Lakers Coach Gets Honest About Nikola Jokic Matchup
Speaking with the media for his preseason press conference, Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham was asked about not having a prototypical big to guard players like Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic. Recognizing the Lakers will have to go through Denver, Ham still isn't a firm believer in having one big dedicated to guarding one or two players, and answered the following:
"If you don’t have those big girthy guys like that, maybe you just get one nice-size guy and put a bunch of athletic, strong 6’7" to 6’9" players around him to build sort of fortress. Guys are going to make multiple efforts, so I think that prototypical big, outside of Jokic, Embiid, Nurkic, a couple other guys, I think the NBA has transitioned sort of out of that, by way of Golden State. The way the game is played and defended in particular has changed so much over the years. Jokic and obviously Embiid and those guys are obviously going to make you have to consider how you’re going to guard them and what you're going to throw at them, that’s for sure. But you look at guys like AD and Giannis and these types of guys at that position, where it’s like okay, what do we do with that? We feel comfortable with what we have. We have guys that can play bigger than their size, and they’re already 6'8", 240, 6'9", 250. I think I prefer the speed, the athleticism, and the versatility over just one big player that you basically have for one or two players across the league. And then when that player is not playing, then they’re not playing. I prefer it the other way.”
This is a good point from Ham, especially when there's really no such thing as a "Jokic stopper" anyways.
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