Portland Trail Blazers: Enes Kanter must step up come playoff time

The Portland Trail Blazers recently lost emerging center Jusuf Nurkić to a gruesome leg injury. Will Enes Kanter step up for Portland come playoff time?

The Portland Trail Blazers acquired Enes Kanter after the New York Knicks waived him by the 2019 trade deadline. Adding the Swiss-Turk center was a decent addition to their bench that are currently 16th in scoring among second-units in the NBA. That well-needed boost showed when Kanter performed well on his debut and win against the Brooklyn Nets. In that game, he posted 18 points, nine rebounds, on 8-9 shooting in 20 minutes.

With recently injured center Jusuf Nurkić, Kanter has now found himself as the Blazers’ starting center moving forward.

In his first start after Nurk’s injury, he posted 13 points, 6 rebounds, a plus/minus +16 on 6-8 shooting in 22 minutes played. The Blazers went on to win by 20 points over the Chicago Bulls.

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So far in 16 games for the Trail Blazers, Kanter is averaging 10.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, on 55.5 FG% and 76.1 FT% in 18.7 minutes per game.

Nurk’s numbers this season are 15.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.4 blocks, on 50.8 FG% and (career-best) 77.3 FT% in 27.4 minutes per game.

The good news for the Blazers is that Kanter has been known to produce decent numbers (points and rebounds) despite only playing an average of 22-minutes per game throughout eight-year career.

The bad news for the Blazers is that Kanter is not known for his defense. He currently ranks 382nd in defensive win shares in comparison to Nurk who is 67th (0.105) in defensive win shares this season. Another alarming stat is that Kanter’s total plus/minus -4.2 (-2.3 with Portland) while Nurk’s plus/minus is a career-best +5.9. That is a major difference considering that the Blazers are 16th (109.5) in defensive rating and 7th in net rating with Nurk and will now need to compensate for his absence come playoff time.

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The Blazers currently stand 3rd in the Western Conference but can easily fall to 8th and be eliminated by any team they face, especially after the loss of Nurkić.

Kanter will be an integral part of the Blazers’ final place in the Western Conference as well as their success in the playoffs.

Since Kanter will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, his impact on this Blazers team will be put to the test as he will have to work twice as hard to earn the contract he desires.

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