Notice Nurk On His Way Out?

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riverman said:
I thought I was the only one who wanted to sell high on Ant and keep Hart...who is a perfect 2 guard...I also really want us to have Eubanks coming off the bench..loved his hustle and hook shot
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I agree that the Blazers should keep Hart and Eubanks as well as Nurk, and forget about Ayton. We should re-sign Simons for no more than $9M/yr and he should be playing PG off the bench for the Blazers to be contenders in the next 2 years. Hart does seem to be the perfect SG for this team.

Nurk will be fine playing with Dame, Hart, Winslow, and the new PF from the 7th draft pick (ideally Murray), and the Blazers will be Championship contenders with the new defense strengthened habits coached by Chauncey and his staff. The Blazers have a strong bench that will get even stronger after the draft and off-season. With the expanding talent in the FO, and the Phil Knight offer, there is a lot of reason for optimism!
 
TBpup said:
It's a center better than Ayton. It's getting a center that isn't costing $30+M. Embiid, Jokic, KAT....nowhere near the Finals. Meanwhile, both teams still playing, have 6'9" centers that are the last offensive options on the team. I'd rather get 2 athletic wing/forwards, than spend that kind of money on a center.

Even one as potentially good as Ayton.
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Ayton was in the Finals just last year. And Brook Lopez was on the team that won the championship.
 
TBpup said:
It's a center better than Ayton. It's getting a center that isn't costing $30+M. Embiid, Jokic, KAT....nowhere near the Finals. Meanwhile, both teams still playing, have 6'9" centers that are the last offensive options on the team. I'd rather get 2 athletic wing/forwards, than spend that kind of money on a center.

Even one as potentially good as Ayton.
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STOMP
 
KSF-ERIC said:
Ayton was in the Finals just last year. And Brook Lopez was on the team that won the championship.
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A center was on a team that lost in the Finals.....well, that happens every year. And Brook Lopez was "on the team that won the championship"....but was maybe 6th in value on that team behind Giannis, Middleton, Jrue, Portis and Tucker.
 
STOMP said:


STOMP
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A couple things stand out.

  • The large majority of his blocks, he keeps in play and his teammates recover them. There is the occasional volleyball spike out of bounds, but mostly it leads to immediate fast-break opportunities for his team.
  • The guards at Memphis were TERRIBLE. Didn't play much PnR. Imagine him with Dame or Ant. His effectiveness and efficiency would be even higher.
  • That he can switch out and play at least decent defense on smaller players is huge in today's NBA, while still being able to recover to the rim.
  • His catch radius is insane. A lot of those lob passes were not very good (would fit in perfectly here) and yet he seems to catch errant passes effortlessly.
  • He can pass a little. Needs to execute a little better, but has the right thought process.
  • Also, the very few times he took an outside shot, it's not bad. He has okay form, good rotation and a nice release that is fairly high. Needs to obviously develop touch, consistency and tweak form a little. Needs a little more arc on his FT's and smooth out his release through his lower body.

Still very raw, as you would expect from likely the youngest player to be Drafted. He put ups his numbers at 3 years younger than say a Keegan Murray. Lots of time to develop.
 
More then a couple for me. If I'm constructing a team, my Center needs to embrace/excel at defending the paint, boards, setting picks... big man stuff. Its also important that in today's game they're athletic enough to switch onto wings and stay with a quick guard for at least a few seconds. Check check check. That Duran seems coordinated too, fantastic. I could care less about post up moves. A mid-range jumper is nice but not a must have as one non-shooter who sets great picks & plays the dunker spot can happily exist in an effective offense.

My biggest question on him is how is he as a guy? Is he a worker or entitled prima donna (Dwight Howard)? If he's the former and his medicals check out, thats someone I'd be strongly considering with the #7.

STOMP
 
I'm just not a huge fan of Nurkic. So what ever happens I'm fine with other than paying him a bunch of money and acting like he will be a huge part of this team.
 
TBpup said:
A center was on a team that lost in the Finals.....well, that happens every year. And Brook Lopez was "on the team that won the championship"....but was maybe 6th in value on that team behind Giannis, Middleton, Jrue, Portis and Tucker.
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Can’t believe you actually took the time to respond to that.
 
Nurk will always be limited by the fact that he’s a bad finisher around the rim.

For years, it’s been beyond frustrating when Dame or someone else drives to the hoop for a handoff and Nurk flubs it.

He definitely has some positive qualities (playmaking, decent but not great rim protection, etc), but I would rather save the money for other positions and just get a simple rim running big who can defend.

My vote would be Hartenstein. I’d be fine with Bamba or Smith or someone else though.
 
KSF-ERIC said:
It would be the best team Dame has ever played on, especially with Billups as coach.
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Even if that’s true, that’s not the goal. The goal is to win a chip and that team isn’t doing it, not to mention how bad that bench would be.

Keon/Winslow/GB3/Watford/BWill

YUCK.
 
Freshtown said:
Nurk will always be limited by the fact that he’s a bad finisher around the rim.

For years, it’s been beyond frustrating when Dame or someone else drives to the hoop for a handoff and Nurk flubs it.

He definitely has some positive qualities (playmaking, decent but not great rim protection, etc), but I would rather save the money for other positions and just get a simple rim running big who can defend.

My vote would be Hartenstein. I’d be fine with Bamba or Smith or someone else though.
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Nurk can be very effective if the Blazers play to his advantages and give him some help on offense. That all happened when the Blazers went on their 4-game win streak which led to Nurk having to be shut down. In his last game in Memphis, Nurk shot 12-17 and was 7-10 at the free-throw line to get a total of 32 points.
I'm not the only person who thinks it's it's a sign of very lazy or incompetent play-making when many times the Blazers used to throw Nurkic the ball out by the 3-point line and stand around watching him battle to get near the hoop . That changed when Justise Winslow arrived.
If you get him the ball at the right time where he has good position against the defense, he does have the skills and size to score efficiently and be a big problem for the opponent.
 
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blazerfan11 said:
Nurk can be very effective if the Blazers play to his advantages and give him some help on offense. That all happened when the Blazers went on their 4-game win streak which led to Nurk having to be shut down. In his last game in Memphis, Nurk shot 12-17 and was 7-10 at the free-throw line to get a total of 32 points.
I'm not the only person who thinks it's it's a sign of very lazy or incompetent play-making when many times the Blazers used to throw Nurkic the ball out by the 3-point line and stand around watching him battle to get near the hoop . That changed when Justise Winslow arrived.
If you get him the ball at the right time where he has good position against the defense, he does have the skills and size to score efficiently and be a big problem for the opponent.
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The issue is this only works if Nurk is your #2 option. Which he wouldn’t be on a championship level team.

We have years of evidence that when Nurk is #3 or #4 on the priority list, he mopes and lets guys go by him. It’s an unacceptable attitude that we bizarrely just accept for some reason.

Side note: I worry that people keep referencing our 4 game win streak as some kind of replicable thing going forward, like we unlocked some kind of formula. Maybe. But I’m not sure. It’s such a small sample. And tbh, it worries me that management might be thinking that its a key to success. It’s giving me the same vibes as when Olshey and crew looked at the small sample size of our 3 guard lineup with Norm at the end of the 21 season and concluded based on the advanced stats that it was one of the best offenses in the league.
 
Freshtown said:
The issue is this only works if Nurk is your #2 option. Which he wouldn’t be on a championship level team.

We have years of evidence that when Nurk is #3 or #4 on the priority list, he mopes and lets guys go by him. It’s an unacceptable attitude that we bizarrely just accept for some reason.

Side note: I worry that people keep referencing our 4 game win streak as some kind of replicable thing going forward, like we unlocked some kind of formula. Maybe. But I’m not sure. It’s such a small sample. And tbh, it worries me that management might be thinking that its a key to success. It’s giving me the same vibes as when Olshey and crew looked at the small sample size of our 3 guard lineup with Norm at the end of the 21 season and concluded based on the advanced stats that it was one of the best offenses in the league.
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Yep, Nurk is what Nurk is. Pouts when things don't go his way and is Charmin soft.
 
I feel there are too many memories of Nurkic with Stotts as coach.
Since Chauncey has arrived, Nurk is not pouting. In fact, I remember a game last year where Nurk came out of the game and gave Coach Billups a big ol' bear hug on the sidelines! (he was later talked to about that and Coach told him not to do that!)...
Point is, Nurk is happy.
When he is happy, and healthy, I am of the belief he can be borderline unstoppable. I've/we've seen it, just not enough.
I look for that to be more consistent going forward, because of the time with Coach, and the infusion of new attitude on the team.
In fact, Nurk has the potential to actually be this teams #2 on occasion.
Going into last season, I was pretty much done with him, but I have seen enough to be back on the Beastmobile.
 
I am very mixed on Nurk cause I still think he can be a good center but he is a little bit of a head case in terms of attitude and such. I am not going to sit here and say I want Nurk to stay or go cause I really am on the fence when it comes to him so I can see the Blazers reasons IF they end up re-signing him OR let him go.

IF you had to press me on what happens with Nurk my answer is --- GONE but it is a close call

I think this whole twitter thing is a way to prepare fans of what he might be hearing without out right saying it.
 
at the end of the day, it boils down to two things for me.

1. role -- he has to be kept involved in the offense and our guards have to keep him engaged, while billups runs him some sets. he can be an elite defender and compensate for so many mistakes from his teammates, but the energy on that end wanes when he is just running around setting screens and not much else on offense.

2. $ -- if he's getting paid anything more than 15-17 mil with his proclivity to get hurt (however freakish his injuries are), this will be untenable. and we need his contract to be somewhat tradeable. we saw the nonsense that Cronin spouted about Powell's deal apparently not having value in the market while we all thought the $95 mil deal was actually reasonable. this is a key point that we can't make a mistake on again.
 
blazerkor said:
That's way too much considering that if we want Ayton really bad that we can let Nurk and Hart walk, keep Ant and just sign Ayton because they already said they wouldn't match a max contract. I do think we could get Ayton in a sign and trade that has Hart and Nurk outgoing but I think it's pretty complicated with the BYC situation. So unless we're letting Hart walk and only sending over Nurk and a future pick, I don't think the deal gets done. That wouldn't make much sense though, it would be better to just keep the pick, let Nurk and Hart walk and sign Ayton outright before we sign Ant.
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I would have no problem doing Nurkic and a future first for Ayton.
 
Mediocre Man said:
Phoenix would though
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Phoenix would laugh and hang up, not answer any other calls from the Blazers and call other teams to crack shit at the offer.
 
Nurk can be better, and let's hope he really brings it next season.
 
How do you know they would laugh ? Ya sure it would prolly take al ittle more but tired of fans ( me included at times ) acting like they just know when in reality we only know a sliver of what experts do. Also

The reason Ayton MIGHT be available to begin with is because the Suns seem not to see him as a max player and they are around him 24/7 during the season for all purposes.
 
Nurk is a mental midget - rarely does he give 100%

He’s turned into Brook Lopez without the outside shot.
 
Ripcity4life77 said:
How do you know they would laugh ? Ya sure it would prolly take al ittle more but tired of fans ( me included at times ) acting like they just know when in reality we only know a sliver of what experts do. Also

The reason Ayton MIGHT be available to begin with is because the Suns seem not to see him as a max player and they are around him 24/7 during the season for all purposes.
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They would laugh because if they want to deal Ayton, they'll be able to get much better than Nurkic in exchange. I don't doubt that they want to move off of him, but not for Nurk.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
They would laugh because if they want to deal Ayton, they'll be able to get much better than Nurkic in exchange. I don't doubt that they want to move off of him, but not for Nurk.
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Better deals? Very likely. A better available center replacement? Not quite as easy. Jokic, Embiid and KAT aren't available. Gobert is, but his salary, puts them right back in the Lux Tax hell they are trying to avoid.

Nurk is only 3 slots back of Ayton in this ranking. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/ranking-top-centers-nba-2021-22/22z5qthyxx5d16dalickvrk0m
 
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