Portland Trail Blazers: New year, new Jusuf Nurkic

In a recent article from The Athletic, writer Jason Quick talked to Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic about his stellar play over the last several games.

Over the Portland Trail Blazers recent stretch of successes, there’s no denying that Jusuf Nurkic has been at the center of it. Since the new year, the club has gone 5-1 and the Bosnian Beast has played like an All-NBA talent. The Athletic’s Jason Quick spoke with Nurkic about his impressive play (subscription required).

According to the Bosnian native, his mini-breakthrough is the result of accepting the type of player he is, rather than trying to be something more.

As Quick points out, this revelation came sometime following his disastrous performance against the Memphis Grizzlies. In this contest, Nurkic went 1-for-15 from the field, including an ill-advised three-pointer, in the Blazers nine-point loss.

Afterwards, Nurkic felt he was at a crossroad. Should he continue trying to become a modern big who can step around defenders, nail floaters, and stretch the floor? Or should he rely more on his physical prowess and play a more bulldozer-y game like centers of the past?

Blazers fans have salivated over the prospect of Nurkic becoming a floor-stretcher (me included). And with all the preseason excitement over his shooting, especially when he went 2-for-2 from deep against the Utah Jazz in Portland’s third preseason game, Nurk may have understandably succumb to the hype over his becoming a more dynamic threat.

But as the season has developed, and Nurkic has missed bunny shots underneath the rim and failed to capitalize on his long range looks, he has learned becoming this type of all-around big may not be in the cards.

Instead, simplifying his game appears to be what’s made him more effective in this recent stretch. Quick quotes Nurkic saying he was trying too hard to be something he was not rather than just enjoy playing.

With a more relaxed approach, Nurkic seems to be in better positions throughout games to make a bigger impact. Take his historic stat line against the Sacramento Kings on January 1, where he became the first-ever player to record at least 20 points and 20 rebounds to go along with five blocks and five steals.

In 2018’s portion of the season, he was putting up 14.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.2 blocks, and one steal per contest while shooting .493 from the field.  Since New Years, he has averaged 20 points, 12.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.2 blocks, and 1.5 steals on .647 shooting.

While some of the improvement can be chalked up to the smaller sample size, 2019 has undoubtedly become the year of the Beast.

If Nurkic can make his recent play into the norm for him, he will be an invaluable asset to this Trail Blazers team going forward into this season and beyond.