Jokic is WAY Better on Defense than You Think...
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- čas přidán 13. 03. 2024
- Ever since he first stepped foot in the NBA, Jokic has never averaged a defensive rating above 110, which means that he’s actually not that bad of a defender as most people paint him to be.
#basketball #nba #nbaanalysis #nbatrades #basketballanalysis #nbaoffense #nbadefense #rosteranalysis #nbaplayeranalysis #playeranalysis #nbahighlights #nikolajokic #nikolajokić #jokicdefense #jokicmvp #jokicanalysis #denvernuggets #thejoker #jokicdefensiveanalysis
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Jokic playing bad defense is a just another false/lazy narrative created by people that feel threatened by his success.
As a nuggets and huge Jokic fan he did used to be a lot worse on defense.
He had the same issue that Rudy Gobert did (really bad perimeter D), and also didn’t defend the break very well because he didn’t used to be in as good of shape.
Denver now does a really good job of putting him in situations to succeed, as they should. He’s also just gotten way better. He’s got killer cardio, and is a real defensive floor general.
@@Zxl..no big can guard wing players on the perimeter. Look what Tatum did to Embid last playoff... Cook him on an island
People legit try to say Jordan deserved 0 DPotY awards despite been near the top often. Media are jokes at times.
@@Malevolent_bacon nahh...Hakeem was way more deserving of that DPOY
@angahbg9089 I agree for that year, it was a narrative award, other years though he got guards can't be DPoY narrative reversal.
He didn't absolutely deserve that award that year but he was absolutely good enough to earn one in his career.
It's because casuals and know-it-alls think blocking shots at the rim is the only defense in basketball.
Gilbert Arena left the chat
On rim protection, Jokic tends to save it for the second half and especially the end of games. He cannot afford to be in foul trouble as Denver is so dependent on him running their offense to win. While not a great shot blocker, he repeatedly surprises players with a block at key moments at the end of games. His strength on defense is anticipation, great hands for steals, and defensive rebounding. He also moves constantly in help defense -- part of Denver's team effort.
Joker has super fast hands he gets a lot of deflections and steals. He doesn’t get blocks at the rim usually but he can do it. It’s too bad that people don’t give him his flowers. He is a great great player. He’s dominating the league at this time I’ve watched basketball for 49 years, he’s definitely up there with the best of the best
I think a big factor in this perception is that so many people are watching mostly game highlights. The highlights focus heavily on offensive plays so the defender usually doesn't look good in them.
Shout out to.#FreeDawkins . They show defense, too.
He leads centers in steals, and steals are more valuable than blocked shots because not all blocked shots end up as turnovers. They're often recovered by the offense and put back in, completely nullifying the block.
Even on defense, Jokic is usually the general calling out match ups on a per possession basis. Even when he's playing the drop, he's still contributing as the defensive floor general.
When he's more aggressive, he usually will hedge or switch P&Rs and P&Ps. Out of those actions, like you pointed out, Jokic usually fills the space of driving and passing lanes. Instead of being a rim protector, he fills spaces by trying to make steals, or at least deflections, the primary part of his game.
On his less aggressive nights, when he plays roamer or deep drop to save him from fouling out. Earlier in his career, when he played tighter on-ball on a per possession basis, he would have more 4 or 5 (common) fouls a game than the last few years. He's closer to 3-4 fouls a night now.
Glad someone finally made a video about his defense. Jokic uses his brain first on defense and offense. You mostly see him swiping or stealing the ball because those are his strengths. He rarely meets you in the peak but when he does it's mostly automatic as a block. He anticipates passes with ease like he knows what the other team will run. It's insane to watch him playing defense and of course it's because the entire team plays great team basketball. They help each other defensively which makes everyone great.
second sentence got me
And in playoffs when refs are less soft, his defence becomes even better.
It was clear in the NBA Finals just how immensely good Jokic is on defense. What he does on defense doesn’t always show up on traditional stats. His IQ is miles above any other basketball player that I’ve ever seen.
for example everybody think embiid it's better defender because he have more blocks but at same time he have much less steal, deflection and defensive rebound...i think this narrative it's because stopping a single dunk with a block it's more highlight for casual fans and media like espn than have 4-6 steal
i watch Jokic since his rookie year and if you are looking for him to jump and block shots near the rim you are not gonna get that, he rarely attempts contesting players midd air not to risk fouling,but he has good blocks near the rim, quick and long hands help,Jokic tries to save as much energy as possible knowing his team will need him always, Jokic doesnt box out on his teammates free throw to save energy, his defence consist on good reads, quick hands and trying to be wide enough for players not to go around him
That buzzer beater was Larry Bird level!!
He’s actually a great - yes a great - defender.
He defends off the ball with his positioning and his mind games strategically, and on ball he’s a very capable defender.
Something you missed is that Nuggets need him to stay out of foul trouble. He's going to contest shots, cut off passing lanes, and make the read and react plays you highlighted, but not the aggressive rim protection kinds of play that leads to fouls. One reason Nuggets win so much in the last minutes is that Jokic never seems tired. If he's in foul trouble, it's a lot harder to close out games that way.
The Real MVP！！Jokic！！！
It's starting to become more visible how good he is on defence, particularly when he turns it on. It's mostly just that he's not a traditional rim protector, he relies on positioning, quick hands and his ability to read the game. What that sometimes results in is guys blowing by him and him not even trying to stop them because he is slow and not much of a vertical threat, so it looks kind of bad. But he's making the calculation it's not worth the energy/foul risk to bother.
This exactly. He's making a judgement call. In BJJ, we did a seminar with Royce Gracie and he mentioned that a lot of people ask him how to get out of a fully sunk in arm bar, and he admonished the idea, because the work has to be done to not get into it in the first place. I think Jokic is like that. If Ja is barreling to the rim, he's not going to try and block it, the work beforehand didn't get done, and he taps out to win the next possession. At least that's my take on it.
Jokic's best defensive trait is making people happy... An happy AG can lock everyone, same for an happy KCP... their mentality is so important and Jokic is making them happy on offense
The reason for the myth is because there's too many ignorant people who think blocks is the only defensive stat that has ever existed. Jokic usually leads the league in defensive rebounds, as well as deflections and steals among big men. Being a rim protector isn't the only thing involved when it comes to being a defender.
People who say it's impossible to be a good defender if he doesn't have quick feet is just a laughable argument, as if basketball players didn't also have arms(this isn't soccer). Jokic's high basketball IQ always put him in great position, plus he has a long wingspan and some of the best hands in the league. There is a reason Jokic leads many advanced defensive stats on top of all the offensive ones.
During Jokic's 2nd MVP, he had a better rating than Giannis and Embiid, and was still top 12 last year with less than 1pt difference from Embiid's rating. Plus during last year's playoffs, he held opposing players that he was guarding to under 40% shooting. Unfortunately too many lazy people who don't even watch games are going to keep believing pushing the false narrative because all they do is lookup who has the most blocks, just like how they judge who they think is the best player overall by just looking at who has the most points.
godly 5 inch vertical
Thank you! Honestly this isn't even that hard to grasp. It makes sense. Is he great at defense consistently? No. Is he terrible at guarding fast players at times? Yes. Awful. Does he make a lot of good defensive reads on aggregate, occupy space intelligently and cause opposing teams to have turnovers or make bad shots? Yes. And the stats show that
If there was a King of the Court it would be the Joker, he is the main Villan but at the moment there is no Batman in sight.
You're only adding to another narrative, my man. Stop saying that Jokic isn't athletic, because there's more to athleticism than running fast and jumping high. Let's start with strength, endurance, footwork, hand and eye coordination, mental fortitude, and overall coordination. Consider the core strength that he must have in order to maintain body control while completing a fade away Sombor Shuffle, the strength it takes to launch a touchdown pass to the opposite end of the court, or his incredible footwork when he completes a pirouette spin move. 😊🤷♀️
stop this, this is dumb. you arent going to redefine jokic into being athletic just because you like the word and want it used for him lol
People don't seem to remember that Jokic played 4OT playoff game, the first year he went no less. And lets not forget that he plays at altitude while being top 3 in averaged distance logged per game, yet never misses games(Nuggets usually have the most back-to-backs. Even more so at the beginning of this year where the schedule had them playing 4-5 games more than most teams during the first half of the season, and had to play 3 games in 4 nights multiple times, all while having a shorter offseason due to being the champions.)
actually Jokic is relative fast for a Center his size (height+weight) and outruns many other center during games.
But its the truth for NBA standarts he isnt that athletic for average joe he is a monster.
@@jacobscholtissek2410 for a premier big man he's quite slowfooted compared to almost anyone else in the league, even not so premier guys like walker kessler, who's not fast himself. jokic is strong and extremely well conditioned. he does outrun more athletic centers when he grinds them down with a pace they can't sustain, but that's not what people mean when they say athletic in the nba context.
@@samantharay6098 better articulated, in m Not a native english speaker
People still sleeping on jokic his defense its crazy only because they dont watch the nuggets his defense in the last playoffs was elite most of times and jokic is right now a avg defender but comes playoffs he is playing more aggressive and better defensively he is just playing different defensively than the typical big man
I wouldn't even say hes just average even now. He has been legit good to great past 2 years in the regular season. Clutch D stats show this. When Jokic locks in, he locks down. #1 clutch D past 2 years. This is NOT happening with a defensive liability or even an average defender at the most important defensive position.
Great video! One thing you didn't mention is that Jokic is unbelievably fit and strong. There are tonnes of clips of players talking about his stamina and strength.
He is one of the heaviest current NBA players according to list weight and is able to easily drop down and muscle through just about anyone. He's bodied Adams, Nurkic, Embiid and just about every other player on the court at one time or another! :))
I don't understand how people said Jokic is a "bad of average defender". The Nuggets are 4 point better on D with him. For the last 3 or 4 years Nikola really turned into a great defender. He's even blocking shots now.
His weakness on defense is went the ball handling have a straight line into the rim where he just prioritize not getting a foul instead of challenge the shot. If he doesn't pick their shooting pocket he doesn't bother trying to block it because he knows is a foul. The last 2 years he also is able to take switches on smaller guys and hold his ground making it tough for them
Jokic is a GREAT DEFENDER. The narrative of him being a bad defender is outdated. On his 1st 3 years he was bad defender
He is just MVP.
It's the same thing as with Jokic on offense. He's not flashy and just does the high efficiency things, so people assume he's not doing anything because he's not in the highlight reels.
"Not flashy", for real???? Those crazy passes are Larry Bird level of flashiness.
Jokic is a flat out great defender. He's just not an elite rim protector like people expect centers to be, people use his height and that expectation against him but he's basically the same style of defender as Draymond Green, if Jokic was 6'7 or whatever Green is, we'd all be talking about how phenomenal a defender he is because of how well he plays the passing lanes, uses his strength to force off balance shots and cleverly contests shots at the rim but because he's 7' doing all that but not blocking a ton of shots, he's seen as a bad defender.
Put it this way, every advanced defensive metric has Jokic having been an elite defender for several years now. Those same stats that confirm the eye test on every other elite defender who ranks highly in them but for some reason should be ignored for Jokic because he's not defending how people expect a 7' defender to play. It's the defensive equivalent of saying Haliburton isn't a great shooter because his form is off despite him being a career 40% 3pt shooter on high volumes, sometimes you need to stop discounting the realities because it doesn't look how you expect it to.
Great analysis, good job!
Some critics say Jokic is slow.. Ask anyone who has had to defend him, how quick he actually is. Dude is way more athletic than he's given credit for
If all they watch are the higlights, then they can not see and understand how good Jokic is.
If you watch him play, and you know your basketball, you will see he impacts the game on so many levels.
That last quarter vs Heat the other day is perfect example. You would see numbers, he only scored one basket, and you would think he did not do anything. But if you actually watched, you would see he made a moves like screens/moves that gave open shots for MPJ and R Jackson. And they won.
And that makes all difference, because he does not play for his personal numbers. He plays for his team to win.
Otherwise known as MVP!
The problem with a lot of NBA fans is that if they don't see his defense in the Top 10 or some highlights, he is bad at defense. Compare his steals and blocks with other great defenders, and you will see that the difference is not that big. Also, he has a lot of steals. He is not a rim protector as people expect him to be, he is not going to jump into a dunker to block him, it is not him. He will not risk his health. But on the other end he will decimate you.
Jokic is one of the best two way bigs in the NBA.
Lol
Man u circled the wrong rating in the thumbnail lmao
Yea Jokic does not block shots above the rim because Jokic game is to not even let it get that far. If you can average a block per game or a steel per game I take the steal. A steel is a turn over, Blocks 50 50 weather you get the ball. Steels lead to easy lay up too. Blocks go out of bounds 30% of the time.
People talk about his defense like it is still 2019 and five years haven't passed and he didn't make improvements in his defense
0:14 Not even mentioning KD is WILD. He’s the same age as Steph and far better than both Steph and Lebron currently. That’s def disrespect.
KD is garbage
Not as garbage as LeChoke
@@joshuavasquez1able 29 ppg on 54-43-86 shooting is garbage? Get off this app kid
@@akunpo3443 garbage. Like where you were found when your mom threw you out.
@@akunpo3443 hasn't won anything without Curry. Numbers don't mean shit if you can't win the big games in the post season.
He doesn't need to prove it to you clowns,as long as he's chasing a certain dream
🤣My mans said MPG. Michael Porter GAS! 🤣6:24
They said the same about Larry Bird...slow, not that good on D....in fact he was a better defender than Pat Ewing. Not mentioned here, Joker is a heck of a D rebounder...he is renting space in the opposing teams heads when they on Offense....he forces turnovers,,,,is he an "Elite" Defender....not really....but Malone has crafted a superb strategy that Joker and the Nuggets have all fully bought into, and Joker only gets NUTS on D when it's crucial....He is simply the best baller since Duncan.
Totally agree
Jokic has never been a bad defender, but I'd say he didn't really take defense seriously. As for stats, Jokic usually breaks up plays before he even needs to make a block. His positioning is excellent and his size and length clogs passing lanes and drivers will just not challenge him. Watching Nuggets games you can watch his disruption in real time. In the modern NBA most blocks come from recovering defenders, which is why the athletic narrative has become so entwined with defense.
MVP - forth in raw! 🏆🏆🏆+🏆- Last year this one was stolen.
started watching the denver games. tough to watch other teams now without that jokic presence spicing up the game. reminds me of the early steph warriors where you could see the entire moving around as 1 unit. celtics, this year, do that, too. but with a team moving around as 1, plus jokic in the middle, looks like a repeat champion from here.
Jokic, bad defender?...
Not any more. He just doesn't reach at all when in foul trouble. So you can find numerous clips of him watching layups & not contesting. But then he'll snatch the ball & take a Jokic sized step back & throws an alley oop at the other end. But you have to look at the context of the game. I believe he is leading the league in deflections. Def. amongst Bigs.
Nobody:
Stephen A. Smith: I see these facts, but I will choose to ignore them.
Jokic is just as good a defender as you need him to be to win championships. Would you trade better defence for fewer points scored?
4:18 Disagree, but otherwise solid breakdown. Jokic moves quick in space, has quick second and third jumps and is more athletic than given credit for.
Jokic is a better defender than Steph and Lebron
He's a good defender. He may not be an all-NBA defender, but he doesn't need to be.
Best player on both ends, since at least 4 seasons.
Jokic is just smarter than his critics. A blocked shot goes back to the opposing team 40% of the time, same as a deflection. But a steal gives your team possession every time. An attempt at a block also makes you out of position for a defensive rebound, which is why Jokic contests with his feet on the ground so he can box out and get the defensive rebound. While other centers get more credit for blocking it out of bounds.
Elite defensive hands. Elite defensive size and length. Elite defensive rebounding. Elite defensive IQ. Elite defensive strength. But because he's bad at perimeter isolation defense he's just a bad defender?! Is Giannis bad st offense because he can't shoot from the perimeter?
Jokic is a bad rim protector...but VERY far from being a bad defender
Attack is the best defense.
You presented statistical data about defensive NBA players... And Jokić is even doing quite well there. Of course, Jokić is not the best defender in the NBA, but he is quite good, solid in that segment of the game as well. Certainly not as many imagine it completely wrongly "that Jokić is a disastrous defender"?!
Another thing is athleticism and propaganda that "Jokić is not an athletically good player" And at the same time, Jokić dominates in the NBA league where all the best players, as well as practically the entire league, are physically dominant?! It's simply that false propaganda narrative, which everyone repeats like parrots, even though it has nothing to do with the truth?! I don't know why you also believed in that fake story?!
Here's why, that's not true when Jokić's athleticism is in question!
But it is not the narrative of one journalist, it is the narrative of all journalists who follow the NBA league?! They simply don't know what athleticism is! Because they think that athleticism is only what LeBron James, Vince Carter are.... That they are fantastic basketball players, and they are exceptionally athletic, that is not in dispute at all.
But you should listen to the players from the NBA, who talk about Jokic, Paul George, Karl Anthony Towns, Draymond Green, AD, Bam Adabayo ... They are all exceptional athletic and physical players, according to the standards of the NBA and these journalists ... And they say that are physically unable to stop Jokić?! That's what Green and Paul George, Carl Anthony Towns said... And we saw it ourselves in other cases! How come Jokić "doesn't have athleticism at all"?!
Jokić is physically, if not the strongest center and physically the most dominant in the league, then he is at least in the top 3! And for something like that you need athleticism, because in the NBA to be a dominant center without athleticism is neither feasible nor possible.
Jokić also steals balls, runs counter attacks and finishes them often from one end of the field to the other, or possibly gives an assist... So he is not slow for his height, on the contrary! And he is one of the best defensive and offensive rebounders in the NBA! And all that is not possible without athleticism!
Jokic doesn't have the talent for incredible dunks, he just can't do that. But it seems that journalists in the NBA only consider that Athleticism?!
But I agree with the fact that Jokić's game does not rely on dunks and that kind of athleticism. Already on other things, IQ first of all, on long shots, passing game. But as we often saw against Bam, against AD, and against Karl-Anthony Towns, he was dominant even under the basket compared to them.
So they say that Jokić doesn't have athleticism, and dominates both under the basket and in the jump game, and off the racket, compared to other centers in the NBA... And he supposedly "has no athleticism"?! It is really an insult to intelligence.
I have to correct you. Jokic plays good defense last 3 seasons, but his defense isn't nearly an elite as there is no comparison if you talk about guys like Hakeem, Giannis, Mutombo, Embiid, Gobert, Davis etc, etc... Those players play elite defense. Jokic isn't close to their level and no defensive stat can change that.
Video addresses the point at 3:30
thanks
I think that more content creators should be making videos about this topic to finally remove this horrible stigma created by the people who have no idea about basketball fundamentals...
Honestly ive noticed less talk about him being a trash defender. Hes above average with the screens and steals he puts up alone among other aspects
Ok can someone confirm something Google says Jokic is 10-11 in his career against LeQueen Dingleberry James that seems kinda low to me
Joker is playing game on a rookie difficulty.......
Anyone who thinks Jokic isn't at least decent on defense doesn't watch enough basketball.
He had 6 steals a few days ago.
And 2 blks to go with a 35 point triple-double. He's on a level of his own.
@@blondvampire165 Even when he is not actually blocking or stealing, he is disrupting the flow of the opposing offense. You can't see it in hard stats but every night he is consistently among the game leaders in plus/minus while on the court.
Ive Heard one comentator said in one match, he has the highest deflecting the ball, if so then he is dpoy candidate
Joker doesn't get respect because he's white. You watch the games and you see how he dominates in every facet while he is on the court. It is beautiful to watch, but he has no "color", so analysts and fans who just like to see high flying poster dunks don't get it. That is fine. Just let him keep winning championships. If he stays healthy the next five years, he will go down as the best big man up to now.
I'm so tired of people always blaming color. As if a big portion of his haters aren't zenophobic white people who don't like him simply because he's not American and doesn't try to act American.
could this actually be original content?
Lemedia will say anuthing and everything to discredit anyone who is better than their queen.
THE EYE TEST SAYS JOKIC IS HORRIBLE ON DEFENSE..YOU CANT USE THE FACT THAT HE HAS GOOD DEFENSIVE TEAM.MATES THAT COVER UP FOR HIS BAD DEFENSE..BASKETBALL IS A TEAM SPORT..BASKETBALL IS NOT 1 ON 1..HE COULD NOT BEAT LEBRON OR ANY OF THESE GUYS IF THE GAME WAS ONE ON ONE
he looks bad in the most obvious instance, so to the untrained mind the examination ends right there...
and that is, he challenges next to NOTHING at the rim, anyone that got the corner on their defender can go all the way to the basket and jokic will let them have that lay up without as much as a defensive jump or even a hand up.... when you are a center that doesn't challenge at the rim that is enough for most people to automatically declare you a bad defender... i think for him it's HALF because he doesn't think he can affect the shot anyway and half that he is always cognizant of saving his fouls
but he is so elite in so many other things on defense that people pay less attention to (and understand even less) that he is an ABOVE average defender overall
and it's not something we need to argue about because we have proof, beyond his own numbers... and that is that their team defense is VERY good... very VERY good... and you can't have a good team defense if your center is a defensive liability... PERIOD... that's a fact... it is impossible.... so if you have any logic left in your brain you work backwards from there and go "ok, if the team is good defensively he must be doing SOMETHING i'm not noticing or understanding"
and he is
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉👍👍👍👍
The narrative stemmed from his playoff series against the Warriors when he was exposed vs the pick and roll. He’s gotten much better of course, but let’s not pretend that he has always been good.
that is also the team where had no depth with the absence of murray and mpj coming in and out. You had lineups of campazzo, monte morris and austin rivers sharing the floor with jokic... ALONG with bones hyland and will barton. He was "exposed" because as soon as a screen was made or any offensive moves were executed, those guards just give up and leave jokic to fend for himself.
3 minutes into the defense video and the dude is still only talking about offense. I'm outta here.
Saying Jokic is bad defender is kinda racist
Two more rings with the Nuggets and he’s already better than LeBron. 3-4 more and he’s right there with Jordan
He’s the best player since prime Kobe.
In terms of peak performance he’s already eclipsed one dimensional Lebron by quite a distance.
Lebron isn’t even a top 15 player on actual skill / ability. He’s an open court player tha shits himself in the half court cos he has no bag.
@@borisfrlic Agreed on every point. I’m a Lakers fan and I’m looking for the Nuggets to repeat
@@GinjaNinja77If they're healthy they win the title 7/10 times.
My top five
1 Diego Maradona
2 LeBron James
3 Lance Armstrong
4 Marion Jones
5 Ben Jonson
Novak Djoković 😎
jokic playing bad defense, typical american thinking he might not be the stereotypical C on D and not that "athletic" but his teamplay is great, he might have problems against slashers but he made up with his team D
Is he better than he was two years ago sure but dude is still really bad.
Not athletic?!? You blind?
This writing is trash
Jokic hasn't been a bad defender since before his 1st MVP, he was a bit above average back then, the following year he was clearly above average and no longer a liability, the next year he became legit good, and he keeps improving. Jokic is having his Brook Lopez career arc right now, except without the media acceptance of him being a legit defender. The ones who so badly want to cling to "Jokic is a bad defender" are Giannis/Embiid fans lol
Some people are braindead and just repeat what they hear on TV. Its why this left/right divide exists in the world today as well. It is literal mind control, not in the supernatural way, but consistently repeating something over and over again causes people to start believing it. Thats mind control.