Nikola Jokic 22-23 NBA Thread - FINALS MVP, 2x NBA MVP, WCF MVP -[ALL NBA 2nd Team]

[TroubleS0me]

Can he win MVP again ?
Murray is back as well

[tsherkin]

Seems unlikely the voters will give Jokic 3 in a row. Hasn't happened since Bird, and before that, Wilt in the late 60s and Russell before that. It's extremely unlikely we'll see that one again, if only from voter fatigue.

[OhayoKD]

Seems unlikely the voters will give Jokic 3 in a row. Hasn't happened since Bird, and before that, Wilt in the late 60s and Russell before that. It's extremely unlikely we'll see that one again, if only from voter fatigue.

if the nuggets win alot more games this time around and jokic is still impacting i think the "winning" boost can outdo voter fatigue tbh

[tsherkin]

Seems unlikely the voters will give Jokic 3 in a row. Hasn't happened since Bird, and before that, Wilt in the late 60s and Russell before that. It's extremely unlikely we'll see that one again, if only from voter fatigue.

if the nuggets win alot more games this time around and jokic is still impacting i think the "winning" boost can outdo voter fatigue tbh

It's certainly possible, but even MJ didn't get three in a row. It's been like that for three, three and a half decades now. It's less trendy to vote someone in that often. Lebron didn't win it three in a row either. Could it happen? Sure. Is it likely to? Not without a really compelling narrative behind. Is that the same as him not necessarily deserving a third consecutive MVP? No, of course not. Voters screw up the MVP on the regular.

[AEnigma]

Nash came pretty close to a threepeat. Jokic will have tough competition from Giannis and Embiid and Luka and Steph (and Tatum?), but if he is enough of a comparative standout he can definitely win again.

[falcolombardi]

Nash came pretty close to a threepeat. Jokic will have tough competition from Giannis and Embiid and Luka and Steph (and Tatum?), but if he is enough of a comparative standout he can definitely win again.

Unless he leads nuggets to 65 wins while everyone else caps at 57 with no interesting storyline i dont see it

Voters get tired of players pretty quickñy and it takes a lot of team success, rings or just sheer and clear superiority over other stars to keep winning mvps with the voters

[OhayoKD]

Nash came pretty close to a threepeat. Jokic will have tough competition from Giannis and Embiid and Luka and Steph (and Tatum?), but if he is enough of a comparative standout he can definitely win again.

Unless he leads nuggets to 65 wins while everyone else caps at 57 with no interesting storyline i dont see it

Voters get tired of players pretty quickñy and it takes a lot of team success, rings or just sheer and clear superiority over other stars to keep winning mvps with the voters

bird 2.0 is an interesting story

[falcolombardi]

Nash came pretty close to a threepeat. Jokic will have tough competition from Giannis and Embiid and Luka and Steph (and Tatum?), but if he is enough of a comparative standout he can definitely win again.

Unless he leads nuggets to 65 wins while everyone else caps at 57 with no interesting storyline i dont see it

Voters get tired of players pretty quickñy and it takes a lot of team success, rings or just sheer and clear superiority over other stars to keep winning mvps with the voters

bird 2.0 is an interesting story

Bird had a ring and a finals run before his 3rd mvp

Even players like lebron (14) or jordan (93) who wete going for the mvp/ring 3-peat didnt get it. I cannot imagine voters giving it to jokic when novelty storyline and previous team success are so importa t to mvp voters

[Fadeaway_J]

Unless he leads nuggets to 65 wins while everyone else caps at 57 with no interesting storyline i dont see it

Voters get tired of players pretty quickñy and it takes a lot of team success, rings or just sheer and clear superiority over other stars to keep winning mvps with the voters

bird 2.0 is an interesting story

Bird had a ring and a finals run before his 3rd mvp

Even players like lebron (14) or jordan (93) who wete going for the mvp/ring 3-peat didnt get it. I cannot imagine voters giving it to jokic when novelty storyline and previous team success are so importa t to mvp voters

Not to mention, his MVP seasons have ended in the second and first rounds respectively.

I agree it would take a dominant regular season from the Nuggets to create enough narrative momentum for him to threepeat.

[Peregrine01]

Even though Murray and MPJ are back, I'd like to see Jokic continue his aggressive scoring approach that he ended with last year. As great a passer he is, I think he might be more effective scoring. I don't think it's hyperbolic to think of him as the best scorer in the league even.

[parsnips33]

Even though Murray and MPJ are back, I'd like to see Jokic continue his aggressive scoring approach that he ended with last year. As great a passer he is, I think he might be more effective scoring. I don't think it's hyperbolic to think of him as the best scorer in the league even.

Jokic is so unique that I think a lot of his game gets overlooked. Obviously people focus on his back to the basket and face up game and the dazzling assists, but I think he might be one of the best PNR bigs ever. His combo of size + skill makes guarding him in PNR a series of impossible choices.

[Peregrine01]

Even though Murray and MPJ are back, I'd like to see Jokic continue his aggressive scoring approach that he ended with last year. As great a passer he is, I think he might be more effective scoring. I don't think it's hyperbolic to think of him as the best scorer in the league even.

Jokic is so unique that I think a lot of his game gets overlooked. Obviously people focus on his back to the basket and face up game and the dazzling assists, but I think he might be one of the best PNR bigs ever. His combo of size + skill makes guarding him in PNR a series of impossible choices.

He can do nearly everything on offense at an elite level and some things at an all-time level (passing, touch around the basket, footwork). Only his 3 might be only good.

[TroubleS0me]

Triple double bump vs Warriors

[CharityStripe34]

Given how stacked the league is at the top 6-7 players it's going to take a 60+ win season for the Joker to build up steam. Time will tell. Many in the media are already clamoring to vote for Embiid (runner-up twice) but he's looking sluggish so far.

[eminence]

Too early to really talk about who's looking good for an MVP race, but it will take a huge performance on the season from both Jokic and the Nuggets to get him the 3 peat, it's possible, but he'll lose any relatively close races.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Nash came pretty close to a threepeat. Jokic will have tough competition from Giannis and Embiid and Luka and Steph (and Tatum?), but if he is enough of a comparative standout he can definitely win again.

Unless he leads nuggets to 65 wins while everyone else caps at 57 with no interesting storyline i dont see it

Voters get tired of players pretty quickñy and it takes a lot of team success, rings or just sheer and clear superiority over other stars to keep winning mvps with the voters

Nuggets best record in the league + similar statistical footprint and he wins.
Voters won't give him a close one, but they can't turn away on an easy pick.
jordon 97 was the only case I saw that, while Malone could have won 98.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Unless he leads nuggets to 65 wins while everyone else caps at 57 with no interesting storyline i dont see it

Voters get tired of players pretty quickñy and it takes a lot of team success, rings or just sheer and clear superiority over other stars to keep winning mvps with the voters

bird 2.0 is an interesting story

Bird had a ring and a finals run before his 3rd mvp

Even players like lebron (14) or jordan (93) who wete going for the mvp/ring 3-peat didnt get it. I cannot imagine voters giving it to jokic when novelty storyline and previous team success are so importa t to mvp voters

they didn't win it because Durant and Barkley had arguably better seasons.

[Peregrine01]

I don't remember another team consistently shoot themselves in the feet like the Nuggets do by not giving Jokic the ball. They struggle mightily to get easy looks whenever they go away from him.

[70sFan]

He tied Wilt Chamberlain in TDs this game. It shows how incredible his career is, but it also shows how special Wilt was.

[ty 4191]

He tied Wilt Chamberlain in TDs this game. It shows how incredible his career is, but it also shows how special Wilt was.

Great point, 70's Fan.

1. I wonder how many Triple Double's Wilt would have had had he focused on passing and defense his entire career, instead of half of it.

Most TD's 1966-1967 through 1967-1968 including playoffs:
-Wilt: 66
-Robertson: 15
-Russell: 6
-Havlicek: 4
-Baylor: 3
-Frazier: 2
-Williams: 2
-Frazier: 2
-Rodgers: 2
-Thurmond: 2
-West: 2
-Ellis: 1
-Lucas: 1
-Wilkens: 1
-Sloan: 1

Your read that correctly, folks. Wilt had more TD's than everyone else in basketball, combined.

2. I wonder how many TD's Wilt would have had with 1980's-2020's rules, where every pass that goes to a person who eventually scores is an assist. In Wilt's time the player couldn't dribble after receiving the pass /had to essentially be in the act of shooting for the player to get an assist.

3. I wonder how many TD's Jokic will end up with when all is said and done, after another 500+ more games. Assuming he's healthy!