Welcome Jusuf Nurkić

[Saberestar]

Nurkic since the All-Star break (5 games):

12.4 points
17.6 rebounds
4.8 assists
1.6 blocks
1.0 steals

As the season progresses he is playing better and better.

[sashaturiaf]

Nurkic since the All-Star break (5 games):

12.4 points
17.6 rebounds
4.8 assists
1.6 blocks
1.0 steals

As the season progresses he is playing better and better.

Nurk is en Fuego at the moment, post all star break he's been our best player no contest.

[Fo-Real]

His excellent play has made me realize how terrible Eubanks has been playing. Nurk has been a diffrence maker when on the court.

[Fifii]

Nurkic is without form, if you looked at numbers it would be okey , but if you watching games you see that he isn’t effective in boxing out opponent , he missing easy shoots from the paint. Definitely he isn’t the same player that he was on the start RS.

[garrick]

Nurkic is without form, if you looked at numbers it would be okey , but if you watching games you see that he isn’t effective in boxing out opponent , he missing easy shoots from the paint. Definitely he isn’t the same player that he was on the start RS.

I think he's better than Eubanks but on our team he's a mismatch on a team with weak defenders because he doesn't help with any defense except for post defense due to his large size.

He is also a zero lob threat and misses his share of dunks and layups at the rim which is surprising since he's shooting nearly 60 percent near the rim on average. We need a center that can defend better and can finish around the rim on better efficiency, someone like Clint Capela would be ideal.

[Saberestar]

How in the world a guy with his high basketball IQ can put the ball down low before trying to finish around the rim all the **** time??

I can't imagine how many and many times coaches have repeatedly told him to maintain the ball high...it's frustrating to watch it. You are 7 feet and 290 lbs...why are you putting the ball around your knees before going up???

He looks tired and probably he needed a bigger rest with his ankle sprain. Yesterday's game probably was his worst game as a Suns player.

He was having a nice year, hopefully he can improve his condition for the last run of the season.

[SunsRback4Good]

Garbage player. 7 points, 8 rebounds on 47% fg is outright embarrassing. I would trade him for peanuts at least they serve a purpose to feed hungry tummies. I don’t want to see Nurkic in a suns jersey again.

[Boujack]

First 3 playoff games as a Phoenix Suns Center:

Nurkic 7 ppg 8 rpg 47% fg with absolute 0 defense.

Ayton 22 ppg 12 rpg 62% fg with a great defense.



Conclusions?

[garrick]

First 3 playoff games as a Phoenix Suns Center:

Nurkic 7 ppg 8 rpg 47% fg with absolute 0 defense.

Ayton 22 ppg 12 rpg 62% fg with a great defense.



Conclusions?

Pretty disappointing although going up against Gobert it isn't that surprising I suppose?

I just don't know why Ishbia/IT settled for an aging oft injured slow as molasses center with a history of injuries and thought that it was ever going to be a massive improvement over Ayton?

Financially yes it's a win but the end result at least this season we are on the verge of being swept so good job Matty.

We did get 4 players for 1 but out of the 4 it's been Grayson that has been the most impactful and he has been both injured and ineffective against Minnesota. Maybe the Suns can see what they can get for Grayson and Nurkic in the trade market but I doubt other teams value either of them as much as the Suns did.

[enigmatics]

I'm going to lob some criticism towards Big Nurk.

On one hand they got 76 games out of him after all the talk that he was a walking injury concern. But, and I said it a few times over the course of the season - he was far too heavy. His conditioning became a factor - especially in the Wolves series when he was the only big out there actually fighting for boards and positioning.

Next year's coaching staff (whomever they will be) need to get him to buy into dropping some weight.

[sunsbum]

First 3 playoff games as a Phoenix Suns Center:

Nurkic 7 ppg 8 rpg 47% fg with absolute 0 defense.

Ayton 22 ppg 12 rpg 62% fg with a great defense.



Conclusions?

never ayton.

[Saberestar]

I'm going to lob some criticism towards Big Nurk.

On one hand they got 76 games out of him after all the talk that he was a walking injury concern. But, and I said it a few times over the course of the season - he was far too heavy. His conditioning became a factor - especially in the Wolves series when he was the only big out there actually fighting for boards and positioning.

Next year's coaching staff (whomever they will be) need to get him to buy into dropping some weight.

He has been like that during all his career, he's not going to lose weight now.

He played well or very well... until the last quarter of the season. He was tough to watch for the last 20 games.

He was absolutely terrible in the playoffs and I would prefer to trade him.

I would try to get someone like Moritz Wagner from the Magic. He isn't a clear upgrade over Nurkic but at least he is much more mobile and a better finisher at the rim.

[Saberestar]

Read on Twitter

[garrick]

First 3 playoff games as a Phoenix Suns Center:

Nurkic 7 ppg 8 rpg 47% fg with absolute 0 defense.

Ayton 22 ppg 12 rpg 62% fg with a great defense.



Conclusions?

never ayton.

It was clear both management and Ayton were going their separate ways but clearly Nurkic's "intangibles" were in no way an upgrade from Ayton's deficiencies.

Missing point blank layups, and getting run off the floor because of his poor defense and his supposed excellent passing didn't really make a difference. The worst part is that he's old (30) and I don't think any team really wants him at his salary and age especially with the god awful performance he had in the playoffs.

Expectations coming in was he was going to serve as our pseudo point guard but it didn't work because defenders can sag off of him because he has no mid range shot and he also regressed from the 3pt line.

An Ayton trade was probably inevitable but this was a giant flop. At least we got Grayson out of the deal though.

[sunsbum]

First 3 playoff games as a Phoenix Suns Center:

Nurkic 7 ppg 8 rpg 47% fg with absolute 0 defense.

Ayton 22 ppg 12 rpg 62% fg with a great defense.



Conclusions?

never ayton.

It was clear both management and Ayton were going their separate ways but clearly Nurkic's "intangibles" were in no way an upgrade from Ayton's deficiencies.

Missing point blank layups, and getting run off the floor because of his poor defense and his supposed excellent passing didn't really make a difference. The worst part is that he's old (30) and I don't think any team really wants him at his salary and age especially with the god awful performance he had in the playoffs.

Expectations coming in was he was going to serve as our pseudo point guard but it didn't work because defenders can sag off of him because he has no mid range shot and he also regressed from the 3pt line.

An Ayton trade was probably inevitable but this was a giant flop. At least we got Grayson out of the deal though.

cool.

[sashaturiaf]

Anyone who suffered through this Suns season and watched the games would not speak ill of Nurk, or do so reluctantly. He played hard, was a consummate professional and a great teammate.

How we feel about him now is down to the coaches misuse of him. Making a guy like Nurk with so many shortcomings an indispensable part of our offense and team was a major strategic failure on their part. Nurk can't roll and finish, can't shoot 3s and can't switch onto quicker players, making him the most important guy on our team by +/- was a disaster waiting to happen. Us fans screamed out for a change of pace 5 all season to spell Nurk all season yet we complacently kept going with Eubanks even though he was stinking it up. Dwight was out there begging to be signed, Thad was signed and then got no minutes, and there's no shortage of able bodied bigs yearning for a chance in the G league and Europe yet we did absolutely nothing. The coaches believing we can go into the playoffs and challenge for a title relying on a C rotation of Nurk and Eubanks was naive at best and negligent at worst. That's not on Nurk...

[garrick]

Anyone who suffered through this Suns season and watched the games would not speak ill of Nurk, or do so reluctantly. He played hard, was a consummate professional and a great teammate.

How we feel about him now is down to the coaches misuse of him. Making a guy like Nurk with so many shortcomings an indispensable part of our offense and team was a major strategic failure on their part. Nurk can't roll and finish, can't shoot 3s and can't switch onto quicker players, making him the most important guy on our team by +/- was a disaster waiting to happen. Us fans screamed out for a change of pace 5 all season to spell Nurk all season yet we complacently kept going with Eubanks even though he was stinking it up. Dwight was out there begging to be signed, Thad was signed and then got no minutes, and there's no shortage of able bodied bigs yearning for a chance in the G league and Europe yet we did absolutely nothing. The coaches believing we can go into the playoffs and challenge for a title relying on a C rotation of Nurk and Eubanks was naive at best and negligent at worst. That's not on Nurk...

I don't really blame Nurkic for things he can't control but you would think our front office would look at tape and evaluate how well he would fit here before making that trade.

A lot of his shortcomings were already known before the trade but Ishbia probably just looked at his stat sheet and thought it would just magically work out.

[enigmatics]

Anyone who suffered through this Suns season and watched the games would not speak ill of Nurk, or do so reluctantly. He played hard, was a consummate professional and a great teammate.

How we feel about him now is down to the coaches misuse of him. Making a guy like Nurk with so many shortcomings an indispensable part of our offense and team was a major strategic failure on their part. Nurk can't roll and finish, can't shoot 3s and can't switch onto quicker players, making him the most important guy on our team by +/- was a disaster waiting to happen. Us fans screamed out for a change of pace 5 all season to spell Nurk all season yet we complacently kept going with Eubanks even though he was stinking it up. Dwight was out there begging to be signed, Thad was signed and then got no minutes, and there's no shortage of able bodied bigs yearning for a chance in the G league and Europe yet we did absolutely nothing. The coaches believing we can go into the playoffs and challenge for a title relying on a C rotation of Nurk and Eubanks was naive at best and negligent at worst. That's not on Nurk...

I don't really blame Nurkic for things he can't control but you would think our front office would look at tape and evaluate how well he would fit here before making that trade.

A lot of his shortcomings were already known before the trade but Ishbia probably just looked at his stat sheet and thought it would just magically work out.

I think they were counting on crisper rotations/switches and a little more hustle defensively from the team as whole. You can't have a guy like Nurk be the 5 when you've got no weakside help at the 4 (nor for any rebounding) and a bunch of guys on the perimeter getting abused on a nightly basis. At his weight which I've harped on - he was gassed by the end of the year.

Then to compound matters his backup Eubanks was a total dud - one which BTW cost the team a 2nd rounder for tampering which is both hilarious and sad at that same time.

[lilfishi22]

Anyone who suffered through this Suns season and watched the games would not speak ill of Nurk, or do so reluctantly. He played hard, was a consummate professional and a great teammate.

How we feel about him now is down to the coaches misuse of him. Making a guy like Nurk with so many shortcomings an indispensable part of our offense and team was a major strategic failure on their part. Nurk can't roll and finish, can't shoot 3s and can't switch onto quicker players, making him the most important guy on our team by +/- was a disaster waiting to happen. Us fans screamed out for a change of pace 5 all season to spell Nurk all season yet we complacently kept going with Eubanks even though he was stinking it up. Dwight was out there begging to be signed, Thad was signed and then got no minutes, and there's no shortage of able bodied bigs yearning for a chance in the G league and Europe yet we did absolutely nothing. The coaches believing we can go into the playoffs and challenge for a title relying on a C rotation of Nurk and Eubanks was naive at best and negligent at worst. That's not on Nurk...

I don't really blame Nurkic for things he can't control but you would think our front office would look at tape and evaluate how well he would fit here before making that trade.

A lot of his shortcomings were already known before the trade but Ishbia probably just looked at his stat sheet and thought it would just magically work out.

I think they were counting on crisper rotations/switches and a little more hustle defensively from the team as whole. You can't have a guy like Nurk be the 5 when you've got no weakside help at the 4 (nor for any rebounding) and a bunch of guys on the perimeter getting abused on a nightly basis. At his weight which I've harped on - he was gassed by the end of the year.

Then to compound matters his backup Eubanks was a total dud - one which BTW cost the team a 2nd rounder for tampering which is both hilarious and sad at that same time.

This made it so much worse. In a games where Nurk didn't look good, not having a reliable back up just forced us to play Nurk more, further making him look worse. I don't know how much blame to put on Nurk though. He is who he is, a solid midrange starting C, no more no less.

I still think we should've prioritised a backup PG but a backup C would've been a close second