Nurk heart Billups

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
Excited to see Nurk be more mentally locked in, similar to the way he felt Malone was holding him back when he first came to Portland.

The bigger question is how long will that trend continue until he hints that Billups is the reason for his struggles?
 
Tince said:
Excited to see Nurk be more mentally locked in, similar to the way he felt Malone was holding him back when he first came to Portland.

The bigger question is how long will that trend continue until he hints that Billups is the reason for his struggles?
Click to expand...

That is a concern of mine too. It's easier to blame others for your failings.
 
I read that first thing this morning and I’m all in on the Nurk-Billups Kool-Aid. If Billups has inspired Nurk to show up to camp in great shape, excited to play a bigger role, that’s a huge win over the out-of-shape, worried and somewhat disgruntled guy who showed up for Stotts’ last season. If Billups can change both the offense and defense to make better use of Nurk’s size and talent, that is what could push the big guy towards being the second best player on the team. A big three of Dame, Nurk and CJ, all healthy and being used to their best advantage could push the Blazers to contender status. Pass me another glass of that Kool-Aid.
 
e_blazer said:
You need some mustard instead of custard
Click to expand...

wut??

why not both:

CulversMustardCustardPoster-2019_600.png



https://mustardmuseum.com/mustard-custard/
 
...when Lillard stressed urgency in the organization he mentioned everyone (not just front office). No better time than now for Nurk to show the same level of urgency. I believe he is the ultimate x-factor this season.

Where we go Nurk, we go all.
 
illmatic99 said:
The Terry Stotts rogue comment was infuriating. Dude had no idea how to channel Nurks talent or mindset. Cant believe we stuck with that inept dude for so long.
Click to expand...

Hopefully Billups can do what Malone and Stotts could not...make Nurk a consistent all-star level player.
 
Tince said:
Hopefully Billups can do what Malone and Stotts could not...make Nurk a consistent all-star level player.
Click to expand...
no, hopefully, billups can get out of nurk's way and let the man play. That's all the coach needs to do.

For all the supposed 'player's coach' nonsense we heard about idiot Terry, the guy repeatedly handcuffed nurk (esp on D) and kept throwing him under the bus whenever he got aggressive.
 
illmatic99 said:
no, hopefully, billups can get out of nurk's way and let the man play. That's all the coach needs to do.

For all the supposed 'player's coach' nonsense we heard about idiot Terry, the guy repeatedly handcuffed nurk (esp on D) and kept throwing him under the bus whenever he got aggressive.
Click to expand...

Terry is what an idiot thinks a "players" coach is.
 
Sheldon Shape said:
This will be Nurk's best season as a pro should he stay healthy. Stotts completely underutilized him and he knows that. Billups does too.
Click to expand...

I'm really curious, is there any data at all that supports this?

here are Nurkic's usage rates in Portland:

2016-17 25.7
2017-18 26.4
2018-19 24.7
2019-20 24.0
2020-21 22.3

so then, somewhere in the 25% range

the usage rates of Nurkic (in Portland) & other C's:

Nurkic 25% (estimate)

Gobert 16.1%
Adebayo 19.6%
Jokic 25.5%
Sabonis 22%
Capela 18.4%
Vucevic 25.1%
Steven Adams 15%
Embiid 33.9%
KAT 26.9%

then, you have FGA/100-possessions + (TS%):

Nurkic 20.0 FGA - estimate (.533) (higher in Portland)

Gobert 11.8 (.662)
Adebayo 15.2 (.608)
Jokic 22.0 (.613)
Sabonis 18.1 (.581)
Capela 16.0 (.624)
Vucevic 23.9 (.540)
Adams 12.3 (.596)
Embiid 26.5 (.596)
KAT 23.2 (.620)

and, assist/turnover ratio:

Jokic 2.28
Adebayo 1.78
Vucevic 1.56
Sabonis 1.53
KAT 1.14
Nurkic 1.03
Embiid 0.89
Adams 0.87
Gobert 0.83
Capela 0.77

so then, among those 10 C's, Nurkic had approximately the 4th highest usage rate and the 5th highest FGA/possession marks. But offsetting that is that he had the worst shooting efficiency (TS%) of all 10 C's. Worse, is that his mark was significantly lower than any other C but Vucevic (who has shot nearly 1200 more three's)

and when it comes to passing efficiency, Nurkic was 6th in assist/turnover ratio. Now, that's not all passing turnovers obviously. Big guys get called for lots of offensive fouls and they have dribbling turnovers. But that's true for all of the C's, not just Nurkic. It's also true that Nukic has demonstrated better shooting efficiency the last 3 years or so. But again, that's true for the other C's as well

the point being I don't see any evidence that Stotts underutilized Nurkic. Nurk had a high usage rate and a high FGA rate compared to other Blazers not named Dame or CJ. Now, maybe Billups can figure out ways to 'better' utilize Nurkic and increase his efficiency. That's needed because if Nurkic just jacks up his usage and FGA without increasing his efficiency dramatically, that's a bad thing. You can justify Jokic and Embiid and Sabonis and Adebayo getting more touches. I'm not sure you can justify the same for Nurkic, especially now with Powell on board
 
Tince said:
Excited to see Nurk be more mentally locked in, similar to the way he felt Malone was holding him back when he first came to Portland.

The bigger question is how long will that trend continue until he hints that Billups is the reason for his struggles?
Click to expand...
It's pretty obvious why Nurkic was frustrated with Stotts last year, and Malone benched him for Jokic. Acting like he's just someone who's going to automatically blame his coach is a bit unfair.
 
wizenheimer said:
I'm really curious, is there any data at all that supports this?

here are Nurkic's usage rates in Portland:

2016-17 25.7
2017-18 26.4
2018-19 24.7
2019-20 24.0
2020-21 22.3

so then, somewhere in the 25% range

the usage rates of Nurkic (in Portland) & other C's:

Nurkic 25% (estimate)

Gobert 16.1%
Adebayo 19.6%
Jokic 25.5%
Sabonis 22%
Capela 18.4%
Vucevic 25.1%
Steven Adams 15%
Embiid 33.9%
KAT 26.9%

then, you have FGA/100-possessions + (TS%):

Nurkic 20.0 FGA - estimate (.533) (higher in Portland)

Gobert 11.8 (.662)
Adebayo 15.2 (.608)
Jokic 22.0 (.613)
Sabonis 18.1 (.581)
Capela 16.0 (.624)
Vucevic 23.9 (.540)
Adams 12.3 (.596)
Embiid 26.5 (.596)
KAT 23.2 (.620)

and, assist/turnover ratio:

Jokic 2.28
Adebayo 1.78
Vucevic 1.56
Sabonis 1.53
KAT 1.14
Nurkic 1.03
Embiid 0.89
Adams 0.87
Gobert 0.83
Capela 0.77

so then, among those 10 C's, Nurkic had approximately the 4th highest usage rate and the 5th highest FGA/possession marks. But offsetting that is that he had the worst shooting efficiency (TS%) of all 10 C's. Worse, is that his mark was significantly lower than any other C but Vucevic (who has shot nearly 1200 more three's)

and when it comes to passing efficiency, Nurkic was 6th in assist/turnover ratio. Now, that's not all passing turnovers obviously. Big guys get called for lots of offensive fouls and they have dribbling turnovers. But that's true for all of the C's, not just Nurkic. It's also true that Nukic has demonstrated better shooting efficiency the last 3 years or so. But again, that's true for the other C's as well

the point being I don't see any evidence that Stotts underutilized Nurkic. Nurk had a high usage rate and a high FGA rate compared to other Blazers not named Dame or CJ. Now, maybe Billups can figure out ways to 'better' utilize Nurkic and increase his efficiency. That's needed because if Nurkic just jacks up his usage and FGA without increasing his efficiency dramatically, that's a bad thing. You can justify Jokic and Embiid and Sabonis and Adebayo getting more touches. I'm not sure you can justify the same for Nurkic, especially now with Powell on board
Click to expand...
I think for Nurkic, it's more about him not being properly utilized. I don't think the numbers you posted have any bearing on what Nurkic is actually saying. A possession where he has a shot drawn up for him that allows him to get a clean look around the paint is reflective of the coaching staff utilizing him. Nurkic having to call for the ball in the post 12 feet away then work his ass off backing down his man for a tough mini-hook is not. They reflect the same in terms of usage rate but one is a coach trying to utilize Nurkic as a scorer while making it easier for Nurkic to be one, and the other is Nurkic having to call his own number (which was pretty much all the offense was last year). Stotts ran no cross-screens or block to opposite elbow backscreens for Nurk. No wrinkles to help him get cleaner looks inside. This could've led to more offensive foul turnovers than it would for big guys in other systems. I'm not sure.

And while Nurkic had some assists, half of them seemed to come off of Dame or C.J. running to the ball and Nurk handing it to them. That's an example of Nurkic's passing ability being underutilized and the offense relying on Dame and C.J. to create everything and hit tough shots instead even though Nurkic might've gotten an assist and raised his usage rate because of it. I thought it was pretty obvious that Stotts didn't utilize his passing and playmaking enough.

Defensively is another story. Nurkic looked great trapping/hedging screens and Stotts elected to put him on an island in drop scheme. His pick-n-roll defense was underutilized. And then in the playoffs, Stotts puts him on Jokic 1-on-1 to start the series (which I would've done), but then didn't provide any sort of help to make it easier on Nurkic. We'd hear about Nurk going "rogue" to trap a screen and normally the results were better than when Nurkic dropped even though the rest of the defense wasn't set up to rotate behind big help at the POA. If I was Nurk, I would've been pissed that my coach wanted to run the same scheme all year long even though it didn't work which just put me on an island having to deal with a guard and a rolling lob target coming at me in a 1 v 2. I would've been even more pissed if I then trapped a couple times, forced turnovers, and my coach just said "he went rogue" and went right back to running the same scheme that had us 29th in defense.

Numbers don't tell the story.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
Every thread can be a Stotts-trashing thread with a little imagination.
Click to expand...
I mean, when it's a thread that's based on an article where Nurkic (indirectly) trashes Stotts, what do you expect?
 
i dont know what the problem was between nurk & michael malone, but it was a big problem given that malone flew to bosnia & herzegovina to visit nurk and it was before jokic took over his job, so whatever the problem was, nurk himself said there is good and bad blood with denver nuggets, but he never had issues with teammates and everyone could see that after his very first game against denver, when everyone on that team hugged and congratulated him on a great game he had

terry stotts was part of the problem, injuries were part of the problem and nurk himself was part of the problem (stupid and consecutive fouling, coming to the training camp out of shape last season, although he said he was dealing with family issues and wasnt focused on basketball)... now it looks like stars have finally aligned for him and im expecting an all-star level season from him and i urge some people on this forum to keep the same energy towards nurk

be true to yourselves and dont be hypocrites
 
BonesJones said:
I think for Nurkic, it's more about him not being properly utilized. I don't think the numbers you posted have any bearing on what Nurkic is actually saying. A possession where he has a shot drawn up for him that allows him to get a clean look around the paint is reflective of the coaching staff utilizing him. Nurkic having to call for the ball in the post 12 feet away then work his ass off backing down his man for a tough mini-hook is not. They reflect the same in terms of usage rate but one is a coach trying to utilize Nurkic as a scorer while making it easier for Nurkic to be one, and the other is Nurkic having to call his own number (which was pretty much all the offense was last year). Stotts ran no cross-screens or block to opposite elbow backscreens for Nurk. No wrinkles to help him get cleaner looks inside. This could've led to more offensive foul turnovers than it would for big guys in other systems. I'm not sure.

And while Nurkic had some assists, half of them seemed to come off of Dame or C.J. running to the ball and Nurk handing it to them. That's an example of Nurkic's passing ability being underutilized and the offense relying on Dame and C.J. to create everything and hit tough shots instead even though Nurkic might've gotten an assist and raised his usage rate because of it. I thought it was pretty obvious that Stotts didn't utilize his passing and playmaking enough.

Defensively is another story. Nurkic looked great trapping/hedging screens and Stotts elected to put him on an island in drop scheme. His pick-n-roll defense was underutilized. And then in the playoffs, Stotts puts him on Jokic 1-on-1 to start the series (which I would've done), but then didn't provide any sort of help to make it easier on Nurkic. We'd hear about Nurk going "rogue" to trap a screen and normally the results were better than when Nurkic dropped even though the rest of the defense wasn't set up to rotate behind big help at the POA. If I was Nurk, I would've been pissed that my coach wanted to run the same scheme all year long even though it didn't work which just put me on an island having to deal with a guard and a rolling lob target coming at me in a 1 v 2. I would've been even more pissed if I then trapped a couple times, forced turnovers, and my coach just said "he went rogue" and went right back to running the same scheme that had us 29th in defense.

Numbers don't tell the story.
Click to expand...

I explicitly said that Billups might utilize him differently than Stotts did. That's quite possible

but I was talking about the narrative that Nurkic was "under-utilized" by Stotts, which had been repeated around here a lot. What those numbers show is he wasn't.

here's another set of numbers...touches/minute:

Dame 2.27
Nurkic 2.16
CJ 1.91
Simons 1.63
RoCo 1.46
Kanter 1.42
Powell 1.22
Melo 1.22

Rudy Gobert 1.18
Deandre Ayton 1.51
Joel Embiid 2.27
Julius Randle 2.22
KAT 2.05
Giannis 2.12
Adebayo 1.92
AD 1.91
Sabonis 2.71
Jokic 2.91

Nurkic was 2nd on the Blazers on touches/minute. He was actually closer to Dame's rate than CJ's rate. And he had a higer rate of touches than KAT, Giannis, Adebayo, and Anthony Davis
 
My advice? Take everything you hear from Nurk and Billups with a grain of salt. Let’s wait and see if all these comments amount to anything. The off-season is all about talk, the season is about action.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

SharpesTriumph
Billups won't be paid while on leave
Replies
4
Views
235
BoBoBREWSKI
BoBoBREWSKI
SlyPokerDog
How the Blazers, NBA are grappling with Chauncey Billups' arrest
Replies
0
Views
135
SlyPokerDog
SlyPokerDog
1 Eye Jack
Coaching search
2
Replies
51
Views
932
dviss1
dviss1
SlyPokerDog
Led by Splitter, Blazers earn win day after Billups' arrest
Replies
4
Views
237
julius
julius
Natebishop3
  • Poll Poll
Does this Billups news affect how you feel about the NBA?
Replies
28
Views
617
Pinwheel1
Pinwheel1

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top