Portland Trail Blazers: Jusuf Nurkic is playing like an All-NBA talent
By Eric Rigby
The Portland Trail Blazers big three are performing well, but big man Jusuf Nurkic stands out especially.
It’s midway through the 2018-19 NBA season, do you know who your league leaders are? Portland Trail Blazers fans who pore over basketball-reference.com will be pleased to see their big three of Damian Lillard, Jusuf Nurkic, and CJ McCollum are among the top 20 players in several statistical categories.
From an offensive standpoint, Dame unsurprisingly takes the cake, sitting comfortably in categories like field goals, three-pointers, and free throws made. McCollum joins him on many of these offensive lists.
But the real encouragement comes from seeing Nurkic’s name on many prominent lists. His recent play has helped spark debates about whether Nurkic should be Portland’s clear second option for this squad; these numbers just might help push his case further.
Perhaps the most surprising category where we find Nurkic at this point in the season is in box plus/minus, or BPM. BPM uses an individual’s box score stats and the team’s overall performance to estimate how a player is performing per 100 possessions. With help from nbastuffer.com, the easiest way to understand BPM is to view +0.0 as league average, so “+5.0 means the player is 5 points better than an average player over 100 possessions (which is about All-NBA level).”
Put simply, the higher over +0.0 the better.
For reference, during the 2013-14 season, LeBron James led the league with a BPM of +8.9. So far this year, the league leader is Houston’s James Harden at +10.7. Nurkic is currently tied with Domantas Sabonis at No. 15 with +5.0 BPM, just one spot ahead of his teammate Damian Lillard, who has a BPM of +4.9.
These numbers suggest that both Nurkic and Dame are playing at All-NBA levels right now, and having two players rank in the top 20 of the NBA puts them in great company with playoff-bound teams.
That’s not the only category where Blazers fans can rejoice, either. The Bosnian Beast currently sits at No. 7 in the league for offensive rebounds, only three rebounds behind fifth-place Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz.
The numbers don’t paint a perfect picture, though. Nurk’s defensive rebounding game could use work, where he sits at No. 14. Granted, the entire Blazers team could use some help on the defensive glass. Nurkic is also in the top 20 in personal fouls, and he doesn’t even rank in the top 20 in blocks per game.
Next. Lillard is improving defensively, and he wants you to know it. dark
Regardless, he clearly has the potential to be the second option for this squad, even if his game isn’t completely developed yet.