Zach Lowe Puts Trail Blazers Center Jusuf Nurkic on the Naughty List

Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic got taken to task in the latest edition of Zach Lowe’s “10 Thinks I Like (and Don’t Like) About the NBA” column. The ESPN analyst put Nurkic on blast for a failed post opportunity against Houston Rockets guard James Harden in a recent loss, citing it as an example of an ongoing issue.

After showing the video and referencing “disgust radiating off of Portland’s bench” at the play, Lowe diagnoses the problem:

Nurkic is a giant, balletic post player. Why turn to face Harden? Just back your ass into him until he’s under the rim, or the Rockets send an urgent double-team.

This has been a weird trend for Nurkic this season. He’s averaging 0.46 points per possession on post-ups against guards, per Second Spectrum. He has coughed the ball up on 31 percent of those possessions, a number that would rank dead last among all players who post up with any regularity.

Lowe is quick to add that the sample size on Nurkic this season is small: 19 such plays total. But he still characterizes Portland’s center as a finesse scorer in a power man’s frame.

Lowe’s column also looks at the resurgence of Karl-Anthony Towns, Donovan Mitchell’s tunnel vision, and Zaza Pachulia’s underrated unselfishness.