The Trail Blazers are set for the next few years with their team. They are going to need quite a few guys to step up. If they can count on Nurkic to become a great player to go with the greatness of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum they might be able to contend for a playoff spot. They need Nurkic's skill set and ability to score in the post for them. Any player that can take attention from Lillard and McCollum is good. This is a very big season for Nurkic. If he turns out to be a 20 game wonder for the Blazers, they are in trouble. The track record of his time in Denver is not great. He showed glimpses in Denver, but there was always talk of poor conditioning for him and when the Nuggets decided to go with Nikola Jokic as the starter, Nurkic did not do much off the bench. These concerns may turn out to be minor footnotes as he becomes a bright young star for the Blazers, but it is not a certainty that he can keep up this type of play. The Blazers really need him.
The Portland Trail Blazers are in a tough spot. The rest of the Western Conference seemed to get better and add pieces while they got rid of Allen Crabbe in a salary dump. They are bringing back the same team from last year without their top bench player in Crabbe. That team finished 41-41 making the playoffs as the 8th seed that did not do well against the Warriors. Despite all of this, the Trail Blazers have some optimism in the form of Jusuf Nurkic. They acquired Nurkic on February 13th and in the 20 games that he played for them, they went 14-6 looking like a team that had found something they had been lacking. Nurkic played the best basketball of his career in those 20 games for the Blazers and there is worry that he might not be able to keep that up for a whole season. His 20 games averages were 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists per game. He shot over 50% from the field and unleashed the ability to make plays for others that he did not really show in his time with the Nuggets. In almost 2500 minutes in Denver he had 150 assists compared to 63 in 500 minutes with the Trail Blazers. Needless to say, the Nuggets must've been confused when they saw Nurkic play with Portland wondering where this guy had been for them. It is very difficult to get an idea of what to expect from Nurkic this season. It is a huge year for him in terms of contract negotiations. If he gets an extension before the start of the season then the Blazers can lock him up, but if they allow him to play out his current contract, he will become a restricted free agent next season. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
The Trail Blazers are set for the next few years with their team. They are going to need quite a few guys to step up. If they can count on Nurkic to become a great player to go with the greatness of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum they might be able to contend for a playoff spot. They need Nurkic's skill set and ability to score in the post for them. Any player that can take attention from Lillard and McCollum is good. This is a very big season for Nurkic. If he turns out to be a 20 game wonder for the Blazers, they are in trouble. The track record of his time in Denver is not great. He showed glimpses in Denver, but there was always talk of poor conditioning for him and when the Nuggets decided to go with Nikola Jokic as the starter, Nurkic did not do much off the bench. These concerns may turn out to be minor footnotes as he becomes a bright young star for the Blazers, but it is not a certainty that he can keep up this type of play. The Blazers really need him.
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AuthorDennis Dow Archives
October 2017
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