Maybe there’s some level of inferiority complex at work in the Mile High City, but folks around here have always had the feeling that those who voted for the NBA’s MVP award after last season did so begrudgingly when they chose Nikola Jokic to become the first player in Denver Nuggets history to win the award – an award that virtually guarantees a player induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame upon his retirement.
It was almost like it was a gift of some sort.
Here ya go, Mountain Time Zone. We tossed you a bone.
And it was widely seen as a one-time thing.
Don’t ask again.
But a funny thing has happened. Jokic is playing at an even higher level this season. While the injury-riddled Nuggets have had a down year by recent standards, Joker has stepped up his game. According to new analytic statistics like “Player Efficiency Rankings” Jokic is in the midst of the best single season by any player in NBA history.
History.
That’s like…ever.
Based on that alone (assuming he closes it out at the same pace) could he repeat the feat and win the award in back to back seasons?
Highly unlikely — Jokic isn’t even viewed as a front runner for this year’s NBA MVP.
The reason is his team’s fall from contention. According to the analytics stats people, the Nuggets perform like a 60 + win team with Joker on the floor.
Those same stats say Denver is a lottery team when he’s not.
That alone could be the definition of “Most Valuable.”
But here we go again with the moniker. “Most Valuable” means different things to different people. In sports like baseball, it’s pretty much all about a player’s individual statistics. In other sports, like football and hockey, many other factors are considered. In basketball, the league scoring champion isn’t guaranteed any sort of post season award.
Clearly, Jokic is as valuable to any team as any player could possibly be. Then again, this year’s Nuggets are clinging to a low seed in the Western Conference playoff race as we approach the All-Star break and the trade deadline and are in danger of not making the postseason at all. Another old argument: Can an MVP come from a losing team?
That of course, has happened before, plenty of times, even if it’s not really in play here. This season, when MVP voters see Kevin Durant returning from serious injury and almost single handedly lifting the Brooklyn Nets to the top of the Eastern Conference, and see Steph Curry doing much the same for the Golden State Warriors, and see Giannis Antetokounmpo, coming off an NBA title run with small market Milwaukee last season once again carrying his team back in the direction of that same mountain top…it’s easy to see why they’d push off to the side the contributions of a player – whom they already rewarded with the rare accolade – who’s team appears to be going nowhere, fast.
Team success does – and should – factor into the MVP discussion. After all, what’s so “valuable” about a contribution that still results in a team loss?
Joker isn’t contributing anything to Denver’s loss column. It’s not his fault that Jamal Murray tore his ACL late last season, or that Michael Porter Jr’s, bad back required another surgical procedure and has left him sidelined this season too. It’s not Joker’s fault that many nights during this season, the other Nuggets – especially the bench unit – could be cast in starring roles for a remake of The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight. None of this is Joker’s doing. In fact, it’s because of the absence of Murray and MPJ that he’s been forced to shoulder a bigger load on offense. It’s because the Nuggets have been (most nights) far less versatile and impactful on offense that Joker has had to elevate his play on the defensive end as well.
So the factors behind the Nuggets struggles are exactly the same things factoring into Jokic playing even better than he did during his MVP season. And yet these are the same factors that will lead the majority of MVP voters to look at Giannis, Durant and Curry when they cast their ballots this summer.
As for Jokic, he’d gladly trade in all his statistical achievements for some team hardware. Like the rest of Nuggets fandom, he’s eager to see Murray and Porter Jr return to the lineup and find their form, sooner rather than later. He’d welcome some help…and a few more W’s.
Still, around here, Nuggets fans would like to at least have the MVP voters consider tossing us another bone. It’s the thought that counts, right?
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