Portland Trail Blazers: Remember when Jusuf Nurkic was going to shoot threes? How’s he doing with that?

Nurk hasn’t been great from deep.

So far, Jusuf Nurkic has hit only two of his first 15 three-pointers this season – good for 13.3 percent. This could use some improvement.

But we should also applaud Nurkic for hitting the first ever three-balls of his career this season. He was previously 0/7 over his first four years.

Currently, he is averaging about an attempt per game. I ran a poll before the season, and 71 percent of the 198 people that responded predicted that’s right about where he’d be. His preseason shooting made many want to see him given an opportunity to shoot.

However, it will be interesting to see 1). if Stotts continues giving Nurkic the freedom to shoot if he continues missing at such a high rate, and 2). if Nurkic continues hoisting up bombs when they’re not going down.

It took Nurkic 6 games to hit his first three of the season this year. Once he finally did, it looked like he could’ve found some confidence after seeing one go down. A game later, he hit his next three-pointer.

Over the last six games, he has missed all five of his attempts.

But it’s not all bad. According to basketball-reference, Nurkic is shooting 6/12 from between 16 feet and the three-point line. While these are not actually the triples I dreamed he would hit, being consistent from only a step or two inside the arc would help the Blazers in a lot of the same ways.

The good shooting from similar range points to an ability to hit from deep – the Beast may just need to find his rhythm.

But we’ll see how long he continues searching.