I have decided that it’s okay to call players the “Next Dirk” as long as Dirk Nowitzki remains in the league. Once he retires, though, we’ll have to pick a new comparison for tall white three-point-shooting Euros. Maybe Porzingis? Markkanen? Neither of those dudes is quite as impactful as the Big Schnitzel, but they’ll have to do.
So, Rodions Kurucs. Next Dirk? He’s certainly as gaunt-looking as Dirk was in his rookie year. Maybe even gaunter. So maybe he’s the next Zach Collins? I’m actually feeling like that that’s a pretty decent comparison. Collins with less shotblocking and more swaggy jumpers that he can’t really hit.
Kurucs had a nice-ish game tonight, outdoing his previous performance by one point by way of a banked-in three. He also got blocked on a dunk attempt by Tyreke Evans, but since these are highlights and not lowlights, you don’t get to see that. I am currently in the process of deleting all videos depicting the event from the internet so that no one accidentally stumbles upon them and has their opinion of Kurucs ruined. And in a few minutes after I post this description I’ll change this paragraph to be more flattering towards our new favorite Latvian.
Information control is a very important thing.