Game 56 :Portland @ Utah 6:00pm KGW

[zzaj]

Nurkic did a better job of defending the PnR, even though Utah still scored on a few of those lobs. It'll be interesting to see the team with Turner and Aminu defending the perimeter a bit more.

If the Stotts' Blazers can figure out a way to contain the perimeter for a few more seconds, it'll really pay dividends in defense around the basket...

[DusterBuster]

Nurkic looked good on offense, but he's obviously out of shape. Not sure how he got that way in the middle of the season. He's big and has good footwork and mobility, but yeeeesh...those turnovers were ugly. That's the one red flag with his stats...a 19% turnover rate is huge. Portland will have to moderate his opportunities to make decisions with the ball

it will be the first time in a long time that the Blazers have an inside threat...but I'm not confident Stotts will know how to use that. I wanted to run for the vodka when I heard Callabro talking about how Stottts isn't sure yet if Nurkic should shoot three's.

Meyers got 1 rebound in 23 minutes; that's 1.6 rebounds/36...yeh Meyers!

How'd his defense look? I was gonna say 'how'd his d look', but I think for obviously reasons (and as the President recently demonstrated) abbreviating words starting with D can be a sketchy proposition.

Wasn't able to watch the game but the twitter feed made it sound like he was able to move his feet on defense really well.

[GreenRiddler]

Damn we are lucky Nikola Jokic is blowing up. Else we would've never got this guy.

I mean I already liked him coming out of the 2014 draft, but he showed all the reasons why you'd want him.

Low block offense moving guys like nothing, flings Gobert to the floor, backs down Favors like he is a kid. Great foot work, scoring touch, excellent anticipation for getting steals. Huge body that deters drives ala Lopez/Bogut.

Really good scoring out of the PnR and setting up low post offense out of the PnR. Potential as a top of the key passer. Got some TOs tonight but he still has to get use to his teammates.

All in all a great debut. Can't wait till he is conditioned to play starter mins 27-30. With the All-star break Turner can get healthy without having games wiz by ( Good god we need a 3rd ballhandler).

[jeffhardyfan52]

http://www.blazersedge.com/2017/2/15/14631930/damian-lillard-ankle-injury-update-spurs

See... if this is going to be the case. I don't want him out there. Let's pull a Philly and blatant tank, even if only for 1 season. Get Nurkic figured out. Play the overpaid scrubs and bench warmers tons of minutes and see who drowns and who floats. We've go 3 first round picks as of this moment. We'll see what we have come the deadline, but the worse we are now, the better off we are next year.

Dame seems to get hurt every year. He plays through them but it effects his game.

[Roy The Natural]

http://www.blazersedge.com/2017/2/15/14631930/damian-lillard-ankle-injury-update-spurs

See... if this is going to be the case. I don't want him out there. Let's pull a Philly and blatant tank, even if only for 1 season. Get Nurkic figured out. Play the overpaid scrubs and bench warmers tons of minutes and see who drowns and who floats. We've go 3 first round picks as of this moment. We'll see what we have come the deadline, but the worse we are now, the better off we are next year.

Dame seems to get hurt every year. He plays through them but it effects his game.

Yup, and normally I'd be fine with him trying to work his way through it, but in the year of the tank... let's just rest him. No harm in tanking games and seeing if players can find new ways to contribute and elevate their game with more responsibility... what's the worst that happens, we keep losing?

I mean imagine if Portland tanks, gets themselves in position, and gets lucky and wins the lotto. I mean this team probably shouldn't really be drafting Markelle Fultz. But I could imagine the Heat giving up Whiteside for a straight up pick swap, not even the actual pick. The Blazers could pull some completely franchise altering value from this season if they just commit to losing and development.

[PDXKnight]

Our $19 million dollar man is 2-8 from the field with 5 points in 22 minutes so far.

He really needs to put in some major work this offseason. Feels like he didn't do **** to attempt to get better this offseason. Obviously that's complete conjecture on my part, but while he's shooting better I've noticed ABSOLUTELY NOTHING improve about his game overall.

And Our other 19 million dollar man is a terrible fit on this team and isn't even able to play. How can any Gm feel smart about spending 80 percent of the cap on 3 positions that don't include center?

[Andre 2999]

Nurkic looked good on offense, but he's obviously out of shape. Not sure how he got that way in the middle of the season. He's big and has good footwork and mobility, but yeeeesh...those turnovers were ugly. That's the one red flag with his stats...a 19% turnover rate is huge. Portland will have to moderate his opportunities to make decisions with the ball

it will be the first time in a long time that the Blazers have an inside threat...but I'm not confident Stotts will know how to use that. I wanted to run for the vodka when I heard Callabro talking about how Stottts isn't sure yet if Nurkic should shoot three's.

Meyers got 1 rebound in 23 minutes; that's 1.6 rebounds/36...yeh Meyers!

To be fair, on Nurkiç's first play in the game, he was thrown a bad pass in the post that was likely to be a turnover no matter what he did. After that though, he did make a few bad plays with the ball...and I know that he was turnover prone in Denver. I'm hoping however that playing on a team with veterans like Dame, CJ, and Turner will help Nurkiç to make progressively better decisions with the ball.

You're right about his weight as well; he definitely looks a bit out of shape. My hunch is he might have gained some extra pounds over the past month or two, when he was only playing 10-15 mins per game. His frustrations about lack of PT may have also led to bad eating habits, who knows?

Aside from those issues, I thought he looked like a stud. Great size and length, and footwork, and flashes of great passing. I'm not sure that he's the long-term solution at C yet, but I'm glad Olshey made this move and I'm looking forward to seeing what Nurkiç can do on this team.

[Dame Lizard]

Nurkic looked good on offense, but he's obviously out of shape. Not sure how he got that way in the middle of the season. He's big and has good footwork and mobility, but yeeeesh...those turnovers were ugly. That's the one red flag with his stats...a 19% turnover rate is huge. Portland will have to moderate his opportunities to make decisions with the ball

it will be the first time in a long time that the Blazers have an inside threat...but I'm not confident Stotts will know how to use that. I wanted to run for the vodka when I heard Callabro talking about how Stottts isn't sure yet if Nurkic should shoot three's.

Meyers got 1 rebound in 23 minutes; that's 1.6 rebounds/36...yeh Meyers!

To be fair, on Nurkiç's first play in the game, he was thrown a bad pass in the post that was likely to be a turnover no matter what he did. After that though, he did make a few bad plays with the ball...and I know that he was turnover prone in Denver. I'm hoping however that playing on a team with veterans like Dame, CJ, and Turner will help Nurkiç to make progressively better decisions with the ball.

You're right about his weight as well; he definitely looks a bit out of shape. My hunch is he might have gained some extra pounds over the past month or two, when he was only playing 10-15 mins per game. His frustrations about lack of PT may have also led to bad eating habits, who knows?

Aside from those issues, I thought he looked like a stud. Great size and length, and footwork, and flashes of great passing. I'm not sure that he's the long-term solution at C yet, but I'm glad Olshey made this move and I'm looking forward to seeing what Nurkiç can do on this team.

Yeah I'm not judging the number of turnovers, as some of them were just unfortunate slight miscommunications, which can be expected in your first game. He does look out of shape, but still managed to be effective. Loved this debut from him.

I agree with Wiz that Portland will have to keep an eye on the turnovers thought (one thing Plumlee did really well), but I do see the passing potential. He had some really good bball IQ moments. That touch pass to Crabbe for his first three, 2 of the steals were really nice, and early in the game he tapped a rebound (that he was at risk of conceding to the opposition, to Vonleh, who was in prime position.

Defensively, I thought he played good man to man defense. My only gripe on the defensive end is that there was some occasions I thought he should have shifted over to play more help defense.

[cappuccino]

They deserved the W

Read on Twitter

[Myth]

They deserved the W

Read on Twitter

[Wizenheimer]

Nurkic looked good on offense, but he's obviously out of shape. Not sure how he got that way in the middle of the season. He's big and has good footwork and mobility, but yeeeesh...those turnovers were ugly. That's the one red flag with his stats...a 19% turnover rate is huge. Portland will have to moderate his opportunities to make decisions with the ball

it will be the first time in a long time that the Blazers have an inside threat...but I'm not confident Stotts will know how to use that. I wanted to run for the vodka when I heard Callabro talking about how Stottts isn't sure yet if Nurkic should shoot three's.

Meyers got 1 rebound in 23 minutes; that's 1.6 rebounds/36...yeh Meyers!

How'd his defense look? I was gonna say 'how'd his d look', but I think for obviously reasons (and as the President recently demonstrated) abbreviating words starting with D can be a sketchy proposition.

Wasn't able to watch the game but the twitter feed made it sound like he was able to move his feet on defense really well.

on defense, the first thing is that he takes up space, something Portland hasn't had since Lopez. I guess Meyers takes up space but it's usually the wrong space

he already had the Stotts 'bigs-retreat-to-the-rim-on-PnR' scheme down, which is why Hill and Exum had big offensive games. He challenged some shots and blocked one and he had 2 or 3 steals.

He's not much of a rim protector, but he's fairly young....maybe that will develop. Somebody posted a comparison between Plumlee and Nurkic on the general board. Nurkic has a better DRPM then Plumlee, but Plumlee has much better opponent FG% marks at 10'-and-in, 6'-and-in, and at the rim; and Plumlee is doing that against starters

it's probably realistic for this season to expect that Nurkic may be a little worse then Plumlee on defense overall. Just being new to the team would account for that. His physicality and mass is much better then Plumlee so maybe it's reasonable to hope he'll be better on defense next year; especially considering he's the only blazer big that combines that kind of mass and mobility

[Wizenheimer]

Nurkic looked good on offense, but he's obviously out of shape. Not sure how he got that way in the middle of the season. He's big and has good footwork and mobility, but yeeeesh...those turnovers were ugly. That's the one red flag with his stats...a 19% turnover rate is huge. Portland will have to moderate his opportunities to make decisions with the ball

it will be the first time in a long time that the Blazers have an inside threat...but I'm not confident Stotts will know how to use that. I wanted to run for the vodka when I heard Callabro talking about how Stottts isn't sure yet if Nurkic should shoot three's.

Meyers got 1 rebound in 23 minutes; that's 1.6 rebounds/36...yeh Meyers!

To be fair, on Nurkiç's first play in the game, he was thrown a bad pass in the post that was likely to be a turnover no matter what he did. After that though, he did make a few bad plays with the ball...and I know that he was turnover prone in Denver. I'm hoping however that playing on a team with veterans like Dame, CJ, and Turner will help Nurkiç to make progressively better decisions with the ball.

You're right about his weight as well; he definitely looks a bit out of shape. My hunch is he might have gained some extra pounds over the past month or two, when he was only playing 10-15 mins per game. His frustrations about lack of PT may have also led to bad eating habits, who knows?

Aside from those issues, I thought he looked like a stud. Great size and length, and footwork, and flashes of great passing. I'm not sure that he's the long-term solution at C yet, but I'm glad Olshey made this move and I'm looking forward to seeing what Nurkiç can do on this team.

Yeah I'm not judging the number of turnovers, as some of them were just unfortunate slight miscommunications, which can be expected in your first game. He does look out of shape, but still managed to be effective. Loved this debut from him.

I agree with Wiz that Portland will have to keep an eye on the turnovers thought (one thing Plumlee did really well), but I do see the passing potential. He had some really good bball IQ moments. That touch pass to Crabbe for his first three, 2 of the steals were really nice, and early in the game he tapped a rebound (that he was at risk of conceding to the opposition, to Vonleh, who was in prime position.

Defensively, I thought he played good man to man defense. My only gripe on the defensive end is that there was some occasions I thought he should have shifted over to play more help defense.

his turnover rate is not that much higher then Vonleh or Davis. The problem is his usage rate is much higher so his raw turnover number are high. Over the last two seasons, it's nearly 4 turnovers/36. That needs to come down, although I don't know how many of those are from moving screens
------------------------------------------

one thing that does make me nervous: I noticed he only played 32 games last season so I googled to find out what the injury was; he had surgery to repair a torn patella tendon. That's kind of scary. It's not as bad as microfracture, and maybe not as bad as a fully torn ACL. I don't know what the re-occurrence rate is on that particular injury though

[Andre 2999]

Yikes, I didn't realize he had gotten that surgery.

[Dzon Dilindzer]

second part of his rookie season he played with knee injury, and he also had ankle injury, but after season was over, he went to surgery and he missed majority of the second season, and I dont recall he had any injurys after that

he lost 35 pounds during past summer and he had no injury problems this season

[Dame Lizard]

second part of his rookie season he played with knee injury, and he also had ankle injury, but after season was over, he went to surgery and he missed majority of the second season, and I dont recall he had any injurys after that

he lost 35 pounds during past summer and he had no injury problems this season

He might have lost that weight over the summer but I reckon he has probably put most of it back on. Hopefully he can work hard over the all star break and improve that a bit.

[Goldbum]

They deserved the W

Read on Twitter

I live here so...yeah hate the Jazz. However everytime I go to a Jazz game in all Blazer gear Jazz fans buy me beers so that's something at least.

[zzaj]

Nurkic looked good on offense, but he's obviously out of shape. Not sure how he got that way in the middle of the season. He's big and has good footwork and mobility, but yeeeesh...those turnovers were ugly. That's the one red flag with his stats...a 19% turnover rate is huge. Portland will have to moderate his opportunities to make decisions with the ball

it will be the first time in a long time that the Blazers have an inside threat...but I'm not confident Stotts will know how to use that. I wanted to run for the vodka when I heard Callabro talking about how Stottts isn't sure yet if Nurkic should shoot three's.

Meyers got 1 rebound in 23 minutes; that's 1.6 rebounds/36...yeh Meyers!

How'd his defense look? I was gonna say 'how'd his d look', but I think for obviously reasons (and as the President recently demonstrated) abbreviating words starting with D can be a sketchy proposition.

Wasn't able to watch the game but the twitter feed made it sound like he was able to move his feet on defense really well.

Here are some of his 'highlights' from the Utah game. Doesn't have his assist to Crabbe or a few other things--just made shots. Anyway, figured you may like to see these since you didn't get to see the game.

Watch on YouTube

[monopoman]

Damn we are lucky Nikola Jokic is blowing up. Else we would've never got this guy.

I mean I already liked him coming out of the 2014 draft, but he showed all the reasons why you'd want him.

Low block offense moving guys like nothing, flings Gobert to the floor, backs down Favors like he is a kid. Great foot work, scoring touch, excellent anticipation for getting steals. Huge body that deters drives ala Lopez/Bogut.

Really good scoring out of the PnR and setting up low post offense out of the PnR. Potential as a top of the key passer. Got some TOs tonight but he still has to get use to his teammates.

All in all a great debut. Can't wait till he is conditioned to play starter mins 27-30. With the All-star break Turner can get healthy without having games wiz by ( Good god we need a 3rd ballhandler).

Yep, I was blown away at how many Denver fans acted like they were happy to get rid of him. We ended up with a player that will likely work with this team for a longer period of time, and the better pick. Even if Nurkic has something that derails his career with Portland we still got a 1st round pick for a player we weren't re-signing in this coming off-season under 95% of scenarios.

[Norm2953]

Before we get too far carried away with Nurkic, its unrealistic to expect too much for as
the season winds down, likely we'll see some of the younger players get some time and
his time with Dame/CJ will become less.

He is going to a team that is almost totally devoid of physical players with the exception
of Ed Davis. Portland will get a good look at him and likely will work with him this summer
but remember if he plays well, we're still in same position with him as we were with Plumlee
for we don't have the salary space to pay him.

[Brandon-Clyde]

Before we get too far carried away with Nurkic, its unrealistic to expect too much for as
the season winds down, likely we'll see some of the younger players get some time and
his time with Dame/CJ will become less.

He is going to a team that is almost totally devoid of physical players with the exception
of Ed Davis. Portland will get a good look at him and likely will work with him this summer
but remember if he plays well, we're still in same position with him as we were with Plumlee
for we don't have the salary space to pay him.

I believe he has one more year under his rookie deal so Portland has one more year to do the deals need to fix the cap situation