The Portland Trail Blazers flew to Utah Tuesday afternoon for their final game before the All-Star break versus the Jazz in Salt Lake City (tipoff scheduled for 6 pm on KGW Channel 8 and 620 AM). But before heading out, the team held practice at their facility in Tualatin, a practice that heavily emphasized getting center Jusuf Nurkic, who the Trail Blazers acquired from Denver along with a 2017 first round draft pick in exchange for center Mason Plumlee, a 2018 second round pick and cash considerations, up to speed with his new team.

"We do some core stuff before the practice, lifting, some play four-on-four, catch up on plays and learning a lot," said Nurkic after his first practice with his new team. "It was kind of fast, trying to pick it up as quick as possible, but it was fun, I like."

Learning a new system and how to fit in with new teammates, both on and off the court, is always a bit difficult, but for Nurkic, there's also the issue of conditioning. Nurkic had seen his minutes steadily declining in Denver, with the 7-0 center collecting four DNPs and playing fewer than 10 minutes in five of his final 16 games with the Nuggets, so Tuesday's practice was an opportunity to introduce part of the playbook while getting in a first run with his new team.

"He’s a very skilled young guy, he has nice touch around the basket, he has a good feel for the game and he needs to get in better shape," said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. "What we saw today was four-on-four and his four-on-four was more about, we incorporated sets so he learned some of our offense through four-on-four, obviously to get him a good run. It was more about that than seeing what he could do."

With Tuesday's practice trending toward the lighter side the day after losing a nationally-televised overtime game to the Atlanta Hawks, Nurkic's new teammates didn't spend get to spend a lot of time working out with their new center, but they did see the initial stages of what they're hoping will be the answer to some of their persistent issues on both sides of the ball.

"It was good to see him get up and down," said CJ McCollum. "He’s trying to get more familiar with our play calls and our sets, obviously, but he’s very skilled, can move, he’s strong as an ox and look forward to seeing him play."

And Nurkic is looking forward to playing alongside McCollum and Damian Lillard. While the he's played with quality guards his first three seasons in Denver, Nurkic has never played with a backcourt of Portland's caliber, which should prove advantageous for the 22 year old Bosnian.

"I have never played before with those kind of guards, like nobody can go under (screens)," said Nurkic of playing alongside Lillard and McCollum. "I can’t wait to play with them, I’m excited. It’s really amazing to play with those kind of guys."

By that same token Trail Blazers haven't had a post player like Nurkic since LaMarcus Aldridge left for San Antonio in free agency, which should also make life on the offensive end easier for the entire team, but especially for Portland's guards.

"It’s always nice to just throw the ball into the post and watch," said McCollum. "You see what Atlanta did to us (Monday) night and how they do with (Paul) Millsap, just kind of throw it to him and let him iso. And when you have shooters around a guy like that, it’s hard to help. You look at some of the teams around the NBA with post players — the Spurs with (Aldridge) — you throw it into the block and make teams pay. Sometimes they have to double, sometimes you get those cutters and it just changes up the offense a bit."

Stotts said that Nurkic will play Wednesday night versus the Jazz, so fans will have a chance to see what he brings before the team goes their separate ways for the All-Star break. They might not get to see the best of what he has to offer, which is understandable given the fact he's only officially been a Trail Blazer since Monday morning, but it should serve as a preview of things to come in the final two months of the regular season.

"Certainly we want to put him in opportunities, whether it’s on the post or in pick-and-rolls or in passing situations, and see what he’s comfortable with and how we can best utilize him," said Stotts. "Like I said, he’s a skilled player and we’ll make the best use of that."