Jokic's Road to GOATness Happens in 2024

[durden_tyler]

Jokic's road to Greatness (GOAT Level)

2024 NBA PLAYOFFS

Beat Lakers (LeBron/AD) in first round
Beat Wolves (Edwards/Gobert) or Suns (KD/Booker) in West Semis
Beat Thunder (SGA) in West Finals
Beat Celtics (Tatum/Holiday)

2024 OLYMPICS

Beat Team USA (all names above, except Gobert for France and SGA for Canada, which Serbia can meet on their way to the gold medal)

i know, i know, it's tough to repeat in the NBA unless have a clearcut dynasty roster (Nuggets have yet to prove that) and the road to the gold medal in France is tough.

But if Jokic can accomplish both, winning the NBA title and winning the gold this 2024, does he jump some all time greats and maybe even Top 5? Top 3? Less?

[Manimal]

I mean, yeah that would be an incredible 14 month span of basketball accomplishments, especially if he also wins regular season MVP this year as well. But that's also A LOT of ifs to have happen, and the playoffs haven't even started yet.

[SlimShady83]

Jokic Is this years Hakeem Olajuwon ... I'm not a hater or a lover. If Jokic wins another chip I'm comparing him too Hakeem the dream and there nothing wrong with that Hakeem the dream possibly top 10 If not 15 player ... To me 10-15 top player all time

Edit: It just amazes me that you kids wanna place him already In top 5-3, you all know how hard It Is to reach top 10 If not even top 20???

[Sgt Major]

We won't beat the USA at the Olympics, that's not happening.

[durden_tyler]

We won't beat the USA at the Olympics, that's not happening.

Yes, it's very improbable that's why if he leads Serbia to the gold medal, that should be considered something very special.

[nomansland]

Like I said in the other thread about this: let's not get ahead of ourselves.

[Beethoven]

Jokic's road to Greatness (GOAT Level)

2024 NBA PLAYOFFS

Beat Lakers (LeBron/AD) in first round
Beat Wolves (Edwards/Gobert) or Suns (KD/Booker) in West Semis
Beat Thunder (SGA) in West Finals
Beat Celtics (Tatum/Holiday)

2024 OLYMPICS

Beat Team USA (all names above, except Gobert for France and SGA for Canada, which Serbia can meet on their way to the gold medal)

i know, i know, it's tough to repeat in the NBA unless have a clearcut dynasty roster (Nuggets have yet to prove that) and the road to the gold medal in France is tough.

But if Jokic can accomplish both, winning the NBA title and winning the gold this 2024, does he jump some all time greats and maybe even Top 5? Top 3? Less?

I'm just quoting this in case he regrets this and changes the post.
Jinx don't apply to your boy jokic and the nuggets, huh?

[shi-woo]

You are asking one question, but posing two hypotheticals.

If Jokic wins the Title this year, he won't be in the GOAT convo yet, but would be well on his way to being the GOAT of his generation. He would have 2 while Giannis only has 1, and that's it.. He'll have 5-6 more years to remain ahead of the pack, with Luka, Tatum, Shai, and Any all looking to catch him.

Now, if Serbia wins Gold at the Olympics, that would be pretty interesting, and I don't know how I would feel about it. Manu winning gold for Argentina made him a basketball legend, and everyone on those Spain teams are household names now. I still can name 8-10 players off the top of my head

Serbia is good just by looking at their recent accomplishments and the names they will have on the roster. Very akin to that awesome Spanish team. They will have a shot, but I have a feeling that the Paris Olympics are gong to be an eye opener for many American basketball fans. The rest of the World is going to come to play, and I don't see a cake walk Olympics. Whoever wins this field is going down in history for sure.

If that is Jokic he will become the GOAT international player, and have the epitome of a complete basketball resume. He will enter the myth narrative tier of players like Bird/MAgic, Jordon, Curry, Kobe and LeBron. Clearly would be above Shaq, Hakeem, and any other player you want to throw at him who isn't a Top 10 player all time.

He's already changed the game forever, but just like how you would hear kids say "kobe!" after every terrible fade away on the blacktop you would start to hear kids talk about playing like the Joker.

In this scenerio, Jokic would be behind only those 6 aformentioned on the All-Time list, and would essentially end up #3 all time or in the GOAT convo if he won another ring. He would be the player historians look back on like Steph in the 3pnt shot, on when the NBA and basketball finally became a global game, and not just an American game.

For sure you would hear people clamoring him as the GOAT, and honestly, who would argue against that at that point?

[KembaWalker]

He needs a three peat. Getting a three peat as far and away the first option, having a dynasty with the team that drafted him would give him the most impressive ring collection since Jordan

[MacGill]

He's on his way regardless but certainly not top 5. He is only 1 of 2 current crop of players who I have projected to eventually enter my top 10, albeit he still needs a few more high level seasons to round out his peak, but his 23' run was one of the most impressive performances I've seen in quite some time. He's no BS, no drama, no superstar teammates or coaches, he's the actual real deal!

[Mavrelous]

Winning a ring this year moves him to top-10, in Magic, Steph, Bird, Kobe, KG territory, winning the Olympics with inferior Serbian team, moves him to top-5 territory, with Hakeem and Shaq, but still behind LBJ, MJ, KAJ and Duncan

[jasonxxx102]

If he does all that, we can start talking about him possibly being top10. He's so far away from top 3 it's not even worth talking about at this point

[Tempe]

Let’s get past the Lakers before this GOAT talk


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[TheNG]

If he wins the title this year, it will be an amazing accomplishment. Not only he will be the only player in history to win the ring without any teammate who was previously selected to the All Star, he will have this accomplishment TWICE.
But still, all the 3 players who have a case to be the GOAT, have at least 5 rings and 5 MVPs, so he will not be in that zone yet.

[tsherkin]

He needs a three peat. Getting a three peat as far and away the first option, having a dynasty with the team that drafted him would give him the most impressive ring collection since Jordan

I don't think he needs a three-peat, but if he was to pull the Duncan, he'd have to still be rocking out the scoring and crazy passing and box score numbers he's doing now for most of them. One of the reasons Duncan isn't considered over top MJ is his reduced minutes and responsibilities in the later titles, after all.

That said, a three-peat would be the simplest way to say "yep, there's almost no one better than this dude," for sure. It's a rare achievement. Only three teams in league history have pulled that one off, and only two of them did it with 3+ playoff series victories in each postseason. That would be a pretty significant achievement.

[dhsilv2]

But if Jokic can accomplish both, winning the NBA title and winning the gold this 2024, does he jump some all time greats and maybe even Top 5? Top 3? Less?

Winning the title this year, assume it's built on his incredible play, would certainly have value. The olympics are completely meaningless in the conversation. FIBA basketball is so different form the nba, it might as well be a different sport.

[Calvin Klein]

We won't beat the USA at the Olympics, that's not happening.

I would not be that hopeless. There is a chance, although not a big one.

[bledredwine]

If Jokic did this, it'd be fantastic.

That said, I don't find the NBA nearly as competitive as many others here do. I consider a contender to have A. An all time great number 1 option, with a great number 2, B. Great ball movement/system and C. usually, solid to great defense, unless they're phenomenal at A and B.

I consider the entire East consisting of "fake contenders". Every team either lacks a potential all-time great player,
constantly deals with injuries, or lack the ability to move the ball properly (bucks with Giannis). I realize that fans of any of those
teams will hate this comment, but I don't see any all time greats in that conference (deserving of a chip).

For me, it's basically Jokic vs. .... old Lebron/AD, younger players and the Celtics who have great ball movement but lack "that guy".
Tatum puts up stats but is terribly inefficient.

Bucks, I would consider but they've had health issues whenever the playoffs hit since like 2018 and can't move the ball
properly. If you combined their top stars with the Celtics system, you'd have a true contender.


The Knicks being at the 2 seed is all you need to know about the East.
The West has Jokic, Luka and not much else- at the very least, no one reliable.

None of these squads are Shaq/Kobe Lakers, Duncan's Spurs, Jordan's Bulls, or the Detroit Pistons.
Denver might compete against those squads.

Jokic may win several MVPs like Kareem. Lebron may have gotten to the finals ___ amount of times through a conference that had no star power or good teams. Russell won 11 rings. These are all quite the accomplishments, but it is all in context. In sports, we want hardships to get that championship, not the Miami big 3 or Curry/KD feasting on the league.

[KamikazeK]

He's not the GOAT. He won one ring. That doesn't make him LeBron.

The sooner he gets knocked off the better so this stuff can end. It was one season, one ring. Everyone who wins one doesn't become the GOAT.

[bledredwine]

Jokic Is this years Hakeem Olajuwon ... I'm not a hater or a lover. If Jokic wins another chip I'm comparing him too Hakeem the dream and there nothing wrong with that Hakeem the dream possibly top 10 If not 15 player ... To me 10-15 top player all time

Edit: It just amazes me that you kids wanna place him already In top 5-3, you all know how hard It Is to reach top 10 If not even top 20???

This is a more realistic take.

If someone's going to be compared to Lebron/Kareem range already, I want them to deserve it.