Shams: Nikola Jokic Named 2023-24 NBA MVP

[Cubbies2120]

Name a team with five starting players better than Jokic maybe only the Wolves are deeper. Yes, there are guys in spots who are better but it is an extremely deep good starting lineup.

Murray.
Porter.
Gordon.
KCP.

Comeon now. Most teams would kill to have that starting lineup behind their star. I would as a Sixer fan I mean Maxey is great but the rest of our lineup was hot trash.

Where the Nuggets biggest weakness is their bench. Their GM keeps trading away talented bench guys and pretending it doesn't matter.

SGA went 42-40 (10th seed) last season putting up identical numbers. Only when Chet came to the team did he go to the 1st seed. Chet for MVP?

That starting lineup consists of two role playing journey men (KCP/AG) and two mid scorers with terrible injury histories.

Jokic literally resurrected AG's career because he flamed out in Orlando as a featured scorer. Jokic allowed him to maximize his skill set as a defender and feast in the dunk spot. KCP was a 3/D guy who was despised in Detroit/Washington before getting his career back on track with another elite teammate (LBJ) and he's continuing his trajectory with Jokic.

MPJ has gone on record on his podcast saying - multiple times - that everything is successful because of Jokic.

In reality, most of these guys are borderline starters on other teams but Jokic takes the spare parts and turns them into a well-oiled machine. It's like mixing the best traits of Tim Duncan and Greg Popovich together: you get Jokic.

Weren't the 76ers flaming out in the 2nd round with a starting lineup of Embiid/Simmons/Butler/Redick? Now that was an elite starting lineup that couldn't even reach the ECF

[Cubbies2120]

Congrats to Jokic. Expected and well-deserved.

A class act by one of 76ers fans who I always respected (even though I might disagree with you a lot)
That's the way to tell team fans from a certain player fans.
I wish you even better Maxey next season and do something smart will all the cap space you might create. Beware of Playoff P.

Don't be so certain! It appears he was just trying to rack up some +1s on the General Board.

Here's his statement on the Philadelphia board:

Once he retires or moves to a different team, their fanbase will go back to what it was before, barely filling up 75% of the arena.

[Jadoogar]

Though I think they should have a playoffs mvp instead of finals mvp.

it will almost certainly always be the same person every year. The same reason the FMVP goes to the winning team.

I'm going to strongly disagree with this. First, I don't think it goes to the winning team every year. I'm positive for example Lebron gets at least 1-2 in losing years. Second, even among the winners you've got numerous ones that would change. But below are if we assume winning team gets it each year.

1973 - Frazier has a great case.
1976 - Cowens over Jo Jo?
1979 - Gus Williams vs DJ?
1980 - Kareem over Magic obviously
1981 - We're obviously giving this to Bird over Maxwell right?
1988 - Magic over Worthy of course
1989 - I'm assuming Isiah wins over Dumars
2004 - Would be a really interesting debate on that one between Rip Hamilton, Billups and Wallace
2007 - Obviously Duncan
2008 - KG would get it
2014 - Duncan? Though to be fair I think Lebron wins it
2015 - Curry
2017/18 - I think Curry's case gets stronger but who knows

Even if I'm half right here, that's a lot of changes.

You're looking retroactively. There's going to be a few changes for sure but in the moment, voters are going to reward the winning team. In the moment, everyone was absolutely sure Igoudala deserved finals mvp in 2015.

[Lalouie]

joker is so unique and that's what makes him good. most players just play good but that's not enough

[dhsilv2]

it will almost certainly always be the same person every year. The same reason the FMVP goes to the winning team.

I'm going to strongly disagree with this. First, I don't think it goes to the winning team every year. I'm positive for example Lebron gets at least 1-2 in losing years. Second, even among the winners you've got numerous ones that would change. But below are if we assume winning team gets it each year.

1973 - Frazier has a great case.
1976 - Cowens over Jo Jo?
1979 - Gus Williams vs DJ?
1980 - Kareem over Magic obviously
1981 - We're obviously giving this to Bird over Maxwell right?
1988 - Magic over Worthy of course
1989 - I'm assuming Isiah wins over Dumars
2004 - Would be a really interesting debate on that one between Rip Hamilton, Billups and Wallace
2007 - Obviously Duncan
2008 - KG would get it
2014 - Duncan? Though to be fair I think Lebron wins it
2015 - Curry
2017/18 - I think Curry's case gets stronger but who knows

Even if I'm half right here, that's a lot of changes.

You're looking retroactively. There's going to be a few changes for sure but in the moment, voters are going to reward the winning team. In the moment, everyone was absolutely sure Igoudala deserved finals mvp in 2015.

But nobody thought Igoudala was the PLAYOFF MVP. There's zero chance imo that they'd have give him the playoff MVP.

[HotRocks34]

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[Patches Perry]

Well deserved. Despite their current struggles against Minnesota, Jokic is the best player in the league and it's still a comfortable margin. While OKC did finish #1 technically, they won the same number of games.

The 1-2-3 order were pretty predictable and correct imo.

[HotRocks34]

The choice was clear and that's why the vote was overwhelming.

Read on Twitter

[HotRocks34]

Name a team with five starting players better than Jokic maybe only the Wolves are deeper. Yes, there are guys in spots who are better but it is an extremely deep good starting lineup.

Murray.
Porter.
Gordon.
KCP.

Comeon now. Most teams would kill to have that starting lineup behind their star. I would as a Sixer fan I mean Maxey is great but the rest of our lineup was hot trash.

Where the Nuggets biggest weakness is their bench. Their GM keeps trading away talented bench guys and pretending it doesn't matter.

SGA went 42-40 (10th seed) last season putting up identical numbers. Only when Chet came to the team did he go to the 1st seed. Chet for MVP?

That starting lineup consists of two role playing journey men (KCP/AG) and two mid scorers with terrible injury histories.

Jokic literally resurrected AG's career because he flamed out in Orlando as a featured scorer. Jokic allowed him to maximize his skill set as a defender and feast in the dunk spot. KCP was a 3/D guy who was despised in Detroit/Washington before getting his career back on track with another elite teammate (LBJ) and he's continuing his trajectory with Jokic.

MPJ has gone on record on his podcast saying - multiple times - that everything is successful because of Jokic.

In reality, most of these guys are borderline starters on other teams but Jokic takes the spare parts and turns them into a well-oiled machine. It's like mixing the best traits of Tim Duncan and Greg Popovich together: you get Jokic.

Weren't the 76ers flaming out in the 2nd round with a starting lineup of Embiid/Simmons/Butler/Redick? Now that was an elite starting lineup that couldn't even reach the ECF

Chet is the difference maker for OKC. My guess is that the MVP voters, or many of them, were aware of that fact.

People who supported SGA were backing him before Denver lost to San Antonio.

It doesn't hold up.

[bb22]

He had a terrific season, but I honestly thought SGA was going to win it ala 2011 D Rose. He averaged 30 5 6 and grabbed the top seed in the West. What else do you want?
The Nuggets are going to get bounced out of the playoffs and it will negatively impact future MVP voting for Jokic, who will likely continue to put up big numbers for the next few seasons while the Nuggets maintain a top 2-5 record in the West. He won't win another MVP even though his numbers will likely continue to be elite, which makes no sense and never will.

[HotRocks34]

He had a terrific season, but I honestly thought SGA was going to win

You thought wrong

[Wolfgang630]

Shaq just be projecting. Like shut up man. You should be repeating the big man and praising those great big man who came after you. All the other big men are quiet or much older than you. He has a voice all the time and he constantly **** on the new big men.

[srhcan]

3rd MVP for The Joker. He enters elite company with this one. Well-deserved imo, despite the fact he and his team will likely be in Cancun next week.

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why it is well-deserved? Both SGA and Luka have better case for MVP than Joker.

[AleksandarN]

Their record was tied and better metrics were what? Jokic led in most advanced metrics

Yea I'd like to know too

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

SGA: +8.8 EPM (led all eligible players)

Jokic: +7.0 EPM

One metric lol

[HotRocks34]

The 2024 contest was similar to the 2012 MVP chase.

The best player in the game didn't win the award the year previous (2011, 2023). His team didn't finish top 2 in 2012 or 2024 but he won the award in overwhelming fashion (85 firsts in 2012, 79 firsts in 2024) over a great player from a team that finished ahead of him in team record (KD, SGA).

The voters got it right both times, and they did it in 2012 even after Bron's rough 2011 Finals.

Jokic is fine moving forward. Kareem won 5 MVPs with only one ring and he missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons in his prime.

When Kareem was the age Jokic is right now, he failed to get to the postseason that year (1976). Yet he still won his 4th MVP.

Jokic is all set.

[AleksandarN]

3rd MVP for The Joker. He enters elite company with this one. Well-deserved imo, despite the fact he and his team will likely be in Cancun next week.

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why it is well-deserved? Both SGA and Luka have better case for MVP than Joker.

Nope.

[HotRocks34]

One other thing.

Jokic was second in the league in Points Created Per Game (PPG + Pts from Assists Per Game) behind only Luka.

So if people want to focus on points, there's that fact too.

[Cubbies2120]

He had a terrific season, but I honestly thought SGA was going to win it ala 2011 D Rose. He averaged 30 5 6 and grabbed the top seed in the West. What else do you want?
The Nuggets are going to get bounced out of the playoffs and it will negatively impact future MVP voting for Jokic, who will likely continue to put up big numbers for the next few seasons while the Nuggets maintain a top 2-5 record in the West. He won't win another MVP even though his numbers will likely continue to be elite, which makes no sense and never will.

Nuggets had the same record!

[HotRocks34]

One other thing.

Jokic was second in the league in Points Created Per Game (PPG + Pts from Assists Per Game) behind only Luka.

So if people want to focus on points, there's that fact too.

I think the approximate point value per assist is like 2.5 or so.

Luka...33.9 PPG + 9.8 APG
.....33.9 + (9.8 x 2.5)
.....33.9 + 24.5
.....58.4 PCPG


Jokic...26.4 PPG + 9.0 APG
.....26.4 + (9.0 x 2.5)
.....26.4 + 22.5
.....48.9 PCPG


Haliburton (47.4)


Giannis...30.4 PPG + 6.5 APG
....30.4 + (6.5 x 2.5)
....30.4 + 16.25
....46.7 PCPG


Bron...25.7 PPG + 8.3 APG
....25.7 + (8.3 x 2.5)
....25.7 + 20.75
....46.5 PCPG


SGA...30.1 PPG + 6.2 APG
....30.1 + (6.2 x 2.5)
....30.1 + 15.5
....45.6 PCPG


Brunson (45.4)


Booker (44.4)


From a points perspective, then, SGA is not at the top.

Truthfully, Luka blew everyone away.


EDIT:

Haliburton is above Giannis at 47.4