Okay, here’s the deal: I know I teased at the beginnings of a new storyline where Jusuf Nurkic and Meyers Leonard team up to prevent Zach Collins from stealing their minutes, but I just really don’t feel like writing any more words right now, so that series of descriptions is on hold for at least the next ten minutes while I write this one, even though the actual task of portraying Nurkic as a violent, insane maniac with limited grasp of the English language is easy for me.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about Nurkic. More specifically, the fact he seems to be entering his “prime”. Now his shooting percentages resemble those of a real center to go along with center-esque rebounding rate. The “Nurk Dowitzki” nickname has fallen to the wayside as his jumpshot game is fairly non-existent at this point, but that’s a good thing. His jumper sucked. His ability to move defenders around in the paint with his huge mass was always the better option and now he’s doing that consistently.
In the past I have been reluctant to include Nurkic in the Blazers’ “big three”; to me, they have always had just a “big two” with no third member. My resolve on this stance is weakening. Somebody please help me.