Nikola Jokic Still Trying to Find His Footing After Knee Injury

We had, uh, I think what, uh, 14 games on Wednesday night.

The game I tuned into was, uh, the Denver Nuggets and the Toronto Raptors because I wanted to see.

What all the fuss around Nikola Jokic, uh, has been about.

There's been a lot of talk that we may have seen the end of MVP Jokic or as our friend Bill Simmons says, Apex Jokic.

The time of his career where he was unquestionably the best player in basketball, even in years he didn't win the MVP award, those numbers have ticked down this season.

So I wanted to see what it was all about.

I tune in and what do I get, but I get Apex Jokic.

I get 32 points, I get a triple-double, I get just an outstanding performance start to finish.

So, the demise of Nikole Jokic perhaps, uh, a little bit exaggerated, but you can't deny that the numbers for Jokic are not what they used to be .

Scoring is down more than 4 points per game from last season.

His field goal percentage is down 7 points.

His 3-point percentage is down 16 points.

He's shooting the low 20s from 3-point range this season, and his rebounding numbers across the board have, uh, have fallen off.

So let's start there with Nikola Jokic, um, because this has short and long-term ramifications for the Denver Nuggets.

Like when you watch Jokic, do you see a diminished player?

Do you think that we may have seen the end?

Of the best years of Nikole Jokic, who is still just 31 years old, it should be pointed out.

Yeah, I don't wanna say that, that I, we've seen the end of Jokic.

It's only been like 8 games, you know what I'm saying, but I am wondering.

Is that knee, you know what I mean, has that knee gotten better because last year he was balling into like out of control.

What was it, a knee hyperextension or something along those lines.

Yeah, end of, end of December, I believe it was.

He had a nasty looking knee injury that looked like it might be like a, a tear, but it turned out to just be a bone bruise, a bit of a, I think hyperextension is right, um, cost him about a month.

But continue, I think I know where you're going with this, yeah, and I'm just saying that, and bone bruises, you know, as well as anybody, bro, those things are killer.

Like bone bruises are.

that they bother you for a long, long time and it's, they take a while to heal just on their own.

And I feel as though prior to that, he was balling outside of his mind, like literally out of control.

And I think, uh, you know, when he came back, he's still trying to find his footing, find his grounding, but, you know, I, I think there might be some lingering issues from there.

I think at the same time, like, you know, who knows, maybe year 12, however, like he's 31 years old, it could just be a slow start.

We're only in game 8 or 9, so.

I think the Jokic that we have right now is, is, is still elite, man.

He's still averaging some pretty good numbers.

It's just Will he have enough to , what did he say the athletic prime is anywhere from 27 to like 32.

So being able to carry that load with that team as the West continues to get better, you're looking at just something different, you know what I mean?

like.

They were champions 3 or 4 years ago and, and, and then the league continues to get better and better and better.

They continue to get more and more lengthier, and what made them great in that certain scenario isn't always going to be advantageous to Joker or that Denver, you know, that Denver offense.

And since Mike Malone has left, they're still trying to figure it out and put good rhythm and good runs together.

And I just feel as though Joker is going to be dominant, but that championship window that we're probably seeing is probably, it's probably been closed, 100%.

Yeah, I, I want to get to that in a second.

Um, on Jokic though, specifically, you're right.

Since that knee injury, the numbers have shown he's a lesser player.

The 3-point shot hasn't been there for him.

I mean, I don't know if one has anything to do with the other, but he, he just hasn't been able to buy a bucket from 3.

I mean, he's, You know, the 22% from 3 is awful.

This is not on an insignificant number, uh, of attempts.

So, um, this is an issue for Denver because they, they have been able to maintain their status as one of the best teams in the NBA because of Nikole Jokic's greatness, as you pointed out, like since their, since their championship season, they have been peeling off layers of their success.

It began with Caldwell Pope and Bruce Brown.

It continued.

You know, over the years, Peyton Watson is the most recent, um, loss that they've suffered.

Tim Hardaway Jr.

um, which has cost their bench.

I wanna get to that too, but like they have needed Jokic to be the best player in basketball, at least offensively.

They have needed him to be an elite defensive rebounder.

He hasn't been that this year, and I, again, like I'm with you.

What is it, 8 games, 7 games I guess for them as we record this is not a big enough sample size.

To draw any conclusions on him, but you have to watch this really closely because they are about, they're months away from paying him what, 5 years, 300 and something, $70 million like the largest contract in NBA history if this decline continues, uh, and if this regression continues.

You've gotta think about all options here.

I don't, I don't wanna get ahead of myself because I don't wanna be aggregated.

I don't wanna, like, you know, wind up being clipped and shit like that.

But like, I mean, like I, I just, I don't know how you can make an investment in a guy that regresses like, like this, because if you're, you're talking about paying him in 5 more years and into his mid to late 30s, um, and look, I, I've been of the opinion for most of the last couple of years, ET, that.

Um, I, I think that Jokic has the kind of game that's going to age well.

He's not an above the rim player.

He doesn't rely on like shot blocking or he's not a great defender anyway.

He's a decent team defender, good defensive rebounder, but like the things that make him great should age pretty well.

Well, they're not this season.

The shot's not there.

You know, I, I again, I, I, the, the game against Toronto was the first game I watched of him from start to finish, so I got the best of him right there.

I saw the first quarter and he's got like, I don't say 15 points, a handful of assists, like he was everywhere for that team.

So I'm, I'm watching that game and I'm like, what, what the hell are people talking about?

But the numbers don't lie.

Um, when I talk to people around the NBA, they see some of the same things, uh, some of the same bit of slippage there, and this is something that, that the Denver is gonna have to watch all season long because of the investment that they're poised to make in Nikole Jokic.

Yeah, but, and you think some of that investment also goes hand in hand with.

We forgot to mention Aaron Gordon.

Aaron Gordon's probably missed 65% of the games in the past two years, so, and he has not played well this year, yeah, and, and, and he's been injured as well, like injury prone, and you're coming down to it.

Jamal Murray's getting older, but he's just came off his best year as well.

But I, I just feel as though.

I mean he did it versus a great, you know, long perimeter, I guess long perimeter rangy team versus Toronto, but say you go Portland Trail Blazers when they lost that game the other night to him, you look at Donovan Klingon, he's arguably one of the best rebounders in the league.

You mix that in with what Rob Williams is coming in and doing, and then you even add in Denny Avia.

It's a sign of uh, if, if those aren't even 3 of our elitists and those, they can beat you up and take you out and eliminate you, that's, that's a pretty telltale sign in that sense of where it comes down to dominance and Maybe we take for granted the fact that he's throwing up 30, 1313, and now it's just a minuscule, which is still impressive, what, 23, 9 and 9 something like that, yeah, yeah, I mean, I love yogurt, Joker Joker to death, man, but that body.

That, that, that body ain't Superman for forever.

Like it, it kind of makes sense, but I, I believe he's going to keep killing.

It's only 8 games and he'll, he'll bounce around, but I'm, I'm wondering if that knee has, has been bothering.

I, I really don't know, bro.

The energy around the Nuggets has been a little bit.

Just tough, man.

It's been, it's been rough.

It's been rough.

Yeah, I mean , let's talk about the Nuggets then.

4 and 3 record as we record this.

They have the 6th best offensive rating in the NBA.

That's good, at least fine.

Uh, they are 24th in the league in defensive rating.

That is very bad.

You're not gonna win a lot of games.

They do, you know, their offense is, you know, humming at an efficient level, but they are not a modern offense.

They're top 10 in the NBA in 3 point percentage, but they're bottom 5.

In attempts they have a 7 attempt disadvantage, uh, against their opponents this season.

Like that's a big number, not to say the opponents make it all of them, but that's potentially a 21 point swing, probably at least a double-digit swing from the 3-point line.

Um, their defensive rebounding numbers have been completely off from last season.

Last season they pulled down 75% of their defensive rebounds.

That was in the top 5 this year.

It's right around 68%, which puts them in the bottom third.

Um, they just had a lot of problems and it's not like they're playing, you know, every tough team in the league.

Like their, their schedule is not, has not been bad, um, and what worries me the most is like, With Denver, um, there is an eventual injury bug that's going to bite.

Like last season their starting five played 23 games together.

Like Aaron Gordon historically has gotten hurt.

Uh, Jamal Murray has had injury issues in the past.

Um, you know, Cameron Johnson already missed time earlier this year, and when he's played, he hasn't been able to buy a bucket from 3 either, so.

You know, there's some flashing red signs, uh, red warning signs with the Denver Nuggets right now.

Yeah, and even the year they won that championship, what were they like rated like 18th or 19th best defense?

They were, I don't know if they were, were they that bad?

Like they, they were not, you know, they were like the outlier where you have sometimes you say like you've got to be top 10 in both categories to win a championship.

They were kind of the outlier in that group.

They were a middle of the pack defensive team, yeah, and I, I just don't.

That's not a recipe for winning, like just in general.

I feel as though it's been so many years, you were able to pull out a champion, uh, championship run, but it's been so many years you've been having to play 38, 39 minutes with an offensive, you know, -minded, uh, killer.

That gives up so many points, you know, he protects absolutely nothing and, and I feel as though, not in a disrespectful way, but it's just like, no, defensively he's a liability.

You can't win championships or go on deep title runs like you need when you're playing 4 or 5 on one end.

Like, do you know what I mean?

And I feel as though once guys start getting better and starts coming down the hill, you see how a young Ian Edwards kind of took him out.

And it's like, hey, you know what, we're gonna kill him from the pick and roll.

You see SGA, yo, we're about to kill him from the pick and roll.

Nobody wants to speak on it , but it's like, yo, he's a killer, but there's a limit out there for 38 minutes.

And when he gets tired, it's over.

And, and I feel as though that has been.

It's been hidden a little bit, and now it's coming to the forefront.

It's like, yo, what's the problem?

We need defense.

We don't have Michael Porter Junior, we made a couple of bad trades, and I feel as though they kind of sold their championship window.

Yeah, I mean, Porter Junior is, uh, a lot to deal with at times, but he fit alongside, um, alongside Jokic, alongside Jamal Murray, you know, obviously, they, they know what they're doing there.

I mean, look, the, You know, I, I don't want to talk about people's job security, but like there's, you know, already this chatter about David Adelman in the league.

Uh, you got Dave Yeager sitting on that bench in, in Denver, a former NBA head coach.

Um, Adelman certainly that has earned every opportunity to help dig this team out of it.

But when you struggle, uh , generally the coach is the first one that gets scapegoated in these situations.

Uh, and it wasn't an easy job to take over.

They had just won a championship like 8, 18 months prior, so .

And he took it over like end of the season like Michael Malone got canned at the end of the season and anything you do looks crazy, so I, I truly do feel bad about that.

I think.

Jokic just unbelievable.

He's a top 5 player still, but that, that championship window, and you gotta have, like you said, the outlier, the, the, the special stuff that comes with like a cycle like MPJ to be able to outscore, like, When you go to that playoff run, we're still waiting on Christian Braun and, and Cam Johnson to see how they're gonna make, make runs.

Christian Brown's actually been pretty good.

Like Christian Brown's put up some decent numbers this year, um, not rebounding particularly well, but scoring wise, he's been better.

Um, he's not the problem to me right now.

It's, it's, you know, kind of Aaron Gordon.

Aaron Gordon, like, you could say Jamal Murray is the #2 guy on that team.

I think Aaron Gordon's like the 2nd most important guy on that team because of what he brings on both ends of the floor and how well.

He plays next to Jokic.

I don't know, they're, they're gonna be a team to watch over the next couple of weeks.

Like if they're still hovering around 500 at Christmas time.

It might be and, and Jokic is still putting up kind of the same sort of numbers.

There might be some hard conversations happening in Denver.

That's, uh, that's kind of what I'm saying.