Duncan/Garnett vs Jokic/Nowitzki

AStark1991 · Post #1 » by **AStark1991** » Tue May 27, 2025 1:48 pm

Which big man combo would you rather build a team around in the current NBA?

jojo4341 · Post #2 » by **jojo4341** » Tue May 27, 2025 5:22 pm

Duncan and KG. Elite on defense and no slouch on offense. As great Jokic and Dirk are good offensively, they can't make up for gap in defense from Duncan and KG.

hugepatsfan · Post #3 » by **hugepatsfan** » Tue May 27, 2025 5:32 pm

Tough one. Joker and Dirk on offense would be legit unstoppable but it's REALLY hard to compensate for that defensively. DAL couldn't win until they got a defensive C to compensate for Dirk and DEN has Gordon to cover for Joker. KG/Duncan would be tough spacing, but it's easier for your PG/SG/SF to make up shooting deficiency than lack of rim protection just due to the nature of the positions.

You said build around "in the current NBA", so if you make the assumption that coaches today would force KG to take his jumpers one step back and he was able to handle that then this is really no question at all. But obviously that's pretty materially changing the course of KG's career so might not be fair to the spirit of this question.

1993Playoffs · Post #4 » by **1993Playoffs** » Tue May 27, 2025 5:47 pm

Duncan KG obviously. The other group is Swiss cheese defensively

One_and_Done · Post #5 » by **One_and_Done** » Tue May 27, 2025 8:18 pm

Duncan and KG and it's not that close.

Post #6 » by **Texas Chuck** » Tue May 27, 2025 9:47 pm

People are over-thinking the defense for the Jokic duo. Not that hard to find a defensive big who could play with both of them. And younger Dirk was athletic enough you could play all 3 bigs at times.

Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't choose the Duncan duo. I mean Timmy was a contending level floor guy nearly from stem to stern. KG, a picture perfect 2nd guy.

But a Joker/Dirk led team would be a contender every year too.

OhayoKD · Post #7 » by **OhayoKD** » Wed May 28, 2025 2:30 am

sadly dirk is far and away he worst player here making this a pretty simple pick for team 1. Jokic might be the best but he's pretty redundant with Dirk and the gap between him and duncan is smaller than the gap between Dirk and Garnett.

You can stack rim protection better than you can stack volume scoring and KG and Duncan have less overlap on defense anyway