Full episode live now Josh Kroenke sits down with MPJ and discusses drafting Nikola Jokic, sticking with him over Nurkic, and watching him become far greater than expected
@@onlyfacts3178 that's why relative stats are useful. Even by relative stats, Jokic's performance is all time elite levels. Which is to say he outperforms his own league the way other all time greats outperformed their leagues.
Many many years ago, early on in Jokic playing career, Reggie Miller told Shaq,and Chuck that he was going to be better than Arvydas Sabonis. Both laughed, I laughed, guess Reggie was right.
@@djukafox It was Denver game, Reggie was the commentator, he mentioned it and at either halftime or end of the game, Shaq and Chuck laughed about it. I remember telling my son that Reggie is out of his mind.
I worked at a restaurant in 2017 and this 19 year old coworker I had told me that Jokic will be an MVP and gets us a Championship. I'll never forget that because he was always getting shit from some of the Lakers fans line cooks. He always just responded with a just wait and you'll see
Micheal Porter Jr. Is such a special individual. You saw him start with a lot of individual drive. Now he is so team focused, Nikola fan, and humble. And is 10x better individually than when he started. I love his interviews. He is such a key key piece of the epicness that is the Nuggets. Best team I’ve watched. I was obsessed with 90’s basketball but 2024 Nug’s supersede it all. I really wanna see them take out Lakers again. Tough match up.
@@mja4wpMe too. I was a Laker fan growing up, way back when they played at the Fabulous Forum. My hero back then was Jerry West. We had West, Abdul-Jabar, Baylor, Goodrich, Riley, and others. I stopped watching when Magic Johnson retired. I felt the game was becoming too "me" oriented rather than team oriented. Fast forward to now when I kept reading about The Joker in news clips and decided to check him. I loved his post game interviews! And watching him play reminded me of why I originally loved basketball. Unselfish teamwork! I still live in California, a bit north nowadays, so I rooted for the Dubs when I'd visit a friend who was a die-hard fan. That was until I got hooked by the Joker last year. Now I'm a Denver Nuggets fan. The whole team camaraderie is refreshing. I also saw the chat MPJ had with Aaron Gordon and was so impressed with how down to earth both were. I gained a lot of respect for AG when he shared how on off days he liked to be alone and write in a journal and do some self reflection. I LOVE the Nuggets! Repeat! Repeat! Repeat!
Jokic is incredible, but it's also a really unfair comparison. The game was so much slower and lower scoring during Bird's time that people don't understand how great he was. When you're the best player on your team, and your team only managed 88 points, it is hard to compare it to a game where the winning team scores 135. There's so many more shots, rebounds, and passes in a game now that the best players are going to absorb a lot of those stats. That's why a guy like Harden will look so much better in the history books than he really was. Jokic actually is a great comparison for Bird now. They do a lot of the same things, but the stats will end up saying that Jokic was much better.
@@elliotmyers625 That's not what was happening at the time. You're talking about a bunch of other teams' stats that never showed up on Jokic' card. You clearly don't remember how ass that Nuggets team was before Jokic started. They were not dropping no 135 on anyone. Jamal Murray had not even popped off yet as a player much less Jokic.
@@luckerooni1153 No, I haven't forgotten. It wasn't a slight on Jokic. He was great. My point was that all the best players today will have stats better than the players in the 80's. Years from now people will be arguing that Westbrook was better than Magic or Bird, which is absurd. Triple doubles meant something different back then.
The Nuggets organization deserve a lot of credit, made all the right decisions, drafted Murray as 7th pick, Malik Beasley as 19th (was pretty good), found Jokic and decided to keep him over Nurk, took a risk with MPJ who had massive back issues and traded for AG, KCP and Bruce Brown. And now Watson, Braun and Zeke Nnaji all look really promising. They even took Bones Hyland who's very gifted as well. No superstars, no huge trades, just great decisions and perfect execution.
I really wish we would’ve kept bones it sucks he was mad he wasn’t getting enough minutes and now he’s on the clippers where he gets no minutes at all lol
MPJ was a risk to draft, but also to give him a good extension afterwards. I mean because of his potential back problems. But he definitely paid off! I agree with the rest of what you said.
“He doesn’t jump out at you right away - but when you watch it over time and you understand what he’s doing and how he’s affecting the game, he jumps out at you” This was really well put
as an Arsenal fan, I started to like this man. great hat. never heard him before but you can tell his education and inteligence are off the charts. he clearly knows what he does. a very good example that he is not daddy's son. he knows what to do with that fortune.
@@Smsrules1 that doesn't mean I need to research their administrative staff and owner. IN Europe fans don't care who own the team, only about players and coaches.
Man that story is gold what a good storyteller lol. The way he was leading up to that climax with the Nurk comparisons beforehand only to throw in "Larry Bird" was amazing
I wasn't aware of these facts, but I wrote an article in a magazine about success of Nuggets and about Nikola and his basketball IQ, its impact on the entire team and the game. I also discussed the difficult decision to part ways with Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola's game philosophy and talent. Furthermore, I noted that the MVP titles and the Nuggets' success are well-deserved, not only by the players on the court but also by the excellent coach Mike Malone, who recognized Nikola's talent, as well as the owner and supporting team. I am pleased that this video has confirmed my assumptions about the events and their success. I hope they secure another championship ring, and I wish I could witness it firsthand. Go Nugets!
Player B has better per/36 stats across the board in his 2nd year Nuggets owner: "so im assuming player A is nurkic" Analytics group: "no its larry bird....." The entire room and nuggets staff: starts dancing and screaming like they won the lottery
Great interview. Josh is a stud. Here's a humble suggestion: work on your audio engineering for the video. The channels are reversed. The sound is a bit hollow. Otherwise, great.
I am so glad that Jokic happened because now we know for 100% that Bird would be just as good as he was before nowdays and IMO better since the game is more suited for him today. There is even an interview of Bird where he says how big of a fan he is of Jokic and Nuggets and how they are his most fun team to watch. He would fit in that style of offense with no adjustment, you could just pluck him from 80s and put him in.
Mike, I’ve been dealing with a lot of problems with my family the past year and it’s been so challenging. And my job is incredibly less difficult and demanding than yours. I hope you are taking care of yourself these days and know that we are all here for you. It’s a heavy time for you.
Fantastic honest , genuine ; Nikola Jokic is really an incredible complete basketball player . Shooting , rebounding , best big center passing , basketball high I.Q. ( see's the play two seconds ahead ) Like Larry Bird . Bravo Sir ! You kept the right player ... ❤🏀🏆😃👍
It's interesting that the scouts, analysts, and commentators remark about a player's "Bball IQ" when actually they are observing a person with advanced hand-eye coordination talent. (Not sure if this can be developed as a "skill".) Coach Bob Knight remarked on video in answer to a question that he believed, as of that time, that Bird had the most elite hand-eye coordination talent in the history of basketball. Today we see players like Jokic and Doncic and a couple of others who are able to both recognize and complete assist opportunities that are of historical greatness. Jokic's passing routinely goes beyond what Bird performed. There are plenty of players (some of whom gravitate toward coaching during their careers) with the aptitude ("IQ") to grasp the deeper patterns and principles of a sport, including basketball, but who do not have the natural talent in their arms and hands to put the ball where they want, with high accuracy.
Love Michael's humility and his willingness to be all about the team. For sure, this Nuggets team play for each other and could repeat the championship. Nikola just does about everything on the floor.
Denver is the current Chicago Bulls of the 80s-90s dominance! They were astute enough to draft Porter Jr. knowing he dropped in the draft because of his college back issues. Great organization, plus Jamal Murray also drafted.
Nuggets / Avs have a fantastic ownership group, typically the third generation of wealth is flawed, he seems to be grounded and capable. Also watching MPJ mature into a solid team oriented guy has been a joy. His natural talent was never in doubt, it was always growing past knucklehead and getting his back well. Happy for him. The Nuggets play beautiful basketball.
As A Spurs fan since the 70s, Jokic reminds me of the previous NBA center who was exceptional at scoring, passing, and defense. Tim Duncan. I have to say it. Go Wemby!
The next few weeks’ guest include.. -Rocky (the Nuggets mascot) -Mr Holbrook ( retired Nuggets usher) - The Portino brothers ( Nuggets season ticket holders since 2016)
damn, the sound mix is so weird, i wish I could listen to this thing..MPJ on my left headphone, Kosh Kroenke on the right..anyway, go nuggs! timberwolves coming up, we know it's gonna be a great series, fingers crossed for the nuggs tho!
Any Larry fan would tell you Nikola is Bird 2.0. Larry's a legit 6'10 but listed 6'9 to play the 3. Nikola has the advantage of todays faster offensive friendly game and obviously having a true center 7foot body in a league of stretch 5's. Larry would demolish in today's game. Numbers off the charts with a green light on deep 3's. Would be a 6'10 Jokic only he'd have steph gravity coming into the league today...
Alright, I might catch some heat for this. However, MPJ's jumper and confidence together with his hight reminds me of Drazen. I understand that the legend was elite, but if MPJ keeps going, I do see him being capable of being a similar menace
Its crazy to me. I am not that big a fan of NBA analytics and I wouldn't call myself someone who watches even 3 games a week, but even I could tell Nikola was a monster early in his career. He was just so efficient and he was skilled at making reads and had confidence in his shot. The only thing for me at the time was, can he handle pressure? Because that is an intangible trait and cannot be measured. As we see now, with the benefit of hindsight, yes. He can. So they made a good choice. Obviously.
In this segment yes this is top tier but there are a whole lot of podcasts that don't come close to Old man and the three so I wouldn't single out that one.
@@silewis9396 He's the best interviewer I've seen (better than even JJ). He asks thoughtful questions and lets his guests speak , without interruption. Maybe the production quality is much higher... but MPJ clearly has a knack for this... much more than playoff P, draymond or some of those other guys trying to spin podcasts.
For his name, the emphasis is on the "Nik" part. Not the "ola" part. The "o" sound isn't like the "oh" sound in "owned". It's more like the sound of the "o" in "obvious", which it isn't for native English speakers. I think he just got sick of explaining it, so I'm taking up the mantle.
