Draymond: “European players have not caught the same flak of winning a championship as US players

[Lalouie]

i'll bet they don't post dumb players comparisons between eras too

[Pachinko_]

And people were talking about his flaws and the wall defenses that made him vulnerable in the playoffs.

Players like Lebron and KD were household names from basically the moment they came in the league. Giannis won a title 4 years after first being name an all star and even then I'm not sure many were convinced he had superstar potential.

They were wrong to even talk about him at all, like if I was their boss I'd tell them off. American media is watched by (surprise) American people, and they want to tune in and find out what Lebron and KD did today because these are the guys they've been following since highschool, that's it, so that's what you have to tell them. Talking about various Balkan types ain't paying the bills baby

You can only maybe get away with it if you're a specialised show like Lowe Post with a fringe hardcore audience that reads numbers and stuff.

[Peregrine01]

Stupid thing to say, but I DO think Jokic gets a lot less flak than Giannis did and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Giannis was more or less discounted from winning the 20-21 MVP because of his playoff failures while folks are ready to anoint Jokic for the third time and ignore his lack of success.

1) Jokic hasn’t had a realistically contending team in his last two playoffs cause of injuries

2) Giannis wasn’t an MVP finalist in 2021 - it was between Jokic, Embiid and Curry


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mephariel]

I don't think it's accurate.

Well if we talking about players like Jokic. He does not have the expectations and pressure of winning championships like the Brons, Kds of the world

Yes because Jokic has been chilling in denver not creating a "super team"

KD and Bron are the poster childs of "super team"

Super teams come with expectations.

When the team fails to meet expectations the team receives criticism.

Seems pretty straightforward.

Green has a big mouth and says dumb things.

This doesn't even make sense. Lebron formed a super team because of the pressure he got for not winning championships. His entire legacy depends on him winning championships and he knew it.

You think Jokic has the same pressure?

[iLLmatic860]

Well if we talking about players like Jokic. He does not have the expectations and pressure of winning championships like the Brons, Kds of the world

Yes because Jokic has been chilling in denver not creating a "super team"

KD and Bron are the poster childs of "super team"

Super teams come with expectations.

When the team fails to meet expectations the team receives criticism.

Seems pretty straightforward.

Green has a big mouth and says dumb things.

This doesn't even make sense. Lebron formed a super team because of the pressure he got for not winning championships. His entire legacy depends on him winning championships and he knew it.

You think Jokic has the same pressure?

Exactly what i'm saying. Thats why Lebron joined the Heat lol


So basically what people are saying is that a Back To Back to Back MVP shouldn't have expectations to win a championship or even make the finals

[skones]

Stupid thing to say, but I DO think Jokic gets a lot less flak than Giannis did and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Giannis was more or less discounted from winning the 20-21 MVP because of his playoff failures while folks are ready to anoint Jokic for the third time and ignore his lack of success.

1) Jokic hasn’t had a realistically contending team in his last two playoffs cause of injuries

2) Giannis wasn’t an MVP finalist in 2021 - it was between Jokic, Embiid and Curry


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's the point. He was flat out a better candidate than Embiid that season and even Curry, but was a total afterthought.

[Peregrine01]

Yes because Jokic has been chilling in denver not creating a "super team"

KD and Bron are the poster childs of "super team"

Super teams come with expectations.

When the team fails to meet expectations the team receives criticism.

Seems pretty straightforward.

Green has a big mouth and says dumb things.

This doesn't even make sense. Lebron formed a super team because of the pressure he got for not winning championships. His entire legacy depends on him winning championships and he knew it.

You think Jokic has the same pressure?

Exactly what i'm saying. Thats why Lebron joined the Heat lol


So basically what people are saying is that a Back To Back to Back MVP shouldn't have expectations to win a championship or even make the finals

The other thing that deserves mention is that superstars just plain don’t care about the regular season anymore. So why this uproar over winning the regular season MVP when most superstars don’t even bother playing more than 75% of the season?

Jokic is an iron-man on top of being the most impactful player in the league. This isn’t rocket science or some thinly-veiled racist conspiracy like these guys are suggesting. If anything it’s revealing their own racism and xenophobia.

[Peregrine01]

Stupid thing to say, but I DO think Jokic gets a lot less flak than Giannis did and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Giannis was more or less discounted from winning the 20-21 MVP because of his playoff failures while folks are ready to anoint Jokic for the third time and ignore his lack of success.

1) Jokic hasn’t had a realistically contending team in his last two playoffs cause of injuries

2) Giannis wasn’t an MVP finalist in 2021 - it was between Jokic, Embiid and Curry


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's the point. He was flat out a better candidate than Embiid that season and even Curry, but was a total afterthought.

This sounds like some revisionist history. Giannis had a down-year by his standards that regular season. Bucks were 3rd in the East after finishing 1st in each of the two prior seasons. Voters don’t tend to award an MVP when that happens.

[Mephariel]

This doesn't even make sense. Lebron formed a super team because of the pressure he got for not winning championships. His entire legacy depends on him winning championships and he knew it.

You think Jokic has the same pressure?

Exactly what i'm saying. Thats why Lebron joined the Heat lol


So basically what people are saying is that a Back To Back to Back MVP shouldn't have expectations to win a championship or even make the finals

The other thing that deserves mention is that superstars just plain don’t care about the regular season anymore. So why this uproar over winning the regular season MVP when most superstars don’t even bother playing more than 75% of the season?

Jokic is an iron-man on top of being the most impactful player in the league. This isn’t rocket science or some thinly-veiled racist conspiracy like these guys are suggesting. If anything it’s revealing their own racism and xenophobia.

I don't have any problem with Jokic winning MVPs. But for a potential 3 time MVP, I don't think he comes close to having the pressure that James or KD had to win it all.

[lakerz12]

If Doncic goes another few years without winning a Championship, he has gonna catch lots flak Draymond don’t worry.

[dhsilv2]

Exactly what i'm saying. Thats why Lebron joined the Heat lol


So basically what people are saying is that a Back To Back to Back MVP shouldn't have expectations to win a championship or even make the finals

The other thing that deserves mention is that superstars just plain don’t care about the regular season anymore. So why this uproar over winning the regular season MVP when most superstars don’t even bother playing more than 75% of the season?

Jokic is an iron-man on top of being the most impactful player in the league. This isn’t rocket science or some thinly-veiled racist conspiracy like these guys are suggesting. If anything it’s revealing their own racism and xenophobia.

I don't have any problem with Jokic winning MVPs. But for a potential 3 time MVP, I don't think he comes close to having the pressure that James or KD had to win it all.

When did KD have all kinds of pressure to win it? Lebron freaking nicknamed himself "the king"... it's hard to feel bad for him when it comes to the media when he sets himself up for hate. This is only Jokic's 5th allstar season.

[durden_tyler]

Draymond talks a lot. Will be cheering more for the Warriors when they don't resign him next season.

[NZB2323]

Dirk was labeled as a soft choker who would never win it all after 2006 and 2007.

Giannis was a regular season player who didn’t “have real basketball skills” who would never win it all after losing in the playoffs in 2019 and 2020.

Gasol was a soft player who had never won a playoff game who was a career playoff loser who would never win anything.

[Peregrine01]

Exactly what i'm saying. Thats why Lebron joined the Heat lol


So basically what people are saying is that a Back To Back to Back MVP shouldn't have expectations to win a championship or even make the finals

The other thing that deserves mention is that superstars just plain don’t care about the regular season anymore. So why this uproar over winning the regular season MVP when most superstars don’t even bother playing more than 75% of the season?

Jokic is an iron-man on top of being the most impactful player in the league. This isn’t rocket science or some thinly-veiled racist conspiracy like these guys are suggesting. If anything it’s revealing their own racism and xenophobia.

I don't have any problem with Jokic winning MVPs. But for a potential 3 time MVP, I don't think he comes close to having the pressure that James or KD had to win it all.

Well, you're seeing it right now. The Jokic backlash has been building a lot of steam lately.

As far as how it compares to Bron or KD, a couple differences apply:

1) Both those guys were anointed as prodigies very early. Jokic was the 41st pick.
2) Both those guys have stacked the deck in their favor by forming "super teams". Jokic hasn't even played with a single all-star yet and spent his last two playoffs on an injury-ravaged team.
3) Both those guys have fallen short of expectations in the playoffs (Bron in 2010 and 2011; KD in 2013, 2016) while Jokic has by and large surpassed expectations.

[dc]

Draymond just exaggerating things too much.

Dirk caught a lot of flak after 2006 and 2007 seasons after not winning when the team had been dominant in the regular season. I'm sure if Jokic stacks a few more MVP level seasons w/o winning a championship, you'll start hearing murmurs. Same with Luka. Same would've happened with Giannis if he didn't win in 2021.

The main reason Euro players haven't caught the same flak is because prior to Dirk, there were no true franchise superstars from Europe in the league. That's now changed with Luka, Giannis and Jokic and fans/media are eventually going to give them the "how many rings he got?" treatment to them as they have with American players.

[MrGoat]

Post Dirk's title it's kind of true. Jokic isn't getting near the same criticism at this stage of his career that Dirk did. If Luka doesn't get one in the next 2-3 years I think the heat might start to rise on him

[Exp0sed]

I feel like he wants to say white but is using European instead.

Even if thats what he means. Whats wrong with that?

nothing is wrong with that if it had merit

it doesn't and Dray is low-key racist and it's pretty obvious imo (this isn't something new, the low-key racism was always there)

to be clear I like Dray as a player and competitor and don't care that he's low-key racist despite being white and European myself - but he is just that

[Exp0sed]

Post Dirk's title it's kind of true. Jokic isn't getting near the same criticism at this stage of his career that Dirk did. If Luka doesn't get one in the next 2-3 years I think the heat might start to rise on him

what "stage in his career"?

the stage where he's supposed to win a championship with Facu Campazzo and Will Barton in the starting playoff lineup, that stage?

he doesn't get enough criticism for that?

[dc]

Post Dirk's title it's kind of true. Jokic isn't getting near the same criticism at this stage of his career that Dirk did. If Luka doesn't get one in the next 2-3 years I think the heat might start to rise on him

Dirk caught flak mainly because he had a couple instances where his team was dominant in the regular season and made to be the favorites in the postseason, and he came up short. This was definitely the case in 2006/2007.

Jokic's team was never the favorite to come out of the West in any season. The Nuggets looking like the #1 seed this year changes that. If the Nuggets clinch the #1 seed but don't win the West this year, then I'm sure you'll start hearing murmurs about how he can't get it done, etc....if it happens a couple years in a row, he'd get similar treatment to what Dirk got pre-2011.

[Exp0sed]

Post Dirk's title it's kind of true. Jokic isn't getting near the same criticism at this stage of his career that Dirk did. If Luka doesn't get one in the next 2-3 years I think the heat might start to rise on him

Dirk caught flak mainly because he had a couple instances where his team was dominant in the regular season and made to be the favorites in the postseason, and he came up short. This was definitely the case in 2006/2007.

Jokic's team was never the favorite to come out of the West in any season. The Nuggets looking like the #1 seed this year changes that. If the Nuggets clinch the #1 seed but don't win the West this year, then I'm sure you'll start hearing murmurs about how he can't get it done, etc....if it happens a couple years in a row, he'd get similar treatment to what Dirk got pre-2011.

this post is on the money