Portland Trail Blazers: The impact of Jusuf Nurkic returning to the line up

Jusuf Nurkic was poised to return to the Portland Trail Blazers lineup before the NBA season was suspended. It is time to look at the impact of his return.

The NBA season going into lockdown has had an impact on all of us. For the Portland Trail Blazers, it has given them a chance to get players back. One who was set to make a return to the lineup before the season was suspended was Jusuf Nurkic.

Nurkic was set to make his return Mar. 15 in a crucial battle with the Houston Rockets. As we are all aware, the Rockets have shifted to a small-ball lineup and  Nurkic would have been a huge asset to go along with Hassan Whiteside. Both players are 7’0″ with the ability to start in this league.

This is in fact where the Trail Blazers are going to run into issues. Who is going to be the starter and who is going to be the reserve. The Oklahoma City Thunder have managed to keep a starting-caliber center, Nerlens Noel, coming off the bench.

The way the Thunder make this work is that Steven Adams was always the starting center, Noel is aware of this. The question for the Trail Blazers is how will either player responds to being the backup?

Since joining the Trail Blazers, Nurkic has started all but one of his 171 games and that was in his first season with the franchise. Likewise, Whiteside has started every one of his 61 games. He has flourished in his time with the club.

What the Portland Trail Blazers need to weigh up is which player they want to keep around next season. Whiteside’s contract expires at the end of the year and in the current crop of free agents, he will command a high-value contract again.

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Nurkic is fully guaranteed next season at $12 million and then partially guaranteed in 2021-22 to the value of $4 million. If the Trail Blazers guarantee his full deal then he will be owed another $12 million in 2021-22, the final year of his deal.

If the Trail Blazers decide to go with Nurkic, rather than trading him, they will have their third scoring option back. He averages 15.0 points,  9.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 0.9 steals per game as a member of the Trail Blazers. These are impressive numbers as a center.

Whiteside, in his 61 games as a member of the Trail Blazers has averaged 16.3 points,  14.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 3.2 blocks and 0.4 steals per game. He is leading the NBA in blocks per game and is the bedrock of the Trail Blazers defense.

While there are several differences between the two players. Whiteside is a defensively-minded center who makes his offensive living on putbacks and pick-and-rolls. He does not create his own shot effectively, nor does he create opportunities for others with any regularity.

Nurkic is solid defensively, his rim protection is not as good as Whiteside, but there have been few players in the NBA who have been. However, like most European centers, Nurkic is good at a little bit of everything.

His passing game far outstrips that of Whiteside and it is crucial that he plays with the starters so that he is able to effectively utilize the floor-spacing skills of Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Trevor Ariza effectively.

The Portland Trail Blazers have made the playoffs every season Nurkic has played for them. This season they are in danger of missing the playoffs. While this does not come down to Whiteside, the success of Nurkic cannot be discounted.

His energy when he hits the court is infectious. Not only is he fun to watch but must be fun to play with. While Whiteside has played with Ariza and Carmelo Anthony all year, Nurkic is familiar with the Terry Stotts systems. It will take him no time to build chemistry with all. In this scribe’s opinion, Nurkic needs to start over Whiteside.