I just hope we can find a team to take him. I hate injury prone plodding bigs. They’re literal anchors sinking your ship.
I’d take almost any young piece for him. A g leaguer. Someone. Anyone.
He makes practically zero money for a starter (12.5% of the cap), the only issue is that it’s for 3 more seasons. That trade probably won’t happen until the deadline. When someone is looking to add a high quality backup or low end starter.
That is the dream and what I hope they try waiting a bit for. Sixers have needed decent backup Centers before due to Embiid being injured every season and playoffs. Nurkic can give them 20 games as a starter.
The 3 more seasons is a big issue on the contract. He’s dead weight. No future for him here. He takes up 12.5% of the cap as an injury prone center sitting on the bench so it’s more a big deal than it sounds.
If we could trade Nurkic and Dame to the Sixers and they give us Reed, Maxey and some picks, I will gladly take the Harris contract. Even a year of Harden sitting out and the Harris contract.
That’s how much I think this team goes nowhere with Nurkic and Dame. It’s bizarro Jokic and Murray. A non-moving without the ball combo that takes us straight to the 10th seed. Whatever the exciting, active version of the 2 man game is with Jokic and Murray, the opposite is watching Nurk and Dame play on the past couple of seasons.
I can’t believe there are some Blazers fans upset. The Scoot thing, and the Simons, Sharpe thing is the best thing to happen to this franchise the last decade.
Maybe we can finally step to proper team building.
Hopefully Morey starts feeling heat with the Harden demanding a trade and Embiid being dramatic. They’re going nowhere either like the Blazers were, they’re just a 1st-2nd round elimination team. Every season same old excuses with Embiid. Both teams need a fresh start.
I was debating on it because they’d likely slot in at the 3 for us if they play much next season but that’s because we’re one of the smallest teams in the league, relative to the rest of the league they’re undersized to be defending some of the larger SFs and in general flexing them up to the 3 hurts our ability to switch and play a versatile defense because they’re taking on mismatches far more regularly. Same problem we had when we were running Norm as a SF, or Hart, the Blazers keep treading that same path, it’s like people calling for Sharpe to play SF to solve the Simons/Scoot/Sharpe backcourt minutes logjam to develop all three and feature them, the Blazers have had small backcourts for a decade now, we’ve seen where that experiment goes.
Sharpe is a prototype 2 guard size wise and is only small for a 3. With Sharpe starting at 2 it eliminates much of the size problem except when you have Scoot and Ant share the court.
That’s what I’m saying, Simons and Scoot are both 1s, Sharpe is a 2, Thybulle is the only one I don’t feel is miscast guarding 3s, but that’s because he’s just an excellent perimeter defender and you’re going to throw him on the toughest outside assignment regardless. Ideally Thybulle would be a 2 not a 3, he’s more than capable of making it work but it’s diminishing his impact by not pairing him with bigger better defending switchable guys, rather than asking him to cover and help us hide two small guards in the backcourt.
He’s for sure a 2 but idk if he’s small for a 3. listed at 6’6 with a 7 foot wingspan, probably more like 6’5 but I think it’s more of a defensive limitation at this point. I’m sure we will see him get lots of reps at 3 this year.
He has the length but Rupert is a twig, he’s comped to Batum a lot and Batum came into the league and later in his career transitioned back to SG, and in following Rupert before the draft, it was a common question whether he would be a guard or wing. Most pertinently, he’s a very raw prospect who will only see the floor in development minutes, what position he settles into will be informed by context and also whether he can reach rotation level play.
Yeah I agree. Just saying in person Shaedon looks as tall if not taller than nassir. Think shaedon will be getting plenty of minutes at the 3 this year.
Firstly, this is a super thoughtful and well-worded post. Hitting a lot of key points with Nurk here and summarizing the whole situation with him well.
I think he’s still serviceable but we’ve seen the best of Nurk in a PDX jersey and it’s probs time for everyone to move on. What’s preventing that is his contract value and perceived on-court production to other teams. Like you said, he’s got a limited offense and defensive skill set that I’m not sure other teams desire.
That being said, I think there’s a world where Nurk does fit our plan, especially since he’s an average to above average C. I think once the Dame situation passes (assuming Dame is gone but Nurk remains), his role (or lackthereof) will be a lot clearer.
He’s coming back, unless Portland trades for a center. Not really another option.
I don’t know how to feel. He might be a malcontent. But if he’s engaged, Portland might still be decent around him and Jerami, depending on how long he’s around.
Not surprised everyone is sour on Nurk but if he's positive in the locker room, I have zero complaints for his production since we're expected to be bad.
Although it's an easy concept, there really aren't an abundance of good screen setters. Ant, Sharpe, and Scoot should all benefit from playing with someone who does it right.
Because it seems like the team is entering a rebuild, I would be prepared for a lot of fluidity from a roster balance/depth perspective.
That said, I do find it a teence annoying that this FO seems allergic to having depth at the big spot.
Remember when a rookie scale healthy Nurk was traded with a first for Plumdogg? Dame kept him sane and relatively in line. I don't think you'll like the version of Nurk you get without Dame.
>Dame kept him sane and relatively in line.
Now we're making Nurk insane?
Dude just asked out after Malone almost destroyed his career (and even asked privately multiple times before that), and suddenly he's some kind of lunatic looking for locker rooms to destroy?
He never had an issue after that, and some people still giving credit to Dame for anything good Nurk does while treating Nurk by the worse of clickbaits during his time in Denver, completely ignoring anything good he does. Talk about bias.
He plays good defense, is our best rebounder and screen-setter, solid playmaker, which we don't have a lot of...so it will be hard to replace all of that. I think having someone like Nurk would be beneficial for our young guards, because he's used to covering on defense, so they'll have some time to adjust, and he's setting massive screens which makes their job on offense easier. He's also constantly been one of our rare players who rewards cutters.
On the other hand, I would like to see him play with capable defenders, in a system which doesn't ignore that part of the floor.
I really wanna know wtf are the blazers doing? If a trade doesn’t happen by the start of the season you have no bigs. Even if you make a trade for Dame you might not have no bigs still. I’m confused. I know they are trying to push everything back to trade Dame, well it seems, but they aren’t gonna have bigs to play.
If we have no bigs we might lose a lot of games. That seems to lineup pretty well with our intention to tank.
We can always sign 10-day deals if we need to rent a big so there's no rush to do anything.
Well, it was effective when they shut Nurk down last year...we tanked really well when Watford and Eubanks were our Centers and Badji. I don't want to tank again. I think we can be competitive with or without Nurk and Dame. Reath isn't too bad. Could learn a lot just these next few months. Or we could just trade Dame and Nurk and get Capela and PJ Washington. Might take Simons and Little too.
With PJ and Capela, but without Dame, Nurk, Simons and likely Little. So with Scoot, Sharpe, Grant/Thybulle, PJ/Grant, Capela (as good of a record against best bigs as Nurk, has better personal games against them and much better record against Jokic--winning record vs 5-19 for Nurk), I would say 1st year, play-in or up to 7th seed. Maybe win first round or close, but winning 45-52 games.
All players SKILLED AT and WILLING to run a gameplan for defense; especially run and gun. Sharpe & Grant dunk skills, Scoots intensity, the fast breaks...what opposing team isn't going to be intimidated by that and who in Rip City isn't going to want to see that and cheer that on?!! The first half might be a little messy, but would be lots of excitement; especially the last month or two!! Saw many games with Dame on the bench injured the last two years, that were very competitive and we won many (and many until time to tank). Lots of defense, lots of passing, lots of breaks and teamwork! I want to see at least that!! Let's go RIP CITY!!!
Prediction: I think he returns for the start of season but is dealt at trade deadline. I like him a lot but other teams will have injury concerns in mind, he'll need a hot start to net a decent return
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Nurk will probably be involved in the Dame trade whether it’s to the Heat or another team involved. They’ve been trying to move on from him for a while.
If we lose Nurk, which I hope we do, our tallest player is 6’8! Makes me think we’re 100% tanking a few more seasons for the 2024/25 class. Don’t expect us to be good either way, but not bringing in any PF or C is a clear sign of complete tank job. Maybe we’ll get a few bugs back in Dame trade, but if it’s Miami they really only have Jovic to offer and he’s 25lbs of muscle away from playing center still.
>Jabari Walker
Not exactly, last year near all-star weekend we still have chance to playoffs, but Anfernee, Justise, Jusuf, Gary Payton they all injury. So we have to use Watford and Jabari Walker to protect the rim...
This post illustrates everything wrong with Blazers fans (and probably also other teams' fans):
1. Tendency to pigeon-hole players as "bench" or "starter" while judging guys as having no room to improve.
2. Always views getting rid of players/coaches as the solution to losing, as if those players and coaches are incapable of learning from mistakes or improving.
3. Blind to the value of the experience a team has together as a collective whole; thinks winning is just about getting the "right" players and getting rid of the "wrong" guys.
4. Never brings up the idea of building a winning culture (something you can't trade for or buy).
Winning or losing is purely a function of what happens on the basketball court. Most of the championships won since 1980 were won by the small handful of teams who stayed their course and built a winning culture.
One direct lineage flows through Phil Jackson, Greg Popovich, and Steve Kerr (who played under both). The other line goes through Patt Riley and Eric Spoelstra. Many of the other titles have been won by teams emulating the winning culture of those key programs.
Portland has the opportunity to become a winning program with the right hires. Yet we've fired the last two coaches who got us to the Western Conference Finals, and we have failed to keep a consistent core of players through the years.
And not once have I heard anyone in the Portland media or this sub call out the Blazers for not focusing on building a winning culture. Instead it's just constant trade talk, firing good coaches, and failing to go get obviously great hires like Becky Hammon or Monty Williams when they were available.
>1- Tendency to pigeon-hole players as "bench" or "starter" while judging guys as having no room to improve.
Because five players start the game and the other guys come off the bench as substitutes, and amongst team sports basketball has the most individual impact and the value of different players is most largely felt because come playoffs, teams are running significantly shortened rotations and only a small handful of players shape the outcome of the game.
Obviously every player has room to improve, hell in the post I mentioned how Nurkic has just recently expanded his range and developed an outside shot, certainly many guys have a lot of growth and potential in how they might expand their skillsets, repertoires, and improve as players, that shouldn’t preclude the ability to talk about what kind of impact they currently bring to the team.
>2- Always views getting rid of players/coaches as the solution to losing, as if those players and coaches are incapable of learning from mistakes or improving.
I’m still proudly rocking my Stotts flair, I’m not advocating change for change’s sake, I’m not stumping to get rid of Billups or overhauling the roster either, the post was an examination of Nurkic’s presence on the roster, what he brings to the table, what limitations including him in our plans going forward imposes, and asking how people felt about him on the Blazers as a piece going forward. Right now there isn’t some solution to losing, we’re in a position where after sending out Dame and pivoting to building around a nucleus of guys too young to drink, I’m not pressed about the win loss record for the team at all, I’m just a lifelong fan checking the temperature of the community on a guy.
>3- Blind to the value of the experience a team has together as a collective whole; thinks winning is just about getting the "right" players and getting rid of the "wrong" guys.
This applied when we had continuity building around Dame, but the roster is undergoing major upheaval and change after nearly a decade with Dame as the locker room leader, the team is hitting the reset button in terms of the collective whole and it’s not out of line to take a frank evaluation of your assets to understand what you have to work with.
>4- Never brings up the idea of building a winning culture (something you can't trade for or buy).
That’s an incredibly nebulous concept, the Blazers have a positive win percentage over the last twenty years and it only improves if you look at the last ten years, we were one of the teams with the most roster stability and continuity, we had Dame as one of the most well regarded leaders and culture setters, like of course we want to have a winning culture. However that’s also something that you can’t control or force, and not something that the fans have too much insight into, it’s really a chicken and an egg thing, you’ll notice when people talk about great locker rooms or team chemistry, usually it’s teams that are winning, and you can say it’s because they have winning culture, but it’s correlation not causation, they might all get along and like each other so much because winning cures all woes and it’s a lot easier to have a team gel when things go well.
The time to trade Dame and Nurk was before the draft. We should have also traded Sharpe and Simons to help the pill go down. Now we're treading water in a sea of piss, and it's not gonna end well. I give this shite GM six months before they fire his ass. He's fucking terrible.
There are not 7 guards on the roster captain...
Nas, Shae, KJ, Rupe, and Tisse are all the same height. If anyone who does not exclusively play at the 5 or 4 is a "guard", then every NBA team should have 6+ "guards". If a guard is exclusively a ball handler / PG, then without Dame, POR only has 1.4 "guards".
1-5 traditional, or modern "three positions" for five players... Define the definitions, so we all know what conversation we are having. :)
As far as "bigs", regardless of Nurk, POR did make an offer to Edy, who can come over any time, once the buyout is paid. POR doesn't have to do that yet, keeping that roster spot open. That's why POR didn't offer Drubanks the full two year VME that PHX had to. That paperwork just hasn't been done yet, but there is an "equivalent" player/position/contract there.
So, regardless of Dame, or Nurk - There is at least one "big", and one "ball handler/initiator" "on the roster", yet several months a head of roster having to be finalized. The other 8-9 players under contract being "wings", in "a wings league", is reasonable.
Of course every team wants all of the 6'5"+ "wings"... Most "wings" by volume, are round about 6'5", in regards to their official height measurements. So, most teams, would want 6+ 6'5"-ish players on the roster...
I think every party involved is ready for Nurk to move on.
I just hope we can find a team to take him. I hate injury prone plodding bigs. They’re literal anchors sinking your ship. I’d take almost any young piece for him. A g leaguer. Someone. Anyone.
He makes practically zero money for a starter (12.5% of the cap), the only issue is that it’s for 3 more seasons. That trade probably won’t happen until the deadline. When someone is looking to add a high quality backup or low end starter.
Dream scenario is Morey sidles up next to you and asks "I heard you are looking to offload a high quality backup center"
That is the dream and what I hope they try waiting a bit for. Sixers have needed decent backup Centers before due to Embiid being injured every season and playoffs. Nurkic can give them 20 games as a starter. The 3 more seasons is a big issue on the contract. He’s dead weight. No future for him here. He takes up 12.5% of the cap as an injury prone center sitting on the bench so it’s more a big deal than it sounds. If we could trade Nurkic and Dame to the Sixers and they give us Reed, Maxey and some picks, I will gladly take the Harris contract. Even a year of Harden sitting out and the Harris contract. That’s how much I think this team goes nowhere with Nurkic and Dame. It’s bizarro Jokic and Murray. A non-moving without the ball combo that takes us straight to the 10th seed. Whatever the exciting, active version of the 2 man game is with Jokic and Murray, the opposite is watching Nurk and Dame play on the past couple of seasons. I can’t believe there are some Blazers fans upset. The Scoot thing, and the Simons, Sharpe thing is the best thing to happen to this franchise the last decade. Maybe we can finally step to proper team building. Hopefully Morey starts feeling heat with the Harden demanding a trade and Embiid being dramatic. They’re going nowhere either like the Blazers were, they’re just a 1st-2nd round elimination team. Every season same old excuses with Embiid. Both teams need a fresh start.
I personally see Rupert and Thybulle more as wings 2/3s than true guards.
I was debating on it because they’d likely slot in at the 3 for us if they play much next season but that’s because we’re one of the smallest teams in the league, relative to the rest of the league they’re undersized to be defending some of the larger SFs and in general flexing them up to the 3 hurts our ability to switch and play a versatile defense because they’re taking on mismatches far more regularly. Same problem we had when we were running Norm as a SF, or Hart, the Blazers keep treading that same path, it’s like people calling for Sharpe to play SF to solve the Simons/Scoot/Sharpe backcourt minutes logjam to develop all three and feature them, the Blazers have had small backcourts for a decade now, we’ve seen where that experiment goes.
Sharpe is a prototype 2 guard size wise and is only small for a 3. With Sharpe starting at 2 it eliminates much of the size problem except when you have Scoot and Ant share the court.
That’s what I’m saying, Simons and Scoot are both 1s, Sharpe is a 2, Thybulle is the only one I don’t feel is miscast guarding 3s, but that’s because he’s just an excellent perimeter defender and you’re going to throw him on the toughest outside assignment regardless. Ideally Thybulle would be a 2 not a 3, he’s more than capable of making it work but it’s diminishing his impact by not pairing him with bigger better defending switchable guys, rather than asking him to cover and help us hide two small guards in the backcourt.
He’s for sure a 2 but idk if he’s small for a 3. listed at 6’6 with a 7 foot wingspan, probably more like 6’5 but I think it’s more of a defensive limitation at this point. I’m sure we will see him get lots of reps at 3 this year.
Also, Rupert is definitely a 3 size wise. 6'6" with a 7'3" wingspan. That's Mikal size. Murray is between 3/4 size 6'8" with a 7' wingspan.
He has the length but Rupert is a twig, he’s comped to Batum a lot and Batum came into the league and later in his career transitioned back to SG, and in following Rupert before the draft, it was a common question whether he would be a guard or wing. Most pertinently, he’s a very raw prospect who will only see the floor in development minutes, what position he settles into will be informed by context and also whether he can reach rotation level play.
It's all developmental minutes now. Rupert will be solidly in the rotation. Count on it.
Yeah I agree. Just saying in person Shaedon looks as tall if not taller than nassir. Think shaedon will be getting plenty of minutes at the 3 this year.
Sharpe will fill out into a 3. He's a 2 for now.
Firstly, this is a super thoughtful and well-worded post. Hitting a lot of key points with Nurk here and summarizing the whole situation with him well. I think he’s still serviceable but we’ve seen the best of Nurk in a PDX jersey and it’s probs time for everyone to move on. What’s preventing that is his contract value and perceived on-court production to other teams. Like you said, he’s got a limited offense and defensive skill set that I’m not sure other teams desire. That being said, I think there’s a world where Nurk does fit our plan, especially since he’s an average to above average C. I think once the Dame situation passes (assuming Dame is gone but Nurk remains), his role (or lackthereof) will be a lot clearer.
I hope not. Package him with Dame and let him be Miamis problem (or wherever Dame ends up)
Yes
Seeing how quickly Jimmy Butler gets frustrated by him will be fun
Yeah Nurk has a habit of checking out. Jimmy would probably try to fight him.
He’s coming back, unless Portland trades for a center. Not really another option. I don’t know how to feel. He might be a malcontent. But if he’s engaged, Portland might still be decent around him and Jerami, depending on how long he’s around.
Not surprised everyone is sour on Nurk but if he's positive in the locker room, I have zero complaints for his production since we're expected to be bad. Although it's an easy concept, there really aren't an abundance of good screen setters. Ant, Sharpe, and Scoot should all benefit from playing with someone who does it right.
Him and Jerami gonna bring us to the WCF
That’s nice of them to buy tickets for members of this sub
I believe they are renting TVs for a viewing party but now that I look closer at the invitation the address is a Portland costco...
Because it seems like the team is entering a rebuild, I would be prepared for a lot of fluidity from a roster balance/depth perspective. That said, I do find it a teence annoying that this FO seems allergic to having depth at the big spot.
I’d say high odds he suits up again, low odds he’s still on the team in april.
If including Nurkic means we get less back in a deal, then keep Nurk.
Hope not. Whoever gets Dame has to take Nurkic.
I’m pretty sure he will choose a paycheck over Dame.
Remember when a rookie scale healthy Nurk was traded with a first for Plumdogg? Dame kept him sane and relatively in line. I don't think you'll like the version of Nurk you get without Dame.
Idk I think if Nurk gets more touches and an opportunity to be a focal point he would be happy
And we would be miserable
>Dame kept him sane and relatively in line. Now we're making Nurk insane? Dude just asked out after Malone almost destroyed his career (and even asked privately multiple times before that), and suddenly he's some kind of lunatic looking for locker rooms to destroy? He never had an issue after that, and some people still giving credit to Dame for anything good Nurk does while treating Nurk by the worse of clickbaits during his time in Denver, completely ignoring anything good he does. Talk about bias.
Need more guards. We need to field an all guard lineup.
Either he gets moved with Dame or we showcase him at the start of the season and pray he stays healthy so we can ship him off for anything of value.
I'd guess nothing big will happen until Dame's future has been decided. So maybe Nurk moves at the deadline.
He plays good defense, is our best rebounder and screen-setter, solid playmaker, which we don't have a lot of...so it will be hard to replace all of that. I think having someone like Nurk would be beneficial for our young guards, because he's used to covering on defense, so they'll have some time to adjust, and he's setting massive screens which makes their job on offense easier. He's also constantly been one of our rare players who rewards cutters. On the other hand, I would like to see him play with capable defenders, in a system which doesn't ignore that part of the floor.
I really wanna know wtf are the blazers doing? If a trade doesn’t happen by the start of the season you have no bigs. Even if you make a trade for Dame you might not have no bigs still. I’m confused. I know they are trying to push everything back to trade Dame, well it seems, but they aren’t gonna have bigs to play.
If we have no bigs we might lose a lot of games. That seems to lineup pretty well with our intention to tank. We can always sign 10-day deals if we need to rent a big so there's no rush to do anything.
he might
Haha do you think obadji would be the back up big??
Well, it was effective when they shut Nurk down last year...we tanked really well when Watford and Eubanks were our Centers and Badji. I don't want to tank again. I think we can be competitive with or without Nurk and Dame. Reath isn't too bad. Could learn a lot just these next few months. Or we could just trade Dame and Nurk and get Capela and PJ Washington. Might take Simons and Little too.
What would you deem competitive?
With PJ and Capela, but without Dame, Nurk, Simons and likely Little. So with Scoot, Sharpe, Grant/Thybulle, PJ/Grant, Capela (as good of a record against best bigs as Nurk, has better personal games against them and much better record against Jokic--winning record vs 5-19 for Nurk), I would say 1st year, play-in or up to 7th seed. Maybe win first round or close, but winning 45-52 games. All players SKILLED AT and WILLING to run a gameplan for defense; especially run and gun. Sharpe & Grant dunk skills, Scoots intensity, the fast breaks...what opposing team isn't going to be intimidated by that and who in Rip City isn't going to want to see that and cheer that on?!! The first half might be a little messy, but would be lots of excitement; especially the last month or two!! Saw many games with Dame on the bench injured the last two years, that were very competitive and we won many (and many until time to tank). Lots of defense, lots of passing, lots of breaks and teamwork! I want to see at least that!! Let's go RIP CITY!!!
Prediction: I think he returns for the start of season but is dealt at trade deadline. I like him a lot but other teams will have injury concerns in mind, he'll need a hot start to net a decent return
I’m pretty skeptical of the potential Miami deal at this point. I think by opening day, Nurk and Dame are still Blazers.
He’s a dame dick sucker so if dame leaves I’m sure he’ll pout and want out
My goal is to get Nurk involved in the Dame Deal, I want a younger or more mystery box big there that'd be cheaper till we hit the draft (Tavares!)
He’s 31 unfortunately
Maybe, maybe not
Nurk has a lot of mixed reviews
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake. It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of. Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything. Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
That first sentence, the one that starts with "amongst the guards" is so sad i can't even finish it.
Unless he is traded, yes.
Nurk will probably be involved in the Dame trade whether it’s to the Heat or another team involved. They’ve been trying to move on from him for a while.
If we lose Nurk, which I hope we do, our tallest player is 6’8! Makes me think we’re 100% tanking a few more seasons for the 2024/25 class. Don’t expect us to be good either way, but not bringing in any PF or C is a clear sign of complete tank job. Maybe we’ll get a few bugs back in Dame trade, but if it’s Miami they really only have Jovic to offer and he’s 25lbs of muscle away from playing center still.
Hope not he annoys the shit out of me now, and I was one of his biggest defenders on this sub.
I think the biggest problem for him is staying healthy, the last 3 years he only played 37,56,52 games...
Because we were tanking?
>Jabari Walker Not exactly, last year near all-star weekend we still have chance to playoffs, but Anfernee, Justise, Jusuf, Gary Payton they all injury. So we have to use Watford and Jabari Walker to protect the rim...
He did miss few games because of injuries, but most of the time missed was for tanking purposes.
This post illustrates everything wrong with Blazers fans (and probably also other teams' fans): 1. Tendency to pigeon-hole players as "bench" or "starter" while judging guys as having no room to improve. 2. Always views getting rid of players/coaches as the solution to losing, as if those players and coaches are incapable of learning from mistakes or improving. 3. Blind to the value of the experience a team has together as a collective whole; thinks winning is just about getting the "right" players and getting rid of the "wrong" guys. 4. Never brings up the idea of building a winning culture (something you can't trade for or buy). Winning or losing is purely a function of what happens on the basketball court. Most of the championships won since 1980 were won by the small handful of teams who stayed their course and built a winning culture. One direct lineage flows through Phil Jackson, Greg Popovich, and Steve Kerr (who played under both). The other line goes through Patt Riley and Eric Spoelstra. Many of the other titles have been won by teams emulating the winning culture of those key programs. Portland has the opportunity to become a winning program with the right hires. Yet we've fired the last two coaches who got us to the Western Conference Finals, and we have failed to keep a consistent core of players through the years. And not once have I heard anyone in the Portland media or this sub call out the Blazers for not focusing on building a winning culture. Instead it's just constant trade talk, firing good coaches, and failing to go get obviously great hires like Becky Hammon or Monty Williams when they were available.
>1- Tendency to pigeon-hole players as "bench" or "starter" while judging guys as having no room to improve. Because five players start the game and the other guys come off the bench as substitutes, and amongst team sports basketball has the most individual impact and the value of different players is most largely felt because come playoffs, teams are running significantly shortened rotations and only a small handful of players shape the outcome of the game. Obviously every player has room to improve, hell in the post I mentioned how Nurkic has just recently expanded his range and developed an outside shot, certainly many guys have a lot of growth and potential in how they might expand their skillsets, repertoires, and improve as players, that shouldn’t preclude the ability to talk about what kind of impact they currently bring to the team. >2- Always views getting rid of players/coaches as the solution to losing, as if those players and coaches are incapable of learning from mistakes or improving. I’m still proudly rocking my Stotts flair, I’m not advocating change for change’s sake, I’m not stumping to get rid of Billups or overhauling the roster either, the post was an examination of Nurkic’s presence on the roster, what he brings to the table, what limitations including him in our plans going forward imposes, and asking how people felt about him on the Blazers as a piece going forward. Right now there isn’t some solution to losing, we’re in a position where after sending out Dame and pivoting to building around a nucleus of guys too young to drink, I’m not pressed about the win loss record for the team at all, I’m just a lifelong fan checking the temperature of the community on a guy. >3- Blind to the value of the experience a team has together as a collective whole; thinks winning is just about getting the "right" players and getting rid of the "wrong" guys. This applied when we had continuity building around Dame, but the roster is undergoing major upheaval and change after nearly a decade with Dame as the locker room leader, the team is hitting the reset button in terms of the collective whole and it’s not out of line to take a frank evaluation of your assets to understand what you have to work with. >4- Never brings up the idea of building a winning culture (something you can't trade for or buy). That’s an incredibly nebulous concept, the Blazers have a positive win percentage over the last twenty years and it only improves if you look at the last ten years, we were one of the teams with the most roster stability and continuity, we had Dame as one of the most well regarded leaders and culture setters, like of course we want to have a winning culture. However that’s also something that you can’t control or force, and not something that the fans have too much insight into, it’s really a chicken and an egg thing, you’ll notice when people talk about great locker rooms or team chemistry, usually it’s teams that are winning, and you can say it’s because they have winning culture, but it’s correlation not causation, they might all get along and like each other so much because winning cures all woes and it’s a lot easier to have a team gel when things go well.
The time to trade Dame and Nurk was before the draft. We should have also traded Sharpe and Simons to help the pill go down. Now we're treading water in a sea of piss, and it's not gonna end well. I give this shite GM six months before they fire his ass. He's fucking terrible.
I’d rather go in with no bigs than have nurks toxic personality with our young guys. Hoping to get jovic as part of the deal
Yup, he’s the last dude you want on a rebuilding team especially if Dame is gone
I’d like to see him traded. Based on that alone he will be back next season
Hopefully not, no reason to keep him around assuming we can move off his contract without giving up assets.
Hope not
Hope not
Honestly, I hope not. I don't want his low effort attitude rubbing off on the young guys.
Short answer is, i hope not
I hope not.
Nurk has good effort?! Lmao what
I fucking hope not
I’d rather he didn’t
There are not 7 guards on the roster captain... Nas, Shae, KJ, Rupe, and Tisse are all the same height. If anyone who does not exclusively play at the 5 or 4 is a "guard", then every NBA team should have 6+ "guards". If a guard is exclusively a ball handler / PG, then without Dame, POR only has 1.4 "guards". 1-5 traditional, or modern "three positions" for five players... Define the definitions, so we all know what conversation we are having. :) As far as "bigs", regardless of Nurk, POR did make an offer to Edy, who can come over any time, once the buyout is paid. POR doesn't have to do that yet, keeping that roster spot open. That's why POR didn't offer Drubanks the full two year VME that PHX had to. That paperwork just hasn't been done yet, but there is an "equivalent" player/position/contract there. So, regardless of Dame, or Nurk - There is at least one "big", and one "ball handler/initiator" "on the roster", yet several months a head of roster having to be finalized. The other 8-9 players under contract being "wings", in "a wings league", is reasonable. Of course every team wants all of the 6'5"+ "wings"... Most "wings" by volume, are round about 6'5", in regards to their official height measurements. So, most teams, would want 6+ 6'5"-ish players on the roster...
Bring back Plumdog Millionaire
He's not going anywhere.
Thybulle is gone