Better Player Right Now: Stephen Curry or Jokic

[Jerry Maine]

Some players have styles that can more easily be schemed against in a 7 game series. Not saying Jokic does, but Steph, especially now that he's bulked up a bit, is simply devastating. He's seen it all, has counters to everything, and is flat out one of the fittest dudes in the league.

Steph probably has no chance to win another MVP, and the Nuggs when healthy may well get a better regular season record, but warriors are built for May, June, and it all starts with Steph.

Sorry

[gorz]

The argument that Steph Curry plays with "all stars" and Jokic does not therefore Currys team is better than Jokic team by default is invalid. Klay Thompson and Draymond were not free agent Allstars that joined Golden St nor were they super high lottery picks that had high likelihood of becoming an all star. Klay Thompson is the only warrior who was a lower lottery pick that became an Allstar while Draymond was a 2nd rd pick that historically doesn't amount to anything in the grand scheme of things. It was not an afterthought that they would somehow become allstars. Jamal Murray was a lottery pick 7th pick in his draft and Michael Porter Jr was the 14th pick in the lottery. Both of them have all star potential and by pure talent wise(without looking at hindsight) are rated higher than klay and dray overall yet havent made any all star teams.

All of this is to say ppl are just citing the warriors as a loaded team after the fact what they have already accomplished. There was no guaranteed pathway to stardom they were self made all stars due to combination of steph curry's ability to elevate his teammates as well as having a good coach/system/culture. Of course steph curry has a longer track record to base it off of he steph and dray are alot further into their career meanwhile Jokic only emerged into a top 10 player about 3-4years ago with Murray and porter Jr st are in the early stages of their career. The jury is still out on them but to marginalize stephs impact by stating he has Allstars to play with unlike jokic is disingenuous.

[dribble1614]

who cares about regular season mvp. competition is much tougher in the playoffs. it's difficult to envision jokic dominating a physical and supremely athletic celtics defense the way curry did. jokic is still out of shape and doesn't have the conditioning or quickness/explosiveness to do what curry did against that defense. i'd imagine it would be quite the struggle for him.

[dhsilv2]

who cares about regular season mvp. competition is much tougher in the playoffs. it's difficult to envision jokic dominating a physical and supremely athletic celtics defense the way curry did. jokic is still out of shape and doesn't have the conditioning or quickness/explosiveness to do what curry did against that defense. i'd imagine it would be quite the struggle for him.

He just had an all time level great series against a better defense in the warriors....

[Impuniti]

who cares about regular season mvp. competition is much tougher in the playoffs. it's difficult to envision jokic dominating a physical and supremely athletic celtics defense the way curry did. jokic is still out of shape and doesn't have the conditioning or quickness/explosiveness to do what curry did against that defense. i'd imagine it would be quite the struggle for him.

He just had an all time level great series against a better defense in the warriors....

Offensively yes. He was BBQ chicken and extremely easy to run through the entire series by Poole and Curry. He was as good on the perimeter as whatever cones the Mavs had in their rotation at the 5 when they played the Warriors.

[Saciid11]

Curry still better player when it counts ...

[Jerry Maine]

Yeah, a bit harsh thinking Jokic wouldn't necessarily get his vs the Celts, but the Dubs strategy was to let Jokic get his and completely shut down the rest of the Nuggs. And it worked as they were clearly undermanned.

Similarly the Celts tried the same with Curry but backpedalled after Curry cooked them in game 4. Celts then went back to doing what everyone else has tried over the last eight years, constantly doubling Steph and then trying to recover on his teammates. But we've seen how that movie ends, and Curry got 8 assists, 1 turnover and most importantly the win despite struggling with his shot. Celts were mentally beaten before game 6 even tipped off.

Jokic is a fantastic player and may end up winning a chip or more. But Curry is kryptonite for most teams, give him a good, healthy supporting cast and it's a riddle noone aside the '16 Cavs have solved. Even then Curry wasn't quite 100% after two knee sprains leading into the finals.

Dray and Klay were pretty ordinary by their standards this off season, and Wiggs is no Durant, but none could stop us, never faced elimination even. The singular reason was your finals mvp

[Hipster Doofus]

If I have a team without much talent then it's Jokic easily as he's the better floor raiser and could drag virtually any team to the playoffs (while Curry doesn't have the physical or mental makeup to do so)...

Curry doesn't have the "mental makeup" to drag a team to the playoffs? C'mon nephew...

And what's this "mental makeup"? Frankly, it sounds made up.

[Jerry Maine]

If I have a team without much talent then it's Jokic easily as he's the better floor raiser and could drag virtually any team to the playoffs (while Curry doesn't have the physical or mental makeup to do so)...

Curry doesn't have the "mental makeup" to drag a team to the playoffs? C'mon nephew...

And what's this "mental makeup"? Frankly, it sounds made up.

Making up ish is all the haters have left

I mean, what they gonna say now?

[dhsilv2]

who cares about regular season mvp. competition is much tougher in the playoffs. it's difficult to envision jokic dominating a physical and supremely athletic celtics defense the way curry did. jokic is still out of shape and doesn't have the conditioning or quickness/explosiveness to do what curry did against that defense. i'd imagine it would be quite the struggle for him.

He just had an all time level great series against a better defense in the warriors....

Offensively yes. He was BBQ chicken and extremely easy to run through the entire series by Poole and Curry. He was as good on the perimeter as whatever cones the Mavs had in their rotation at the 5 when they played the Warriors.

Jokic like Gobert has gotten unfairly criticized for his defense due to how bad his teammates were. None the less the criticism that he couldn't maintain his offensive play against the celtics is laughable. Similarly, he'd have been far better suited to defend against the Celtics than the warriors. But yes, against a warriors Jokic would very much be asked to effectively beat the warriors in a shoot out of sorts. It would come down to if he could score/create enough to out score the warriors. There's just no system to stop Curry but there isn't one for Jokic either.

[Impuniti]

He just had an all time level great series against a better defense in the warriors....

Offensively yes. He was BBQ chicken and extremely easy to run through the entire series by Poole and Curry. He was as good on the perimeter as whatever cones the Mavs had in their rotation at the 5 when they played the Warriors.

Jokic like Gobert has gotten unfairly criticized for his defense due to how bad his teammates were. None the less the criticism that he couldn't maintain his offensive play against the celtics is laughable. Similarly, he'd have been far better suited to defend against the Celtics than the warriors. But yes, against a warriors Jokic would very much be asked to effectively beat the warriors in a shoot out of sorts. It would come down to if he could score/create enough to out score the warriors. There's just no system to stop Curry but there isn't one for Jokic either.

We saw him get stopped vs the Suns, Warriors and Lakers late in those series. He was completely abused defensively at the end of the 4th on a regular basis vs the Warriors this post season. CP3 also had his best series of his entire career abusing Joker on switches last post season as well.

[WarriorGM]

I have no particular animosity towards Jokic—but I do think it quite impudent of those who are using him as a screen to take shots at Curry.

If Curry was not the best player in the league at the start of the 2017 season there is no way Jokic is now. If all those voting for Jokic in the poll didn't have Curry as the best player then, then they are being hypocrites.

[dhsilv2]

Yeah, a bit harsh thinking Jokic wouldn't necessarily get his vs the Celts, but the Dubs strategy was to let Jokic get his and completely shut down the rest of the Nuggs. And it worked as they were clearly undermanned.

I'm not sure the warrior's strategy really "worked". The nuggets were held under their regular season offensive rating but they were more than 3 points per 100 better than the warrior's regular season defensive rating. In short, Jokic was able to generate plenty of offense despite having nobody else to help him. His and the team's defense were the problem. But we already knew that going in...the nuggets were 15th in defensive rating and that's not going to get it done in the playoffs.

[dhsilv2]

Offensively yes. He was BBQ chicken and extremely easy to run through the entire series by Poole and Curry. He was as good on the perimeter as whatever cones the Mavs had in their rotation at the 5 when they played the Warriors.

Jokic like Gobert has gotten unfairly criticized for his defense due to how bad his teammates were. None the less the criticism that he couldn't maintain his offensive play against the celtics is laughable. Similarly, he'd have been far better suited to defend against the Celtics than the warriors. But yes, against a warriors Jokic would very much be asked to effectively beat the warriors in a shoot out of sorts. It would come down to if he could score/create enough to out score the warriors. There's just no system to stop Curry but there isn't one for Jokic either.

We saw him get stopped vs the Suns, Warriors and Lakers late in those series. He was completely abused defensively at the end of the 4th on a regular basis vs the Warriors this post season. CP3 also had his best series of his entire career abusing Joker on switches last post season as well.

The jokic we saw last year is unlike any other version we've seen. He made a massive improvement in his game. And again his TEAM was destroyed on defense. Lets not turn this into another Gobert can't defend in the playoffs misconception.

[Jerry Maine]

Yeah, a bit harsh thinking Jokic wouldn't necessarily get his vs the Celts, but the Dubs strategy was to let Jokic get his and completely shut down the rest of the Nuggs. And it worked as they were clearly undermanned.

I'm not sure the warrior's strategy really "worked". The nuggets were held under their regular season offensive rating but they were more than 3 points per 100 better than the warrior's regular season defensive rating. In short, Jokic was able to generate plenty of offense despite having nobody else to help him. His and the team's defense were the problem. But we already knew that going in...the nuggets were 15th in defensive rating and that's not going to get it done in the playoffs.

They played Jokic straight up, took away mostly everything else and handily won the series with a gentleman's sweep to advance with some extra days rest.

Not sure what your definition of working is, but it certainly meets mine.

[Impuniti]

Jokic like Gobert has gotten unfairly criticized for his defense due to how bad his teammates were. None the less the criticism that he couldn't maintain his offensive play against the celtics is laughable. Similarly, he'd have been far better suited to defend against the Celtics than the warriors. But yes, against a warriors Jokic would very much be asked to effectively beat the warriors in a shoot out of sorts. It would come down to if he could score/create enough to out score the warriors. There's just no system to stop Curry but there isn't one for Jokic either.

We saw him get stopped vs the Suns, Warriors and Lakers late in those series. He was completely abused defensively at the end of the 4th on a regular basis vs the Warriors this post season. CP3 also had his best series of his entire career abusing Joker on switches last post season as well.

The jokic we saw last year is unlike any other version we've seen. He made a massive improvement in his game. And again his TEAM was destroyed on defense. Lets not turn this into another Gobert can't defend in the playoffs misconception.

Wrong. He himself was abused defensively every 4th quarter vs the Warriors. Every time he was switched on the perimeter, he was BBQ chicken by either Curry or Poole. It meant either easy buckets or poor misses.

[Letsgokings]

Jokic is quickly becoming one of the more overrated players in the league. Give me the guy who won 4 finals in the last 8 years over this overgrown man child.

[Big J]

Jokic is the biggest example of people just looking at a stat sheet and saying he’s the best, but not actually watching the games. The stat sheet doesn’t show him getting blown by at will whenever the other team needs an important basket.

[dhsilv2]

Yeah, a bit harsh thinking Jokic wouldn't necessarily get his vs the Celts, but the Dubs strategy was to let Jokic get his and completely shut down the rest of the Nuggs. And it worked as they were clearly undermanned.

I'm not sure the warrior's strategy really "worked". The nuggets were held under their regular season offensive rating but they were more than 3 points per 100 better than the warrior's regular season defensive rating. In short, Jokic was able to generate plenty of offense despite having nobody else to help him. His and the team's defense were the problem. But we already knew that going in...the nuggets were 15th in defensive rating and that's not going to get it done in the playoffs.

They played Jokic straight up, took away mostly everything else and handily won the series with a gentleman's sweep to advance with some extra days rest.

Not sure what your definition of working is, but it certainly meets mine.

They were just better. But their defense was hardly the reason they won.

[Jerry Maine]

I'm not sure the warrior's strategy really "worked". The nuggets were held under their regular season offensive rating but they were more than 3 points per 100 better than the warrior's regular season defensive rating. In short, Jokic was able to generate plenty of offense despite having nobody else to help him. His and the team's defense were the problem. But we already knew that going in...the nuggets were 15th in defensive rating and that's not going to get it done in the playoffs.

They played Jokic straight up, took away mostly everything else and handily won the series with a gentleman's sweep to advance with some extra days rest.

Not sure what your definition of working is, but it certainly meets mine.

They were just better. But their defense was hardly the reason they won.

It was only half the reason.