The Phoenix Suns are looking to erase the memory of last season’s ending with a fresh start this year. One of the players, Jusuf Nurkic expanded on his role this offseason and comes into the year hungrier than ever to capitalize on that opportunity. At Media Day for the Phoenix Suns, newly hired head coach Mike Budenholzer & Jusuf Nurkic had much to say about the center’s intriguing summer.
How Changing Jusuf Nurkic’s Role Can Amplify the Suns
Mike Budenholzer’s Comments
When diving into head coach Mike Budenholzer’s comments you can see he is very excited to work with The Bosnian Beast this season and utilizing him to his best abilities. Nurkic was acquired last year from Portland in the three-team deal that sent Deandre Ayton to the Portland Trail Blazers. He was one of the main pieces being brought here alongside recently extended Grayson Allen who came from Milwaukee. Nurkic last season was dominant on the glass & in the paint.
He averaged 10.9 points alongside 11 rebounds a game which is not too shabby. What seemed to be the issue with Nurkic was his shooting ability outside the paint. As he shot 51% from the field and 24.4% from three-point this past season. With coach Bud’s offensive style of favoring the three ball prominently, this would seemingly cause a rift or issue for the Suns’ cohesion on that side, but the opposite is the case.
Mike Budenholzer on Jusuf Nurkic taking 3s: “There definitely has been intentional work by Nurk and conversations with him about what we think he can do and add and grow, and most obviously is a 3-point shooter….we’re gonna push that envelope.”
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) September 30, 2024
What this shows is that coach Bud feels confident in Nurkic’s shooting ability in not just the three-point range but the mid-range as well. Nurkic being able to use that jump shot at an efficient clip from anywhere on the court is going to be huge for the Suns this season. Especially with helping transcend their offense as a unit.
Nurkic Comments on His Weight
At media day today, Jusuf Nurkic got to elaborate on his outstanding offseason this summer. He went into detail on how he worked to better himself for this squad. First, Nurk was asked about the images & videos that surfaced of him working out this offseason. He seemed to have looked “slimmer”. One change was seemingly making Suns fans excited heading into this season. This was his statement on looking smaller than his listed weight of 290lbs at training camp
Asked about his listed weight of 290 lbs and whether he’s actually smaller than that, Jusuf Nurkic joked, “I don’t like the word ‘smaller,’ but yeah, definitely lighter than that.”
Said it was an emphasis to get lighter, move better
“Probably the best I’ve been in a long time.”
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) September 30, 2024
Nurkic Comments on Shooting
When hearing this you may chuckle, but Suns fans you should be more than excited. Nurkic last season was one of the league’s best rebounding and interior scorers. If he is feeling even more nimble in the post & can move better, this only upgrades his skillset he in turn also is going to be more dynamic as a scorer for this team from all aspects. Nurkic was asked about his three-point shooting and if he will be using it prominently this season.
Jusuf Nurkic confirmed he will be taking more 3s this year. He won’t be jacking up 10 3s again, but it was a point of emphasis all summer. Said last year, when he stopped taking 3s after a rough start to the season, that was a coaching decision, not his
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) September 30, 2024
Even though we do know Nurk likes to have his fun fair of trolling. I don’t think he meant it in his last comment in this last message. This season expect Nurkic to translate everything from the offseason and from the Suns training camp. Doing that it will allow him to have himself the best season of his career. This is all due to Coach Bud wanting to work on his shooting and making that a priority. I agree with Nurk that we will see more threes and hopefully, it will be at a better rate.
The Last Word
Coming into this year, the Suns are ready to erase those disappointing memories of last year. They are ready to show off the improvements they made this offseason. Devin Booker and Kevin Durant are coming fresh off an Olympic Medal in Paris. Bradley Beal and Nurk are ready to get back to their old selves. The front office alongside coach Bud cannot wait for the season to start. Overall after all the noise of last season, this year the team has one mission in mind and that goal is to bring an NBA championship to Phoenix. Will they be able to achieve that goal? Only time will tell.
