Buckets22 wrote:It is true that Jokic is helped by the fact that many many teams are small as F.
Wouldn't be surprised if GMs start signing Jokic-stoppers similar to Shaqs presence in the league. Big, mobile legit 7 footers that at least match Jokic physically if not with BBall IQ to negate part of his game.
it's not a viable option in today's NBA
unless those big can consistenly spread the floor or have other substantial offensive skills
you can't play 4 on 5 on offense and expect to win in 2023, that's just not happening
and the supply of such talented big men is obviously pretty scarce, teams aren't going to be filling their roster with these anytime soon as there aren't enough to go around.
I mean guys with the size who also have some offensive talent.
you said "legit 7 ft. mobile bigs". a guy like Mitch Rob, RW or Gobert u mean? all these guys pose the same offensive issues btw, and i'm not even talking about guys like Nerlens Noel or Gren Monroe etc, guys the game has passed by
there are very few guys who are truly "big" and mobile and won't bury you offensively and against those that do hurt u offensively but do fit the bill that you described - Jokic is doing just fine, thank u very much
just for reference, Miami has a couple of guys "perfect" for the role you're describing. Dedmon has the size and weight and he is an experienced NBA Center. Yurtseven has the size and strength as well.
you think Spo is dumb? you think he hasn't considered that? but he knows even if it'll slow down the Joker (somewhat) - it will kill Miami's offense, the net effect would be negative and it's obvious, he doesn't need to try it to know it's never gonna work.
besides, those type of guys that ur describing (akin to the big bodies that were recruited to deal with Shaq) are usually completely useless when not under the basket. Jokic will cook them on the perimeter, with his shooting, passing and driving and they will be forced to stop out as he's consistenly hit 50% of open 3's at the top of the key if you'll allow him constant space there
that strategy was utilized in that era's NBA vs Shaq because he was so dominant inside (and only inside!) coupled with him being an exeptionally weak FT shooter. so u need guys to put a beating on him and use up all the fouls because you can't stop him one on one when he's deep anyway and it's much better to send him to the line where is poor and not concede a dunk (old school analytics
). since he can do that on almost every possession, u want to have 2-3 guys that can be used to employ this strategy for large chunks of the game
obviously, that's not a viable strategy vs the joker whose an 80% or so Ft shooter
if Shaq was an 80% FT shooter, you wouldn't have seen every team stack up big bodies on their roster
(he would also be unstoppable and win ring after ring
)
fwiw the very premise of this thread is laughable
hard to compare between eras but Jokic will dominate in any era, he's a basketball genius with so many elite basketball skills that would translate to any type of era \ rules and really just an incredible ATG I.Q, touch and nose for the basketball
lol @ thinking lumbering Centers who couldn't do anything with the ball would be any kind of an issue for Jokic, just because they have trained more and have alot more reps at defending in the post
that's a laughable take