Nikola Jokic: this kid is a stud

[Sothron]

 

 

 

This kid is amazing. I haven't seen someone as a true center that can pass like that since Sabonis, the father, played. It is kinda hilarious that the Nuggets thought some of their other young guys would be the franchise players...until Jokic got playing time last season as a rookie. He is on another level. Mike Malone is a good coach and the fact they run set plays with Jokic at the top of the key literally running the offense is insane. I mean who the hell lets a center in the high post run their offense?

Enjoy the vids. If you can watch some Nuggets games on league pass or other means...feel fee to watch and enjoy. Kid is going to be a superstar.

 

[Guest]

Yep, we talked about him in the trade thread. Was hoping he'd be included in a Sap trade if we were trading with Denver. Sadly, nope.

[Lurker]

I've seen a couple recent Nuggets games. He's a beast.

[Guest]

Arvydas Jokicbonis!

[benhillboy]

Not trying to turn this into a Dwight-bashing thread but I thought about how much we lose in Bud's offense without a viable passer at the 5 just last night.  Dwight may not have a single assist from the perimeter this year.  Bud has cut down on the hand-off passes he receives out there because they serve no purpose besides putting the ball in harms way, running clock, or setting an iffy screen.  Splitter is no Al or Younger Noah but has enough awareness and vision to offer a hockey assist.  Feel free to help the team at your earliest liesure guy.

A good-passing 5 relieves so much pressure off the PG and promotes more off-ball movement.  Mudiay seems to be a bum and needs all the assistance he can get.  I've never seen Jokic but heard nothing but favorable reports.  Can he hit an 18-20 footer out there too? 

The Big Passing Euro is having a resurgence.  I thought the Warriors would show substantial drop-off with Zaza as opposed to Bogut but he's helped maintain their passing prowess while somehow helping them remain stout in defensive rebounding as well.

Edited January 22, 2017 by benhillboy

[Sothron]

42 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

Not trying to turn this into a Dwight-bashing thread but I thought about how much we lose in Bud's offense without a viable passer at the 5 just last night.  Dwight may not have a single assist from the perimeter this year.  Bud has cut down on the hand-off passes he receives out there because they serve no purpose besides putting the ball in harms way, running clock, or setting an iffy screen.  Splitter is no Al or Younger Noah but has enough awareness and vision to offer a hockey assist.  Feel free to help the team at your earliest liesure guy.

A good-passing 5 relieves so much pressure off the PG and promotes more off-ball movement.  Mudiay seems to be a bum and needs all the assistance he can get.  I've never seen Jokic but heard nothing but favorable reports.  Can he hit an 18-20 footer out there too? 

The Big Passing Euro is having a resurgence.  I thought the Warriors would show substantial drop-off with Zaza as opposed to Bogut but he's helped maintain their passing prowess while somehow helping them remain stout in defensive rebounding as well.

Jokic has a legit low post game as well as being able to shoot threes as well. On a skill level on offense the only other two centers in his league are KAT and Cousins. And none of them can pass as well as Jokic. He has legit elite passing skills as a true seven foot center.

[Sothron]

The Wolves and Nuggets played last night and it was a fun game to watch. KAT went off and yet the Nuggets had every chance to win the game.

I really can't recommend watching the Nuggets play enough. They run it seems about 30-40 percent of their offense with Jokic in the high post acting as the point guard. He either whips the ball with unreal accuracy to a cutter that gets an easy lay up/dunk or he runs a high post hand off play. Either the wing player gets to the basket or passes it back to Jokic as he establishes low post position. Jokic's ability to score going to the basket or in the post is something to watch.

I cannot for the life of me remember another NBA team that ran this much of their offense through the center in the high post. Jokic can absolutely get the ball to anyone over any defender. They found this kid in the second round. I know people overlook what second rounders mean but you never know what you can find in the second.

[benhillboy]

On 1/23/2017 at 10:41 AM, Sothron said:

I cannot for the life of me remember another NBA team that ran this much of their offense through the center in the high post.

When Noah won DPOY the Bulls offense ran through him at least 33% of the time I'm guessing.  Marc Gasol could be serviceable in the absence of Conley.

[lethalweapon3]

Not just because I've got him on a fantasy team, but I do hope the kid will be alright.

I believe he may have suffered the curse of an embittered Denver Post columnist. (BTW, has anybody around Denver seen Erick Green lately?)

~lw3

[Sothron]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Not just because I've got him on a fantasy team, but I do hope the kid will be alright.

I believe he may have suffered the curse of an embittered Denver Post columnist. (BTW, has anybody around Denver seen Erick Green lately?)

~lw3

I watched that game last night. He went down about 2 minutes or so left in the game and it was pretty scary. He was screaming on the ground, was down for a couple of minutes and the entire Denver arena went deathly quiet. That kid is their future and the fans and announcers knew it. They had their court side guy in the back as soon as he could get there and you could see them carting Jokic to get xrays. I know the X rays came back negative so  hopefully it isn't too bad.

[Guest]

MRI next, hope it's not too serious.

[Sothron]

I really hope it isn't. As you guys can probably tell he's honestly my favorite player in the NBA to watch at this point. He has the low post moves of a young McHale, passes like A. Sabonis and can rebound very well. The only thing he's lacking is legit shot blocking. He is an absolute joy to watch. He's only 21 years old...

[Guest]

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Not just because I've got him on a fantasy team, but I do hope the kid will be alright.

I believe he may have suffered the curse of an embittered Denver Post columnist. (BTW, has anybody around Denver seen Erick Green lately?)

~lw3

I didn't know you had yolk. I thought Soth had him in fantasy. Nice pick lw3!

[Sothron]

5 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

I didn't know you had yolk. I thought Soth had him in fantasy. Nice pick lw3!

I have him in one hawksquawk league but not the other one.

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, Sothron said:

I have him in one hawksquawk league but not the other one.

Oh you have him in deux! Nice!

[lethalweapon3]

1 hour ago, Spud2Nique said:

I didn't know you had yolk. I thought Soth had him in fantasy. Nice pick lw3!

Yeah not in a Squawk draft, this other one's on ESPN Fantasy.

~lw3

[Sothron]

My boy got his first triple double tonight.  It was a very fun game to watch. Nuggs were killing the Bucks and the Bucks made a game of it late. This was his first game back after his hip injury and on limited minutes due to medical concerns he still pulled out his first career triple double. Kid should have had at least 17 assists by my count when you add in the fouls from his passes at the basket or wide open missed shots.

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Sothron said:

My boy got his first triple double tonight.  It was a very fun game to watch. Nuggs were killing the Bucks and the Bucks made a game of it late. This was his first game back after his hip injury and on limited minutes due to medical concerns he still pulled out his first career triple double. Kid should have had at least 17 assists by my count when you add in the fouls from his passes at the basket or wide open missed shots.

He's a special guy for sure. It's not fair, you got ur boy in Jokic, @JayBirdHawk got Kawhi (I still think I should be able to share in that lol) and @lethalweapon3 got Domantas Sabonis :-)

[Sothron]

 

[Sothron]

1 hour ago, Sothron said:

 

You guys should watch this guy in action. Some of the passes he pulls off are just GIF worthy. There's no more fun team to watch in the NBA than the Nuggets.