Out of the "big men" currently playing in this league, only Giannis has a legitimate shot at reaching Hakeem level greatness. Ya trust me it was difficult to say that but Giannis is rapidly accumulating accolades and if he has a relatively injury free career and a long prime he probably will get there.
Jokic strengths and weaknesses differs from Hakeem. I'd take Hakeem any day when it comes to defense and scoring. However, if you want a do-it-all center, Jokic' passing is better than Hakeem or at least used more frequently. Hakeem owned the post.
If On Offense you say Jocic is a 10 Hakeem is a 9 On Defense Jocic is a 5 Hakeem is an 11 Rocket River
The guy balled out during the last part of the game, but he had midget Draymond on him. Dream would have sent several of those flat-footed shots back at him.
do ya'll not understand the sarcasm in this post? Do you really ****ing believe I think Jokic is better than Dream? I even put a ...
Who wrote the article? A ton goes into skills, why didn't the writer just say Joker is a flashier or more proficient passer than Hakeem? And Hakeem was a pretty darn good passer himself. And Hakeem does everything else better than 3 pointers and passing. And I think he is one or two notches better than Jokic overall. Needless to say.
Man I can't believe this beating up a straw man post is still going. It's like people think the author said Jokic is Better than Hakeem.
Yeah. I'd translate the author's main point into more acceptable language for our community: "Jokic is the most offensively skilled big man in NBA history. The only other big who is close is Hakeem Olajuwon." Put that way, it comes across more as a compliment than a slight against Hakeem. After all, if you removed mention of Hakeem, would anyone here have a big problem with someone arguing that Jokic is the most offensively skilled big man ever?
You are actually the one perpetrating a straw man’s argument. Very few people are saying anyone is saying Jokic is better than Dream or that the author is. What most of us are saying is that the author seemingly discounts defense as involving any skills by virtue of ignoring it completely. If he had only said Jokic is more offensively skilled than Hakeem, very few people would argue.
There are about 5 people in the last 2 pages talking about Hakeem being better than Jokic and not talking about skills. So just because the author has a different definition of what a skill is it deserves all of this uproar? I don't think rebounding is a particular skill and it discounts how much better Jokic is as a passer, dribbler and shooter. The OP did not ignore anything
Uh, yeah, I think you'd get some pushback on that too. Wilt led the NBA in scoring multiple times, led the NBA in total assists one season, and was in the Top 20 for assists 7 times. Moses scored more and had 19 season where he averaged more offensive rebounds than the best year Jokic has had. Moses also had 5 years where he averaged twice as many offensive rebounds as Jokic's best. Kareem scored at a higher rate, had more offensive rebounds for several seasons, and finished in Top 20 for assists 4 times. David Robinson scored at a higher rate and had better offensive rebound numbers. Bill Russell had 12 seasons where he was in the Top 20 in assists and of course, would obliterate Jokic's numbers on offensive rebounds if the stat was kept back then. Oh, and then there was this guy: Jokic is very, very good. There are a lot of very, very good big men throughout the history of basketball.
Let me repeat it again for you, the author excluded 50% of the game of basketball when making their skills argument. Anyone that doesn’t think defense is not made up of various defensive skills is either an idiot or trolling for clicks, so yes the uproar is warranted. Also, 5 people?! You think 5 ppl is a lot?
Disagree completely. There’s both a physical and mental aspect to rebounding. Physical: strength, quickness, leverage, balance, hands, elevation, etc. Mental: timing, want-to, anticipating angles and spin, knowing how guys shoot (what the ball rotation looks like, are they typically long or short on their misses), box-out options, how to get around box-outs, positioning, awareness of teammates and game situation, anticipating opponent’s actions, etc. Rebounding on missed free throws is a definite skill, particularly on the offensive end.
