection he's also near the top in terms of shots defended and % affected:

https://stats.nba.com/players/defense-dash-lt6/
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Your DRPM stat says it all, even though he's in 5th overall the 4 ahead of him are all centers.
 
TorturedBlazerFan said:
I basically agree with you, but that is also part of the problem with how DPoY and the ADT are chosen, even the player awards are mostly popularity contests.

The one thing I'd say though, is very few teams see such a drastic difference in their defense because of one player. Even with Zach who's a very good defender, there is a pretty notable difference defensively when Nurk isn't out there.
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Nurk by himself took our defense from historically bad to top-10 last season and got exactly one vote in the DPOY voting. He didn't get a single vote for one of the All-Defensive teams.

Nurk has been awesome defensively but there are centers that straight scare guards from even attempting to get into the paint when they're on the floor. Nurk doesn't have that respect yet. Until that happens it's hard to get recognition as a center for defense.
 
B-Roy said:
Nurk is at or near the top in just about every defensive measure available.

DRPM - 5th in the league and 5th among centers.

DBPM - 5th in the league

DRTG - 15th in the league

In terms of rim protection he's also near the top in terms of shots defended and % affected:

https://stats.nba.com/players/defense-dash-lt6/
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Not gonna argue that at all. He is good and makes the Blazers better for sure. But even those have him no better than 5th. I would say yes he is in the top 5 for sure. But saying he is even only fifth best might be wrong? I stand by my feeling on this that defensive stats absolutely suck at telling you how a player really effects a game. Because defense is so dependent on the players around you.
 
hoopsjock said:
Nurk by himself took our defense from historically bad to top-10 last season and got exactly one vote in the DPOY voting. He didn't get a single vote for one of the All-Defensive teams.

Nurk has been awesome defensively but there are centers that straight scare guards from even attempting to get into the paint when they're on the floor. Nurk doesn't have that respect yet. Until that happens it's hard to get recognition as a center for defense.
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Nurk is getting in the heads of guys this year, you can tell there are a lot of guys who really don't like him. Scared of him? maybe not on the level of Gobert, or Davis or one of those but it's quite fun to watch how guys like Simmons only really talk crap to him when he's facing the other way lol.
 
tlongII said:
Yes he is. You will agree with me by the end of the season.
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I won't. Nurkic can't do what Anthony Davis did to us in last years playoffs. Advanced stats don't back it up either.
 
kjironman1 said:
Not gonna argue that at all. He is good and makes the Blazers better for sure. But even those have him no better than 5th. I would say yes he is in the top 5 for sure. But saying he is even only fifth best might be wrong? I stand by my feeling on this that defensive stats absolutely suck at telling you how a player really effects a game. Because defense is so dependent on the players around you.
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Nurkic might look better because his guards let so many drives downhill that Nurkic has to pick up their slack and he gets more blocked shots. That could affect some advanced stats that aren't properly designed. That's just one example of how surrounding players can skew stats away from being truly reflective of a players individual skill.
 
BonesJones said:
I won't. Nurkic can't do what Anthony Davis did to us in last years playoffs. Advanced stats don't back it up either.
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I know you have a good eye for basketball, so got a question for you. Have you noticed how much shot blockers effect Dame and CJ? Maybe I'm crazy but it feels like anytime they play a team with a good shot blocker both of them lose a lot of their aggression around the hoop it's like they are always looking for the shot blocker. Do you think they do that more than they should? Is it just in my head?
 
TorturedBlazerFan said:
I know you have a good eye for basketball, so got a question for you. Have you noticed how much shot blockers effect Dame and CJ? Maybe I'm crazy but it feels like anytime they play a team with a good shot blocker both of them lose a lot of their aggression around the hoop it's like they are always looking for the shot blocker. Do you think they do that more than they should? Is it just in my head?
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It's a real thing. That is exactly what I was referring too when I say Nurk doesn't command that respect, yet.
 
Which first round match up would be good for Nurk ?
I don't foresee him playing a lot, if we play the Rockets. But, if we play the Spurs, Clips, Jazz, OKC ... I want to see Nurk (and Enes) get lots of minutes.
 
Right now? No, right now I'd have to say Rodney Hood.
 
TorturedBlazerFan said:
I know you have a good eye for basketball, so got a question for you. Have you noticed how much shot blockers effect Dame and CJ? Maybe I'm crazy but it feels like anytime they play a team with a good shot blocker both of them lose a lot of their aggression around the hoop it's like they are always looking for the shot blocker. Do you think they do that more than they should? Is it just in my head?
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Yeah it's true. The one area I think Dame struggles in off the drive is getting to the rim with a change of pace rather than a blow-by. With blow-by's, he often times doesn't have the time to read the rotating weakside help. It also doesn't allow him to decelerate enough to use hanging finishes, which are much harder to predict for a shot-blocker and hanging finishes allow you to release the ball from a wider variety of angles. With blow-bys, the shot blocker knows exactly where Dame is going to release his layup, and he can time it. Basically, Dame has to beat the shot-blocker by getting the ball to backboard before the shot blocker can get to the ball. Sometimes Dame tries to do this and has mixed results, but sometimes he realizes the challenge and tries other things. If we were in a gym I could show you this easily, but hopefully I explained it well.

For CJ, I think he's so comfortable shooting mid-range shots that a good shot-blocker is just even more of an excuse for him to shoot from the mid-range (for better or worse).

This would be a great question to leave on last weeks Monday Mailbag. If you go back and leave it I'll answer it in the mailbag tomorrow.
 
BonesJones said:
Yeah it's true. The one area I think Dame struggles in off the drive is getting to the rim with a change of pace rather than a blow-by. With blow-by's, he often times doesn't have the time to read the rotating weakside help. It also doesn't allow him to decelerate enough to use hanging finishes, which are much harder to predict for a shot-blocker and hanging finishes allow you to release the ball from a wider variety of angles. With blow-bys, the shot blocker knows exactly where Dame is going to release his layup, and he can time it. Basically, Dame has to beat the shot-blocker by getting the ball to backboard before the shot blocker can get to the ball. Sometimes Dame tries to do this and has mixed results, but sometimes he realizes the challenge and tries other things. If we were in a gym I could show you this easily, but hopefully I explained it well.

For CJ, I think he's so comfortable shooting mid-range shots that a good shot-blocker is just even more of an excuse for him to shoot from the mid-range (for better or worse).

This would be a great question to leave on last weeks Monday Mailbag. If you go back and leave it I'll answer it in the mailbag tomorrow.
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I think that's basically what I see too. Sometimes it bothers me though in that I think Dame does have a good shot at the rim and instead dribbles it out (sometimes he does something with really bad results, but not usually).
 
Dame's a reigning 1st Team All-NBA. I don't think his play has dropped.
Nurk's a good talent and playing well.

OP answer? No. Longer answer? As previously stated: We're lucky to have him and he seems to be getting better. He's the same age Marc Gasol was as a rookie. Right now. Let the man grow into himself and the game.
 
B-Roy said:
Something underrated about Dame this year is that his decision making has been spot on, everything he does is just so on point compared to years past . . .
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Not sure I buy that. I’ve seen Lillard jack up some very questionable shots this season, and commit a lot of turnovers by forcing passes that weren’t there. That said, I do agree that he is more in charge this year than I’ve ever seen before. He seems to know exactly what he wants to do now.
 
Binx said:
Not sure I buy that. I’ve seen Lillard jack up some very questionable shots this season, and commit a lot of turnovers by forcing passes that weren’t there. That said, I do agree that he is more in charge this year than I’ve ever seen before. He seems to know exactly what he wants to do now.
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An underrated part of Dame's game is the "Heat Check" 3 from 35'. Other than Steph, there isn't a player in the league that a team is consistently forced to face up once he crosses halfcourt. Even if he shoots 25% (he shoots better, btw), the threat of it opens up the offensive spacing. Look up "Gravity" stats.
 
I think the difference in Damian this year started in February. They started going through Nurk alot more,when we picked up Kanter and Hood I believe that Dame no longer feels he has to takeover the game. People are getting hot when CJ is off even though our bench does not reflect as many points as it once did he is finding the hot ticket and feeding him. This is probably the best team that Dame has ever played with so he feels more comfortable in ball distribution for the first time of his basketball career.
The 3 greatest Centers of all time and you can put them in any order you like Jabbar, Russell, Chamberlin there is arguments for all 3. They all played against each other and they all said the same thing when asked who is the one person you hated to go against.. Nate Thurmond was the name all of them said. Is Nurk our Nate? I do not think so at least not yet, to see him take the next step would be pretty amazing though and I hope we get to see it.
 
I really do not understand why Nurk obvious huge improvements especially after December is so ignored by media.
If he ads 3 points shot witch judging by look o hes mid-range is not far of , he becomes one of the biggest nimble centar who will be menace on every place on court , and hes defense is great already and hes 24.... so I don't get it !
also when they say in those discussion about Nurk and Simmons , hes All star , All star in EAST , they ave 4 good teams. Also I think it is unfair to Western Conference. If they play like West and east mix up in second round well. Why is East so week? SO ANY IDEA ON THOSE TWO QUESTIONS ?
 
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