He’s huge, smart, and an amazing rebounder which helps a lot, and the Nuggets have the right personnel group and scheme to hide his weaknesses.
this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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Somewhere in the middle I’d say
- Subpar rim protector
- Amazing rebounder
- Very good man defender because of size and strength
- High IQ in terms of reading the floor
- Good hands
- Too sluggish to be switchable or a positive in transition
- Inconsistent motor
Overall he’s an above average defender but not quite a great one or anything. Has his strengths and weaknesses, but is nothing of a liability like some claim
Not great at rim peotection, but the way he reads plays and coaches his team calling out plays is something else.
He often protects rim good enough from bigs as we saw in playoffs, only fast guards give him trouble but from time to time he will contest them well and protect the rim we saw him do it in playoffs so he definitely can do it
Still recall bubble where PG and Kawhi were driving alot on him and he shut them down on most of it .
Hes biggest strength are fast hands tho and great rebounding and rebounding is big part of D for C imo
He’s very good at getting those kicking “deflections” in passing lanes.
On a personal level I'd say he's a slight positive. His biggest value defensively is reading what the other team is doing and putting everyone else in position to better stop it. Local podcast was talking about a late game possession where Jokic told everyone where to be and it made the play much harder on the Clippers.
liability
Jokics D has always been good ..not elite but good. He blocks shots actaullu quite often. Just becaus ehe cannot sky and block a shot at uit sapex. His fast hand, great positoning and size proviode good D. Teams do not win championships with bad D. So people pushing that narative don't know what there talking about. ANdf I wish some would stop trying to push such nonsense. Slightly positive...lol.
He’s an above average defender overall.
One on one against bigs he is really good due to size and while some guys blow by him it doesn’t happened often.
Better than people think at protecting the rim but still not good there over the course of a game but he does have his moments especially when the game is on the line. If someone gets a head of stream going to the cup tho he doesn’t really contest.
Great at playing passings lanes and getting steals on ball.
Bad perimeter defenders if left on a island.
Can double at the level of the screen but is pretty slow recovering to his man after.
Reluctant at times to switch off of his man even if he is closer to the guy taking the shot.
Great defensive IQ and amazing defensive rebounder.
Has his strengths and weaknesses but I think he is better than people give him credit for
One of the best in the league. You dont need blocks or steals or perimeter or rim defense. He knows how to position himself very well but most importantly he reads the oppositions offense and instructs his team on defence, you can see it if you watch the nuggies. Also top 5 rebounder in the league. Another thing, when the game is on the line and he puts in full effort, then come the blocks and steals. Last season he won 2 games by blocking the final play. Underrated af. Also no need to play defence when you run the offense at much higher rate then you ops
He’s not a great help defender but that’s fine because he’s not the defensive anchor of the team. Overall he’s slightly positive. Obviously you would want him to be better but when he’s such an offensive juggernaut it really doesn’t matter.
Somewhere in the middle. He has great hands, knows other teams' plays, which lets him have positioning more often than not, and doesn't get bullied by other offensive centers. Also, being just tall and wide is a natural deterrent, regardless of how good you are as a defender
However, rim protection/interior D still isn't preferable for a center, definitely not switchable, questionable in space, weak to backdoor cuts. Just like a lot of centers, guarding the PnR can be a huge problem.
Overall, I'd say he's average to slightly above average and against certain match ups just straight up a good defender.
Don’t think it matters that much. However good he is defensively, the nuggets are way better with him on the court than off and every other team would be too
good, but him having good wing defenders around him really helps him not get super punished on switches. I think if you saw hiim play with a team with worse perimeter defenders he would look worse but he suits their system in a positive way
More than anything I think the league has moved. Originally it was the scoring guards that would get him in high pick and roll and use abuse him. Steph, Dame, Harden but also Donovan Mitchell and CP3 have had huge series just doing that on repeat. Basically none of those guys are threats or are on teams that are threats anymore and so you can’t exploit that weakness. A team like Heat, Celtics, Suns or Clippers are perfect for Jokic with big scoring wings.
This is one of the reasons why the TWolves really are a specific threat to Denver bc of Ant and the Warriors, despite all their other problems, would make Denver more nervous than either of the LA teams
In a vacuum not good. The Nuggets have dome a great job of building a roster around him that let's him do the things on defense that he's good at, while de-emphasizing what he's bad at.
Jokic has the best defensive rating on the Nuggets roster through this season at 105.3. Yes, above Gordon at 108.7
He reads offenses well and hardly commits a bad foul
He’s a positive in certain ways but he can be a negative in others in certain match ups.
He’s in the middle for the most part, but he’s a positive when he needs to be. The fact is, the Nuggets don’t need him to be some incredible rim protector in order for the team to win.
He’s not good on the perimeter and not good in the paint, the bulk of defense.
I love Jokic and think very highly of his offense more than probably most people, but idk why we have to try to convince ourselves he’s a good defender.
He provides just enough value with defensive rebounding and quick hands to not be an overall net negative on these last two specific rosters…but in a vacuum, no he’s not a “good defender”.
I view it as, if I plopped Jokic on a roster without great perimeter defenders like KCP, Brown, Braun, Gordon, MPJ and without solid enough rim protectors like Gordon and MPJ, how glaring would his weaknesses be then?
It is still objectively a weakness of his that you have to build around so that he can more easily provide the value that he DOES bring.
Good enough to win a ring, and that's all that matters.
He’s a good positional defender and has very high defensive IQ but not all-nba by any stretch of the imagination