I think the truth is the refs were allowing Looney to play very physical. Put another way, the refs let them play through what could be called a foul.
Since it was tough for Jokic down low due to this, he was trying to create a situation where he pulled his defender out. It didn't work the best, but it makes sense while watching how Jokic was getting hit and grabbed in the post
Scoot is causing my depression
Ik this is bait, but I wanna address the only real concern in the post: turnovers. Just from the statsheet, he had 9.8 assists to 3.6 turnovers, or a 2.72assist:turnover ratio. On its face, this is a decent, not great ratio. The detail missing from this compared to pure point guards is post-ups.
Pure PGs initiate an offense with PnR or other similar plays from the 3pt area. From this play, turnovers are usually related to uncalled fouls, good defense, loss of control, or a bad pass. Outside some uncalled on-ball fouls during a PG's attack, these are legitimate turnovers.
The difference for Jokic is that at least once a game, he's getting a "turnover" on a post-up where the defender(s) are just slapping the shit out of him and grabbing his arms or reaching it. This is far from an exclusive problem for Jokic; every post-up player in the league has an amount of turnovers from pressure on the post-up.
The point being for Jokic though is the refs simply cannot call every foul. Especially when it comes to a huge, 7ft, elite player like Jokic, they let the defenders have some leniency with scratches and holds. This is most evident in post-ups.
Jokic is to blame for some of his turnovers here, too, as he sometimes tries to sell contact instead of focusing on maintaining the ball. He essentially turns it over to try to sell the contact that IS happening. If it works, great, but when it doesn't, he turns it over AND often complains to the ref instead of getting back.
That's on him for playing that way. But the league definitely encourages it by they way the games are called.
I think we'll have a better idea how good (or not) it was after this season. They beat teams which had deflated records relative to their standings:
The Timberwolves dealt with Towns missing FIFTY-THREE games. A lot of people felt he didn't look like himself when he got back, either. Will a healthier season for this core prove to be a better playoff seed? Or was their record together (15-14 in the games Towns got to play) indicative of the fit with Towns and Gobert?
Now if they are better, that could be because of improvements from Ant. It doesn't automatically make their playoff showing last season a lot more valuable. But it's evidence.
Similarly, the Lakers had a horrible start to the season. Multiple impactful deadline moves improved their standings greatly. They were 25-31 on Feb 9th, the day of the trade deadline. They would close the season 43-39. That's an 18-8 record down the stretch, or 69.2% win rate. Extrapolated over a season that rate is a 56.7 win pace.
Now there's arguments about strength of schedule as well as the affect tanking has on some team's records toward the end. But still, it's clear the 44.6% win rate team had a new identity after the deadline. So the question is: what if they maintain that improvement this season?
While they did make some more adjustments this off-season, a big part of it was retaining their own players. The core is still the same. If they play at a ~55 wins pace, that speaks to that group being as good as advertised.
Last we get to the Suns. The logic is much more flawed here, since the Suns made the most impactful changes to their roster from the playoffs to this new season. If KD and Booker look fantastic, you could argue they were strong in the playoffs. But mostly, the roster is too shifted for apt comparisons.
However, my argument here is centered on the Suns entering the playoffs at the favorites in the west, according to media and betting odds. They were looked at very highly. And it wasn't until posthumously that people brought up their seeding to belittle things.
It's stupid to say the Dame trade isn't looking good due to 2 pre-season games. If by February the Bucks aren't a top-2 seed in the NBA, then we can consider it.
Also, McColumn lol
But he does have a hurt wrist..? He's been questionable due to the wrist injury. It's been a recurring issue. Jokic had it wrapped up in some kind of cast during his rest last game