First Domino: Nurkic to Portland

[chambers]

Portland are trying to shed as much salary as possible and Nurkic was causing locker room issues because they decided not to start him with Jokic anymore.

Blazers will now try and dump some more salary like Crabbe, Nazr Momamed to keep their tax bill down.

They've got the majority of their cap room spent on:

Lilliard
Mcollum
Turner
Crabbe


ugh.
They were looking so bright a season or two ago.
I'd say Plumlee will probably come off the bench for the most part. Too hard for them to guard stretch line ups with both Jokic and Plumlee out there.
Plus Plumlee will likely be a cheap RFA signing for them and bring a veteran presence.

Nurkic is a bit of a bust at this point. Hopefully they can try and use him as the inside scoring presence they were void of with Plumlee...but they lose his passing and transition abilities.

[Stig]

Very confusing indeed, when I saw Denver is giving Portland a first I thought it's a typo in the news.

Even if Plumblee is the better player, he's a FA this summer, what if he doesn't resign? and he's going to ask for a lot of money because he knows Denver don't want to lose him after giving up a first.

Also surprised Denver didn't offer Wilson Chandler who wants to go anyway.

[IDreamCeltics]

Portland are trying to shed as much salary as possible and Nurkic was causing locker room issues because they decided not to start him with Jokic anymore.

Blazers will now try and dump some more salary like Crabbe, Nazr Momamed to keep their tax bill down.

They've got the majority of their cap room spent on:

Lilliard
Mcollum
Turner
Crabbe


ugh.
They were looking so bright a season or two ago.
I'd say Plumlee will probably come off the bench for the most part. Too hard for them to guard stretch line ups with both Jokic and Plumlee out there.
Plus Plumlee will likely be a cheap RFA signing for them and bring a veteran presence.

Nurkic is a bit of a bust at this point. Hopefully they can try and use him as the inside scoring presence they were void of with Plumlee...but they lose his passing and transition abilities.

Bit of a rush to judgement.

He's only 22 and has improved each year.

Nurk's per 36 numbers this season

Age  FG%  FT%  TRB   AST  BLK STL   PF   TO  PTS
 22  .507   .496  11.6   2.6   1.6  1.1  3.7  3.9  16.0

Portland also had the 4th worst defense in the NBA.  It will be interesting to see if they're able to defend at the rim better with Nurkic than Plumlee. 

[oldtype]

Portland are trying to shed as much salary as possible and Nurkic was causing locker room issues because they decided not to start him with Jokic anymore.

Blazers will now try and dump some more salary like Crabbe, Nazr Momamed to keep their tax bill down.

They've got the majority of their cap room spent on:

Lilliard
Mcollum
Turner
Crabbe


ugh.
They were looking so bright a season or two ago.
I'd say Plumlee will probably come off the bench for the most part. Too hard for them to guard stretch line ups with both Jokic and Plumlee out there.
Plus Plumlee will likely be a cheap RFA signing for them and bring a veteran presence.

Nurkic is a bit of a bust at this point. Hopefully they can try and use him as the inside scoring presence they were void of with Plumlee...but they lose his passing and transition abilities.

Bit of a rush to judgement.

He's only 22 and has improved each year.

Nurk's per 36 numbers this season

Age  FG%  FT%  TRB   AST  BLK STL   PF   TO  PTS
 22  .507   .496  11.6   2.6   1.6  1.1  3.7  3.9  16.0

Portland also had the 4th worst defense in the NBA.  It will be interesting to see if they're able to defend at the rim better with Nurkic than Plumlee.

Other than FG%, his counting stats and advanced numbers have all declined sharply since his rookie season.  Given that he came into the league as a 20-year-old, the lack of development is concerning.

Don't think he's a bust, of course.  Not sure if there's a whole lot of upside there beyond "good backup" either.

[IDreamCeltics]

Portland are trying to shed as much salary as possible and Nurkic was causing locker room issues because they decided not to start him with Jokic anymore.

Blazers will now try and dump some more salary like Crabbe, Nazr Momamed to keep their tax bill down.

They've got the majority of their cap room spent on:

Lilliard
Mcollum
Turner
Crabbe


ugh.
They were looking so bright a season or two ago.
I'd say Plumlee will probably come off the bench for the most part. Too hard for them to guard stretch line ups with both Jokic and Plumlee out there.
Plus Plumlee will likely be a cheap RFA signing for them and bring a veteran presence.

Nurkic is a bit of a bust at this point. Hopefully they can try and use him as the inside scoring presence they were void of with Plumlee...but they lose his passing and transition abilities.

Bit of a rush to judgement.

He's only 22 and has improved each year.

Nurk's per 36 numbers this season

Age  FG%  FT%  TRB   AST  BLK STL   PF   TO  PTS
 22  .507   .496  11.6   2.6   1.6  1.1  3.7  3.9  16.0

Portland also had the 4th worst defense in the NBA.  It will be interesting to see if they're able to defend at the rim better with Nurkic than Plumlee.

Other than FG%, his counting stats and advanced numbers have all declined sharply since his rookie season.  Given that he came into the league as a 20-year-old, the lack of development is concerning.

Don't think he's a bust, of course.  Not sure if there's a whole lot of upside there beyond "good backup" either.

Is this true?  Prove it. 

[oldtype]

Portland are trying to shed as much salary as possible and Nurkic was causing locker room issues because they decided not to start him with Jokic anymore.

Blazers will now try and dump some more salary like Crabbe, Nazr Momamed to keep their tax bill down.

They've got the majority of their cap room spent on:

Lilliard
Mcollum
Turner
Crabbe


ugh.
They were looking so bright a season or two ago.
I'd say Plumlee will probably come off the bench for the most part. Too hard for them to guard stretch line ups with both Jokic and Plumlee out there.
Plus Plumlee will likely be a cheap RFA signing for them and bring a veteran presence.

Nurkic is a bit of a bust at this point. Hopefully they can try and use him as the inside scoring presence they were void of with Plumlee...but they lose his passing and transition abilities.

Bit of a rush to judgement.

He's only 22 and has improved each year.

Nurk's per 36 numbers this season

Age  FG%  FT%  TRB   AST  BLK STL   PF   TO  PTS
 22  .507   .496  11.6   2.6   1.6  1.1  3.7  3.9  16.0

Portland also had the 4th worst defense in the NBA.  It will be interesting to see if they're able to defend at the rim better with Nurkic than Plumlee.

Other than FG%, his counting stats and advanced numbers have all declined sharply since his rookie season.  Given that he came into the league as a 20-year-old, the lack of development is concerning.

Don't think he's a bust, of course.  Not sure if there's a whole lot of upside there beyond "good backup" either.

Is this true?  Prove it.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/n/nurkiju01.html

[RAAAAAAAANDY]

Nurkic fouls like a maniac, has the lateral quickness of a hippo, and seems like he's got conditioning issues. I'm erally missing the love fest for him.

[Big333223]

Portland are trying to shed as much salary as possible and Nurkic was causing locker room issues because they decided not to start him with Jokic anymore.

Blazers will now try and dump some more salary like Crabbe, Nazr Momamed to keep their tax bill down.

They've got the majority of their cap room spent on:

Lilliard
Mcollum
Turner
Crabbe


ugh.
They were looking so bright a season or two ago.
I'd say Plumlee will probably come off the bench for the most part. Too hard for them to guard stretch line ups with both Jokic and Plumlee out there.
Plus Plumlee will likely be a cheap RFA signing for them and bring a veteran presence.

Nurkic is a bit of a bust at this point. Hopefully they can try and use him as the inside scoring presence they were void of with Plumlee...but they lose his passing and transition abilities.

Bit of a rush to judgement.

He's only 22 and has improved each year.

Nurk's per 36 numbers this season

Age  FG%  FT%  TRB   AST  BLK STL   PF   TO  PTS
 22  .507   .496  11.6   2.6   1.6  1.1  3.7  3.9  16.0

Portland also had the 4th worst defense in the NBA.  It will be interesting to see if they're able to defend at the rim better with Nurkic than Plumlee.

Other than FG%, his counting stats and advanced numbers have all declined sharply since his rookie season.  Given that he came into the league as a 20-year-old, the lack of development is concerning.

Don't think he's a bust, of course.  Not sure if there's a whole lot of upside there beyond "good backup" either.

Is this true?  Prove it.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/n/nurkiju01.html

Do I have to be the one to point out that his raw counting states are mostly right around the same?

[TheSlipperyWhistle]

Portland:

1. They didn't want to have to pay Plumlee (but they would have if some better replacement wasn't available, and now they don't have to).
2. Nurkic might not be as good as Plumlee right now, but he showed that he quite possibly could be in the long run.
3. They got a first rounder in addition?!?!?!

Denver:

1. They get Plumlee. He's the best Plumlee out there at least. He's a good player, young, but they are going to have to pay him quite a bit of money.
2. They got a second round draft pick.

Notice there are 3 bullet points for Portland and only 2 for Denver. Notice that the quality of the bullet points for Portland are considerably better than the quality of the bullet points for Denver. Portland wins the trade, but I don't think the trade is consequential enough to crush Denver in any way. They had an unhappy camper in Nurkic. They moved him. Had to swallow a sub-par package to do so.