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He's established himself as one of the best, if not the best, offensive player of all time. When it comes to his defense, I've seen extreme arguments in either direction. I fall somewhere in the middle. On one hand, I feel it's important to play him next to a strong defensive 4 like Millsap, AG to cover his inherent vulnerabilities. On the other hand, his positioning and rotational awareness are so strong that he's less exploitable in PnR situations (the kryptonite of countless bigs) than one might think.

I'm being a tad reductive but broad strokes, that's where I stand. What say you?

He'll never be a great defender, or even good. Average at best. People still calling him a "bad" defender really haven't caught up. He's smart, plays the passing lanes to generate steals, gets in the way. Great defensive rebounder. He's not a shot blocker. He gives up more easy shots than you would want, but I think that's in large part to how important he is on the offensive side of the ball. If you're a coach, what would you rather have? Two to three easy baskets per game, or two or three more fouls on Jokic, limiting his ability to stay on the court? Let the guy get that occasional layup, it's not worth the foul trouble. Coaching knows where the bread is buttered.

Pros: quick hands, great at positioning himself, strong upper body to bang with opposing bigs in the paint

Cons: terrible rim protector who is scared of committing fouls, slow feet, struggles to guard on the perimeter

I'd say he's average at best but has the reputation of being a poor/terrible defender.

He was solidly good 2 years ago but I think he regressed some last year, leaving him as good but not better. He's elite in so many areas on defense but obviously his verticality and first step speed is not going to wow anyone for a center and holds him back tremendously.

Mamba Mentality wrote:Pros: quick hands, great at positioning himself, strong upper body to bang with opposing bigs in the paint

Cons: terrible rim protector who is scared of committing fouls, slow feet, struggles to guard on the perimeter

I'd say he's average at best but has the reputation of being a poor/terrible defender.

You left off his incredible kicked ball talent. And quick hands is an understatement. He's a top 5 guy in steals and deflections. You also left off elite defensive rebounder.

Mamba Mentality wrote:Pros: quick hands, great at positioning himself, strong upper body to bang with opposing bigs in the paint

Cons: terrible rim protector who is scared of committing fouls, slow feet, struggles to guard on the perimeter

I'd say he's average at best but has the reputation of being a poor/terrible defender.

More cons:

Always the last man back on defense
Terrible help defender
Never rotates
Flopping

The fact that this poll has him as average is a travesty. Jokic fans working overtime. Luka gets killed but Jokic is essentially a worse defender and from a more important position. Make it make sense. Teams like OKC and the Wolves from a year ago were living in the paint rent free.

Optms wrote:

Mamba Mentality wrote:Pros: quick hands, great at positioning himself, strong upper body to bang with opposing bigs in the paint

Cons: terrible rim protector who is scared of committing fouls, slow feet, struggles to guard on the perimeter

I'd say he's average at best but has the reputation of being a poor/terrible defender.

More cons:

Always the last man back on defense
Terrible help defender
Never rotates
Flopping

The fact that this poll has him as average is a travesty. Jokic fans working overtime. Luka gets killed but Jokic is essentially a worse defender and from a more important position. Make it make sense. Teams like OKC and the Wolves from a year ago were living in the paint rent free.

Never rotates? Terrible help defender?

Hes gotten better but hes still below average to me. The rim protection and willing to cover the perimeter are abolsutely horrible but he does have great hands/instincts and I do count defensive rebounding as defense too.

He steals a lot because he's very good reading the game, and that pretty much sums up his defense:
He's a poor defender: his lateral movement is sub par, he lacks hand speed, explosiveness, reaction time...

On the other hand, he calls the other team's play and rules Nuggets' defense.

I'd say between average and good.


PS Why no one ever considers rebounding as defense? That would change the whole picture.

We will see if his defense can pick up in the regular season as he will surely play fewer minutes with Big Val as his backup

Rubios wrote:He steals a lot because he's very good reading the game, and that pretty much sums up his defense:
He's a poor defender: his lateral movement is sub par, he lacks hand speed, explosiveness, reaction time...

On the other hand, he calls the other team's play and rules Nuggets' defense.

I'd say between average and good.


PS Why no one ever considers rebounding as defense? That would change the whole picture.

Dude was top 5 in deflections and steals. And he had something absurd like 50+ kicked balls. The idea his hands lack speed or he has any issue on reaction time is beyond nonsense. Reading the game would be useless if he lacked reaction time...

He also had exceptional endurance for a man his size which allows him to stay in plays. Obviously he has his weaknesses, but you just named off some of his biggest strengths.

Mamba Mentality wrote:Pros: quick hands, great at positioning himself, strong upper body to bang with opposing bigs in the paint

Cons: terrible rim protector who is scared of committing fouls, slow feet, struggles to guard on the perimeter

I'd say he's average at best but has the reputation of being a poor/terrible defender.

While I agree with your summary overall, Jokic is right to be scared. He just led his team again in points (at high efficiency), rebounds, assists, and steals--a pretty crazy carry job. Whenever Jokic has to sit (due to fouls or whatever), the rest of that team tends to suck.

If I were him, I'd be scared too.

Tor_Raps wrote:Hes gotten better but hes still below average to me. The rim protection and willing to cover the perimeter are abolsutely horrible but he does have great hands/instincts and I do count defensive rebounding as defense too.

He's honestly really solid in pick and roll defense due to his width and hands. Obviously if you mean iso defense on the outside...that's going to be a problem for nearly every big man his size and he's certainly on the poor side even among those guys. But to be blunt...if your defense allows that to happen. You've already blown the play.

dhsilv2 wrote:

Tor_Raps wrote:Hes gotten better but hes still below average to me. The rim protection and willing to cover the perimeter are abolsutely horrible but he does have great hands/instincts and I do count defensive rebounding as defense too.

He's honestly really solid in pick and roll defense due to his width and hands. Obviously if you mean iso defense on the outside...that's going to be a problem for nearly every big man his size and he's certainly on the poor side even among those guys. But to be blunt...if your defense allows that to happen. You've already blown the play.

I was speaking more to him running to drive players off the 3 point line. I've seen numerous times where he gives up on defensive plays in that instance.

Its just a bad prescendence to set for your team. Luck for him hes probably the best offensive I've ever seen in my life so the team can overlook it lol.

Tor_Raps wrote:

dhsilv2 wrote:

Tor_Raps wrote:Hes gotten better but hes still below average to me. The rim protection and willing to cover the perimeter are abolsutely horrible but he does have great hands/instincts and I do count defensive rebounding as defense too.

He's honestly really solid in pick and roll defense due to his width and hands. Obviously if you mean iso defense on the outside...that's going to be a problem for nearly every big man his size and he's certainly on the poor side even among those guys. But to be blunt...if your defense allows that to happen. You've already blown the play.

I was speaking more to him running to drive players off the 3 point line. I've seen numerous times where he gives up on defensive plays in that instance.

Its just a bad prescendence to set for your team. Luck for him hes probably the best offensive I've ever seen in my life so the team can overlook it lol.

Do you really want a slow big man running out? Isn't that kinda the idea of a drop zone to have that guy stay inside for rebounding and to stop guys from just putting it on the floor once they see a big man sprinting out? I mean again if we're talking about someone like AD or Bam...whole other story. But I don't remember Lopez running out on guys, and he was an all nba level defender for years due of course to his inside play (where I get it, Jokic sucks). But yeah...I don't see why I want a big man sprinting out, it just again is a blown play at that point. Unless the defensive system calls for it.

Not saying he isn't at times lazy on that stuff...especially in the regular season where yeah. He gets over worked and 100% that hurts his defense.

He’s basically an immovable object, and he can break up a lot of plays with amazing anticipation and hands. He’s pretty good. The Nuggets have been able to play very good defense in the playoffs without a truly elite anchor or defensive player, and not really what you would look at and assume is a defensive lineup.

Here is one of many articles on his defense, what he is good at, for people interested...

https://www.theringer.com/2023/06/12/nba/nikola-jokic-defense-denver-nuggets-2023-nba-finals

Many people will be surprised to find out he was prised by his teammates as someone who plays great defense after his rookie season

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2614965-denver-nuggets-banking-on-best-nba-rookie-youve-never-heard-of-nikola-jokic

But I think we will have the right answer after this season. After his first season in the NBA, when he become focal point on offense, avoiding fouling was one of his main tasks. It leades to easy points he gives, and people point to them as proof of his bad defense. This season will be his first where he doesn't need to avoid fauling as his primary task due to Nuggets having funkcional bench and good coach. I expect them to come out fully engaged with 100% effort from day one, and then we will see Jokic's and Murray's top defense to judge.

Yeah he has quick hands and incredible BBIQ so if he can get to the right spot he will.

But he’s rough in space defending PnR and slow. If his size/strength doesn’t do the trick he can get beat pretty bad.

His defense?

Those horses he bought were legit. They weren't from the serbian black market as the rumours have been.

Your honor my client loves horses more than people. Matter of fact he cant stand people. He's gone through legit channels to buy these horses and raise them as one of his own. To even entertain the idea that Jokic bought these horses from kinkyunicorn.com is honestly an embarassment of this court room but moreso throwing dirt on this upstanding serbian man.

OH...you mean DEFENSE!

He ait.

His rim protection is a big problem in the playoffs. Yes he's capable of playing average defense, but there are far too many sequences where he just gives up free layups