BelgradeNugget wrote:Dnt hate wrote:BelgradeNugget wrote:First of all I think Embiid is having great season. Now about Jokic's defense. Advanced stats always have him as very good defender and here is why:
1. 4th in the league in deflections per game
2. 8th in the league in box outs per game
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/hustle-leaders/
I think these stats are important for defense
3. 6th in the league in steals per game
https://www.espn.com/nba/stats/player/_/table/defensive/sort/avgSteals/dir/desc
In these stats he is not the best among centers he is among the best in the league.
Now one thing that majority of people who don't understand the game like to point to as proof that Jokic is terrible defender.
Rim protection:
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/opponent-shooting/?Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&PlayerPosition=C&sort=Less%20Than%205%20ft.%20FGM&dir=1
Embiid is allowing 58% shooting from less then 5 ft, while Jokic is terrible with 66% opponent shooting. What people don't get is the fact that opponents score 12.7 fgm from less then 5 ft against Embiid and 12.5 against Jokic. The fact is Joel is letting people to the rim were he attacks them while Jokic is using positioning to prevent opponents to take shots under the rim.
Not so hard to understand I guess
I'll say this though and I think u will agree, players are less likely to go into the paint against anchors like Gobert and Embiid, than against Jokic who they are less likely to fear, I've watched enough to be certain on that
Click and see for yourself
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/opponent-shooting/?Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&PlayerPosition=C&sort=Less%20Than%205%20ft.%20FGM&dir=1
Opponent shooting from less than 5 ft
Rudy Gobert 17.4 fga / 9.8 fgm
Nikola Jokic 19 fga / 12.5 fgm
Joel Embiid 21.8 fga / 12.7 fgm
Of the three mentioned Gobert allows least fga and fgm from less than 5 ft, Jokic is second and Joel is third. Maybe Joel is not in a good position to prevent drives often which may go unnoticed by eye test.
I definitely have noticed Embiid putting less effort on defense when he goes for big games such as the 50 point game which is understandable