falcolombardi wrote:LAL1947 wrote:falcolombardi wrote:
is speciallt bad because jokic is the kind of player bssketball fans respect the less, a pass first guy that doesnt dunk or play from the perimeter
that he is an analytics darling (cause he is incredibly impactful)will make him be hated even more for "stealing" mvps from the super high ppg guys
people already mock "stat nerds" or "blog boys" for propping up jokic
like nash still gets hate for "stealing" kobe/shaq mvps
Nash definitely stole an MVP from Kobe in 2005-06 (Duncan stole one from Kobe in 2002-03 too)... but Nash had an NBA title stolen from him in 2006-07, when the Spurs absolutely robbed the Suns of what should have been their first title. Lots of thievery going on back in the those years.
As for Jokic, I think he's the deserved MVP this season. If he gets swept in this first round series with Curry sitting out or playing minimal minutes, well, that won't be a good look. If Curry plays though, then the Nuggets getting swept shouldn't be an issue considering the team Jokic has.
what makes you think duncan "stole" kobe mvp in 2003 or nash in 2006?
2005-06:Well, what makes you think that what Jokic is doing this year is any different from what Kobe did in 2005-06?
Similar to how Jokic had got his under-manned team to the playoffs, Kobe got to the playoffs with a starting 5 of Smush Parker, Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm. Other "notable" players in that team were Devean George, Luke Walton, Sasha Vujacic, Brian Cook and Laron Profit (do you even know this name??), lol. Meanwhile, Nash was rolling with Shawn Marion, Leandro Barbosa, Raja Bell, Tim Thomas, Kurt Thomas, Boris Diaw. I left out Ama're because he was injured but Marion was especially awesome and so was Barbosa. Anyway, Nash was great and the Suns had the best record then, yet y'all won't even put Chris Paul in the MVP conversation for doing the same thing. Such lovely double standards when it comes to Kobe.
Kobe also set a major "landmark" in 2005-06, by being the first player in the modern era to average 35+ Points in a season
AND also get selected to All-NBA First Defense Team. Let's not forget the 81 point game against the Raptors... if this game was not a bigger "carry job" than anything Duncan or Nash have done in their careers, I don't know what is.
2002-03:Kobe Bryant:Games with 50+ points: 3
Games with 40-49 points: 16
Games with 30-39 points: 23
Tim Duncan:Games with 50+ points: 0
Games with 40-49 points: 0
Games with 30-39 points: 16
And yes, I know there is more to the game than "just scoring"... but scoring at this sort of level, like Kobe was doing, while playing All-NBA level defense and being one of the team's primary ball handlers has to be given extra love IMO. 42 out 82 games with 30-39, 40-49, 50+ points scored... that's more than half... and this was before the rules were changed to make offense more free flowing. There would have been more 40+ games too, if Phil didn't ask him to hold back when Shaq returned to the team.
The Spurs had the best record in the NBA but they also had a very deep team. People like yourself wrongly (and constantly it seems) try to paint this as Tim Duncan carrying a horrible Spurs team when in fact this was a talented, intelligent and deep roster. Parker and Ginobili may have been new to the league but Parker came into the league born ready and set to go from day one, and Ginobili was already an international star with years of experience on the national stage. Compare the performance metrics of the rest of the players on the Spurs to their counterparts in LA. When the two teams played each other in 2002-03, Kobe was the best player on the court, Duncan was 2nd, Shaq was 3rd, then it was all Spurs players next.
Spurs 2002-03:
Parker................. Claxton
Bowen................ Ginobili
Jackson............... Bowen
Duncan................ Malik Rose
Robinson.............. Duncan
