Why don't stars want to play with Jokic in Denver?

[MrPainfulTruth]

It's about as thankless a job as playing next to LeBron, you'll get none of the credit and all of the blame. You notice free agents haven't exactly been flocking to LA ever since they got LeBron, they had to build around him with trades. Similar situation in Denver except they don't have the league to help mandate that stars get traded there

Is it because he got no credit and all the blame that people still tell us that Murray is basically an all star, because he had one ore two good post season runs next to Jokic?

[MrPainfulTruth]

Look man I like the Joker as a player but let’s be real here.. he has more baggage than you’re willing to admit. A guy like prime KD don’t want to deal with all that hoopla. He’s not going to win another championship. If Nuggets are smart, they see the writing on the wall.. trading him now with his stock as high as it is ain’t a bad move.


Also Nuggets franchise did Carmelo Anthony dirty by giving away his number 15. All things must be considered. Players haven’t forgotten that and Melo is amongst the most respected former players with these new stars.

I remember when Melo wanted out of Denver.

Giving away his number was warranted.

And Nuggets will have to face the consequences of disrespecting one of the most coldest players they watched growing up. We’re talking about a guy Kobe labeled him as one of the toughest players he had to guard. LeBron and others can also vouch for him. Was the most prolific scorer in Team USA history while he was with the Nuggets. Have some respect for the dude.

Luka got traded even though he wanted to stay Mav for life and taking the Mavs to the finals. Melo on the other hand chose freedom over George Karl’s childish games. There’s no loyalty in this sport. Heck, they even got rid of their most recent championship coach despite having George Karl - one of the least liked coaches of all time who encouraged dirty play - hanging around with impunity without winning for years.

It is what it is. Again, to pass Melo’s jersey around and not potentially honor him after serving the franchise for nearly a decade is not it.

Your baiting and trolling has become very weak and obvious. Please put more effort into it. the offseason is gonna be very long, we cant feed off that garbage.

[BelgradeNugget]

It's about as thankless a job as playing next to LeBron, you'll get none of the credit and all of the blame. You notice free agents haven't exactly been flocking to LA ever since they got LeBron, they had to build around him with trades. Similar situation in Denver except they don't have the league to help mandate that stars get traded there

After playing 1 year with Jokic you signed Bruce Brown on 8th biggest contract that year. Why did you trade him few months into the season?
KCP was signed by Orlando and traded next year. Did they got enough credit for what they did in Denver? Did they got the blame?
Monte Morris was starting PG in Denver when Murray was injured, with him as starter they made it to 2nd round. Was later traded to Washington with Barton, another Nuggets starter, for KCP, and things didn't go very well for them. But no body blamed them

Also look at how much value aaron gordon has gained and also how highly regarded murray was during their championship run.

To be honest I think Murray and MPJ are great players for Nuggets team, and system. They are the ones most people blame. Problem is they are overpaid and not consistent. Not their fault they are overpaid, and not being consistent is 50% due to injurys, which is also not their fault.
I personaly think with new coach we will see all Nuggets players in their real light next season. And when people say Nuggets don't have good bench it means they don't have good enough backups to Murray and MPJ too.

[MrGoat]

After playing 1 year with Jokic you signed Bruce Brown on 8th biggest contract that year. Why did you trade him few months into the season?
KCP was signed by Orlando and traded next year. Did they got enough credit for what they did in Denver? Did they got the blame?
Monte Morris was starting PG in Denver when Murray was injured, with him as starter they made it to 2nd round. Was later traded to Washington with Barton, another Nuggets starter, for KCP, and things didn't go very well for them. But no body blamed them

Also look at how much value aaron gordon has gained and also how highly regarded murray was during their championship run.

To be honest I think Murray and MPJ are great players for Nuggets team, and system. They are the ones most people blame. Problem is they are overpaid and not consistent. Not their fault they are overpaid, and not being consistent is 50% due to injurys, which is also not their fault.
I personaly think with new coach we will see all Nuggets players in their real light next season. And when people say Nuggets don't have good bench it means they don't have good enough backups to Murray and MPJ too.

Murray and MPJ were the two players I had in mind on the comment. The amount of disrespect they get is quite high considering what Murray in particular did on the championship run and his 2020 playoff run. Gordon not so much, he's pretty obviously irreplaceable to the Nuggets with his very specific skillset

[BelgradeNugget]

Also look at how much value aaron gordon has gained and also how highly regarded murray was during their championship run.

To be honest I think Murray and MPJ are great players for Nuggets team, and system. They are the ones most people blame. Problem is they are overpaid and not consistent. Not their fault they are overpaid, and not being consistent is 50% due to injurys, which is also not their fault.
I personaly think with new coach we will see all Nuggets players in their real light next season. And when people say Nuggets don't have good bench it means they don't have good enough backups to Murray and MPJ too.

Murray and MPJ were the two players I had in mind on the comment. The amount of disrespect they get is quite high considering what Murray in particular did on the championship run and his 2020 playoff run. Gordon not so much, he's pretty obviously irreplaceable to the Nuggets with his very specific skillset

One more thing about the two. They are most to blame, with Jokic, for sometimes poor defensive effort. Now, people can forgive lack of defensive effort, from time to time, to a player who is top 3 in the league in scoring, rebounding and assist, to 5 in steals, hiper efficient. But if you are not consistent on offense, there is no excuse for lack of defensive effort. For that reason no one is blaming AG and Braun for anything. Thay are leaving it all on the court.

One more thing about Murray. He seams to come to camp in bad shape every year. Compare his stats from month to month every year. Starts poorly, then improves his play. In the mean time other players have to carry team on both ends. He is not young any more, as 2nd option he must be more professional. For people asking why he was never all star, that is the reason. He never deserved a spot on the team. People were ok with that as long as he lifted his play in the playoffs, but it hasn't happened last two seasons.

With MPJ it is about expected growth in BBIQ. Especialy on defensive end. With his size, lenght and athlecisism he shoud be better defending the rim. Also he didn't improve in shot creation. They must work to hold their end of a deal as 2nd and 3rd option.

[ShootersShoot]

To be honest I think Murray and MPJ are great players for Nuggets team, and system. They are the ones most people blame. Problem is they are overpaid and not consistent. Not their fault they are overpaid, and not being consistent is 50% due to injurys, which is also not their fault.
I personaly think with new coach we will see all Nuggets players in their real light next season. And when people say Nuggets don't have good bench it means they don't have good enough backups to Murray and MPJ too.

Murray and MPJ were the two players I had in mind on the comment. The amount of disrespect they get is quite high considering what Murray in particular did on the championship run and his 2020 playoff run. Gordon not so much, he's pretty obviously irreplaceable to the Nuggets with his very specific skillset

One more thing about the two. They are most to blame, with Jokic, for sometimes poor defensive effort. Now, people can forgive lack of defensive effort, from time to time, to a player who is top 3 in the league in scoring, rebounding and assist, to 5 in steals, hiper efficient. But if you are not consistent on offense, there is no excuse for lack of defensive effort. For that reason no one is blaming AG and Braun for anything. Thay are leaving it all on the court.

One more thing about Murray. He seams to come to camp in bad shape every year. Compare his stats from month to month every year. Starts poorly, then improves his play. In the mean time other players have to carry team on both ends. He is not young any more, as 2nd option he must be more professional. For people asking why he was never all star, that is the reason. He never deserved a spot on the team. People were ok with that as long as he lifted his play in the playoffs, but it hasn't happened last two seasons.

With MPJ it is about expected growth in BBIQ. Especialy on defensive end. With his size, lenght and athlecisism he shoud be better defending the rim. Also he didn't improve in shot creation. They must work to hold their end of a deal as 2nd and 3rd option.

I like mpj as a stretch forward with size. He doesnt seem like a playoff performer which is a concern for the type of money he makes. But yea, he is another example of a guy being valued for his fit with jokic.

[Richard Miller]

Because Jokic will get all of the credit and none of the blame. Which is the case for a lot of stars. Its HIS team and he already won a chip too. KD was the FMVP but never got any real credit for those chips. Players want to win but they also want some of the glory that comes with it..being the guy to help take a team over the top gets you that being "carried" to a chip due to jumping on a great players team does not.

Jokic just averaged a TD while being top 3 in pretty much every category, he really does deserve all the credit. But yea, Jerami Grant was supposed to be what AG is now yet he wanted to be the guy and now he's an afterthought on a lottery team

and made 220m. more than Gordon in the same timeframe

True that, he wouldn't be getting anywhere near that on the Nuggets. Though his teams didn't exactly got much benefit from giving him that kind of contract either

[Blame Rasho]

Have you seen the salaries of the other players that Jokic is working with…

[ChuckChilly]

He's obviously too selfish.

[Alatan]

Murray and MPJ were the two players I had in mind on the comment. The amount of disrespect they get is quite high considering what Murray in particular did on the championship run and his 2020 playoff run. Gordon not so much, he's pretty obviously irreplaceable to the Nuggets with his very specific skillset

One more thing about the two. They are most to blame, with Jokic, for sometimes poor defensive effort. Now, people can forgive lack of defensive effort, from time to time, to a player who is top 3 in the league in scoring, rebounding and assist, to 5 in steals, hiper efficient. But if you are not consistent on offense, there is no excuse for lack of defensive effort. For that reason no one is blaming AG and Braun for anything. Thay are leaving it all on the court.

One more thing about Murray. He seams to come to camp in bad shape every year. Compare his stats from month to month every year. Starts poorly, then improves his play. In the mean time other players have to carry team on both ends. He is not young any more, as 2nd option he must be more professional. For people asking why he was never all star, that is the reason. He never deserved a spot on the team. People were ok with that as long as he lifted his play in the playoffs, but it hasn't happened last two seasons.

With MPJ it is about expected growth in BBIQ. Especialy on defensive end. With his size, lenght and athlecisism he shoud be better defending the rim. Also he didn't improve in shot creation. They must work to hold their end of a deal as 2nd and 3rd option.

I like mpj as a stretch forward with size. He doesnt seem like a playoff performer which is a concern for the type of money he makes. But yea, he is another example of a guy being valued for his fit with jokic.

I often hear about this "fit" with Jokic. So who doesnt fit with Jokic? Apart from another center than doesnt protect the rim i dont really know who doesnt fit with Jokic.

If anything MPJ is a poor fit next to Jokic because he doesnt offer any defense to cover up for Jokics lack of rim protection and defense in space.

From my perspective the "he is getting payed because he fits so well with Jokic" is just a coping for bad decision making from management.

[Slimjimzv]

Kind of a strange post. There are only so many stars on the move, so every team won't get them. When the LA, NY, and Florida teams are getting the bulk, many other teams will be left out. You don't see a ton of stars going to San Antonio, Portland, Atlanta, Toronto, Chicago, DC, Sacramento, Minnesota, and on, and on. It's about the right fit at the time, and what the team will get in return. In a vacuum, I bet the vast majority of stars in the NBA would LOVE to play with Jokic. The timing and fit just haven't worked out.

[AlexanderRight]

Denver got a good squad. They took OKC to 7 games with MPJ and Gordon compromised. They'll get a full offseason with Adleman, who looks like he's got some spark in him. No need for panic trades, should stay the course, they're young enough. Gotta focus on staying healthy though.

I do think letting Westbrook walk would be a mistake though cause they need the bench production.

[Peregrine01]

Well, the idea that guys don’t want to play with Jokic seems to be thoroughly debunked. If anything, playing with him should be option #1 to getting a pay day.

[SpurNani]

Well, the idea that guys don’t want to play with Jokic seems to be thoroughly debunked. If anything, playing with him should be option #1 to getting a pay day.

The title of this thread is questioning why dont STARS want to play with Jokic.

They traded for Cam, Val and signed THJ and Bruce Brown on minimum contracts. I wouldn’t classify any of those players as stars, hell i struggle to classify any of them as good players.