Center – Jusuf Nurkic
Well… we have to at least believe that the Suns will have Nurkic available when they really need him, right? Assuming that is the case, then there is actually a lot of good that he can do offensively on the court. As already mentioned, he is a better fit in that regard next to the superstar trio that the franchise has at their disposal.
Nurkic will run the floor diligently, and is underrated at setting screens and moving to where he needs to in order to get the ball back. From there, his ability to pass to cutters, or even to the open man in space, won’t show up in box scores, but are integral to building out an offensive scheme for new head coach Frank Vogel.
Defensively this five-man group would be horrific. We’ve already picked on Bol enough, but Nurkic is not much use on that end either. The Bosnian big man not quick enough or in possession of the lateral quickness required to deter opponents from having a go at him in the paint. Offensively however, and really the Suns have to lean into scoring, he is the perfect compliment here.
With the stars having all of the attention on them, and Bol floating around doing weird things, Nurkic should have more free space to operate than ever before. Obviously he is not going to be the intended target for most offensive sets, but his passing, footwork and ability to lead off scraps would be invaluable in this position. If he is healthy, Nurkic is closing out this oddball group.