Center Jusuf Nurkic uses offseason to get back into “Bosnian Beast” mode.
Center aims to be in best shape of his basketball life
omaha» If you follow Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkic on Twitter or Instagram, you’ve no doubt seen this hashtag: #ProveThemWrong. Prove. Them. Wrong. It’s there almost every time. And those three words sparked Nurkic to spend his summer attempting to get in the best shape of his basketball life while playing with his national team, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“People forget who I am,” he said. “For no reason, they say I’m behind. I will show that they are wrong. I’m not going to talk here. I’m going to talk on the court.”
There isn’t a player on the Nuggets roster more motivated to play well than Nurkic. Last season was a struggle. He didn’t play in the first 33 games because of rehabilitation on his knee. When he came back, he wasn’t in the condition he needed to be to play consistently well. As a result, his minutes wanted. Coming off a first year that landed him on the NBA’s all-rookie team, this wasn’t what Nurkic expected.
So he turned his anger and frustration into hard work.
By the time the NBA draft rolled around, Nurkic was already down 35 pounds. He has kept the weight off. That helped him play well for his national team and enabled him to start training camp off fast and furious. His play on the first day of training camp here Tuesday was eye-opening.
“I’m really excited with what I have to show this year,” he said. And what is that? “A lot,” he said. “The real Bosnian Beast with full minutes, and a really good competitor.”
Of the players who finished last season with the Nuggets, only Darrell Arthur and Nikola Jokic had a better defensive rating than Nurkic, who led the team in blocked shots per game (1.4) despite playing in just 32 games.
“When his mind is right and the conditioning that he’s in right now and he’s feeling healthy, he’s a physically imposing player who is very, very skilled and is by far our best rim protector out there, and the numbers back it up,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. And Malone said Nurkic’s mind is right. “You have to give him a lot of credit, because his summer has been amazing,” Malone said. “That started with getting into unbelievable shape, getting as healthy as he possibly can, and then I think mentally, the biggest thing for him is mentally he’s in a great place. … I want to keep Nurkic in this great place mentally.”
Where Malone slots Nurkic in the lineup remains a bit of a mystery. The easy analysis is that Nurkic probably backs up Nikola Jokic at center, but if he plays a brand of basketball that can’t be kept off the court, Malone would seriously have to think about starting him, and perhaps going big with both players on the court.
That, however, is to be determined largely by how Nurkic plays during the preseason.
“I feel great, excited about everything,” Nurkic said. “Step by step, I’ll do training camp as best as I can and prepare for the season. I’m happy to be back.”