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Yeah, its really bad for the Chicago fans who paid a premium to watch jokic. The refs will make jokic not average a triple double this season.
Because Westbrook did it 4 times, the triple double average doesn't impress me anymore, so I doubt Jokic will care either.
And averaging 10 assists instead of 9.5 assists should not matter to a person's level of greatness.
Then again, Westbrook was never considered the best player in the NBA, so I guess the triple double average didn't really do much for him (other than the MVP).
Because Westbrook did it 4 times, the triple double average doesn't impress me anymore, so I doubt Jokic will care either.
And averaging 10 assists instead of 9.5 assists should not matter to a person's level of greatness.
Then again, Westbrook was never considered the best player in the NBA, so I guess the triple double average didn't really do much for him (other than the MVP).
Averaging a triple double doesn't impress you anymore? Only 2 dudes did it in 76 years of the nba. I remembered on tnt or somewhere a former nba player joked and said he cant even average a triple double at the Y, and everyone laughed.
But yeah, when jokic retires, and he is in his 60's, people will consider him as a legend. If he gets to average a triple double for 1 season, tbat helps. He might be in the conversation for goat, with bron and mj. He is a better passer, rebounder than lebron.
Averaging a triple double doesn't impress you anymore? Only 2 dudes did it in 76 years of the nba. I remembered on tnt or somewhere a former nba player joked and said he cant even average a triple double at the Y, and everyone laughed.
But yeah, when jokic retires, and he is in his 60's, people will consider him as a legend. If he gets to average a triple double for 1 season, tbat helps. He might be in the conversation for goat, with bron and mj. He is a better passer, rebounder than lebron.
Its hard to take the triple double average seriously, when someone like Westbrook does it 4 times.
Westbrook was never the best player in the NBA, despite winning MVP.
And many MVPs are actually the best player in the NBA, so the fact Westbrook's Oscar feat didn't even make him great by MVP standards....
In other words, you don't even have to be the best player in the NBA to average a triple double, let alone a top 20 player of all-time (which Westbrook will never even come close to being).
So Westbrook really devalued the triple double average.
As for GOAT, its a meaningless conversation, because as Michael Jordan himself said back in 1996-
"No. I think that's something that I really can't say can be established," Jordan said. "Each of us played in different eras, with different teams, with different levels of success, and to compare all of them and say one's better than the next is an unfair justice to the art or to the artists. You know, being that Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, and all the guys before me were the artists of this game of basketball, and we've all learned from them, and we've improved the picture to a certain extent and to say that one improvement is better than all of it? It's an unfair assessment." https://fadeawayworld.net/michael-jo...he-goat-debate
Averaging a triple double doesn't impress you anymore? Only 2 dudes did it in 76 years of the nba. I remembered on tnt or somewhere a former nba player joked and said he cant even average a triple double at the Y, and everyone laughed.
But yeah, when jokic retires, and he is in his 60's, people will consider him as a legend. If he gets to average a triple double for 1 season, tbat helps. He might be in the conversation for goat, with bron and mj. He is a better passer, rebounder than lebron.
Jokic will be in the conversation as best big man ever. He has to win more titles first. But compared to MJ or LeBron in their prime. They were elite defensive players too. Jokic is not and will never be. He is like a bigger version of Magic. Can do everything on the offensive end but is average at best on the defensive side. I think to be in the consideration as the GOAT. You have to be all NBA on both sides of the ball. That is why Curry is not in the consideration as the GOAT.
For meaningful stretches during the biggest nights of his NBA career, particularly in Games 3 and 4 against the Miami Heat in these Finals, he’s been nothing short of brilliant. “They shot 34 percent in the restricted area [in Game 3],” Malone says. “Nikola was a big part of that. Nikola contested 21 shots. He had two blocks. He is doing a lot for us to get to this stage in the Finals and then for us to have a great defensive performance [in Game 3]. His fingerprints were all over that game.”
In Game 4, Jokic became the fifth player (since blocks became a recorded stat) in Finals history to finish with three blocks, three steals, and 10 defensive rebounds.
His teammates and coaches love to talk about how nimble Jokic is in tight spaces and how his ability to get in position a beat early makes him so much more effective than people think. “He positions himself better than anybody defensively,” Smith says. “He’s almost like a safety who can see everything and just read the play before everybody.”
On actions that result in a shot or a pass that leads to a shot, Jokic-defended pick-and-rolls produce just 102.2 points per 100 direct plays. For comparison, in these playoffs, Jaren Jackson Jr. was at 102.6, Anthony Davis was at 106.5, and Draymond Green was at 107.9. “He is an elite defender in the pick-and-roll,” Murray says.
When Jokic drops, opponents have generated a paltry 105.6 points per 100 possessions. For reference, Joel Embiid helped hold opponents to 107.9 points per 100 possessions when deployed in the same coverage before the Sixers were eliminated in Round 2. Jokic is less of a brick wall and more of a miniature golf windmill that can change speeds, reverse direction, and know when to stop so the ball can’t slip by and plop into the cup.
Overall, he has not been burned against dribble handoffs—a taxing action all centers have to navigate. Playoff opponents have scored just 0.89 points per direct play when Jokic’s man initiates a DHO. Much like the pick-and-roll, a lot goes into that number. So much praise is due to his teammates and the ways they help, recover, and contest shots. But Jokic does his part, almost never out of place.
“He’s constantly making guys make decisions whenever they get into the paint,” Butler says.
“He’s always contesting every shot. He keeps everything in front of him,” Smith says. “You’re not gonna beat him by going by him. You’re gonna hit a tough shot over the top of him.”
“I think his defense is underrated,” Malone continued. “And I think his maturation in the eight years, I think that’s been a big part of it as well. Him understanding that ‘I have to be the best defensive player I can be to help this team become the best team that they can be.’ He doesn’t shy away from that responsibility.”
Lol, good point. The efficiency hasn't been there though, and many of those games have been loses because of it. I get that it is hard to be "on" every game, but I feel like Jokic's last three seasons have been defined by that, an almost effortless consistency of production and good attitudes, regardless of everything else.
Lol, good point. The efficiency hasn't been there though, and many of those games have been loses because of it. I get that it is hard to be "on" every game, but I feel like Jokic's last three seasons have been defined by that, an almost effortless consistency of production and good attitudes, regardless of everything else.
Something feels different this year.
To me, he's always been the biggest candidate to fall off once he got a ring. Basketball doesnt consume him in the way it does say Giannis. He's gotten a ring, regular season MVP, Finals MVP...basically he's reached the mountain top, and the view up there is boring to him. Dont be surprised if he's done by age 30 with basketball, especially if they win one more.
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