Phoenix expected to make drastic change by removing Bradley Beal, Jusuf Nurkic from starting lineup

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perkinsfor3

perkinsfor3

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We wasted so many years of Dame Lillard’s prime by relying on Nurk as a starting center. Nurk has been a liability more often than not. He’s inconsistent, injury-prone, and can’t defend in space, a nightmare in today’s NBA. His turnovers in key moments and lack of offensive versatility always seemed to come back to bite the team when it mattered most.

While Dame was putting up MVP-caliber numbers and dragging us to the playoffs year after year, the front office stuck with Nurk like he was irreplaceable. It’s honestly frustrating to think about what could’ve been if the Blazers had invested in a more reliable center earlier. Dame deserved better.

At least the Suns needed only 99 games to come to their senses.

Then again, it's probably Plumlee replacing him, and we've been there as well.
 
Well, in the blazers defense, Nurk is completely gassed now and he wasn't when he played in Portland.

Trading for Beal, tho, was monumentally stupid by the Suns. That team went from going to the finals to mediocre awful damn quick because they had no patience and had to make changes.
 
julius said:
Well, in the blazers defense, Nurk is completely gassed now and he wasn't when he played in Portland.

Trading for Beal, tho, was monumentally stupid by the Suns. That team went from going to the finals to mediocre awful damn quick because they had no patience and had to make changes.
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Beal trade was bad, but I'd argue the Durant deal was worse. They lost all their depth, athleticism, youth, defense, salary flexibility, and draft picks. Haven't seen Durant team contend since he was being carried by Curry. Guy has talent for sure but he's a shell of the old dominant MVP player.

Nurk was not a good starting center going back to when Cronin signed him. Mistake by Cronin to pay him so much. He's great as a backup or temporary starter though. I'd much prefer to have Nurk today over Ayton. Although it's a bit like arguing if it's better to die freezing to death or burning.
 
SharpesTriumph said:
Beal trade was bad, but I'd argue the Durant deal was worse. They lost all their depth, athleticism, youth, defense, salary flexibility, and draft picks.

Nurk was not a good starting center going back to when Cronin signed him. Mistake by Cronin to pay him so much. He's great as a backup or temporary starter though. I'd much prefer to have Nurk today over Ayton.
Click to expand...

Completely agree about the Durant trade. They mortgaged their future, and are completely hosed in the draft for the next like 5 years.
 
SharpesTriumph said:
Beal trade was bad, but I'd argue the Durant deal was worse. They lost all their depth, athleticism, youth, defense, salary flexibility, and draft picks. Haven't seen Durant team contend since he was being carried by Curry. Guy has talent for sure but he's a shell of the old dominant MVP player.

Nurk was not a good starting center going back to when Cronin signed him. Mistake by Cronin to pay him so much. He's great as a backup or temporary starter though. I'd much prefer to have Nurk today over Ayton. Although it's a bit like arguing if it's better to die freezing to death or burning.
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Dame and Stotts got a lot of not very good players paid.
 
perkinsfor3 said:


We wasted so many years of Dame Lillard’s prime by relying on Nurk as a starting center. Nurk has been a liability more often than not. He’s inconsistent, injury-prone, and can’t defend in space, a nightmare in today’s NBA. His turnovers in key moments and lack of offensive versatility always seemed to come back to bite the team when it mattered most.

While Dame was putting up MVP-caliber numbers and dragging us to the playoffs year after year, the front office stuck with Nurk like he was irreplaceable. It’s honestly frustrating to think about what could’ve been if the Blazers had invested in a more reliable center earlier. Dame deserved better.

At least the Suns needed only 99 games to come to their senses.

Then again, it's probably Plumlee replacing him, and we've been there as well.
Click to expand...

Didn’t we just draft a guy like that
 
SharpesTriumph said:
Nurk was not a good starting center going back to when Cronin signed him. Mistake by Cronin to pay him so much. He's great as a backup or temporary starter though. I'd much prefer to have Nurk today over Ayton. Although it's a bit like arguing if it's better to die freezing to death or burning.
Click to expand...

I'd take freezing. It would remind me of my dating life in college.

Nurk has been made a giant scapegoat for the massive dysfunction and roster miscalculations in Phoenix. They are misusing him and parking him way too often out at the 3 point line, and he's simply not effective that far from the hoop. Nurk's career 3PT attempt rate is .077. This season it's .361. His career shot distance is 6.2 feet; this season it's 12.0 feet. That's fucking idiotic coaching. As expected with his new floor positions, his offensive rebounding rate is at a career low, basically confirming the idiotic coaching because he obviously hasn't lost his rebounding ability considering his defensive reb rate is at a career high and he ranks 2nd in the NBA; he also ranks 4th in total rebound rate

and I agree....I'd rather have Nurkic than Ayton. Nurkic's salary would make him easier to offload. Of course, personally, Ayton is just about the last NBA C that I want to see in a Blazer uniform
 
wizenheimer said:
it's a fucking idiotic list. Beal makes 50.2M this season and over 55M/year over the next 2 seasons. He has the worst contract in the league. Who is going to trade for that considering the Suns don't appear to have an available 1st till 2030?
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Yeah they couldn't even trade that 2030 pick because the 2029 pick is already owed without one returning. So I'm pretty sure Stepien would prevent them from sending out 2030 in any deals but 2031 would be available.

I don't think attaching an unprotected 2031 FRP will be enough for them to get away from that very toxic contract but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
 
julius said:
Well, in the blazers defense, Nurk is completely gassed now and he wasn't when he played in Portland.

Trading for Beal, tho, was monumentally stupid by the Suns. That team went from going to the finals to mediocre awful damn quick because they had no patience and had to make changes.
Click to expand...

They were so better before trading for Durant and co.
 
Chris Craig said:
We should not be on that list.

We going to help them by trading Grant for Beal? Hell no!
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Lazy research. Shocking right?

My guess is they looked at teams who had a salary or two that would match and listed them
Detroit has a ton of cap space, plus a couple of possible contracts, but they don't make sense either. Actually, no one makes sense.
 
julius said:
Well, in the blazers defense, Nurk is completely gassed now and he wasn't when he played in Portland.

Trading for Beal, tho, was monumentally stupid by the Suns. That team went from going to the finals to mediocre awful damn quick because they had no patience and had to make changes.
Click to expand...

I’m not getting gaslit anymore today lol. Nurk most definitely was gassed many a night in Portland over his tenure.
 
perkinsfor3 said:


We wasted so many years of Dame Lillard’s prime by relying on Nurk as a starting center. Nurk has been a liability more often than not. He’s inconsistent, injury-prone, and can’t defend in space, a nightmare in today’s NBA. His turnovers in key moments and lack of offensive versatility always seemed to come back to bite the team when it mattered most.

While Dame was putting up MVP-caliber numbers and dragging us to the playoffs year after year, the front office stuck with Nurk like he was irreplaceable. It’s honestly frustrating to think about what could’ve been if the Blazers had invested in a more reliable center earlier. Dame deserved better.

At least the Suns needed only 99 games to come to their senses.

Then again, it's probably Plumlee replacing him, and we've been there as well.
Click to expand...

Our Nurk was better than Phoenix Nurk. Nurk put up amazing stat lines for us. The first 20/20 5x5 ever. Nurk Fever was real and the Dame/Nurk two man game was very effective. His problem was injuries which weren’t his fault.
 
A full NTC in a league with a salary cap is the worst contract in pro sports, not just the NBA.

Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein is the father of Phoenix Suns President Josh Bartelstein. So Phoenix knew long before the sale of the team was approved that Beal was coming. They also knew the CBA was coming for over a year in advance.

Ishbia bought the Suns in December 2022 and the collective bargaining agreement was approved on June 28, 2023 – 4 days after the Suns traded for Bradley Beal (though initial agreement on the terms was reached on April 1).

Beal's agent Bartelstein had him waive the NTC to Phoenix. Memphis could have gotten around the NTC easily for Beal. Beal wouldn't have had to lose that money if he'd gone to Memphis, but his agent steered him to the agent's son in Phoenix.

source: the comments after
https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2025/01/beals-agent-waiving-no-trade-clause-not-being-discussed.html
 
jlprk said:
A full NTC in a league with a salary cap is the worst contract in pro sports, not just the NBA.

Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein is the father of Phoenix Suns President Josh Bartelstein. So Phoenix knew long before the sale of the team was approved that Beal was coming. They also knew the CBA was coming for over a year in advance.

Ishbia bought the Suns in December 2022 and the collective bargaining agreement was approved on June 28, 2023 – 4 days after the Suns traded for Bradley Beal (though initial agreement on the terms was reached on April 1).

Beal's agent Bartelstein had him waive the NTC to Phoenix. Memphis could have gotten around the NTC easily for Beal. Beal wouldn't have had to lose that money if he'd gone to Memphis, but his agent steered him to the agent's son in Phoenix.

source: the comments after
https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2025/01/beals-agent-waiving-no-trade-clause-not-being-discussed.html
Click to expand...

how is that allowed? Hilarious. Zero sympathy for PHX.
 
HailBlazers said:
Wild. I still cant believe they traded for him. Is there a worse contract in the NBA?
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Nope.
Not particularly close either.

Basically you have a Simons level talent making over 2x what Ant is earning.
 
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