Should people call out Jokic more for his lack of leadership?

[bonita_the_frog]

Jokic only attempted 10 field goals (and 8 free-throws) in the 139-136 loss to San Antonio.
Even though his teammates were shooting great that day (until it mattered most), i'd prefer Jokic to take most of the shots down the stretch...
Can't afford to leave anything to chance, when you need to win 70+ games just to have a chance of getting Game 7 at home vs. OKC in the playoffs.

[dhsilv2]

Seems he's got a really good relationship with his teammates. So while sure he could come into camp in better shape. Maybe he takes a few plays off here and there. So certainly he could improve I suppose. I don't think Jokic is a poster boy either for poor or even average leadership. He very much looks like and functions as a coach on the court. Doing it on both ends in the actual games.

[Calvin Klein]

Nothing to see here.

[Infinite Llamas]

Jokic only attempted 10 field goals (and 8 free-throws) in the 139-136 loss to San Antonio.
Even though his teammates were shooting great that day (until it mattered most), i'd prefer Jokic to take most of the shots down the stretch...
Can't afford to leave anything to chance, when you need to win 70+ games just to have a chance of getting Game 7 at home vs. OKC in the playoffs.

Jokic first instinct is as a point guard and he is always first looking to get his teammates involved , but yes. Sometimes I wish he would be more aggressive with his shot. Sometimes, an open Watson 3 might be the right “basketball play” but it won’t always be the most surefire one. Jokic is capable of dominating in any given night and with this depleted they have right now, I wish he would be a scorer first and passer second.

[Infinite Llamas]

Seems he's got a really good relationship with his teammates. So while sure he could come into camp in better shape. Maybe he takes a few plays off here and there. So certainly he could improve I suppose. I don't think Jokic is a poster boy either for poor or even average leadership. He very much looks like and functions as a coach on the court. Doing it on both ends in the actual games.

How many low level players has he gotten paid too? I’m sure teammates love him. What other team would give Zeke Nnaji 10 million a year?

[dhsilv2]

Jokic only attempted 10 field goals (and 8 free-throws) in the 139-136 loss to San Antonio.
Even though his teammates were shooting great that day (until it mattered most), i'd prefer Jokic to take most of the shots down the stretch...
Can't afford to leave anything to chance, when you need to win 70+ games just to have a chance of getting Game 7 at home vs. OKC in the playoffs.

Jokic first instinct is as a point guard and he is always first looking to get his teammates involved , but yes. Sometimes I wish he would be more aggressive with his shot. Sometimes, an open Watson 3 might be the right “basketball play” but it won’t always be the most surefire one. Jokic is capable of dominating in any given night and with this depleted they have right now, I wish he would be a scorer first and passer second.

Jokic picks up his shooting and passes a bit less come playoff time already.

The spurs game is a weird one to pick though. Nuggets scored 32 in the 4th and Jokic got 8 of his 21 in the 4th...while basically only playing the last 6 minutes. They lost that game "down the stretch" on the defensive end by letting Devin Vassell drop 18 in the 4th.

[Uncle Mxy]

He's only a 2nd round draft pick. What do you expect? The highly vocal and emotive Tim Duncan style?

[scrabbarista]

I think Jokic is mad overrated on this board, but no. He's won a championship with this same 'leadership', and he's playing great. They are without aaron gordon who's a key piece to their team. If he was playing, they'd be winning more and this wouldn't be thing.

You may want to consider the possibility you are mad overrating your BB knowledge.

[CometGM]

I have seen many Nuggets games over the last 7-8 years. I thought Jokic is having a top3 peak all time, and not necessarily 3rd.
I am not so sure anymore, and the reason for me is his approach and this has been severely hurting the Nuggets.
Because of how great he is, we always shielded him from any blame whenever the Nuggets lose, but I now suspect this is a mistake.
There's a concept they teach you in those manager trainings, coined by Peter Drucker, it's called 'the shadow of the leader".
Whatever you do, when you ar at the top, people in your organization will look at you and pick up your habits.
This is very true in the NBA, the culture of the organization is often an emanation of its best player. Popovich said many times that the Spurs were the Spurs because Timmeh allowed him to coach. There's a famous clip of Steven Jackson admitting how seeing Timmeh accepting criticism forced him to do the same.

The Nuggets are again failing to keep the effort and the attention to details, with a different coach, throwing games they shouldn't lose. In the past we've seen Jamal coming out of shape not being called out. We do see Jokic taking plays off today.
If something is not working in the locker room, the best player must be held accountable for that. He commands enough respect to make everyone follow him. But it's not happening, and I think we should stop blaming everyone but him.

I get what you're saying but it's a tough balancing act.
The coach needs to have been established and been longer in the organization than the player.
The structure has to be established from the top starting with the GM.
Also, players respond differently to different things.

Jokic is "good enough" of a leader and the top guys "Murray/Gordon" are good enough of leaders/professionals, which doesn't automatically warrant Popovich-like criticism of Jokic.

For this group, what they do in the playoffs is what matters.

Although sometimes it sucks to see your favorite player "taking plays off", we also need to acknowledge they are not perfect and human like everyone else.

[Chuck Everett]

They are 14-6 (which is on pace to 57 games)...what the **** else do you want?

Not every team is going to win every single game of an 82 game season...lol.

Oh and Denver has done that despite Murray missing 7 games and Braun missing 9 games. Jokic is one of the few superstars that shows up every game and doesn't do any load management. He's a great leader, makes everyone around him significantly better, is humble as heck and does literally everything for his team. Unreal.

I took a peek at the standings and was like, "did someone bump an old thread?"

[Stan]

He's having another historically great year and the Nuggets are winning at a 70% clip. This is some nitpicky nonsense.

[gavran]

Ok. Shame on you Nikola for your lack of leadership, shame on you.

[Black Jack]

This is me calling him out:

Mr Jokic, your lack of leadership is not acceptable! Do better sir.

[NZB2323]

I think Jokic is mad overrated on this board, but no. He's won a championship with this same 'leadership', and he's playing great. They are without aaron gordon who's a key piece to their team. If he was playing, they'd be winning more and this wouldn't be thing.

Lets get to the bare bones of the matter, he won in a weak year where he played no 50 win teams and faced a Heat team that was starting Kyle Lowry and the corpse of Kevin Love.

Yeah, overrated.

This is silly. He beat LeBron, AD, Durant, CP3, Booker, Ant, Gobert, KAT, Bam, and Butler.

People only make this argument for Jokic. Shaq got swept by a 47 win team in the Finals. Shaq was out of shape. Shaq wasn’t a great leader. Shaq never won a playoff series without an allstar teammate.

[Johnston797]

I think Jokic is mad overrated on this board, but no. He's won a championship with this same 'leadership', and he's playing great. They are without aaron gordon who's a key piece to their team. If he was playing, they'd be winning more and this wouldn't be thing.

Lets get to the bare bones of the matter, he won in a weak year where he played no 50 win teams and faced a Heat team that was starting Kyle Lowry and the corpse of Kevin Love.

Yeah, overrated.

I already debunked this myth that they won in a weak year. Laker fans are so salty because if they had won, the championship would have been legitimized somehow.

I would love to hear this argument because they only won 53 games and beat a 42 win team, 45 win team 43 win team and then a 44 win team. You can only play who is in front of you but 7 teams with better records got eliminated without Nugs having to play them. Results seem like they could be much different if you re-did the playoffs that year.

Only 50 win team Joker has ever beaten in the playoffs was last year's clippers team at exactly 50-32.

[nikster]

Lets get to the bare bones of the matter, he won in a weak year where he played no 50 win teams and faced a Heat team that was starting Kyle Lowry and the corpse of Kevin Love.

Yeah, overrated.

I already debunked this myth that they won in a weak year. Laker fans are so salty because if they had won, the championship would have been legitimized somehow.

I would love to hear this argument because they only won 53 games and beat a 42 win team, 45 win team 43 win team and then a 44 win team. You can only play who is in front of you but 7 teams with better records got eliminated without Nugs having to play them. Results seem like they could be much different if you re-did the playoffs that year.

That's a pretty weak point unless you want to argue the entire field was weak that year

[TravisScott55]

His rim defense is putrid

[dhsilv2]

His rim defense is putrid

Unless you can make his standing reach 3 inches better...that's just an issue that isn't getting fixed.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

He's only a 2nd round draft pick. What do you expect? The highly vocal and emotive Tim Duncan style?

I know you're joking, but there have been tons of stories talking about Timmeh leadership. Both Manu and Pop have been talking about it.
I remember a story that popped up about his senior year in Wake Forrest. Dave Odom was talking to the team in practice, and a freshmen was keeping his head down and watch around. Timmeh gently raised his his chin and turned his head, to have him look at his coach instead.

Malone was afraid to call him out, as he was afraid to call out Murray. Timmeh gave Pop the licence to call out everybody

[DimesandKnicks]

His rim defense is putrid

Unless you can make his standing reach 3 inches better...that's just an issue that isn't getting fixed.

Jokic’s standing reach is more than a half foot longer than Marc Gasol. The issue with his rim defense isn’t his measurements or lack of athleticism. Its effort.