So far this season, we are seeing the Denver Nuggets’ star, Nikola Jokic, make strides towards being an elite two way player.
The Denver Nuggets’ big man, Nikola Jokic, has always been an offensive juggernaut. He was in the top five for triple doubles last year and even averaged an insane 6.1 assists for a big man last season.
However, the one knock on his game has always been his defensive ability.
Part of this may be a result in him being naturally slow footed, but there is still more to defense than athleticism.
One also has to be smart, communicate effectively and study their opponent as well.
This season, Jokic is once again having a stand out season averaging 17.6 points per game, seven assists per game, 10.3 rebounds per game and a player efficiency rating of 27.3. What is getting overlooked though, is his defensive improvements.
Jokic is averaging a career low defensive rating of 102 which happens to be better than Paul Millsap, his front court mate, in this regard since Millsap currently has a rating of 104 in this area.
Not to mention, the Joker is also averaging a defensive box plus/minus of 4.5 to go along with a career best steal average of 1.4 per game. He is not quite averaging a block per game (0.9), but he does possess a career high block percentage of 2.7%.
He has also held his own against his opponents. Jokic has forced notable big men such as Marc Gasol, Rudy Gobert, Clint Capela and Deandre Ayton to come away with less than 10 points when being guarded by him. As a matter of fact, the only big men he has guarded so far who have gotten 10 points or more on the Joker include Anthony Davis, Wendell Carter Jr., Al Horford and Brook Lopez.
With all of this in mind, it is a safe bet that Nikola Jokic has already made some significant defensive improvements from last year.
Hopefully, this will be a trend throughout the whole year for the Joker.