Nuggets center Nikola Jokic appears to be the favorite as the MVP race enters the home stretch, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. In its latest straw poll of 100 media members, the network found 62 first-place votes and 860 overall points for Jokic, putting him ahead of the Sixers‘ Joel Embiid, who had 29 first-place votes and 719 points, and the Bucks‘ Giannis Antetokounmpo with nine first-place votes and 593 points.
Bontemps notes that the race appears similar to last year’s when Jokic built late momentum to capture his first MVP award. ESPN’s previous poll, taken in mid-February, showed Embiid with a slight advantage.
Jokic’s statistics are nearly identical to last season as he’s averaging 26.3 points and 8.0 assists to go with a career-high 13.6 rebounds per game. He has kept Denver in the playoff race despite injuries to Jamal Murray and Michael Porter, but his candidacy could suffer if the Nuggets fall into the play-in tournament. They’re currently in sixth, two games ahead of seventh-place Minnesota.
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Thunder fans may not have wanted to win Monday’s game at Portland, but Isaiah Roby did, per Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. With Oklahoma City locked in a tight lottery race and having only had eight available players, all of whom started in the G League this season, Roby delivered a career-high 30 points, including a clutch shot that sent the game into overtime. “With the amount of talent that we have out, nobody’s counting on us to win any games,” Roby said. “The fact that we’re going out competing against playoff teams (Denver on Sunday) and we’re winning games like tonight, that’s very encouraging. I’m just proud of the guys. Proud of the eight guys we had out there tonight.”
- Vasilije Micić, whose rights are owned by the Thunder, is only interested in coming to the NBA if he believes he’ll get regular playing time, according to Eurohoops. The 28-year-old signed a three-year extension with Anadolu Efes last summer that contains an escape clause after each season. “Honestly, I have a desire to go to the NBA,” he said. “But in a way, and I told that to the people from Oklahoma, to actually play there. I don’t see myself going there to tell my neighborhood friends that I was in the NBA and bring them back an OKC jersey. That doesn’t inspire me. I also came to Efes when they were at the bottom, and I had offers of some, perhaps, better-standing names.”
- Patrick Beverley has completely changed the culture surrounding the Timberwolves since arriving in an offseason trade, states Cole Huff of The Athletic, who adds that the veteran guard has inspired toughness everywhere he’s been in his NBA career.
I like “better-standing”.
I used to do that in Reno… Wound up standing to watch games after betting on them… Not Micic’s meaning I’m sure.
It is not American— publicly— to guarantee starting spots, but, if a GM or coach had to, to get him…
I’m not sure the demand for PGs is out there. Teams have good backups even.
This just in: Isaiah Roby out for the season with Mono.
I’m not particularly a Denver fan, I’m not even American, but as a fan of the game the clear MVP is Jokic.
I’m a fan of Embiid, Antetokounmpo et al, but the way Jokic affects the game without even a hint of stat padding (he’s most often boxing out to let a teammate grab the board or passing to help his offensively limited teammates (AG, Green etc) get going) is nothing short of phenomenal.
To be keeping this team in the hunt for the fourth spot in the West while boasting historic true shooting % and other advanced stats is something we haven’t seen since LeBron’s early days in his first Cleveland stint.
I’m just a fan of the game played the right way and if Jokic gets a second MVP it will show me the league values that too, rather than bowing to pressure to switch it up for goldfish attention span media types.
He’s so consistent, so clutch, so durable, so humble and just a joy to watch.
Here’s hoping…
A lot of what you said I agree with. It seems you don’t value defense very highly tho. The fact that Embiid & Giannis are much, much better defensively than Jokic is something that should matter a lot in a MVP debate. Also it’s a stretch to say Aaron Gordon is offensively limited. He’s very versatile offensively & so are both Greens too tbh. Also you seem to have forgotten Brons 2nd stint in Cleveland where he also posted crazy advanced stats & was actually able to win his conference every season even in his last season there when his supporting cast was similar to what Jokic has now. You’re definitely right about Jokic being a joy to watch tho. He’s been one of my favorite players since the first time I saw him as a rookie. But defensively he’s average at best. His size & great instincts helps him alot in that area but of course his lack of speed & athleticism hurts him alot. I think it’s just a matter of time before he wins titles & I see him having a Tim Duncan type legacy when he’s done but it’s sorta ridiculous to completely discount the defensive side of the game when evaluating a guys game
No, sorry fanboy. You OBVIOUSLY are not a fanboy of Jokic, or you wouldn’t be so quick to traffic in long dated criticisms of his game.
Simply put, there’s no credible case (this year anyway) that Jokic is not a great (yes, great) defender. There’s a better case that he should be DPOY. He’s the only player in the league (any position) that’s top 5 in each of the four most cited defensive metrics (by cited I mean cited as the basis for awarding the DPOY in prior years). All stats (including metrics) have their flaws, but when they all align in one direction so definitively, your statement can only have credibility if all of them are not just bad, but counter indicators.
The rest of your post is nonsense too, but can’t be proven as such mathematically. Still, I doubt many people would equate All Star talents like KI and Love in their primes with the journeymen that the Joker is playing with this season.
Dude, chill, we’re talking about Sasha Pavlovic, Daniel Gibson, Drew Gooden and Shannon Brown. LeBron carried them to the finals!
I’m aware of the advanced stats on Jokic’ defense, but the eye-test isn’t so convincing so I’m using my observations to explain that to someone who maybe hasn’t watched Denver so closely this year.
You may have been talking about them; @Sankara was talking about the second stint in CLE as well. I don’t know what you’re aware of or not, and it’s not relevant since I was responding to his post. I’m all for people using their own eyes (vs accepted stats), but when they point in a completely opposite direction from all of them, time for an eye exam.
I’m confused, am I a fanboy or not?.. also Kyrie wasn’t in Cleveland that yr & Love missed more than a quarter of the season
Sorry @Sankara, I was unclear, you’re definitely a fanboy. Just not of Jokic apparently. Now, if he gets traded to the Hawks, then I imagine things might change.
What does the term fanboy even mean?
Webster may have its own, but my definition would be a fan who more approximates a groupie than a critic. Accepting that all fans are probably some part each.
There’s a young Turkish kid in Houston that reminds me of Jokic fr
Yeah I agree that Jokic is less impactful defensively in terms of athleticism but the more I watch him I think he doesn’t contest so much to avoid fouls, has awful wing defenders in the starting lineup (Morris and Barton) which often leave him exposed and has clearly been coached to always play drop so as to give them at least a chance of a defensive rebound.
On closer inspection it’s clear he has incredible hands and strips or intercepts the ball as much as Embiid and Antetokounmpo block it. It’s his earth-bound version of a defensive stop. Let’s not forget he has had several game-winning blocks this season and averages nearly a couple anyway.
When he plays with a lineup that features two or more of Rivers, Reed, Gordon, Nnaji and JMike he’s actually very effective in terms of team-defense and positioning. I’m pretty sure the advanced stats have him as a plus defender. It’s the same way Gasol was when he won DPOY.
He is also carrying way more of the offense than other MVP candidates.
I stand by my ‘their offense is limited’ observation. None of those three guys are creating their own offense, except Gordon who is good for maybe a turnaround and a drive a couple of times a game. The Greens aren’t putting the ball on the floor and both are average 3 point shooters. I love them both though as energy players, particularly JMike recently.
I think we’ll see a wave of young bigs looking to Jokic as a model of how to the play the game if you’re not an explosive athlete. Sengun has that flair for sure. Hartenstein too, has been playing more like that this season under Lue’s encouragement.
The casuals I see commenting that Jokic is ‘just a passer’ obviously haven’t realised he’s got the keys to McHale’s torture chamber and is unguardable in the post. I love seeing him, Joel and Giannis doing work down there. So much more satisfying than endless threes.
I agree that it’s a dated trash narrative that Jokic is a bad defender. It’s kinda like people bashing on Gobert when he lets an opposing center go for 30 but all the guards and wings are scared to take in the paint and throw up middies.
“The eye test” is overrated. Who’s more effective the guy that gets 3 monster blocks and knocks the ball into the stands so there’s no turnover or rebound or the guy that alters 15-20 shots and deters opposing wings and guards from driving? Yeah both Embiid and Giannis are better 1 on 1 defenders and while Giannis is great at team defense I’d rank Embiid behind Gobert, Giannis and Jokic on team defense.
Vasilije Micic should DEFINITELY be in the NBA asap. He’s clearly good enough & his game is extremely pleasing to the eye. He’s a lot a Serbian version of Greivis Vasquez (another of my favorite players). Tbh he’s also pretty similar to Shai & Giddey, which is even more reason for him not to play for OKC. A team like NYK or DC should definitely think about trading for him & bringing him over
Its Joel Embiid. Stop looking at things like VORP, BPM, and WS. Yes Joker is leading in those categories, but from an NBA brand standpoint, Embiid >> Giannis and Joker.
They wont give it to LBJ for the brand sake, so I’d go with Embiid. Not homer-ism bc I do deep down believe that Vorp + BPM + WS should determine the MVP. If you had a tie, I’d go with the player that had a better DWS.
So so you believe deep down that VORP+BPM+WS should determine MVP or should we stop looking at them? What exactly do you mean by brand sake? The most popular players in the league are LBJ, Steph and Giannis in that order.
I’m being sarcastic that you should ignore the metrics. But Freak is a rather boring personality in the NBA. Rarely see him in adverts. I think the NBA could market a JoJo MVP better than they have Joker or Freak. I think they’ve done a rather poor job of marketing Joker.
Did you watch the basketball game last night?
Take that stupid straw poll today.