Portland Trail Blazers: Jusuf Nurkic sets a lofty individual goal for 2020-21 season

On “Let’s Get Technical,” Portland Trail Blazers big Jusuf Nurkic called this season “primetime-or-bust.” But, he also noted one major individual milestone he wants to attain in 2021.

Since the franchise-altering February 2017 trade that sent Jusuf Nurkic to the Portland Trail Blazers, the Bosnian center has begun a steady ascension towards developing into one of the NBA’s premier centers. Though, he remains a tier or so below bigs such as Nikola Jokic, Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert.

Ask him about that these days, and you’ll find a player intent on changing that. On yesterday’s episode of Let’s Get Technical, Nurkic rattled off a few goals for the Portland Trail Blazers as a team, the importance of a hot start, and even labeled the upcoming season “primetime-or-bust.” He also noted a future goal he hopes to attach to his résumé in 2020-21:

First-time All-Star.

"“I want to be an All-Star. And I know I’m capable of that. In Portland, we need to have a hell of a season. And I need to have a hell of a season. As a team and as a player. So, I know all of the stuff we need to, you know … especially in the West. So, the West is the best. I know that. But, same time, I’m not really approaching myself as an All-Star category for all the reasons. I want team success first, so if that happens, you know, great. But at the same time, this is the, I think definitely this is the season for us.”"

One could say that Jusuf Nurkic has already won about half the battle. Since joining the Trail Blazers, Nurkic has averaged 15.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game on 50.6 percent shooting. In the Orlando bubble, particularly at the outset, Nurkic looked the part of a top-tier center.

The first goal will be to spread that over a full 72-game(?) season. The second, as Nurkic noted, will be to get success going the second the opening tip of the season opener.

It’s self-imposed, but Portland has been typecast as a team that one can normally count on for a post-All-Star break. Nurkic’s play parallels well with that idea, too. As we’ve discussed, in the Lillard era, here’s how the tale of the tape looks.

Pre-All-Star Break vs. Post All-Star Break, since 2015-16:
141-140 (50.2%) | W/L Record | 81-40 (66.9%)

Nurkic’s Blazers stats, since 2015-16, Pre-All-Star break vs. Post-All-Star break:
112 | Games played | 67
14.5 | PPG | 16.0
9.2 | RPG | 10.6
49.1% | FG% | 52.9%
71.3% | FT% | 71.2%
+4.5 | +/- | +10.1

If anything, this highlights the Blazers’ top players and their penchant for ramping their game for more higher-consequence regular season games. The question of the year simply boils down to just how quickly they can play with that sense of urgency.

Nurkic’s star teammate, CJ McCollum, had a similar situation, particularly in 2017, when he put up numbers that only Larry Bird, Dirk Nowitzki, and Stephen Curry had produced, but they missed out, and still has no All-Star appearance to his name.

The Portland Trail Blazers and their stars have become household commodities, on the backs of a Western Conference appearance and excellent play in the Orlando bubble. But in playing in a small market, the tightrope’s a thin one to walk for those with All-Star and All-NBA aspirations.

Rudy Gobert, a first-time All-Star in 2020, showed us that with the right defensive impact, a center doesn’t necessarily need the gaud of a nightly 20-point, 10-rebound average to make an All-Star Game.

Nurkic remains a noteworthy intimidator, even in spite of some numbers worth fixing in 2020-21. If he anchors the Blazers’ front line the way he did in 2018 and 2019 and does Nurkic-like things on offense, it certainly won’t be a surprise to see a TNT Inside the NBA All-Star announcement special presentation with more than one Blazer getting his highlights shown.