Sunday Scrimmage takeaways: NurkSide makes debut
CJ looks good and Dame takes a rest
In Portland’s second of three scrimmages, they debuted a new look and also allowed Damian Lillard an extra evening off as the Trail Blazers prepare to start their seeding games this week in an all-important match-up with the Memphis Grizzlies. With this in mind, I was watching the second game to see if the Blazers bench could do any better and of course, what we would see with the debut of Jusuf Nurkić and Hassan Whiteside playing together.
Takeaway No. 1: NurkSide merits intrigue
How the Blazers arrived at this pairing has been met with skepticism both in the market and outside of it. And it’s hard to blame the skeptics.
The Denver Nuggets tried and failed spectacularly to fit Nurkić with All-World center Nikola Jokic, which of course led to Nurk and a pick being traded to Portland for Mason Plumlee. But while questions of attitude dominated the discussion of that failure, it ignored that Nurk’s best offensive strengths overlapped too much with Jokic. Whiteside’s most successful season of NBA basketball occurred when he was the lone seven-footer for a Miami Heat squad that played small ball. Nevermind that the Heat never hoped for that to be the vision of their team, as the Chris Bosh-Whiteside tandem never got a chance in the postseason due to Bosh’s career-ending blood clot issues. But even with the skepticism of two bigs playing together, having ones with differing skillsets like Nurk and Whiteside at least merits curiosity.
The first quarter, again, looked solid for Portland, followed by a so-so 3rd quarter. Offensively, Nurkside looked good. Nurkić’s willingness and ability to move the ball at the 4 is what made the lineup work. The first basket of the game came from a Nurkić ball reversal to a corner 3-pointer for CJ McCollum. These are the types of shots the Blazers guards can have with Nurkić back, whether he’s out there with Whiteside or Collins. Whiteside also looked comfortable with his mid-range jumper, which he will need to make if they are going to make this pairing work together. You’d also like to see them get more offensive rebounds than they did yesterday, but Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol are one of the league’s best frontcourts. Still, the NurkSide lineup had some moments, like this incredible sequence in the 3rd quarter.
Defensively, the biggest issue for Portland remains the 3-point line. Even in the first quarter, which they won 26-25, the Raptors were 6 of 10 from the 3-point line. The Raptors hit 12 of their 17 3-pointers in the 1st and 3rd quarters, which is something the Blazers need to work on. Has nobody on this team ever heard Mark Jackson say “Hand Down, Man Down”?
But while those jumpers are a concern, it’s not an indictment against the NurkSide experiment. At least not yet. Speaking of jumpers…
Takeaway No. 2: Nurkić is letting it fly, but still the same Nurk
With him playing more like a true center in the first game, we didn’t see him unleash the jumper much but in Sunday’s scrimmage, Nurkić showed no hesitation in letting it fly. The only Blazer who took more 3-pointers than Nurk’s five attempts yesterday was Anfernee Simons, at 6.
Especially with Lillard out, the Blazers needed to juice their 3-point attempts and Nurk was there to aid that. But more impressive than Nurk’s willingness to shoot, he did a little bit of everything the way old Nurk used to. He even started talking shit to Serge Ibaka.
He finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds, and five assists. The 3-point attempts may not be as high when Lillard returns, but the Blazers will need Nurk to do a little bit of everything.
Takeaway No. 3: CJ McCollum’s bag is as deep as ever
I talked about the corner 3-pointer that Nurk set up for CJ as the first basket of the game, but McCollum had one of the highlights of the scrimmages so far. It looks like CJ added a bit of a Harden-stepback to his already elite handles.
CJ may have had one of the lowlights of the scrimmages when he got checked by the rim, but if nothing else, he seems to have even more moves to go to that will bamboozle even the best NBA defenders.
Takeaway No. 4: Mario Hezonja, DO YOUR JOB
Mario Hezonja took only four shots and he didn’t fill it up in Sunday’s scrimmage as he did in the first one. He needs to get used to this. Hezonja crashing the glass and being a strong defender is what they need. He may believe he’s his truest self when he’s freelancing, but he’s not playing for the Knicks anymore; that shit has got to stop.
Whenever Hezonja starts to play-act like he’s LeBron James, that’s when he gets in trouble. The same goes for his defense. He does not need to play free safety, they need him to focus on his man, who is usually a bigger wing, a spot that the Blazers DESPERATELY need people to guard. If the Blazers are going to get something out of him, which they need since they don’t have many players with his size and speed, they need him to Do His Job. Which means leaving the star duties to the stars and getting in where he fits in. He already has a player option for next year, but his NBA future beyond that may very well depend on whether this clicks for him or not.
Takeaway No. 5: Summer League Squad Redemption
The Blazers bench gave me major summer league vibes in the first game and they did a better job on Sunday. Bringing the bench into the game wasn’t an automatic 10-point swing and they actually made the Raptors bench, who has some good players, sweat a little bit towards the end of the game.
Simons actually hit some shots, which still seems like too much of a harbinger for his impact. Still, having Zach Collins out there with them for more time helped stabilize them some and you have to hope they can build on this in the next scrimmage, where they hope to bring Nassir Little into the fold.
See you after Tuesday’s scrimmage against Oklahoma City.