Jokic's teammates failed him...AGAIN.

[SpurNani]

The problem with Jokic is he’s a one way star - offensive only. So you have to get limited offensive guys like Gordon, KCP, etc to make it all work.

When Denver had offensive minded pieces around Jokic like Jerami Grant, who is a 20+PPG scorer in the league, their defense wasn’t good and the team wasnt as good.

It depends on the matchup. Ant's rim pressure makes him look bad, and he's a poor rim protector. Against some teams he's an elite defender. His IQ on both sides of the ball is the highest in the league. Stats like deflections are indicative of that.

You can say whatever you want about his defense, but the object of basketball is to outscore your opponents, and Jokic consistently dominates in the +- stats, which would suggest you are severely underrating his defense.

Please tell me which teams slow footed, non rim protecting Jokic is an elite defender against

[JustBuzzin]

Jokic should play by himself. Who will they blame then his shadow?

[Special_Puppy]

The problem with Jokic is he’s a one way star - offensive only. So you have to get limited offensive guys like Gordon, KCP, etc to make it all work.

When Denver had offensive minded pieces around Jokic like Jerami Grant, who is a 20+PPG scorer in the league, their defense wasn’t good and the team wasnt as good.

It depends on the matchup. Ant's rim pressure makes him look bad, and he's a poor rim protector. Against some teams he's an elite defender. His IQ on both sides of the ball is the highest in the league. Stats like deflections are indicative of that.

You can say whatever you want about his defense, but the object of basketball is to outscore your opponents, and Jokic consistently dominates in the +- stats, which would suggest you are severely underrating his defense.

Please tell me which teams slow footed, non rim protecting Jokic is an elite defender against

According to Medium+Long Term RAPM he provides decent (but not elite) defensive impact on average.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WMfP-GVHXCjPfp2sMnBjWB301OtO3LO7n-EKoBSl-iQ/edit?ouid=116385967284427557696&usp=sheets_home&ths=true

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mhwOLqPu2F9026EQiVxFPIN1t9RGafGpl-dokaIsm9c/edit#gid=923517192

[RSP83]

It's a challenge for Murray and MPJ. Nuggets still have ways to improve. Next goal for MPJ, Murray to become All-Star level player.

[Sixers in 4]

The problem with Jokic is he’s a one way star - offensive only. So you have to get limited offensive guys like Gordon, KCP, etc to make it all work.

When Denver had offensive minded pieces around Jokic like Jerami Grant, who is a 20+PPG scorer in the league, their defense wasn’t good and the team wasnt as good.

100 percent.

People are just glossing over the impact of not having any shot-blocking. Jokic is a massive plus obviously but he is very hard to build around because the rest of your teammates have to be solid 1-4 defensively.

I think the Nuggets honestly have done a great job of that. I don't like their bench but they have guys who fit what they need around Jokic.

[Sixers in 4]

It depends on the matchup. Ant's rim pressure makes him look bad, and he's a poor rim protector. Against some teams he's an elite defender. His IQ on both sides of the ball is the highest in the league. Stats like deflections are indicative of that.

You can say whatever you want about his defense, but the object of basketball is to outscore your opponents, and Jokic consistently dominates in the +- stats, which would suggest you are severely underrating his defense.

Please tell me which teams slow footed, non rim protecting Jokic is an elite defender against

According to Medium+Long Term RAPM he provides decent (but not elite) defensive impact on average.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WMfP-GVHXCjPfp2sMnBjWB301OtO3LO7n-EKoBSl-iQ/edit?ouid=116385967284427557696&usp=sheets_home&ths=true

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mhwOLqPu2F9026EQiVxFPIN1t9RGafGpl-dokaIsm9c/edit#gid=923517192

This is what the nerds don't get if your game has flaws it will be exploited in the playoffs.

Jokic is flawed defensively there are some things he does ok to well. He gives effort on the defensive end and plays decent-man defense. He also rebounds well. However, when you have someone like ANT who is so explosive that he can blow by defenders seemly at will it's a problem because there is noone back there who is going to challenge him at the rim. We saw the same thing in Portland back in the day Denver didn't have anyone who could stay with Dame or cj so it was a straight path to the rim most nights.

I also saw it as a Sixer fan with Embiid in the playoffs. He was hobbling around on one leg and had no lift at all to challenge or contest shots. Brunson ate our lunch as a result. Jokic is so gifted offensively that in a 7 game series it may not matter. Denver and Jokic-led offense is capable of outscoring anyone but it's still a problem and it's why they lost the series. Not Jokic teammates.

[lessthanjake]

The problem with Jokic is he’s a one way star - offensive only. So you have to get limited offensive guys like Gordon, KCP, etc to make it all work.

When Denver had offensive minded pieces around Jokic like Jerami Grant, who is a 20+PPG scorer in the league, their defense wasn’t good and the team wasnt as good.

100 percent.

People are just glossing over the impact of not having any shot-blocking. Jokic is a massive plus obviously but he is very hard to build around because the rest of your teammates have to be solid 1-4 defensively.

I think the Nuggets honestly have done a great job of that. I don't like their bench but they have guys who fit what they need around Jokic.

There’s some validity to this point, in that the optimal way to build a team around Jokic is surely to build some defensive solidity around him.

But I wouldn’t overstate the degree to which the Nuggets have done this. Jamal Murray is an offense-minded player who is not a particularly good defender. MPJ is an offense-minded player who is not a particularly good defender. Meanwhile, KCP and Aaron Gordon are defense-minded players. Their bench is very limited in general, but last year was probably more offense-minded and this year is more defense-minded. Overall, the roster around Jokic is not really defensively-slanted. It’s really quite balanced.

And I think that’s an important point, because despite having a supporting cast that isn’t actually defensively slanted, the Nuggets have had a good defense. The Nuggets ranked 8th in defense this season, and had a -2.3 rDRTG (negative numbers being good). Notably, their Defensive Rating against top 10 teams this season was the 2nd best in the NBA, behind only Minnesota. Meanwhile, they held both their playoff opponents below those teams’ regular season offensive efficiency—holding the Lakers to a 3.5 lower offensive efficiency and the Timberwolves to a 1.0 lower offensive efficiency. And last year, they had a slightly above average regular season defense (-0.6 regular season rDRTG), followed by having a good playoff defense (around a -2.5 to -3.0 rDRTG in the playoffs).

In other words, I don’t think we should exaggerate the team-building required to get a good defense with Jokic. The Nuggets have really not actually slanted the supporting cast towards defense, and the team has still had a good (but not completely elite) defense.