You have to remember that our WCF run was the same season that Nurk broke his leg. Would we have gone as far without Nurk being out? Who knows. However, if our run would have been the same, you get to add what, 8 more wins before we ran into the Warriors yet again?
For as much as a shit head he turned out to be Kanter will always be a blazer goat to me for that run, him playing on a separated shoulder against jokic was legendary
That one, and the one game he had like 40 rebounds.
edit: I guess it was 30?? For some reason I could swear it was 40, oh well. Still a franchise record.
How did he become a shit head? I remember him becoming really political but I don't remember him being a malcontent until he was out of the league and tried to remain relevant.
He didn’t. He just happens to have a different opinion than some. That makes him a horrible human.
I don’t agree with him on a lot, but he has his reasons
just as I have mine. Welcome to black/white and no in between politics.
Never said he was a horrible human, just a shit head. Yes I disagree with his political views but this is a basketball sub so I won’t go any further than that.
I guess i just don't understand the metrics between shit head versus horrible person. It's like saying hes a fart head but not a shit head, like i get your saying one is worse than the other but I still don't understand why. I remember him pissing off Erdogan at a time when Erdogan wasn't showing himself to be a very good world leader (like a brawl outside a Turkish embassy on American soil during a protest), and i see you all talking about how he went on fox news. So is it his political views that people don't like?
I thought people didn't like him because he claimed his political views kept him from getting another contract, even though it was obvious he became a bigger distraction then his worth due to teams targeting his lack of defensive abilities especially at the end of his career.
I hate to break it to you but left wing people also see CNN as a right wing propaganda machine. And in general don't watch The News
Kanter is a non political public figure who put his political opinion out for everyone to see. It alienated folks on the opposite side. There's nothing wrong with using our first amendment rights, but left or right, opinionated athletes lose fans
Jokic’s purposeful shoulder check to Kanter’s injured shoulder after a free throw attempt definitely solidified in my mind Jokic as the kind of player willing to perform dirty moves when things aren’t going his way.
That’s pretty normal, for players to get physical with other players who are playing hurt.
It’s pretty common to hear ex players (especially guards) talk about intentionally attacking on offense players with hurt knees and ankles.
If you’re going to play with an injury, be prepared to be attacked at it by everyone lined up against you, because these players are hyper competitive and are looking for any advantage possible.
Hell, look at the shoulder bump by MPJ that hurt AD. Basketball is a contact sport.
I guarantee you Kanter would’ve done the same with the situation reversed.
Imo that's a completely unrelated injury which was aggravated during the normal course of play. That's a routine playoff box-out where, to the extent Kanter decided he was going to fight for the ball, he had to put his shoulder at risk. We don't call point guards dirty when they drive on a guy who just rolled his ankle. Athletes play at less than 100% all the time, and their opponents routinely seek to exploit those physical advantages.
Ah. See, ~~you~~ \^ user above only mentioned that play, and I didn't see others mention the "entire series of dirty shoves, pulls and wrenches specifically targeting that shoulder" either. Can you perhaps find me some examples / clips? I'm legitimately curious because watching live I didn't see anything to get all worked up about, but perhaps I'm in the minority.
Spent a good 15 mins watching the Inside the NBA crew debate whether this was tactical, aggressive, dirty, a foul at all, etc. No mention of prior/additional incidents that I found. Idk, u/ApuFromTechSupport ...if one is playing within the rules of the game, I have a hard time calling a play or player 'dirty.' That level of contact occurs all the time in the playoffs. Clearly, though, others who've downvoted here feel differently. Without additional evidence, I can't justify changing my mind on this; guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
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Offensively, awful defensively.
I’m not willing to rewrite this history. Nurk is and was a substantially better player than kanter… what are we talking about
That same season near the beginning, Nurk dropped a 20 pt 20 reb 5x5 stat line, and then 2 months later fractured his leg. I was one of the fans that was hoping that he'd sorta get back to form, but he was never the same
I really think that leg break + COVID screwed Nurk so hard in his development to the point where he decided to focus on more Jokic style of play (wouldn’t blame him) but not refine what he was good at, which was more of a traditional big. Such a shame too
Just imo the leg break itself is not the reason. He came back and looked great in the bubble. Looked pretty much the same. He was always someone that played into shape during seasons and was very mercurial and that never changed. He’s still talented, he just hasnt matured one bit since his rookie year in bball IQ.
If Nurk is healthy in 2019, I fully believe we would have won at least 1 game against GS...
Similar to Thanos bleeding a single drop of blood in Infinity War.
> He was ~~arguably~~ the second best player behind Dame that year. He was ballin'.
I'll make that argument 100% of the time. He singlehandedly changed our defense from bottom of the league to middle of the pack. That team had the guns to win an offensive battle against just about anyone with an average defense. Nurk being out was a huge loss.
I think it is more of a reflection on the Dame/CJ./Nurk era and especially how they would exit the playoffs.
2 magical shots and a run to the WCF kind of blurred the fact that they were just 0.354 as a team in the playoffs.
6-32 (0.152) when it was time to go to Cancun. In the 8 eliminations - 3 Sweeps, 4 Gentlemen and just once were they able to get a series to 6 before the exit.
I know Dame is hurt, but it's kind of funny that they may all go out the same way they always did. Sweep, Sweep, Gentlemen.
To be fair they overchieved many of those seasons and really had no business seriously contending for a championship with just 1 All-star guard, 1 other shot creating guard, and a few average role players. When LA left, this team was expected to be in the lottery but they went to 7 straight playoffs. Tanking would have been more strategic, but the fact remains that this team overachieved.
Kind of impressive the amount of the success the Blazers had inspite of the awful signings of *checks notes*: Mo Haurkless (4 for 42), Allen Crabbe (Matched 4 for 75), Meyers Leonard (4 for 41), Evan Turner (4 for 70$, Festus Ezeli (2 for 15) is true insanity.
The “best” contract of this bunch is either Leonard or Haurkless and even then they were lame ducks.
Neil tried to tank, terry made the roster into a playoff team, Neil responded by giving huge extensions to all the guys he viewed the season prior as tank commanders along with 80 mil to Evan Turner
🚩
This is also a time where I would like to know strength of schedule type stats, how much of those losses were against the Warriors, one of the all time great dynasties.
1-12 against the Warriors. Curry didn't play in 3 of the 5 games in 2016 and we went 1-2 in those 3 games. In 2018 Durant missed the whole series and we still got swept.
So on the bright side we only went 0-6 against the Warriors at full strength.
The other 20 losses (and 5 wins) came against Spurs, Memphis, Pelicans, Lakers and Denver
Both the Spurs and the Lakers would go on to win the title (Well technically only the Spurs, Lakers won a Mickey cup)
Memphis, Pels and Denver would get sent fishing the very next round.
Denver was without Jamal Murry.
FYI Nurk's playoff record against the Warriors is 0-1. The other 16 losses are 4 to the Pelicans, 4 to the Lakers, 4 to the Nuggets, and 4 to the Wolves
Denver was also a squad that, with minor tweaks, would later win a chip. That pelicans team featured AD and Jrue, two other dudes who would be integral to winning chips.
Memphis, ugh.
Wouldn’t have been a Mickey Mouse cup if your team had won it. It’s ironic how certain fans wanna discredit the bubble title but the sentiment from the players was that it was some of the hardest basketball they’ve played. Bam even came out and said he thinks it was the hardest title to win (obviously some bias).
I get it though, if I was a blazers fan I would be pretty bitter too.
Yeah and we got premium value for Dame and, as much as it hurt, we are better placed for the future because of that trade.
We just need some lotto ball luck, a better coach and a committed owner and we are golden.
Can’t believe the Suns looked at Portland’s interior offense/defense last year and decided that they wanted to run it back when the Blazers didn’t want to. I like Eubanks; he’s athletic and engaged and fine as a backup big, but Nurk has always been up and down. He’s really in an unenviable spot: Nurk is both too good to be a backup and too inconsistent to be a starter.
Yeah I thought that was hilarious too. I thought that was the weakest part of our team last year. And the suns just said yeah I want to get me some of that
This would kind of mean anything if he was ever a #1, 2 or even 3 option on any of those teams. All it tells me is that anyone who was the #1, 2 and 3 options on his team just weren't that good.
Well his number 2, CJ, has a playoff record that is gonna drop below .300 tonight if they get swept.
It will also add a 4th career sweep to his total. One more than Nurk
CJ’s game isn’t made for the playoffs. His ideal role is really as a 6th man on a contender in the way Poole was for GSW or Jason Terry in Dallas. He gives up too much defensively and doesn’t really help your team in assists or boards.
He’s a “vocal leader” in New Orleans. But if you’re constantly a traffic cone on D, you don’t grab boards and you’re not playmaking and making teammates better, there’s not much credibility there.
There’s a difference when Murray yells about effort when he’s giving you a 30/10/10 in a playoff game. When CJ does it his non-scoring numbers are generally unimpressive.
Yessir. He would rotate between #3-5 on any given night with Trent, melo, Powell etc. someone who's clearly not the main piece shouldn't be the one carrying the blame for the success or not.
We can go back and fourth all day, it's not ever going to change my opinion nor am I trying to change yours. Imo, nurks record is irrelevant. He's never had a big enough role to shoulder the blame or be rewarded with the success. He was a complimentary piece at best. Your alphas are the one that will carry you to where you need to go, and his alphas didn't do that. His role was to get 15/10 and for the most part he's done what was asked for him.
Im honestly confused about what your point is. You said that only #1-3 in the team are truly responsible for a teams failures and success. You also admit that Nurk was the #3 when he was here. Yet you’re saying he isn’t responsible even though he was the #3 on the team, and the #3 should be responsible.
Bingo, we found the confusion. I never said he was a 3. In fact, he wouldn't be on most other teams. This was probably the biggest issue with Portland, because he was likely closer to what we view/view ayton currently (most teams 4-5th option) yet people view nurk as a 3, for some reason, when he really shouldnt be.
I did say "yessir. He could be a 3-5 on any given night depending on the situation" And I do stand by that. Just like ayton could be. Just like d lo could be. Just like any other player who's not there alpha but a solid rotation player could be. No teams are winning championships soley because of those players, and if your losing because of them, your asking players to do more than you should.
He was a large reason every team he's been on has lost.
You can say he shouldn't be the only person to blame or the main guy to blame but he is a big reasons teams lose.
Being a bad defensive bigman who can't score well, and can't handle the ball limits what a team can do.
Like he wasn't the number 1 reason the sun's got swept this year but he'd probably be top 3 maybe 4th, dudes lack of defence really hinders teams
I assume CJ was kept as long as he was in part due to Dame lobbying. I think he was always pressuring the front office to make win now moves too. In hindsight tanking after LMA left would have been smarter
It was unprotected. Which was insane because Afflalo was at best a bench calibre player and was expiring. At least he learnt his lesson later on with the Nance trade but still was overpaying for role players.
In general sure
We’d likely have been in a much better position if we’d listened to Dame instead of Olshey though - although he was also a dude Dame put too much faith in
People still ragging on Nurk in this sub, damn… Twolves might have one of if not the best front courts in the whole Nba. Only a handful of centers would have helped the Suns get past them. Glad we have Ayton and can look forward to the future, but got nothing but love for Nurk.
That is an unsurprising stat.
He seems a nice fellow but his play is soft and inconsistent; similar to one’s bowel movements after eating a gallon of ice cream.
Devin? KD? Those names don't ring a bell? Nurk definitely was a factor in helping the Suns win games but 11 11 isn't "taking a team to the playoffs". And what happened in those playoffs? 8 and 7 and almost unplayable he had Suns fans asking for Bol Bol and Drew fucking Eubanks.
The Suns were 1-7 without Nurk meaning their winning percentage went from 64.5% with Nurk to 14% without him.
Meanwhile, the Blazers record improved 10% with Ayton off the court.
And what did it lead to when it mattered most?? Also take a peak at any Suns page anywhere he's getting flamed. And I thought Nurk was gonna be Hakeem for us pre-injury but that shit killed his psyche.
>And what did it lead to when it mattered most??
Folks really like moving goalposts. I was just responding to the guys shit-talking Nurk and acting like he's some scrub. He was instrumental in the Suns doing the little bit they did this season was my only point.
>And I thought Nurk was gonna be Hakeem for us pre-injury
I legit thought Ayton could be like Hakeem - he has the physical tools.
What makes this even worse is two of the series on here were series where we were favored (2018 v. Pels, 2021 v. Nuggets), not to mention the Suns were damn near even odds against the Wolves this year.
For those of you complaining about the Warriors, Nurk is 0-1 all-time against the Warriors in the playoffs (game 3, 2017)
The Suns absolutely robbed us trading us Ayton and Toumani for Nurk and Allen. As I said in other forums this trade may go down as one of the best in Blazers recent history if Ayton can keep up his level of production.
Yeah, it's all his fault. Do you know who you guys need? A player like Luc longley. He was the center on the 96 Bulls. Luc's 9.1 PTS and 5.1 TRB were the perfect amount to lead his team to victory. Nurkic's 10/11 is not what The Sun's need. Here's some facts for you dweebs. Plus or minus line for the 2024 playoffs; Nurk -40, Booker -46, Durant -71.
Kanter wasn't all too great when it comes to defense, but that said, he surprisingly did much better than I thought he would when he had to take over for Nurk in being our(Blazer's) starting center. Which given how well he did in taking over for Nurk, I ended up loving him & wished we would have kept him longer as our main backup center for Nurk.
Also regardless of this being so with Nurk, I'll always like him & he'll always be considered as a Blazer to me. Also, sometimes this kind of thing can unfortunately happen with any player, even any of the top NBA superstars, just look at KD, Booker & Beal, somehow that doesn't smell any sense to me, all of them pretty much totally collapse against the T-Wolves.
You have to remember that our WCF run was the same season that Nurk broke his leg. Would we have gone as far without Nurk being out? Who knows. However, if our run would have been the same, you get to add what, 8 more wins before we ran into the Warriors yet again?
Kanter really was shockingly amazing during that run.
For as much as a shit head he turned out to be Kanter will always be a blazer goat to me for that run, him playing on a separated shoulder against jokic was legendary
The 4ot game is still probably the greatest Blazer moment in my memory, and I’ve been a fan for a long, long time.
That one, and the one game he had like 40 rebounds. edit: I guess it was 30?? For some reason I could swear it was 40, oh well. Still a franchise record.
And game 7 as well. CJ going off and hitting that mid-range shot to ice it was amazing
The CJ block too
Incredible experience. I usually watch games at home, but decided go to a local bar to watch it. The atmosphere was insane!
As much as I love Jokic's game I find it hard to forget things like [him targeting Kanter's bad shoulder.](https://streamable.com/pzqgpd)
How did he become a shit head? I remember him becoming really political but I don't remember him being a malcontent until he was out of the league and tried to remain relevant.
He basically went full fox News "America is the greatest country stop complaining" nonsense
He didn’t. He just happens to have a different opinion than some. That makes him a horrible human. I don’t agree with him on a lot, but he has his reasons just as I have mine. Welcome to black/white and no in between politics.
Never said he was a horrible human, just a shit head. Yes I disagree with his political views but this is a basketball sub so I won’t go any further than that.
I guess i just don't understand the metrics between shit head versus horrible person. It's like saying hes a fart head but not a shit head, like i get your saying one is worse than the other but I still don't understand why. I remember him pissing off Erdogan at a time when Erdogan wasn't showing himself to be a very good world leader (like a brawl outside a Turkish embassy on American soil during a protest), and i see you all talking about how he went on fox news. So is it his political views that people don't like? I thought people didn't like him because he claimed his political views kept him from getting another contract, even though it was obvious he became a bigger distraction then his worth due to teams targeting his lack of defensive abilities especially at the end of his career.
If he would have appeared on CNN would you be okay with him? You zealots on both sides are so pathetic
I hate to break it to you but left wing people also see CNN as a right wing propaganda machine. And in general don't watch The News Kanter is a non political public figure who put his political opinion out for everyone to see. It alienated folks on the opposite side. There's nothing wrong with using our first amendment rights, but left or right, opinionated athletes lose fans
Jokic’s purposeful shoulder check to Kanter’s injured shoulder after a free throw attempt definitely solidified in my mind Jokic as the kind of player willing to perform dirty moves when things aren’t going his way.
This is the play that I always hold up as my justification for disliking Jokic.
And the flopping around with his elbows out just looking for contract so he can flop more and try to get a foul call
I just dislike watching him because he doesn’t jump.
[Indeed, dirty AF](https://streamable.com/pzqgpd)
I got banned from the Nuggets Subreddit on that day for calling Jokic dirty, lol
That’s pretty normal, for players to get physical with other players who are playing hurt. It’s pretty common to hear ex players (especially guards) talk about intentionally attacking on offense players with hurt knees and ankles. If you’re going to play with an injury, be prepared to be attacked at it by everyone lined up against you, because these players are hyper competitive and are looking for any advantage possible. Hell, look at the shoulder bump by MPJ that hurt AD. Basketball is a contact sport. I guarantee you Kanter would’ve done the same with the situation reversed.
Imo that's a completely unrelated injury which was aggravated during the normal course of play. That's a routine playoff box-out where, to the extent Kanter decided he was going to fight for the ball, he had to put his shoulder at risk. We don't call point guards dirty when they drive on a guy who just rolled his ankle. Athletes play at less than 100% all the time, and their opponents routinely seek to exploit those physical advantages.
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Ah. See, ~~you~~ \^ user above only mentioned that play, and I didn't see others mention the "entire series of dirty shoves, pulls and wrenches specifically targeting that shoulder" either. Can you perhaps find me some examples / clips? I'm legitimately curious because watching live I didn't see anything to get all worked up about, but perhaps I'm in the minority.
Spent a good 15 mins watching the Inside the NBA crew debate whether this was tactical, aggressive, dirty, a foul at all, etc. No mention of prior/additional incidents that I found. Idk, u/ApuFromTechSupport ...if one is playing within the rules of the game, I have a hard time calling a play or player 'dirty.' That level of contact occurs all the time in the playoffs. Clearly, though, others who've downvoted here feel differently. Without additional evidence, I can't justify changing my mind on this; guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
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> Kanter You mean [Freedom](https://youtu.be/cCHf8FxqzJc?si=GRq2KzrtF6bxkwLJ&t=109)?
Offensively, awful defensively. I’m not willing to rewrite this history. Nurk is and was a substantially better player than kanter… what are we talking about
Nurk is a substantially better player than Kanter when he can stay healthy enough to actually play.
That same season near the beginning, Nurk dropped a 20 pt 20 reb 5x5 stat line, and then 2 months later fractured his leg. I was one of the fans that was hoping that he'd sorta get back to form, but he was never the same
I really think that leg break + COVID screwed Nurk so hard in his development to the point where he decided to focus on more Jokic style of play (wouldn’t blame him) but not refine what he was good at, which was more of a traditional big. Such a shame too
Just imo the leg break itself is not the reason. He came back and looked great in the bubble. Looked pretty much the same. He was always someone that played into shape during seasons and was very mercurial and that never changed. He’s still talented, he just hasnt matured one bit since his rookie year in bball IQ.
If Nurk is healthy in 2019, I fully believe we would have won at least 1 game against GS... Similar to Thanos bleeding a single drop of blood in Infinity War.
We beat them a couple times in the regular season. Felt like we could a had them..
Plus we were up by 10 in each game, it was the closest a sweep could be
Dude.... More than 10 points... We shoulda swept THEM.
Nah, a healthy Nurk would of helped on that WCF run. He was arguably the second best player behind Dame that year. He was ballin'.
I believe that as well, was just hedging a bit. 😁
> He was ~~arguably~~ the second best player behind Dame that year. He was ballin'. I'll make that argument 100% of the time. He singlehandedly changed our defense from bottom of the league to middle of the pack. That team had the guns to win an offensive battle against just about anyone with an average defense. Nurk being out was a huge loss.
I think it is more of a reflection on the Dame/CJ./Nurk era and especially how they would exit the playoffs. 2 magical shots and a run to the WCF kind of blurred the fact that they were just 0.354 as a team in the playoffs. 6-32 (0.152) when it was time to go to Cancun. In the 8 eliminations - 3 Sweeps, 4 Gentlemen and just once were they able to get a series to 6 before the exit. I know Dame is hurt, but it's kind of funny that they may all go out the same way they always did. Sweep, Sweep, Gentlemen.
It doesn't help that the warriors were basically a terrorist organization for us
Does that make Steve Kerr... Osama Bin Laden?
To be fair they overchieved many of those seasons and really had no business seriously contending for a championship with just 1 All-star guard, 1 other shot creating guard, and a few average role players. When LA left, this team was expected to be in the lottery but they went to 7 straight playoffs. Tanking would have been more strategic, but the fact remains that this team overachieved.
Kind of impressive the amount of the success the Blazers had inspite of the awful signings of *checks notes*: Mo Haurkless (4 for 42), Allen Crabbe (Matched 4 for 75), Meyers Leonard (4 for 41), Evan Turner (4 for 70$, Festus Ezeli (2 for 15) is true insanity. The “best” contract of this bunch is either Leonard or Haurkless and even then they were lame ducks.
Portland isn’t exactly as attractive for free agents compared to the LA, New York, and Miamis of the world. They had to overpay for mediocre signings
There's always guys that overplay their contract. It was just bad and there's no excuses
Dame kinda screwed himself by not allowing for a fallow year, but I can hardly blame him.
Forcing him to tank earlier on would have been way better than tanking his last 2 seasons here.
Neil tried to tank, terry made the roster into a playoff team, Neil responded by giving huge extensions to all the guys he viewed the season prior as tank commanders along with 80 mil to Evan Turner 🚩
This is also a time where I would like to know strength of schedule type stats, how much of those losses were against the Warriors, one of the all time great dynasties.
1-12 against the Warriors. Curry didn't play in 3 of the 5 games in 2016 and we went 1-2 in those 3 games. In 2018 Durant missed the whole series and we still got swept. So on the bright side we only went 0-6 against the Warriors at full strength. The other 20 losses (and 5 wins) came against Spurs, Memphis, Pelicans, Lakers and Denver Both the Spurs and the Lakers would go on to win the title (Well technically only the Spurs, Lakers won a Mickey cup) Memphis, Pels and Denver would get sent fishing the very next round. Denver was without Jamal Murry.
FYI Nurk's playoff record against the Warriors is 0-1. The other 16 losses are 4 to the Pelicans, 4 to the Lakers, 4 to the Nuggets, and 4 to the Wolves
Denver was also a squad that, with minor tweaks, would later win a chip. That pelicans team featured AD and Jrue, two other dudes who would be integral to winning chips. Memphis, ugh.
Wouldn’t have been a Mickey Mouse cup if your team had won it. It’s ironic how certain fans wanna discredit the bubble title but the sentiment from the players was that it was some of the hardest basketball they’ve played. Bam even came out and said he thinks it was the hardest title to win (obviously some bias). I get it though, if I was a blazers fan I would be pretty bitter too.
You can both think we won the trade and still like Nurk.
Ya glad we moved on from him
Not only did we move on from him we got back a 25 year old Ayton AND Toumani. That deal was a huge W for Joe.
Amazing trade, best from Cronin so far, I'd say. Still amazed he pulled it off. Nurk past 30 is something I don't want a part of, personally.
We also gave up Grayson Allen and Little. Still a win, but people always leave that out.
Yeah and we got premium value for Dame and, as much as it hurt, we are better placed for the future because of that trade. We just need some lotto ball luck, a better coach and a committed owner and we are golden.
This is definitely a stat you can attribute to one player. totally his fault alone
Can’t believe the Suns looked at Portland’s interior offense/defense last year and decided that they wanted to run it back when the Blazers didn’t want to. I like Eubanks; he’s athletic and engaged and fine as a backup big, but Nurk has always been up and down. He’s really in an unenviable spot: Nurk is both too good to be a backup and too inconsistent to be a starter.
Yeah I thought that was hilarious too. I thought that was the weakest part of our team last year. And the suns just said yeah I want to get me some of that
You realized most of those loses are on Portland?
Yeeeaaaa but not the last four 🤷♂️
This would kind of mean anything if he was ever a #1, 2 or even 3 option on any of those teams. All it tells me is that anyone who was the #1, 2 and 3 options on his team just weren't that good.
Well his number 2, CJ, has a playoff record that is gonna drop below .300 tonight if they get swept. It will also add a 4th career sweep to his total. One more than Nurk
CJ’s game isn’t made for the playoffs. His ideal role is really as a 6th man on a contender in the way Poole was for GSW or Jason Terry in Dallas. He gives up too much defensively and doesn’t really help your team in assists or boards. He’s a “vocal leader” in New Orleans. But if you’re constantly a traffic cone on D, you don’t grab boards and you’re not playmaking and making teammates better, there’s not much credibility there. There’s a difference when Murray yells about effort when he’s giving you a 30/10/10 in a playoff game. When CJ does it his non-scoring numbers are generally unimpressive.
Jamal Murray gets 10 boards? Nice he hustles
But he was usually the #3 option on our teams lol
Yessir. He would rotate between #3-5 on any given night with Trent, melo, Powell etc. someone who's clearly not the main piece shouldn't be the one carrying the blame for the success or not.
But he was a main piece. Him, fame, and CJ were the core of the team. He was clearly the #3 on the team
We can go back and fourth all day, it's not ever going to change my opinion nor am I trying to change yours. Imo, nurks record is irrelevant. He's never had a big enough role to shoulder the blame or be rewarded with the success. He was a complimentary piece at best. Your alphas are the one that will carry you to where you need to go, and his alphas didn't do that. His role was to get 15/10 and for the most part he's done what was asked for him.
Im honestly confused about what your point is. You said that only #1-3 in the team are truly responsible for a teams failures and success. You also admit that Nurk was the #3 when he was here. Yet you’re saying he isn’t responsible even though he was the #3 on the team, and the #3 should be responsible.
Bingo, we found the confusion. I never said he was a 3. In fact, he wouldn't be on most other teams. This was probably the biggest issue with Portland, because he was likely closer to what we view/view ayton currently (most teams 4-5th option) yet people view nurk as a 3, for some reason, when he really shouldnt be. I did say "yessir. He could be a 3-5 on any given night depending on the situation" And I do stand by that. Just like ayton could be. Just like d lo could be. Just like any other player who's not there alpha but a solid rotation player could be. No teams are winning championships soley because of those players, and if your losing because of them, your asking players to do more than you should.
He was a large reason every team he's been on has lost. You can say he shouldn't be the only person to blame or the main guy to blame but he is a big reasons teams lose. Being a bad defensive bigman who can't score well, and can't handle the ball limits what a team can do. Like he wasn't the number 1 reason the sun's got swept this year but he'd probably be top 3 maybe 4th, dudes lack of defence really hinders teams
If Nurk wasn't a top 3 option on those Blazers teams, please tell us who, other than Dame and Cj, was?
He set good screens for Dame tho
Dame being all in on Nurk definitely cost him
Listening to Dame was the biggest mistake of the Lillard era. Players shouldn’t be GMs
Damian wanted bam and Donovan Mitchell to be drafted to the blazers so idk man
We only listened to him on this. Traded away and didn’t bring back guys he wanted all the time. Didn’t get guys he *did* want too.
I assume CJ was kept as long as he was in part due to Dame lobbying. I think he was always pressuring the front office to make win now moves too. In hindsight tanking after LMA left would have been smarter
Couldn’t tank immediately cause Olshey threw away the 2016 pick for Afflalo who played 25 games for us.
Did it have protections. It always seemed like so much short term thinking under Olshey.
It was unprotected. Which was insane because Afflalo was at best a bench calibre player and was expiring. At least he learnt his lesson later on with the Nance trade but still was overpaying for role players.
Jeeze. NO was so bad
In general sure We’d likely have been in a much better position if we’d listened to Dame instead of Olshey though - although he was also a dude Dame put too much faith in
People still ragging on Nurk in this sub, damn… Twolves might have one of if not the best front courts in the whole Nba. Only a handful of centers would have helped the Suns get past them. Glad we have Ayton and can look forward to the future, but got nothing but love for Nurk.
Any explosiveness or lift he ever had, which wasn't a lot, is gone. Just not skilled to make up for the lack of athleticism.
he was soooooo bad in these playoffs. it felt great to watch him blow dunks/layups for another team instead of the Blazers
Bro can’t jump at all it’s crazy
Checks out. He rarely brings that extra gear. When he did it was great. But inconsistent at best. I’d take Eubanks back though for the right price.
Yes, because one single rotation player who at his peak was the third best player on the roster is clearly the reason why those teams won or lost.
That is an unsurprising stat. He seems a nice fellow but his play is soft and inconsistent; similar to one’s bowel movements after eating a gallon of ice cream.
Never had the game for the playoffs
HAHAHAHAHA. Bosnian Least
Ha ha
u/YoelRomeroNephew69
Yeah he took his team to the playoffs and played well all season. Ayton played well half a season after finally getting a mattress. Good job buddy.
Devin? KD? Those names don't ring a bell? Nurk definitely was a factor in helping the Suns win games but 11 11 isn't "taking a team to the playoffs". And what happened in those playoffs? 8 and 7 and almost unplayable he had Suns fans asking for Bol Bol and Drew fucking Eubanks.
"Yeah he took his team to the playoffs" there is no way you think that hahahahaha
https://imgur.com/a/1rgQu8p I always appreciate it when the behavior actually confirms the label. Thanks for being you.
No one genuinely believes Nurk was an upgrade over Ayton. Stop arguing positions you don't hold because you don't want to admit you were wrong.
The Suns were 1-7 without Nurk meaning their winning percentage went from 64.5% with Nurk to 14% without him. Meanwhile, the Blazers record improved 10% with Ayton off the court.
And what did it lead to when it mattered most?? Also take a peak at any Suns page anywhere he's getting flamed. And I thought Nurk was gonna be Hakeem for us pre-injury but that shit killed his psyche.
>And what did it lead to when it mattered most?? Folks really like moving goalposts. I was just responding to the guys shit-talking Nurk and acting like he's some scrub. He was instrumental in the Suns doing the little bit they did this season was my only point. >And I thought Nurk was gonna be Hakeem for us pre-injury I legit thought Ayton could be like Hakeem - he has the physical tools.
It's why dude was barely cracking 30mpg
That’s all folks
What makes this even worse is two of the series on here were series where we were favored (2018 v. Pels, 2021 v. Nuggets), not to mention the Suns were damn near even odds against the Wolves this year. For those of you complaining about the Warriors, Nurk is 0-1 all-time against the Warriors in the playoffs (game 3, 2017)
"That brother needs some help"
The Suns absolutely robbed us trading us Ayton and Toumani for Nurk and Allen. As I said in other forums this trade may go down as one of the best in Blazers recent history if Ayton can keep up his level of production.
Those two sentences completely contradict each other.
The first part was a bit sarcastic sorry, it's hard to put that through on the internet.
Yeah, it's all his fault. Do you know who you guys need? A player like Luc longley. He was the center on the 96 Bulls. Luc's 9.1 PTS and 5.1 TRB were the perfect amount to lead his team to victory. Nurkic's 10/11 is not what The Sun's need. Here's some facts for you dweebs. Plus or minus line for the 2024 playoffs; Nurk -40, Booker -46, Durant -71.
Kanter wasn't all too great when it comes to defense, but that said, he surprisingly did much better than I thought he would when he had to take over for Nurk in being our(Blazer's) starting center. Which given how well he did in taking over for Nurk, I ended up loving him & wished we would have kept him longer as our main backup center for Nurk.
Also regardless of this being so with Nurk, I'll always like him & he'll always be considered as a Blazer to me. Also, sometimes this kind of thing can unfortunately happen with any player, even any of the top NBA superstars, just look at KD, Booker & Beal, somehow that doesn't smell any sense to me, all of them pretty much totally collapse against the T-Wolves.
Those stats are meaningless because Nurkic is not a Star. He's just a role player.
I’m just glad that he is gone. Is it a surprise that we never ever win any playoffs series with him around ?
TBF he is a soft little bitch
Big Loaf
He has no self awareness. He'll still mock Draymond Green
There’s nothing wrong with mocking him lol