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Portland Trail Blazers: 2017-18 player grades for Jusuf Nurkic

By Ty Delbridge

NEW ORLEANS, LA - MARCH 27: Jusuf Nurkic #27 of the Portland Trail Blazers reacts before a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on March 27, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - MARCH 27: Jusuf Nurkic #27 of the Portland Trail Blazers reacts before a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on March 27, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images
Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images /

Weaknesses

Nurkic has shown he can take over and dominate a game. The problem is, he doesn’t always show up for the Blazers. Nurkic tends to just disappear from games on both ends of the floor. He had 15 games this season where he scored less than 10 points and 15 games where he grabbed less than five rebounds. It seems that he gets frustrated if the Blazers don’t look to get him involved early on.

All season long, Nurkic has a hard time staying out of foul trouble, averaging 3.1 fouls per game. He always seemed to commit silly fouls that were avoidable, picking them up early in the game and hurting his rhythm.

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As the starting center, he only averaged 26.5 minutes per game. He only played 30 minutes or more in 25 games this season. In the playoffs, he averaged 23.4 minutes per game. It’s hard for Nurkic to impact the game when he is not on the floor. In tight games in the fourth quarter, Nurkic was often on the bench while Ed Davis or Zach Collins would finish the game at center.

On the offensive end, he sometimes tried to do too much. According to Cleaning The Glass, Nurkic took 42 percent of his shots this season from the mid-range but only made 39 percent of them. He would get hot making a couple of post shots, and then would try to get his jump shot going. He is better near the rim with post-ups or rolling to the hoop.

Coming into this season, people thought Nurkic would be able to space the floor and even develop into a 3-point shooter. He was 0-for-7 from the 3-point line this season. Nurkic can hit a mid-range jumper and should continue to improve that part of his game, but it shouldn’t be something he does a ton during a game. It seems that he doesn’t want just to be a back-to-the-basket center, but the Blazers need him to be exactly that.

Another issue for Nurkic is he doesn’t go hard to the basket. He tries to be a bit too fancy down low instead of just putting his shoulder into his guy and being a bruiser.

His big body is hard for anyone in the NBA to defend. Too many times this season Nukic would just lay the ball up, attempt some type of floater or just put up some wild shot near the rim instead of just trying to dunk the ball, or go strong to the hoop and draw a foul. Blazers coaches, players, fans and media were calling for Nurkic to be more aggressive with the ball in his hands all year long.

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