Portland Trail Blazers: 3 season goals for Jusuf Nurkic in 2020-21

After coming back from injury to play for the Portland Trail Blazers in the bubble, let’s take a look at three goals for Jusuf Nurkic in 2020-21.

After losing Jusuf Nurkic just before the playoffs in 2018-19, things looked pretty grim for the Portland Trail Blazers. As a team, they pulled together like not many others could to make it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before being beaten by the Golden State Warriors.

This season, due to the nature of Nurkic’s broken leg, the Blazers would not have the services of their preferred starting center for the majority of the season. As a result, the Blazers went out and traded for Hassan Whiteside in an effort to solidify the position.

Unfortunately, the injuries kept coming and Zach Collins went down for the majority of the season with a shoulder issue. This meant that the Blazers were reliant on Whiteside for center production. While his numbers looked good, his old-school center play did not suit the Blazers’ style.

Why Jusuf Nurkic is crucial for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Nurkic takes the pressure off Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum as he is a true third option. Not only can he score, as shown by the 17.6 points per game he averaged over the eight seeding games upon return, but he also averaged 4.0 assists per game.

His 2018-19 numbers were 15.6 points and 3.2 assists per game so last season was not an anomaly. The Blazers were last in assists last season so the fact that Nurkic creates for himself and others is a tremendous boost for the team, making them harder to defend.