aim2please wrote:I'm a little late with this one, but there was a lot of talk about Nurkic. He's shown flashes and glimpses his rookie year, but when you take a closer look - he's been terrible so far in his career. Good thing for Denver is that no one watches their games, so a lot of people think that he's a starting level big.
This season, Nuggets are 12.6 points (per 100 poss) better when he sits. They made a run the moment they benched him and went with Jokic. He's a foul and turnover machine. Averaging 6 fouls per 36 minutes, and turning it over 18% of the time. Those two numbers tells you a lot about his feel for the game. He can't make quick decisions and is out of the position a lot.
Dude is such a 'beast' offensively, until you check his stats. His career TS% is .487, 45.7% from the field from a guy that takes 90% of his shots inside 10 feet from the basket. That's pathetic. Average TS% for a center is .550. His RPM numbers are not flattering either.
On the positive side, he's an elite def. rebounder. That's pretty much all he's really good at.
If you can get him for another poop like Rozier, you do it, but giving up anything with higher upside is a waste of assets. He's a net negative right now, not an answer. A realistic trajectory of his career suggest that becoming a Mozgov-type player (inefficient offensively, plus on defense) is close to his ceiling. Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't move the needle either.
Incredibly informative post that I learned a lot about the player from. Great job!
