{"id":49370,"date":"2023-03-03T11:49:02","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T16:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=49370"},"modified":"2023-03-03T11:49:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T16:49:02","slug":"four-responses-to-recent-nikola-jokic-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/03\/03\/four-responses-to-recent-nikola-jokic-criticism\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Responses to Recent Nikola Jokic Criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let&#8217;s keep this as simple and blunt as possible. This piece pulls in a plethora of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/01\/13\/why-nikola-jokic-wont-win-mvp\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>Nikola Jokic<\/strong><\/a> hatred, slander, and criticism found on Twitter. It is my job to respond to these anti-Jokic statements to the best of my ability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Four Responses to Recent Nikola Jokic Criticism<\/h2>\n<h3><b>Slander Example #1: What About Westbrook?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/westbru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Russell Westbrook<\/strong><\/a> averaged a triple-double in the 2016-2017 season, averaging more points than Jokic. Why was Westbrook criticized as a \u201cstat padder,\u201d and why is Jokic considered \u201cone of the greatest offensive players ever\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Left is MVP Westbrook. Right is Jokic this season. <\/p>\n<p>31.6 PPG                  24.6 PPG<br \/>10.7 RPG                  11.7 RPG <br \/>10.4 APG                 10.0 APG <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/a1OqtiCzfl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/a1OqtiCzfl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; StatMuse (@statmuse) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/statmuse\/status\/1630977864500641793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 1, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h4><b>Argument:\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Westbrook averaged seven more points than Jokic in his MVP year, Russ also had a 42.5% field goal percentage (24 shot attempts) compared to Jokic&#8217;s 63% (14.8 attempts). This is a dramatic difference in field goal percentage, as Westbrook shot the ball nearly nine more times than Jokic &#8211; leading to more points but not even making half of his overall shots. Westbrook placed 100th in field goal percentage during the 2016-2017 season, while Jokic is currently ranked 6th in the 2022-2023 season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Westbrook also led the Thunder to a 47-35 record, finishing as the sixth seed in the western conference. Jokic, on the other hand, is currently leading the Nuggets to a 44-19 record (with 19 games remaining left on Denver&#8217;s schedule) and is projected to be the top seed in the western conference despite having no all-star selections on the roster.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2016-2017 Westbrook recorded 42 triple-doubles, with OKC winning 33 of those games. While Jokic doesn&#8217;t have the same volume of triple-doubles that Russ had, the Nuggets are 28-0 (recording back to last season) when Jokic records a triple-double. Simply put, the Nuggets are very unlikely to lose when Jokic records a triple-double.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Simply put, Jokic shoots at a significantly better percentage and is carrying his team to a much better record than Westbrook\u2019s MVP season.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Criticism Example #2: <\/b>Jokic Can&#8217;t Win in the Playoffs<\/h3>\n<h4><b>Argument:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ESPN&#8217;s Max Kellerman recently stated: &#8220;I&#8217;ve never seen a disconnect like this where a guy monopolizes the MVP, and yet he floats out of my top five at number five&#8221;. His fellow ESPN coworker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/perkike01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Kendrick Perkins<\/strong><\/a> stated afterward that Jokic needs to show playoff success to win future MVPs (he then went on to say that Embiid should&#8217;ve won the MVP last year despite never appearing in a conference final)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NO DISRESPECT?! Is Nikola Jokic even a TOP 5 player in the NBA?! \ud83e\udd2f | KJM\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XfRCKTFFG4o?start=574&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is ludicrous to say Jokic is not a top-five player in the league while averaging a triple-double and leading your team to a top record in the west. Almost everyone who watches NBA on a night-to-night basis, following the sport daily with great detail, should know Jokic is a top-five player at minimum. But I am not here to argue that silly narrative.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is crazy how Jokic gets slandered about his playoff exit last postseason. While Denver faced off against the eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors, Jokic played with fringe starters and bench players.<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/morrimo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Monte Morris<\/a><\/strong> (averaging 10 PPG this season for the lowly Wizards), <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bartowi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Will Barton<\/a><\/strong> (recently cut from the Wizards), <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/riverau01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Austin Rivers<\/a> <\/strong>(5.2 PPG this season),<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jamychal Green<\/a><\/strong> (6.2 PPG this season), <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/forbebr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryn Forbes<\/a><\/strong> (out of the league), <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/couside01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DeMarcus Cousins<\/a><\/strong> (out of the league), and rookie <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hylanbo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bones Hyland<\/a> <\/strong>(shooting 39.8% from the field this season).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gordoaa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Aaron Gordo<\/strong>n<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenje02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Jeff Green<\/strong><\/a> are the only pieces still on the Nuggets roster this season from that playoff rotation. Yea, no wonder why Jokic lost in the first round. I&#8217;m surprised he even led that bullish squad to the playoffs. People tend to forget that Jokic has appeared in a conference final and his &#8220;rival competitor&#8221; (more so between Denver and Philly fan bases on Twitter), <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/embiijo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Embiid<\/a><\/strong>, has not.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Losing to the Suns in a sweep hurt in 2021, but again, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/murraja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Jamal Murray<\/strong><\/a> was inactive with a torn ACL, and Phoenix eventually made a finals appearance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Slander Example #3: Nikola Jokic Might Pass the Analytics Test, but He Doesn\u2019t Pass the Eye Test.<\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Jokic tryna use advanced stats to stop Mobley <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Y4YnLVKQSj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/Y4YnLVKQSj<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SieP6naUd8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/SieP6naUd8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ab\ud83e\udd87 (@abforthewin_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/abforthewin_\/status\/1629228582986825731?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 24, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h4><b>Argument: <\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the great<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/redicjj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">JJ Redick<\/a><\/strong> recently stated, \u201cWhat\u2026.the f*ck\u2026..are you watching\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"JJ Redick Goes Off On Jokic Haters\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kLzzt1B9Jgk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the past three seasons, Jokic has received much criticism for being praised for leading the NBA in almost every single advanced metric. Read that again and think to yourself how crazy that is. The narrative is that Jokic receives MVP votes and praise, as a whole, for leading the league in unusual (yet proven) statistics. However, much of the argument against Jokic stems from the &#8220;eye test.&#8221; It seems like most of today&#8217;s &#8220;eye test&#8221; is centered around athleticism, making the right decision, defensive rotations, and making shots\/highlight plays. Jokic haters believe he doesn&#8217;t pass the eye test because of athleticism &#8211; out ruling the more essential factors in being a good basketball player. Therefore, the 284-pound Serbian who can&#8217;t jump too high or run quickly fails the &#8220;eye test.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;m biased as a Denver native, but Jokic is the smartest player in the NBA. Instead of forcing shots or passes, Jokic slows the game down. A lot. He carefully dissects not only the defense but his teammates as well. Who&#8217;s cutting? Who&#8217;s making an off-ball screen? I have a mismatch, and I will take advantage of that until I&#8217;m doubled and there&#8217;s an open man.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Nikola Jokic&#039;s TRIPLE-DOUBLE Performance In Nuggets W! - 40 PTS, 17 REB &amp; 10 AST | February 26, 2023\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Y1v4E84KY9Q?start=5&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I love this Jokic assist for many reasons. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownbr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bruce Brown<\/a> <\/strong>misses a corner three, and Jokic rebounds. Instead of forcing a shot over <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/plumlma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mason Plumlee<\/a><\/strong> and<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/georgpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paul George<\/a><\/strong>, he surveys the floor and finds a cutting Aaron Gordon for an easy finish. Most centers would gather the rebound and force a shot since the ball is at the bottom block. But not Jokic. He slows everyone down and makes the right play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are 60,000 examples of Jokic making the right play in his career. How does this not pass the eye test?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Hate Example #4: Nikola Jokic is a Liability on Defense.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I have a serious question. Embiid is elite on offense and defense, while Jokic is elite on offense, but a liability on defense. So BASKETBALL wise, what makes Jokic a better player than Embiid? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/twLlTGlCyD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/twLlTGlCyD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Aidan LaPorta (@AidanLaPorta69) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AidanLaPorta69\/status\/1630308451363561473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 27, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h4><b>Argument:\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though Jokic isn\u2019t an <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">elite <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">defender, he is average to above average. His quick hands often force turnovers, and he gets into passing lanes. Jokic is currently 21st in steals per game with 1.3 and 9th in deflections with 3.1. How is that a liability? Yes, there are things to work on, like defending the pick &amp; roll and sometimes falling asleep on defense. But liability is not the right word. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngtr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trae Young<\/a> is a defensive liability, and<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kanteen01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Enes Kanter<\/a><\/strong> has always been a defensive liability. Jokic is far from that, even though there is more work to be done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And just for fun, I\u2019ll add this clip:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Nikola Jokic Game Saving Block vs Raptors! 2021-22 NBA Season\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CeLwvAo8SgA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s better than a Jokic game-winning block with Chris Smoove commentating?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let&#8217;s keep this as simple and blunt as possible. This piece pulls in a plethora of Nikola Jokic hatred, slander, and criticism found on Twitter. It is my job to respond to these anti-Jokic statements to the best of my ability.\u00a0 Four Responses to Recent Nikola Jokic Criticism Slander Example #1: What About Westbrook? Russell [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4407,"featured_media":49380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[72],"class_list":["post-49370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nuggets","tag-nikola-jokic"],"modified_by":"Kevin Nivek","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4407"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}