Jokic is an all-time Tier 1 center. This is the elite group, in whatever order you want. Russell Wilt Kareem Dream Shaq Jokic
Hard to say in this game.....OKC won convincingly ......Shai had 40 but on 32 shots and Joker almost triple dubs with 24 pt, 13 and 9 on 10 fewer shots.
How do they calculate PER for seasons when the league didn't track blocked shots or steals until the mid-70's? And no 3pt line?
Those stats are zeroed out in the formula. Methodology is described here: https://www.basketball-reference.com/about/per.html
He should've won four MVPs in a row and be playing for his fifth straight. We'll look back at the Embiid MVP like we do Derrick Rose's - a great player who only won because of "voter fatigue." Circumstance is just as important to winning as actual skill and outcome. We as Rockets fans should be among the last to devalue Jokic's legacy because of his "lack" of rings. Hakeem's Rockets teams were so bad between 1986 and 1993 that he wanted out of the city; Denver's struggle at finding and signing talented players shouldn't besmirch Jokic's reputation. They won a championship! Even if they "only" win one that's a monumental achievement for an organization that had accomplished jack **** in almost 50 years.
Assuming he gets robbed again this year, he will still have finished 1, 1, 2, 1, 2 over 5 year span. Shaq and Hakeem put together had 4 top 2 finishes. Duncan did have a 4 year stretch going 2 1 1 2.
Joel winning was very legit. I would of supported Jokic winning that year as well, but lets not make exaggerate as if Joel was not a deserving candidate.
Hakeem would make them better. Shaq would miss that top tier player that helped make his teams champions. Hakeem would feel right at home with a bunch of solid players. The Nuggets would have a strong "puncher's chance" with Hakeem; they would disappoint with Shaq like his Magic and early Lakers teams disappointed.
He was deserving as was Rose in 2011. But, I think that Jokic and LeBron both should've won in hindsight. But, in the end, I don't care since none of them are Rockets We all know Harden should've won more and got robbed based on a narrative, not performance. And a lot of how MVPs are decided is narrative.
Jokic is the best offensive center I have ever seen. However - Jokic isn't one of the top 100 defensive centers I have seen. Jokic is a first ballot Hall of Famer and an all time great, but he is not as good as Olajuwon or even Shaq because of defense. Olajuwon is probably the best defensive player in NBA history, along with Bill Russell. Olajuwon isn't the best offensive center I have seen, but he is certainly in the top 5 I have seen. So, no - Jokic isn't better than Olajuwon, because he isn't elite on both sides of the court.
Jokic has been the best player in the NBA over the last half decade.... However, the game was very different than when Jordan and Olajuwon played. Scoring is insane since the Harden days --- but I don't think anyone believes that Jokic would be more productive than Jordan and possibly Shaq if they played today. The Bulls for example played very deliberately and that hindered Jordan's scoring, and he was actually told to avoid getting rebounds to avoid injury. Later in his career he was up to 8+ rebounds a game at basically 40 years old. Jordan also gave up a lot of the ball handling duties to Pippen because Pippen insisted on handling the ball. Michael Jordan now would be a literally walking Triple Double..... he lead the league in scoring 10 straight seasons that he played.... and it would have been easily 13-15 straight seasons had he not gotten injured his second season and then retired twice. Jordan lead the league in VORP and WS for 9 straight seasons - and that would have been at least 12 straight years had he not gotten injured his second season and then his retirement.... without the second retirement it could have been as long as 15 straight years. Jokic is an all time great - after this season he will have finished 1-2 in the MVP voting 5 straight seasons.... makes him an upper level Hall of Famer ..... but he isn't Jordan or Kareem and I would argue because of defense, he isn't Olajuwon or Wilt and possibly not Russell.
If playing by the rules Shaq played under most of his career. It has been a long while since I've watched Shaq play, but I don't think he gets the ball easily and is in a position to score under how the game is currently played.
It is really hard to compare eras. Players were allowed to be more physical on ball back then, but offenses and defenses are so much more active these days. While Jordan and Olajuwon would be great today, a lot of their teams just would not be playable in today's NBA.
