Serious criticism has been levelled at Nikola Jokic regarding his defense—or purported lack thereof. Michael Malone, the head coach of the Denver Nuggets, appears to have had enough and has responded with a statement of his own.
With a 45-20 record as of right now, the Nuggets are second in the Western Conference. They are only one win behind the Oklahoma City Thunder in the standings after passing the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The NBA’s seventh-ranked offence this season is from Denver. It seems logical that the Nuggets would emerge as one of the most entertaining teams in terms of offence, with Jokic serving as both a facilitator and a dependable scorer.
But Denver is now ranked 11th out of 30 clubs in the league for defence. Technically speaking, it’s not terrible, but the Nuggets aren’t better than ten other teams in this area. Even if that’s true, some attribute their defense’s 11th-place position to Jokic’s criticism.
Michael Malone, head coach of the Denver Nuggets, explains why Nikola Jokic is an underappreciated defensive player in the NBA.
Malone has spoken out in favour of Jokic after concluding that he has had enough. In a Matt Brooks post on X:
Speaking about Jokić, Michael Malone said, “People criticize Nikola’s defence because he doesn’t average three blocks per game.” But if you’re a true basketball purist, you’ll notice from watching the game that he has some of the greatest hands in the NBA, hands down.
Malone described him as “one of the most underappreciated defenders in the entire NBA.”
With a score of 4.4, Jokic now holds the top spot in the NBA for defensive box plus/minus rating. Considering that the Joker averages 26.2 points, 12.3 rebounds, 9.5 assists, 1.3 steals, and nearly a block per game, it’s difficult to dispute his influence on that end of the court.
Given that Malone and the statistics support the Joker, it only makes sense to give up on challenging his defence. That being said, the playoffs will undoubtedly shed more light on this aspect of Jokic’s game.
