The Utter Absurdity of Nikola Jokic | The Void

Kevin O’Connor breaks down why Nikola Jokic is the current frontrunner for the MVP with a month to go in the season despite a crowded field of contenders. With the help of Adam Mares of DNVR Sports, he talks about how Jokic has improved offensively on his historic 2020-21 MVP season and how he’s taken great strides to improve on the defensive side of the ball.

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[basasure]

"One basket make one people happy, one assist make two people happy " Jokic 2017

[Blorbifink]

This is why I say that basketball is the best it's ever been. People are no longer trying to force square pegs into round holes and they are more open to adapting the game to suit the skills of the players. The game will continue to evolve.

[itstsmith]

"The basketball gods are always watching." -Nikola Jokic

[tzeege]

“God made Jokic unathletic just to make it fair.” - Adam Mares

[BJ_Malaise]

Thanks for going to Adam for this. He is far and away THE best nuggets analyst in denver

[clevisbernier]

Jokic is by far my favorite player of all time. It feels weird saying it but no one else brings me the joy that he does. I'm biased but he's the best player ever.

[racimegacar]

We as fans should be happy to live in the Jokic era.

[brendansomerville]

Jokic's conditioning has to be one of the most underrated parts of his game. I remember before the bubble there were those pictures of him that went around of him looking really fit with captions like "Slim Jokic?!?!" lol. And I know these kinds of pictures and videos pop up of NBA players every year/off-season, but the ones of Jokic were legit! He has been a completely different beast since the bubble playoffs. He is so much better conditioned and SO MUCH more athletic than he was just 2-3 years ago. I remember how hype I would get anytime he dunked earlier in his career because it was such a rare occurrence and now he dunks every other game. I think that's the main reason he has made such big strides on the defensive end of as well.

[prof.krastavaclee]

The ringer is the best., no lies, no drama, no arguments. just quality content. Keep the good work going! 🔥

[ianreetz]

KOC I loved this episode brings a new look at the game; it will be truly scary if Denver ever gets porter jr. Murray and Jokic healthy for a full playoff run. That’s a lot of options surrounded by other solid role players

[tylerlemley]

This is such a fantastic video. I haven’t listened to much of the podcasts that Adam Mares is a part of, but i think i’m going to start because what an analytical mind he is. Thanks for the consistency great content KOC

[Shiljamannn]

I think that this season was the most spectacular in recent years in terms of how competetive it was, and how many players are putting on a spectacular show, night in night out ... Jokic, Gianiss, Embiid, Morrant, Luka, DeRozan, Tatum, Booker... And all that while LeBron, Steph and KD are still going strong...

[nuggz]

Jokic is the best Nugget of all time already by quite a bit

[zacklange]

Love the video. I’m a big fan of the constant evolution of the league these days. Just a few years ago we were talking about the lack of dominant big guys, and now look. Also, the international influence is unbelievable. The last 3 MVP trophies went to foreign players and this year it almost certainly will again. So happy to be a fan right now.

[DammitBobby]

Yo this video was excellent, from the great commentary from Adam, to the research, to the editing. Very well done from SB Nation staff. Extremely high quality content

[WhosImmortal]

One of the best breakdowns of Jokic's play I've seen. Good stuff!

[michaeltoebe]

This was so well analyzed and discussed. Kevin and Adam both named All Stars.

[THINKTVTIME]

Let’s just put out the stats in simple terms:

Jokic:
Points scored: 2004 (34 points behind Embiid, 2 points above Greek)
Rebounds: 1019 ( 243 rebounds above Embiid, 241 rebounds above Greek)
Assists: 584 ( 304 assists above Embiid, 196 Assists above Greek)
Blocks: 63 (35 blocks behind Embiid, 28 blocks behind Greek)
Steals: 109 ( 34 above Embiid, 37 above Greek)
Team Record- 48-33 ( 2 wins behind Embiid, 3 wins behind greek)
Second best Player: Will Barton ( Embiid has James Harden) (Greek has Khris Middleton/Jrue)
Free Throws Attempted per game:
Jokic: 6.3 ( Embiid led the league with 11.8) (Greek has 11.4 attempts a game, in 2nd place)
Embiid was getting more times at the free throw line than anyone in nba.

I mean lets put his numbers against TOP guards.

a NBA center:
Jokic: 2004 Points, 584 Assists

NBA Point Guards/etc:
Curry: 1630 Points, 404 Assists
Lamelo: 1484 Points, 564 Assists
Luka: 1821 Points, 559 Assists
Lebron James: 1695 Points, 349 Assists
Morant: 1543 Points, 375 Assists
Garland: 1462 Points, 575 Assists.
Booker: 1822 points, 329 Assists.

He's being more of a TRUE point guard as a CENTER than top point guards in the league!?!

The only two guards that I saw were great: Trae Young : 2127 points, 726 assists, and Chris Paul 958 Points, 702 assists.

Were seeing a Center do more than any Center has ever done, and he's being undervalued by the media cause he's in a small market team. and a foreign 2nd round pick that wasn't supposed to be this good! Time and time again Jokic is overlooked no matter what he does the media doesn't respect him to even give him DIRK treatment. he's Perceived as a loser over Embiid but Jokic has took the nuggets further than Embiid has taken the Sixers?

2021: Nuggets got to 2nd round exit last season against the suns, the Sixers got 2nd round exit to the Atlanta Hawks.

2020: Sixer take a 1st round exit sweep from the Celtics, Nuggets make it to CONFERENCE finals and lost to Lebrons Lakers.

So the narrative that Jokic is a loser cause he's on the nuggets is false, nuggets have been the second round team plus which is small club to have that much success.

[markocurcic]

At least 5-6 guys this season deserve the MVP. Giannis, Embiid, Ja, Luka, DeRozan or even CP. But none of these guys outplayed Nikola. You might say you like someone better, perfectly fine, different people like different things, but I just can't stand when someone argues that that Embiid, for instance, is MVP and is better than Nikola because he can't play defense. You instantly know that that person never even watched Nikola play.
Jeff Green said it perfectly the other day: I won't compare him to any of the great players I've played with, Nikola is doing his own thing, it's going great for him, he's perfect at it and I'm glad to be a part of it.
That's probably what all of us should do, just enjoy and be grateful that we can see all these great players doing their best night in and night out. It is truly a great time to be a basketball fan.

[rodymunzur]

Without doubt, he's the real MVP. Without 2 starters, he's putting up numbers like that and is winning.