{"id":103610,"date":"2024-10-28T16:12:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T20:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=103610"},"modified":"2024-10-28T16:12:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T20:12:41","slug":"suns-hc-mike-budenholzer-praises-impact-of-his-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/28\/suns-hc-mike-budenholzer-praises-impact-of-his-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Suns HC Mike Budenholzer Praises Impact of His Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phoenix Suns center\u00a0<\/span>Jusuf Nurkic<\/span><\/a>\u00a0had his best game of the short regular season thus far over the weekend in a 114-102 victory over the\u00a0<\/span>Dallas Mavericks<\/span><\/a>. The former\u00a0<\/span>Trail Blazer<\/span><\/a>\u00a0made such an improvement that it caused his head coach to direct some high compliments his way following the game. Nurkic’s impact on this season will significantly affect how far Phoenix goes this year. Here’s hoping his production against Dallas wasn’t a one-game stint.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suns HC Mike Budenholzer Praises Jusuf Nurkic’s\u00a0Impact<\/h2>\n

Phoenix Suns HC Mike Budenholzer Praises Nurkic’s Impact<\/h3>\n

There’s no denying that\u00a0<\/span>Kevin Durant<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Devin Booker<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are the perennial combined driving force of the Phoenix Suns. However, those two superstar Olympians, or even\u00a0<\/span>Bradley Beal<\/span><\/a>, may not be the sole determining variable for a successful NBA season in the Arizona desert. Nurkic isn’t considered a tier-one center in the league, perhaps not even tier-two or three. Yet, he is formidable, physical, and solid against most other <\/span>big<\/span> men across the NBA. His offensive game will not always impress, although he can put up points when <\/span>he’s really<\/span> on his game. It’s the other end, though, where Nurkic’s impact might be felt the most this season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nurkic came into Saturday’s game against Dallas following a slow start in the Suns’ first two games. His performance against the\u00a0<\/span>Mavericks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0was quite different, so much so that Phoenix Suns HC\u00a0<\/span>Mike Budenholzer<\/span><\/a>\u00a0took to the podium post-game to\u00a0<\/span>praise his center<\/span><\/a> for a physical and impactful game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was great,\u201d Budenholzer said. \u201cHis physicality in the paint, his rebounding, defense, everything. So it was good, I think. He\u2019s a great teammate, he\u2019s a competitor. I think he wanted to come back tonight and have that kind of positive impact for us, and he did it in a big way.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One element of Nurkic’s game that one cannot protest is his physicality. He plays hard and physically, no matter who he’s matched against (<\/span>Draymond Green<\/span><\/a>\u00a0isn’t a fan, though). As the Suns premier center and paint defender, his physicality is needed night in and night out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Phoenix’s X-Factor?<\/h3>\n

Again, a team that enlists the likes of Durant, Booker, and Beal (when healthy), it’s hard to imagine another integral part of the puzzle. That being said, last season was rather disappointing when it was all said and done with those three guys alongside Nurkic. Adding\u00a0<\/span>Tyus Jones<\/span><\/a>\u00a0into the mix helped the <\/span>Suns’<\/span> point guard situation in a big way this summer. However, it’s not entirely out in left field to name Nurkic as the team’s x-factor this season.<\/span><\/p>\n

He is already an elite screen-setter and rebounder, even going back to his days in Portland. On the defensive end, Nurkic has to improve and maintain consistency. Otherwise, his shortcomings will lead to his substitution out of the game in the name of a smaller lineup. Against Dallas, he improved, so\u00a0Budenholzer’s comments were justified. However, Nurkic’s performance on Saturday\u00a0needs to\u00a0carry over to a matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday and beyond.\u00a0<\/span>Nurkic also knows this<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI gotta be better,\u201d Nurkic said. \u201cI have all the support I need from coaches and the organization. Just trying to fit in. Didn\u2019t play as many games as I wish in preseason, but it\u2019s not perfect. I feel like sometimes I\u2019m just not aggressive as I should [be] and overpassing and try to fit in in the system. But it\u2019s no excuse, man. I gotta be better, and I think that\u2019s a good step tonight.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phoenix Suns center\u00a0Jusuf Nurkic\u00a0had his best game of the short regular season thus far over the weekend in a 114-102 victory over the\u00a0Dallas Mavericks. The former\u00a0Trail Blazer\u00a0made such an improvement that it caused his head coach to direct some high compliments his way following the game. Nurkic’s impact on this season will significantly affect how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":103649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,1608,62],"tags":[311,352,409,135,69,550,569],"class_list":["post-103610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-suns","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-bradley-beal","tag-devin-booker","tag-draymond-green","tag-jusuf-nurkic","tag-kevin-durant","tag-mike-budenholzer","tag-tyus-jones"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}