NuggNation Thread - 2023 NBA Champions

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Important win today.. Need to keep getting the W's in those ones to maintain position.. I feel like those are the games we would drop in recent years (i.e. close road games against lower quality teams). Same applies to the Hornets game coming up..

Murray was unbelievable in the 2nd half.. If he can get anywhere near that consistently, look out..
 

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Pretty sure we've held the #1 seed since the win @ Portland on December 1, over a month ago now.

It would be pretty special if we got to the half way point of the season still at #1.

Just got to stay the course, will be tough because our second half is much tougher than the first has been, GS will turn it on and Houston is looking scary. OKC to deal with as well. It's going to be a challenge just to maintain homecourt in the first round.

At least we are getting healthy and our depth has had significant time starting and getting some confidence and chemistry.
 
Houston having won something like there last 8 games against us...definitely a bogey team

I think we’re a chance with no CP3 and maybe Gordon. But I’d take $1.88 for the Rockets and run lol
 
Yeah not holding out much hope of beating the Rockets. They like to torment us. Just as we match up well against GSW, they seem to match up very well against us.

On a side note - just read that the Joker was asleep when he got drafted, which seems like a typical Joker thing to do.
 
Scrappy game, 13 turnovers to 4. Dion Waiters back from the dead? Haven’t seen this flog for 2 years and decided to light us up
 

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Linking the evidence is a bit tedious. But here you go.

Passing of Bird: Bird's career AST% is 24.7%, his highest AST% in a season is 28.9% and his AST% as a 3rd year player is 22.5%

Jokic's career AST% is 26.1%, his highest AST% in a season is 29.6% and his AST% as a 3rd year player is 29.6% More than that it's the style of passes. Touch passes, behind the back in transition, no looks, lob passes. Watch any Larry Bird passing video it screams Jokic style passing. However because I love a bit of nuance, Larry Bird was a far better ball-handler making his touch passes more versatile. Still when it comes to pure passing Jokic passes in a Larry Bird style

Magic Johnson vison: Some of this stuff is eye test obviously and I don't have the highlights to pull right now. Without the highlights I'm going to explain this as well as I can. Jokic sees people open before anybody else. This is the main reason why despite being the same level of passer as the Bird he consistently puts up higher assist numbers at a significantly younger age. Nikola Jokic sees players open before they realize they are open. It's the reason why they call him Magic Jokic. He has the passing vison of Magic. Additionally just because I love my stats. Magic's assist percentage in his first 3 seasons was 28.9% compared to Jokic's 26.1%. When it comes to getting assists they get it at a very similar rate despite Jokic being a Center.

Dirk Nowitzki shooting: Part of the reason why I'm so high on Jokic is because he is extremely young. Because of his age, the best way to compare him to the Great's is the compare them at similar ages. In Dirk's first 3 seasons he shot 36.8% from 3 and 82.7% from the FT line. In Jokic's first 3 seasons he shot 36.6% from 3 and 83.2% line. Factoring in basic statistical luck they are nearly identical Shooters at the same age. Additionally when you look at the mechanics of their shot, they shoot very similar. A high arcing shot that splashes the net and can be released at any point. Nikola Jokic still needs to improve his shot to be as good as Prime Dirk Nowitzki, but given his age and Improvement rate there is no indication that he won't do that.

Post game of Kevin McHale: Honestly the most tedious evidence to get because I don't know where to find Kevin McHale's in the post numbers. So instead I'll link their 2 point percentage with the reminder Jokic only had 8 dunks on the season. Kevin McHale's 2-point percentage for his career is the highest out of Magic, Bird, Duncan and Dirk. This was because of his insane touch around the basket. Like people say Kevin McHale was the best post player to ever play. McHale's 2 point percentage in his career was 55.8 percent. Jokic's career 2 point percentage is currently 57.2% without dunking. You look at the eye test he has every move in the post, he doesn't always use them because I think he's been criminally under coached in the post but man does he have an arsenal. Up and under, left hand right hand, the best floater possibly in history. Jokic can score at will in the post, although he prefers passing because that's easier and more efficient.

Tim Duncan Size/Rebounding: This one is pretty self-explanatory if you watch him play. The only misconception is that he's listed at 6'10 in 2K so some uneducated people think he's under sized. Nikola Jokic is 6'10 without shoes (same as Duncan). Trey Lyles is listed at 6'10 and Jokic is very clearly the bigger player. Jokic is a player that can win a jump ball against Hassan Whiteside if he times the jump correctly. When it comes to pure numbers. Tim Duncan's rebounding percentage in his career 18.4%, Jokic's current rebounding percentage is 18.7%. They also have nearly identical offensive and defensive rebounding. When you look at Duncan's first 3 year percentage Jokic actually rankes as a better rebounder. In terms of impact rebounding Nikola jokic currently leads the second best rebounding percentage team in the NBA. Tipping balls to his teammates and doing a little things is one of Jokic's greatest strengths as a rebounder. Similar, I assumed to Tim Duncan.

Marc Gasol's defense: So believe it or not this is the most controversial claim among nuggets fans. It's exacerbated by the fact there is no reliable way to measure defense. Defense is uniquely a team concept, communication and the players around you are far more important than your individual defensive skills. So instead of giving the flawed defensive stats (that I don't feel like defending) I'm going to explain the context of the situation and why Jokic is Marc Gasol level defender. Marc came into the league as a 24 year old. At the beginning of his career Marc Gasol was not a good Defender. As a rookie opposing teams scored 5.8 point per 100 possessions better when he was on the floor. So why you ask a 24 year old Center who is bad at defense somehow became a defensive player of the year player? Because he wasn't actually ever bad at defense. It was the players around him. They made his weaknesses more pronounced and hid his strengths. The year Marc Gasol became defensive player of the year, he had Mike Conley, and Tony Allen covering up his weaknesses. Making his strengths extraordinary. Marc Gasol strengths defensive is his defensive IQ, he knows where to be and when to be there. That's what Jokic has at a much younger age. In fact jokic is strengths defensive + his rebounding making make him a consistently positive Defender. Additionally when the playoffs were on the line, in the last 6 games of the season Nikola jokic led the team in defensive rating with a rating of 101.1 averaging 1.2 blocks and 1.7 steals. One of those games against the Trailblazers he played some of the best pick-and-roll defense I've ever seen in my life. The Trail Blazers are going at him with the Lillard and McCollum and he destroyed them. He's cealing defensively is a lot higher then a lot of people think. If he gets the right players around him that hide his weaknesses he will be one of the best defenders in the entire league.

conclusion People legitly Wonder how Jokic was able to put up the fastest triple double in NBA history. This is why. Because he has all these Hall of Fame level skills and he slowly but surely putting it together... So I want you to think. Think about the career path of a player like this. Even if you don't entirely believe me. Think about a player with the passing of Bird, vison of Magic, shooting of Dirk, post game of McHale, rebounding/size of Duncan, and defense of Marc Gasol. Think about it. Think about what a player like that would do in the NBA... and then watch Jokic do all the things that player you are thinking about would do
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