NBA MVP Discussion Thread 2022-23 (pt 2)

[Johnny Tomala]

1 - Jokić
2 - Doncić
3 - Tatum

[antonac]

[Sgt Major]

I have no idea what was he doing against the Sixers. Looks like he took a backseat in the 2nd half and decided not to care. Additional thought I have is that he really dislikes Bones, so he wanted him to facilitate and have the ball, to show Malone and the FO why Bones should be traded, as far-fetches as this sounds. I honestly thought that Jokic finally grew up and that there will be no more shenanigans, but no.

All in all, Embiid destroyed Jokic, he was focused, concentrated and delivered the best possible game on national TV. Still isn't the MVP, but if Philly wins their next matchup, he should overtake the disinterested sloth and lead the pack.

[B-easy]

... if Philly wins their next matchup, he should overtake the disinterested sloth ...

Uh no. The head to head matchups are used as tiebreaks. We look at everything else such as Stats/record/teammates then look at head to head.

[Johnny Firpo]

I have no idea what was he doing against the Sixers. Looks like he took a backseat in the 2nd half and decided not to care. Additional thought I have is that he really dislikes Bones, so he wanted him to facilitate and have the ball, to show Malone and the FO why Bones should be traded, as far-fetches as this sounds. I honestly thought that Jokic finally grew up and that there will be no more shenanigans, but no.

All in all, Embiid destroyed Jokic, he was focused, concentrated and delivered the best possible game on national TV. Still isn't the MVP, but if Philly wins their next matchup, he should overtake the disinterested sloth and lead the pack.

Isn't that a little harsh? I mean, the guy is averaging 25/11/10 on 70% TS for crying out loud, and it feels like you are also expecting him to be Michael Jordan, or at the very least Shaquille O'Neal from a scoring standpoint.

[Bob8]

I have no idea what was he doing against the Sixers. Looks like he took a backseat in the 2nd half and decided not to care. Additional thought I have is that he really dislikes Bones, so he wanted him to facilitate and have the ball, to show Malone and the FO why Bones should be traded, as far-fetches as this sounds. I honestly thought that Jokic finally grew up and that there will be no more shenanigans, but no.

All in all, Embiid destroyed Jokic, he was focused, concentrated and delivered the best possible game on national TV. Still isn't the MVP, but if Philly wins their next matchup, he should overtake the disinterested sloth and lead the pack.

Isn't that a little harsh? I mean, the guy is averaging 25/11/10 on 70% TS for crying out loud, and it feels like you are also expecting him to be Michael Jordan, or at the very least Shaquille O'Neal from a scoring standpoint.

70% TS has a lot to do with his carefully selected shots. Playoffs will show, if that kind of strategy is enough for winning the title.

[Sgt Major]

I have no idea what was he doing against the Sixers. Looks like he took a backseat in the 2nd half and decided not to care. Additional thought I have is that he really dislikes Bones, so he wanted him to facilitate and have the ball, to show Malone and the FO why Bones should be traded, as far-fetches as this sounds. I honestly thought that Jokic finally grew up and that there will be no more shenanigans, but no.

All in all, Embiid destroyed Jokic, he was focused, concentrated and delivered the best possible game on national TV. Still isn't the MVP, but if Philly wins their next matchup, he should overtake the disinterested sloth and lead the pack.

Isn't that a little harsh? I mean, the guy is averaging 25/11/10 on 70% TS for crying out loud, and it feels like you are also expecting him to be Michael Jordan, or at the very least Shaquille O'Neal from a scoring standpoint.

No, I was expecting that he'd act like a true competitor and go head to head with Embiid. Instead, he was extremely passive in the 2nd half.

He had PJ Tucker guarding him lol. If there's anyone thinking that was some genius tactics by the Sixers, they're nuts. It's just that Jokic went into coasting mode again for some reason.

[Mickey8]

People who don't have Doncic as the leading MVP candidate this season, don't know much about basketball

[One Last Shot]

Funny thing is Jokic ranks 50th in field-goals attempted per game this season @ 15 shots per game. Kobe and MJ averaged 27+ FG attempts in their career-high ppg. Seems like he's just messing with the heads of NBA statsfreak by posting ridiculous
numbers & efficiency never seen before while having the 2nd best record in the entire league.

[dautjazz]

This is 100% Jokic's MVP. We can play make believe and act like the race is close, but eventually people will have to grow up and realize the race looks something like this:

1. Jokic





2. Tatum
3. Doncic
4. KD





5. Giannnis







6. Embiid

Jokic
Ja
Sabonis
Zion
Luka



Tatum
Embiid
Giannas
Donovan
Kd/Kyrie

Zion has missed 23 games out of 52, how can he be in the MVP conversation? Even if he played like 85% of the games, he wouldn't have a case on guys like Jokic, Doncic, Embiid, Tatum, and several others. He

[Cubbies2120]

I have no idea what was he doing against the Sixers. Looks like he took a backseat in the 2nd half and decided not to care. Additional thought I have is that he really dislikes Bones, so he wanted him to facilitate and have the ball, to show Malone and the FO why Bones should be traded, as far-fetches as this sounds. I honestly thought that Jokic finally grew up and that there will be no more shenanigans, but no.

All in all, Embiid destroyed Jokic, he was focused, concentrated and delivered the best possible game on national TV. Still isn't the MVP, but if Philly wins their next matchup, he should overtake the disinterested sloth and lead the pack.

Isn't that a little harsh? I mean, the guy is averaging 25/11/10 on 70% TS for crying out loud, and it feels like you are also expecting him to be Michael Jordan, or at the very least Shaquille O'Neal from a scoring standpoint.

No, I was expecting that he'd act like a true competitor and go head to head with Embiid. Instead, he was extremely passive in the 2nd half.

He had PJ Tucker guarding him lol. If there's anyone thinking that was some genius tactics by the Sixers, they're nuts. It's just that Jokic went into coasting mode again for some reason.

PJ Tucker was guarding him very aggressively before he even had ball, that was his whole goal. Jokic needed to do the following:
- Make one overly aggressive move to get an offensive foul called on him
- Refs now pay attention to the Tucker/Jokic matchup to make sure it doesn't escalate
- Tucker gets called for the off-ball fouls going forward

Instead, Jokic let the lack of calls & overly aggressive defense get to him and he became passive. He needed to do what he did against Draymond in the playoffs and fight through the aggressive defense. I think if these two match up again in the playoffs that's what we'll see - Draymond is taller and stronger than Tucker and Jokic was able to get his and dominate.

[Cubbies2120]

I have no idea what was he doing against the Sixers. Looks like he took a backseat in the 2nd half and decided not to care. Additional thought I have is that he really dislikes Bones, so he wanted him to facilitate and have the ball, to show Malone and the FO why Bones should be traded, as far-fetches as this sounds. I honestly thought that Jokic finally grew up and that there will be no more shenanigans, but no.

All in all, Embiid destroyed Jokic, he was focused, concentrated and delivered the best possible game on national TV. Still isn't the MVP, but if Philly wins their next matchup, he should overtake the disinterested sloth and lead the pack.

Isn't that a little harsh? I mean, the guy is averaging 25/11/10 on 70% TS for crying out loud, and it feels like you are also expecting him to be Michael Jordan, or at the very least Shaquille O'Neal from a scoring standpoint.

70% TS has a lot to do with his carefully selected shots. Playoffs will show, if that kind of strategy is enough for winning the title.

Should he chuck and put up 35ppg on lower % instead?

Carefully selected shots is a GOOD thing. He's shooting 15 shots a game, and creating incredible opportunities for his teammates.

Aaron Gordon & Jokic are a great duo, and Gordon is benefitting immensely. He was a career ~45% shooter before getting to Denver and immediately became a 50% --> 52% --> 58% shooter right after arriving. Wonder what the difference is? In his entire career before getting to Denver, his assisted FG's from 2pt were at MOST 51% (most years under 50%). The last 2 years 63% of his 2 pt field goals were assisted.

It's a numbers game - Jokic can take a 60% shot from anywhere inside the arc, but why do that when you can provide a teammate a 76% shot (Gordon shoots 76% at rim, and 65% of those are assisted)?

Also, even in games that he "chucks" by his standards (20 shots), he hasn't had a single one under 50% shooting.

In games where he shot 24, 25, 25, 26 times, he shot 63%, 56%, 64%, 50%.

[timO]

averaging triple double, 70%TS, team seed 1 in west

thats how you do a threepeat

[timO]

People who don't have Doncic as the leading MVP candidate this season, don't know much about basketball

27-25 its not enough, hes nearly out of play in, 24-26 okc and portland

lottery team if he misses 5-10 games

[Bob8]

Isn't that a little harsh? I mean, the guy is averaging 25/11/10 on 70% TS for crying out loud, and it feels like you are also expecting him to be Michael Jordan, or at the very least Shaquille O'Neal from a scoring standpoint.

70% TS has a lot to do with his carefully selected shots. Playoffs will show, if that kind of strategy is enough for winning the title.

Should he chuck and put up 35ppg on lower % instead?

Carefully selected shots is a GOOD thing. He's shooting 15 shots a game, and creating incredible opportunities for his teammates.

Aaron Gordon & Jokic are a great duo, and Gordon is benefitting immensely. He was a career ~45% shooter before getting to Denver and immediately became a 50% --> 52% --> 58% shooter right after arriving. Wonder what the difference is? In his entire career before getting to Denver, his assisted FG's from 2pt were at MOST 51% (most years under 50%). The last 2 years 63% of his 2 pt field goals were assisted.

It's a numbers game - Jokic can take a 60% shot from anywhere inside the arc, but why do that when you can provide a teammate a 76% shot (Gordon shoots 76% at rim, and 65% of those are assisted)?

Also, even in games that he "chucks" by his standards (20 shots), he hasn't had a single one under 50% shooting.

In games where he shot 24, 25, 25, 26 times, he shot 63%, 56%, 64%, 50%.

My comment was about, why he has 70% TS. If you compare this season and his last, it's obvious why his TS% is that up. He shoots the same number of FTs and has 2.6 FGA less, he's shooting 3pts 40% less. Shooting less and better shots will normally higher your TS%. And it looks to me that his teammates are pretty good. Playoffs is different story, because teams will be better prepared for Denver and play better D on his teammates too. That's why I believe he will have to take much bigger responsibility on him, 27% usage won't be enough anymore.

[Bob8]

People who don't have Doncic as the leading MVP candidate this season, don't know much about basketball

27-25 its not enough, hes nearly out of play in, 24-26 okc and portland

lottery team if he misses 5-10 games

Lottery might be the best result for Mavs. They can't do anything in playoffs anyway. They should be sellers now and totally rebuild their team in 2 years time. Nobody wants another year with more or less the same roster.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

I have no idea what was he doing against the Sixers. Looks like he took a backseat in the 2nd half and decided not to care. Additional thought I have is that he really dislikes Bones, so he wanted him to facilitate and have the ball, to show Malone and the FO why Bones should be traded, as far-fetches as this sounds. I honestly thought that Jokic finally grew up and that there will be no more shenanigans, but no.

All in all, Embiid destroyed Jokic, he was focused, concentrated and delivered the best possible game on national TV. Still isn't the MVP, but if Philly wins their next matchup, he should overtake the disinterested sloth and lead the pack.

What happened is that the sixers put Tucker on him while leaving Embiid patrolling the paint and that mucked up the Nuggets' offense, they haven't been ready to adjust

[Mickey8]

People who don't have Doncic as the leading MVP candidate this season, don't know much about basketball

27-25 its not enough, hes nearly out of play in, 24-26 okc and portland

lottery team if he misses 5-10 games

Lottery might be the best result for Mavs. They can't do anything in playoffs anyway. They should be sellers now and totally rebuild their team in 2 years time. Nobody wants another year with more or less the same roster.

I wouldn't like Denver meet them in the play off's.

[BoatsNZones]

I have no idea what was he doing against the Sixers. Looks like he took a backseat in the 2nd half and decided not to care. Additional thought I have is that he really dislikes Bones, so he wanted him to facilitate and have the ball, to show Malone and the FO why Bones should be traded, as far-fetches as this sounds. I honestly thought that Jokic finally grew up and that there will be no more shenanigans, but no.

All in all, Embiid destroyed Jokic, he was focused, concentrated and delivered the best possible game on national TV. Still isn't the MVP, but if Philly wins their next matchup, he should overtake the disinterested sloth and lead the pack.

Isn't that a little harsh? I mean, the guy is averaging 25/11/10 on 70% TS for crying out loud, and it feels like you are also expecting him to be Michael Jordan, or at the very least Shaquille O'Neal from a scoring standpoint.

70% TS has a lot to do with his carefully selected shots. Playoffs will show, if that kind of strategy is enough for winning the title.

They have the #1 offense in the NBA. The fact that this is the case while not dominating the ball or his teams FGA is a good thing.

Where they could and likely will fall short will come down to health and defense.

[Dmagic]

last time I checked mavericks are winning. and Spencer emerging as a go to clutch player to g along with Doncic