Around the NBA - Haha, just kidding, always knew the Nuggets would take it

[robillionaire]

i didn't even realize this game was on, I thought it would be tonight lol

[3toheadmelo]

Jokic best franchise big in the game, where you at melo and mpharris?

This Nuggets team is just different man. Picked this series to go 7 because they’re awfully unpredictable yet weirdly resilient.

With Joker they have that special player to beat the Clippers in game 7. He always shows up. But as does Kawhi.

I hope the Nuggets do beat the Clips and upset the Lakers in the next round because homegrown teams > fabricated superteams with folks forcing trades.

AD plays defense and is already in the WCF. Jokic is the 2nd or third best big in the league and there’s nothing wrong with that.

AD = soft. Jokic = clutch. No discussion here.

Yeah he's soft like these other players on this list.

Read on Twitter

AD in the playoffs: 27.6 PPG 10.9 Rebounds 4.9 assists 1.5 blocks. 1.1 steals with ELITE defense.
Jokic in the playoffs: 25.4 PPG 9.6 rebounds 5.3 assists 0.8 blocks 0.6 steals with piss poor defense.

So the only thing Jokic has on him is assists which is by 0.4. Yeah you're right. This is no discussion.

[robillionaire]

AD plays defense and is already in the WCF. Jokic is the 2nd or third best big in the league and there’s nothing wrong with that.

AD = soft. Jokic = clutch. No discussion here.

Yeah he's soft like these other players on this list.

Read on Twitter

AD in the playoffs: 27.6 PPG 10.9 Rebounds 4.9 assists 1.5 blocks. 1.1 steals with ELITE defense.
Jokic in the playoffs: 25.4 PPG 9.6 rebounds 5.3 assists 0.8 blocks 0.6 steals with piss poor defense.

So the only thing Jokic has on him is assists which is by 0.4. Yeah you're right. This is no discussion.

I actively hope the nuggets win game 7 because the reality check when AD rolls them in the WCF will be something to behold, I want this blasphemy to be dealt with head on

[god shammgod]

jokic over ad now. i really do hate you all.

[RHODEY]

What I saw was that Denver is capable of playing defense when they want to. And when they do they can beat almost anybody. Maybe they just need a better coach.

[Swish1906]

Luka hasn’t accomplished half of what Jokic has done in Denver, let alone Harden, LET ALONE Curry, Bron, KD or Kawhi. He’s a great talent but let’s not put him on that pedestal yet. He definitely has some magic in him that seemingly only the greats possess (and some outliers like Rondo) but let’s wait until he can win a round because the playoffs are what matter. In fairness, I want to see what he can do with a better supporting cast. But I need to see more.

1a Curry
1b Bron
1c Kawhi
4 KD
5 Harden
6 Jokic
7 Dame
8 AD
9 Giannis
10 Luka

Goes something like that.

Dude, Luka won everything there is to win in entire europe, most of it even before turning 19. Including every possible MVP title (okay except Eurobasket MVP because Dragic was a little bit better than 18y old Luka).

1st playoff series he averaged 31/10/9 on a bum ankle with an injury riddled team against the Clippers, who were literal hunting him down. Including a game winner

What else you "need" to see more at age 21?

I have Joker, Giannis and Luka at 4-6. Durant is maybe a 80% version of himself, Harden is overrated and AD is a Robin

[Worst_to_First]

Starting to look like this Clippers conference final curse is real.

[god shammgod]

kawhi was -1 in this game. paul george was -23. and this was one of pandemic p's better games. sad.

[Chanel Bomber]

Luka hasn’t accomplished half of what Jokic has done in Denver, let alone Harden, LET ALONE Curry, Bron, KD or Kawhi. He’s a great talent but let’s not put him on that pedestal yet. He definitely has some magic in him that seemingly only the greats possess (and some outliers like Rondo) but let’s wait until he can win a round because the playoffs are what matter. In fairness, I want to see what he can do with a better supporting cast. But I need to see more.

1a Curry
1b Bron
1c Kawhi
4 KD
5 Harden
6 Jokic
7 Dame
8 AD
9 Giannis
10 Luka

Goes something like that.

Dude, Luka won everything there is to win in entire europe, most of it even before turning 19. Including every possible MVP title (okay except Eurobasket MVP because Dragic was a little bit better than 18y old Luka).

1st playoff series he averaged 31/10/9 on a bum ankle with an injury riddled team against the Clippers, who were literal hunting him down. Including a game winner

What else you "need" to see more at age 21?

I have Joker, Giannis and Luka at 4-6. Durant is maybe a 80% version of himself, Harden is overrated and AD is a Robin

Luka has not advanced in the playoffs. It’s a basic fact. I don’t blame him for it, as he’s only a second-year player, but I can’t rank him ahead of players who have just led their teams past the first round, and/or who have a track record of doing that in the playoffs. Even a guy like Anthony Davis, who I find overrated, led the Pelicans past the first round once. Luka has no history in that regard, and it’s too early to project that he’s naturally going to do that and rank him over more decorated players off that assumption alone.

I understand that as a Mavs fan you’d be tempted to disregard the facts to crown Luka over those players prematurely as those projections give you a sense of a bright future (and a healthy dose of serotonine). But no, he hasn’t achieved as much as even Harden or AD in recent memory, let alone as Jokic, KD, Curry, Bron, Kawhi and Lillard.

I root for Luka and I’m very familiar with his resume in Europe (I said the Suns should draft him over Ayton) but let him win a series in the NBA first.

[Manhattan Project]

Davis might be the slightly better talent overall compared to Jokic, but he only has to do a fraction of what Jokic has to do. They're two completely different players, asked to do different things. Davis gets to eat off of LeBron, Jokic has to make the team run pretty much unless Murray decides to catch on fire. Jokic has all the support of the defensive metrics for a reason. He's elite at generating steals, does a good job at defending without fouling. He's just not a rim protector which is fine, because that isn't the only thing that's important for defense.

Wouldn't mind Davis vs him next round at all, though I don't see them being matched up at all.

[Chanel Bomber]

AD plays defense and is already in the WCF. Jokic is the 2nd or third best big in the league and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Or THIRD?

You could dedicate your life to helping the poor, you’re going straight to hell for this.

I’m about to scream at you like SAS whenever Phil Jackson is mentioned.

I might have Embiid higher. He also plays defense. He averaged 30 PPG and 12 rebounds in the playoffs this year. I can't blame him for losing against Boston because he carried them and he didn't have much help around him.

Jokic is also the better shooter, off-ball player and an infinitely better playmaker. He just makes everybody around him better when he has the ball, and he’s more of a threat when he’s off the ball.

I love Embiid but it’s challenging to build an offense around him due to his lack of playmaking skills. On the other hand, Jokic connects every player who shares the court with him. Every Nuggets player seems connected, and the offense just flows and generates quality shots off of Jokic’s post-up game and passing.

They’re just not on the same level offensively, and the impact goes deeper than the numbers. Defensively, of course Embiid is far better. But while he has his lapses, and admittedly he was horrible all-around to start this playoff campaign, Jokic isn’t Stoudemire-bad on defense. Sometimes he makes me want to punch my screen with his screen-and-roll defense but you can survive with him on the floor in the halfcourt. I just think the gap offensively more than makes up for the gap defensively.

Let’s not forget Jokic was the clear-cut best player on an injury-riddled Nuggets that successively finished 2nd and 3rd in the West, and got to two WCSF game 7s in a far better Conference.

I’m not comparing him to those guys in terms of level of play but he’s a little like Curry or LeBron in that he’s the queen of the Nuggets chessboard, and his impact goes beyond his boxscore numbers imo.

PS: Elton Brand did Embiid dirty with those moves and I’m not blaming Joel one bit for this year’s first round exit.

[Chanel Bomber]

Anybody gets logged out constantly on mobile?

I’m tired of writing fire posts only to lose them because I was logged out of my account before posting.

Maybe it’s just my phone. Or the world just isn’t ready.

[3toheadmelo]

Or THIRD?

You could dedicate your life to helping the poor, you’re going straight to hell for this.

I’m about to scream at you like SAS whenever Phil Jackson is mentioned.

I might have Embiid higher. He also plays defense. He averaged 30 PPG and 12 rebounds in the playoffs this year. I can't blame him for losing against Boston because he carried them and he didn't have much help around him.

Jokic is also the better shooter, off-ball player and an infinitely better playmaker. He just makes everybody around him better when he has the ball, and he’s more of a threat when he’s off the ball.

I love Embiid but it’s challenging to build an offense around him due to his lack of playmaking skills. On the other hand, Jokic connects every player who shares the court with him. Every Nuggets player seems connected, and the offense just flows and generates quality shots off of Jokic’s post-up game and passing.

They’re just not on the same level offensively, and the impact goes deeper than the numbers. Defensively, of course Embiid is far better. But while he has his lapses, and admittedly he was horrible all-around to start this playoff campaign, Jokic isn’t Stoudemire-bad on defense. Sometimes he makes me want to punch my screen with his screen-and-roll defense but you can survive with him on the floor in the halfcourt. I just think the gap offensively more than makes up for the gap defensively.

Let’s not forget Jokic was the clear-cut best player on an injury-riddled Nuggets that successively finished 2nd and 3rd in the West, and got to two WCSF game 7s in a far better Conference.

I’m not comparing him to those guys in terms of level of play but he’s a little like Curry or LeBron in that he’s the queen of the Nuggets chessboard, and his impact goes beyond his boxscore numbers imo.

PS: Elton Brand did Embiid dirty with those moves and I’m not blaming Joel one bit for this year’s first round exit.

I can see why you rather have Jokic over Embiid. So I won’t really argue with you there. I do think Embiid at his best though is a little better though imo. But fair enough.

When it comes to AD and Jokic though..ima have to go with AD every time. If the Nuggets get into the WCF and beat the Lakers, I will admit I was wrong. So you better hope the Nuggets win game 7

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Jokic is very clearly the best center, the way Embiid gases in the 2nd half of games can't be ignored, Jokic is the one that should be dead by the 4th quarter yet Embiid is the guy with his hands on his knees towards the end of 2nd quarters. Embiid's defense took a big step back this year, he looked a step slow or just disengaged on that end.


For AD vs Jokic, I wouldn't compare their numbers, mainly because Jokic is the foundation of his teams entire offense while AD is a weapon for LeBron to use.

[Oscirus]

Im assuming that the rumblings in this thread about trading for Harden are people who forgot to put the green font on when writing such things.

[Guano]

all this AD vs Jokic talk will be moot when the knicks get some shooters, a pg, and thibs unleash Mitch's potential.

[thebuzzardman]

Doc Rivers is an overrated coach. Don't let the fact that he won a ring with the Celtics fool you.

Just maybe our guy had alot to do with it.

Knicks might have struck some luck being so bad and being one of the "Delete 8" as they got a chance to get the coach they want, as there sure have been a lot of coach firings, so there is a lot of demand for new coaches.

Obviously, the converse is that there are some more choices now the Knicks won't get a shot at.

[thebuzzardman]

Luka hasn’t accomplished half of what Jokic has done in Denver, let alone Harden, LET ALONE Curry, Bron, KD or Kawhi. He’s a great talent but let’s not put him on that pedestal yet. He definitely has some magic in him that seemingly only the greats possess (and some outliers like Rondo) but let’s wait until he can win a round because the playoffs are what matter. In fairness, I want to see what he can do with a better supporting cast. But I need to see more.

1a Curry
1b Bron
1c Kawhi
4 KD
5 Harden
6 Jokic
7 Dame
8 AD
9 Giannis
10 Luka

Goes something like that.

Dude, Luka won everything there is to win in entire europe, most of it even before turning 19. Including every possible MVP title (okay except Eurobasket MVP because Dragic was a little bit better than 18y old Luka).

1st playoff series he averaged 31/10/9 on a bum ankle with an injury riddled team against the Clippers, who were literal hunting him down. Including a game winner

What else you "need" to see more at age 21?

I have Joker, Giannis and Luka at 4-6. Durant is maybe a 80% version of himself, Harden is overrated and AD is a Robin

Who gives a f*ck what you think. Go back to your board.

We're talking about who accomplished what, now, in THE NBA.

[Swish1906]

Who gives a f*ck what you think. Go back to your board.
.

Chanel bomber, thats why we had a nice conversation going. But enjoy your rage if it makes you feel better

[Zenzibar]

Doc Rivers is an overrated coach. Don't let the fact that he won a ring with the Celtics fool you.

Just maybe our guy had alot to do with it.

Knicks might have struck some luck being so bad and being one of the "Delete 8" as they got a chance to get the coach they want, as there sure have been a lot of coach firings, so there is a lot of demand for new coaches.

Obviously, the converse is that there are some more choices now the Knicks won't get a shot at.

Thibs would still have been the best coach out of all of them.