ESPN’s Marc Stein reported Monday afternoon that the Nuggets are actively trying to move 22-year-old bruising center Jusuf Nurkic.
Nuggets Hope To Trade Jusuf Nurkic By Deadline: https://t.co/sdCXpB5LPq pic.twitter.com/OIlC0t3elq
— RealGM (@RealGM) January 20, 2017
Nurkic has flashed some real potential as a big man who can patrol the paint and bang down low with his energy and his ability to score with an old-school back down post-up game around the hoop.
After breaking out as a rookie and positioning himself to be the Nuggets center of the future, Nurkic has struggled with injury issues the past season and a half. He hasn’t been able to find consistent rotational minutes with the emergence of more skilled and diversely talented big man Nikola Jokic.
The Nuggets have experimented with pairing Jokic and Nurkic together as a big pair for today’s NBA but the results have been putrid according to NBC Sports NBA Writer Dan Feldman, who broke down the Nuggets offensive, defensive and net ratings with either on the court or both on the court:
Just Jokic: 115.7/109.9/+5.9
Just Nurkic: 99.2/107.9/-8.7
Both: 93.2/109.3/-16.1
As you can see the Nuggets are much better with Jokic playing the center position with his rare ability to stretch the floor and protect the rim and his unique passing talents for a player of his size, akin to the Grizzlies Marc Gasol.
Because of this, the Nuggets would like to trade Nurkic to a place where he can fill more of a role, and as a young center who has flashed some double-double potential, he will have a market and could bring back an asset or two for Denver.
Look for a team like the Blazers or the Warriors to pursue Nurkic for his size, rebounding and rim protecting abilities. They may have to give up a 1st round draft pick or a young prospect in return to acquire him.
