Does Utah have an answer at center after the Jusuf Nurkic injury? | Jazz Notes
Ben Anderson and Chandler Holt give their thoughts on the Jusuf Nurkic injury and the team’s thinned-out center rotation before going back and recapping the second preseason game.
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Robert Wiilliams would be great.
Might the Thunder need to trade Hartenstein for the salary cap?
2 pods in one week 🥹
I love Robert Williams, but I think Ja and Rob look pretty good together in Portland so it may be hard to pry him away. Would Keba Keita be a viable option? I know he's on an Exhibit 10 contract in Indiana.
Internally, no. Outside, maybe.
We're all guessing at this point, but my take is that Trip playing 30 minutes at center is unavoidable until Nurk is back.
I don't doubt Hayes will start the next preseason game, but expect Trip to start the first game of the season.
The thing that I'm pretty sure I'm on an island about is that I think Ace will be playing more minutes at power forward with Trip than Lauri will. I think Ace will play the 4 with Lauri at 3 and the whole reason I feel this way is that Lauri as the 4 can't give Trip enough help when hes playing the 5 because while Lauri plays hard, he doesn't have enough energy to do more than take position within a team defense and do his best to rebound the ball.
I think Ace on the other hand can expand his energy on covering space around the rim, backing up Trip behind the lines and focusing harder on getting rebounds.
I think Flip playing the 4 with Trip is going to be crucial for getting through this rough patch.
Again, Lauri takes space on defense because of his length, but he's not really a paint presence and he's not a good weak side helper.