The Pro Nurk thread

[LayneStaley]

Expecting a guy that has shown you he is very inconsistent year after year to all of sudden become consistent is just as dumb as rolling with two 6’3 guards year after year expecting it to work this time. Next.

 

[LayneStaley]

If CJ gets moved there will be salary coming back, so the only way to have this money is if you have expiring coming back.

Again, how much are you willing to pay him? Portland would have been great if it was paying.cj.what it is paying Norm. If you replace overpaying CJ with overpaying Nurk, what have you done?

Norm money is fair for Nurk, now, does he accept it?

We shouldn’t even make him an offer, unload him at the deadline for a late 1 hopefully.

 

[Tince]

Norm money

I'd be surprised if he gets that much from any of the NBA teams.

 

[Mr. Robot]

Norm money is fair for Nurk, now, does he accept it?

my opinion is that norm money (18 per year, that would be 4/72) would be the lowest offer he would accept, but he & klutch will surely go after 20-25 per year and probably would sign for anything in between

in last 10 games, hes averaging 17/9/3 on 11 shot attempts and 59% field goal percentage and if you give him couple more shots, youre looking at 18/10/3 type of center (hed be 20/10 center easily, if he could finish better at the rim)

of course, if theres no market for him, he might accept 4/60 even less or bet on himself and sign a 1 year contract in order to get a better contract next summer

 

[riverman]

If CJ gets moved there will be salary coming back, so the only way to have this money is if you have expiring coming back.

Again, how much are you willing to pay him? Portland would have been great if it was paying.cj.what it is paying Norm. If you replace overpaying CJ with overpaying Nurk, what have you done?

Norm money is fair for Nurk, now, does he accept it?

I think Nurk will opt for security given he's had a leg fall off once and we fixed it for him...he's not an iron man and he got paid on our cap to heal ...Dame is his friend and hero..if Dame has his ear he'll take Norm money and if he's smart he'll take a long deal.

 

[riverman]

I'd be surprised if he gets that much from any of the NBA teams.

Lakers would pay into luxury tax to have him...they have a billion dollar tv deal for luxury tax dips. Pelicans and Hornets and Celtics would take Nurk in a hot minute

 

[Tince]

Lakers would pay into luxury tax to have him...they have a billion dollar tv deal for luxury tax dips. Pelicans and Hornets and Celtics would take Nurk in a hot minute

How would the Lakers give him $20m a year? Assuming they would have to trade for him this season to obtain their bird rights. Hard for me to come up with a trade both teams would agree on.

If there were no such thing as a salary cap, I think $20m would be more plausable for Nurk. Either Portland gives him $20m, a team with cap space uses a big chunk or all of theirs on him, or a team trades for him now to obtain his bird-rights. Finding any of those scenarios seem difficult to me.

 

[andalusian]

20m/year would make him the 6th or 7th highest paid center in the league, that's an overpay

 

[riverman]

How would the Lakers give him $20m a year? Assuming they would have to trade for him this season to obtain their bird rights. Hard for me to come up with a trade both teams would agree on.

If there were no such thing as a salary cap, I think $20m would be more plausable for Nurk.

I'm talking if he walked in free agency or it was a deal clutch worked out for him....Lakers don't have trade pieces but they have buttloads of money and don't give a shit about the luxury tax from what I've seen. Somebody said nobody would pay Nurk Norm money and I said...Lakers would and they would.

 

[SlyPokerCat]

I don't think Nurk gets much more than 10 million a year.

And tbh. I don't know I would pay him considerably more than that.

If Quick is right, move his ass for something sooner rather than later.

 

[Mr. Robot]

Lakers would pay into luxury tax to have him...they have a billion dollar tv deal for luxury tax dips. Pelicans and Hornets and Celtics would take Nurk in a hot minute

clippers, bucks & mavs too and of course non playoff teams

whether all these teams can pull it off, thats whole other topic, but they do need a good center

 

[Tince]

I'm talking if he walked in free agency or it was a deal clutch worked out for him....Lakers don't have trade pieces but they have buttloads of money and don't give a shit about the luxury tax from what I've seen. Somebody said nobody would pay Nurk Norm money and I said...Lakers would and they would.

I think the point is that the Lakers are highly unlikely to be in a situation where they could. To say someone would do something they can't do doesn't mean much.

I would be willing to bet Nurk isn't making $20m next year. If 5 teams think he's worth that, taking the other side of that bet would be smart because it only takes one team to actually be willing to pay him that much.

 

[Tince]

clippers, bucks & mavs too and of course non playoff teams

whether all these teams can pull it off, thats whole other topic, but they do need a good center

Got any trade ideas we could make with either of the 3 teams that both sides would do so they could obtain Nurks bird rights and he could get his big deal? I took a quick glance, but nothing jumped out at me.

 

[riverman]

I think the point is that the Lakers are highly unlikely to be in a situation where they could. To say someone would do something they can't do doesn't mean much.

I would be willing to bet Nurk isn't making $20m next year. If 5 teams think he's worth that, taking the other side of that bet would be smart because it only takes one team to actually be willing to pay him that much.

They couldn't afford Westbrook but they got him....that organization is real loose with money

 

[Cugel]

Bam, Gobert, Ayton, Capela, Allen, Mobly, Embiid, Vuc, Jokic, Holmes, KAT, Turner (and Sabonis, but not technically a center), and Jonas Val are all more valuable than Nurk at the moment.

Comparison: McGee averages 15 min and gives you 10 and 7 for 5 mil/year. IMHO Nurk's next contract will be like 5 mil/year.
Al Horford is just on a brutal contract for Boston for what he delivers. Talk about paying CJ a lot...

Nurk is a good passer (at times a brilliant one, smh kind of passes) and defender, and can usually score when iso on a smaller guy. He is good at exploiting a weak defender but if help comes, he is frequently stripped of the ball. He's also slow, injury prone, weak finisher for his size (compare how he finishes to someone like Zion---godlike), no jumpshot, terrible ball handling, he should NEVER dribble. period.

 

[Mr. Robot]

Got any trade ideas we could make with either of the 3 teams that both sides would do so they could obtain Nurks bird rights and he could get his big deal? I took a quick glance, but nothing jumped out at me.

im really no into "gm" thing, but clippers could send zubac to portland and i dont know if they would need to add more salary, but zubac would work in portland as a role player and hes cheap

clippers get better player in nurk, blazers get a player who would be happy with his role and would earn less money than nurk, maybe a lot less, depending on nurks next contract

im not sure doncic & porzingis work, it seems like nurk would be better fit with doncic, sometimes fit matter more than quality itself and im not even sure porzingis is better player than nurk right know and even if he is, its by a small margin

 

[LayneStaley]

I’d rather have Zubac than Nurk. Consistent high effort role player who isn’t under the illusion he’s a star or who gets intimidated by smaller players.

 

[ehizzy3]

Expecting a guy that has shown you he is very inconsistent year after year to all of sudden become consistent is just as dumb as rolling with two 6’3 guards year after year expecting it to work this time. Next.

this is my thing about Nurk.

Dude is not reliable (partly not his fault) due to injuries and stupid fouls. Hopefully I’ll never have to see Nurk foul out of a playoff game, with 4 of the 6 fouls being dumb and needless. I can’t take it anymore.

 

[Mr. Robot]

hassan whiteside averaged 15/13 in portland and got minimum contract

andre drummond too, sometimes numbers dont mean literally nothing

nurk is not that type of player, nurk can actually make an impact and thats why he wont get less money that hes earning right now, let alone get a minimum contact

 

[Tince]

They couldn't afford Westbrook but they got him....that organization is real loose with money

If we can get a Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, and a 1st for Nurk, I would be happy to do so.

Looking at the Lakers contracts, they don't have a lot of offer for Nurk. THT, fillers, and a 1st is the most likely scenario. I don't see the Lakers willing to give up that much.

 

[Tince]

im really no into "gm" thing, but clippers could send zubac to portland and i dont know if they would need to add more salary, but zubac would work in portland as a role player and hes cheap

clippers get better player in nurk, blazers get a player who would be happy with his role and would earn less money than nurk, maybe a lot less, depending on nurks next contract

im not sure doncic & porzingis work, it seems like nurk would be better fit with doncic, sometimes fit matter more than quality itself and im not even sure porzingis is better player than nurk right know and even if he is, its by a small margin

Clippers would have to add more salary along with Zubac I believe. If the Clippers wanted to do that deal, I would do it.

 

[riverman]

If we can get a Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, and a 1st for Nurk, I would be happy to do so.

Looking at the Lakers contracts, they don't have a lot of offer for Nurk. THT, fillers, and a 1st is the most likely scenario. I don't see the Lakers willing to give up that much.

They're not trading with us ....if we move Nurk and Roco at the deadline I'd guess it would be the Pacers or Hawks

 

[Fairly-Hard]

Here's an idea? Let's see what other teams offer him and make a decision from that? That always works out great!

 

[wizenheimer]

Jokic, Embiid, Townes, Davis, Rudy & Bam (thats 6) are all decidedly better statistically this year and in real life. Several others are at least on the same level statistically and I'd take Ayton over him 8 days a week in actual play as he's much better switching on D.

Being a homer is sort of cute though.

STOMP

Sabonis is better. Christian Wood and Jarrett Allen are young guys with lots of upside. I'd prefer Myles Turner to Nurkic as well

 

[Tince]

They're not trading with us ....if we move Nurk and Roco at the deadline I'd guess it would be the Pacers or Hawks

You think either of those teams would give him $20m/year? I'm guessing you can see my point of how narrow of a path he has to getting that type of money. Not that it's impossible, just complicated.

 

[Tince]

Here's an idea? Let's see what other teams offer him and make a decision from that? That always works out great!

Hard to imagine the handful of teams with cap space will want to burn a big chunk of it on Nurk. After that, we're competing with teams who can only over the MLE.

 

[Minstrel]

in last 10 games, hes averaging 17/9/3 on 11 shot attempts and 59% field goal percentage and if you give him couple more shots, youre looking at 18/10/3 type of center

Gliding past the logic of "if you give him another couple of shots, he gets an extra rebound" (is it a rebound of his own miss?), how is 17/9/3 (in a 10-game sample no less) supposed to be so remarkable that Portland or some other team should pay a ton for it? 17/9/3 is solid for a complimentary player. If it came with durability, a good three-point shot and versatility on the defensive end, I could understand his price being high. But secondary scoring, solid rebounding and slow-footed rim protection does not write your own ticket in the NBA today.

 

[tiredhunter]

Hard to imagine the handful of teams with cap space will want to burn a big chunk of it on Nurk. After that, we're competing with teams who can only over the MLE.

Assuming they get under the cap this year, I'd also contend using bird-rights to go over the MLE into the cap (say 12-15M) for him as he has played so far this year is reasonable. Structure it as a 3 year deal with a player option, gives him another shot for the big one, provides stability through Dame, and possibly moveable. Biggest concern would be if he takes his chances on a couple of 1 year deals to try for a big payday. Probably a gamble he would regret, but I can see him betting on himself.

[Edit: To clarify, he isn't sacrosanct, and if you can upgrade, you entertain it, but I don't think he is in "fire sale before free agency" territory either]

 

[tykendo]

Nurk is playing better of late. But Circus Nurk, and all the non sensical flip shots has to go. He needs to Dunk the Damn ball. He's letting smaller players alter his shots too easily. He's 6-11, but plays like he's 5-8 too often. Plus his blocks are down. I love Nurk, but question whether he can change these frustrating traits. I don't see him getting more than 10 to 15 mil. on the high side if he doesn't improve. I really love Nurk, but he's a bit of an enigma. He missed 6 point blank shots against the Warriors. That can't happen , especially to an undersized team. Those misses were game changers, in a game devoid of all but one of our best shooters.

 

[mook]

Nurk would be widely considered a top 5 center if it wasn't for one key issue: availability.



Over his career, the majority of the game he's sitting on the bench. A number of the seasons, he's missing a lot of games to injury.

He's basically Arvydas Sabonis Lite -- a really good center for the minutes you get him, when you can get him. I loved Sabas, but he wasn't a guy we could build around for the same reason you can't build around Nurk. (And Sabas was a far superior center to Nurk.) Your best paid players need to be on the court for 30-35 minutes/night, most nights and in the playoffs.

And as for the playoffs:


That's all the action he's ever seen in the playoffs. Those are decent stats, but he's helped us win 3 playoff games in 6 seasons here. He's never been out of the first round. We had far more success with Enes Kanter Freedom as our starting center, winning 8 games in one season. Here are Kanter's numbers by comparison:


Now obviously Nurk is a better center. I'm just pointing out that there's at least as much body of evidence that Kanter is likely to help you win a playoff series as Nurk.

I'd like to re-sign him to a reasonable deal, but I suspect my idea of reasonable isn't anywhere close to his.