Which team would have changed history the most by drafting Jokic?

[onedayattatime]

Joker is arguably the greatest draft steal since he went in the second round in 2014, which means that, had they the foresight, virtually any team could have taken him. Which team do you think would have changed history the most by drafting him?

Some notes: Golden State does not have a pick in this draft.
Cleveland likely would not have won a title by picking Jokic since they used their 2014 pick to acquire Kevin Love, who was more valuable in 2016 than rookie Jokic.

[Colbinii]

Any team could have bought a 2nd and drafted him.

[parsnips33]

Gotta be Milwaukee right? Imagine getting Giannis and Jokic in back to back drafts

[lessthanjake]

Well, I would think the answer would have to be a team that doesn’t later get good on the back of their own subsequent draft picks, since having Jokic might make them too good to get those draft picks. The 2015 draft is an exception, since Jokic stayed in Europe the first year after being drafted and so wouldn’t have improved his team’s draft pick for that year. So we’d generally want a team that already had the pieces to be good by Jokic’s rookie season. And we’d want it to be a team that had the ability to be good for a while, because Jokic took some time to ramp up to what he is now.

A few thoughts:

- Cleveland is an obvious choice. You mention that they “used their 2014 pick to acquire Kevin Love,” but they also had the 33rd pick in the draft (which they used to draft Joe Harris), which was not used in the Love trade. So they could’ve had essentially the same team + Jokic. Jokic probably doesn’t really make them win in 2017 or 2018. He was a really good player at that point, but the Cavs were quite far off the Warriors, so it’s hard to see it being enough. But if Jokic was on the Cavs, perhaps LeBron doesn’t leave Cleveland and Jokic starts entering his prime while LeBron is leaving his prime, and then Jokic peaks with old-but-still-good LeBron. One can imagine the team staying great for an extended period of time, and being something like the 1980s Lakers, where one all-time great leads the way for a while, and then as that guy ages the younger one takes the primary reins and the team keeps winning.

- OKC is another choice that might change things even more. If Jokic is there in 2016, maybe he’s enough to allow the Thunder to actually eke out a victory over the Warriors in 2016, and perhaps then win in the Finals. Jokic wasn’t an elite player as a rookie, but he was a good player and the Thunder were very close to winning the series, so it’s certainly quite plausible. Then Durant doesn’t leave, and you perhaps have Durant, Jokic, and Westbrook for many years. That scenario potentially changes NBA history a lot. The Warriors would still have a title in 2015, but it’s possible they wouldn’t get another one. It’s possible LeBron might not end up with a title outside of Miami. And the Thunder might end up a dynasty—with Durant and Westbrook being the main protagonists for a while, and then giving way to Jokic in more recent years.

- The Spurs could change things a lot too. Obviously, when he first came into the league, the Spurs were already good without Jokic. But Jokic would’ve fit great with them. And it’s possible that a rookie Jokic is enough to stop the Spurs from losing to the Thunder in the 2016 playoffs—which could then lead to the Spurs winning the title that year (they were incredibly good that season!). Either way, you end up with Kawhi and Jokic in subsequent years, along with the rest of the team being really good. They might win titles, resulting in Kawhi probably not leaving. Of course, Kawhi might just have health issues that make there be years where this falls apart come playoff time (he certainly had those issues in reality), but I think with Jokic on the Spurs with Kawhi, you end up with the Spurs just remaining great throughout a whole additional generation and winning multiple titles. In this scenario, I think the Spurs would get heralded as a complete miracle organization.

[rk2023]

Milwaukee Cleveland Denver Spurs (dare I say Philly?)

[dygaction]

Celtics. Thank about Jokic running the offense and directing the flow of Kyrie, Tatum, Brown, and Horford from 2018 on. That's with Smart/Morris/Hayward/Robert Williams off the bench

[Special_Puppy]

There are like 14 teams that probably would have already won a title if they drafted Jokic but the Celtics would have already been a dynasty at this point

[lessthanjake]

Celtics are a good one too. I’d been thinking that they aren’t a good one because Tatum and Brown were drafted after Jokic was already in the league, so the team likely wouldn’t have been bad enough to still get those draft picks. But I’d forgotten that they had those draft picks from trades, so Jokic could improve the Celtics immediately and they’d still have those picks.

[Ainosterhaspie]

I can't help but wonder if a bunch of teams would have squandered him, not giving him playing time, forever seeing him as a project that's not quite ready. An unathletic big right when bigs are getting phased out of the game. A relic, best not to waste playing time time on.

[One_and_Done]

Spurs, because the winning would still be going. They'd be on a 27 yr playoff streak and going strong. But probably the Bucks yeh, because Giannis Is a perfect fit. Genuine co-stars.

[bkkrh]

So I assume you replace the player they drafted in that draft that was the closest to his original pick and the team does otherwise the exact same decisions the first season where he is in Europe.

- As already mentioned, definitely Boston. You basically replace James Young with Jokic and have 3rd year, 18,10,6 Jokic as starting Center instead of Aron Baynes on a team that lost 3-4 for in the Eastern Conference Finals. Smart, Brown, Tatum and Horford would still be on that roster. Would also be super interesting on how they'd handle the Isaiah Thomas situation then.

- Another interesting scenario would be Toronto. They would get him instead of DeAndre Daniels (never made it to the NBA). He'd play with DeRozan and Lowry until 2017-18. Do they still trade DeRozan for Kawhi? Does Kawhi maybe resign with Toronto because of him? Even if he leaves you have Lowry, VanVleet, Siakam, Anunoby and Ibaka.

- The most fun one is unfortunately not possible, but just think about the scenario. The Brooklyn Nets had 0 draft picks but bought 3 2nd rounders from other teams, the highest unfortunately being number 44, so 3 picks after Jokic. But let's imagine that they somehow found a way to either buy a higher pick, or convince the Nuggets to trade his rights for those 3 picks. Now there are 2 possible roads ahead.

In the beginning of the season they tried to improve their "Super team" as much as possible, while having basically no trade assets left. So they traded their rights to former European 2nd rounders that were still playing abroad. Imagine Billy King would have traded Jokic's rights instead of Edin Bavčić's and İlkan Karaman's to the Cavs to land Jarrett Jack and Sergej Karasev. At least nobody would talk any more about the Celtics trade.

Scenario 2 on the other side. The super team does not work out. They have no draft picks for the next few years, no young talent. Billy KIng is about to get fired, his clock is ticking. In comes out of nowhere this young Serbian Center he drafted in the 2nd round nobody has ever heard of that has ball handling skills like a point guard. Billy King is a genius. The Nets will only have late 1sts and 2nd rounders for the rest of the decade, so who could be a better GM for that situation than the man with the golden draft hands?

[RCM88x]

I can't help but wonder if a bunch of teams would have squandered him, not giving him playing time, forever seeing him as a project that's not quite ready. An unathletic big right when bigs are getting phased out of the game. A relic, best not to waste playing time time on.

Yep, I don't think he would make it very far on a team trying to contend. Especially a team like the Cavs, Clippers, Rockets or even OKC. Ultimately it even took Denver until mid 2016-2017 to realize he was better going forward than Nurkic and they could afford to play him a lot.

[homecourtloss]

I can't help but wonder if a bunch of teams would have squandered him, not giving him playing time, forever seeing him as a project that's not quite ready. An unathletic big right when bigs are getting phased out of the game. A relic, best not to waste playing time time on.

That’s an interesting thought, though itwould take a really inept front office to do so since Even as a rookie, he showed signs of being more than just a big, lumbering back to the basket player.

[giberish]

GS didn't have a pick in 2014, but they could have gotten ahead of Denver through cash + future 2nd(s).

Doesn't change 2015 season.

Comes over in 2016 as a 3rd string C, but as both Bogut and Ezeli had injury issues he gets some playing time. Game 7 of the finals both Bogut and Ezeli are out injured, so there's a good chance he's getting 15-20 minutes off the bench (Draymond obviously playing most of the center minutes). Could have provided an extra offensive boost in a tight game, and with his extra size helped with rebounding (an issue that game with as small as GS had to play). Wouldn't have needed to help much to make the difference.

Perhaps GS doesn't sign KD that summer after 2 titles, but uses Jokic increasingly over the next few years - causing big problems with his passing and Curry and Klay's shooting.

[giberish]

I can't help but wonder if a bunch of teams would have squandered him, not giving him playing time, forever seeing him as a project that's not quite ready. An unathletic big right when bigs are getting phased out of the game. A relic, best not to waste playing time time on.

He was so effective when he played (even as a rookie) that you'd have to be spectacularly inept not to play him. You'd need a team with a strong, deep center rotation that never got injured and which didn't appreciate him in practice. Possible, but unlikley.

[Dr Positivity]

I like the Jokic/Giannis and Jokic makes Lebron stays in Cleveland ideas there most here. Alternatively you could send Jokic to the Lakers and Lebron play with him there.