The (hopefully temporary) post-Nurkic era of Trailblazers basketball has gone okay, with two wins over tanking teams (Chicago and Atlanta) before this loss to one of the East’s many middling playoff teams, the Detroit Pistons. Enes Kanter has scored 13, 14, and 20 points in those three games, as well as grabbing 6, 8, and 15 rebounds. On the surface, those are Jusuf Nurkic-esque numbers. If you told me that Nurkic got those numbers in three consecutive games, I would nod in agreement. There would be no reason to challenge the claim.
Of course, it’s unlikely that Kanter fully replaces Nurkic’s presence on the court. How could he? Nurkic has a reputation as a defensive anchor; Kanter has a reputation as a defensive sieve. At the center position, that’s an especially important distinction to make. Kanter might theoretically be a better offensive player than Nurkic (actually, it’s not even theoretical; he is naturally a better scorer than Nurk by a fair amount), but in the Blazers’ offense, where Damian Lillard does everything, Kanter’s scoring ability might not be fully utilized (at least until Lillard realizes how easy it is to get assists when you’re passing Kanter the ball).
We’ll see how long it takes for Blazer fans’ enthusiasm for Kanter to wear off. I’m giving it until the end of the regular season. If not then, it could possibly happen the first game or two of the playoffs when Kanter’s lack of defense starts getting exposed. Not that I care about defense personally. I only care about buckets and assists and chicken wings with blue cheese dipping sauce.