@@liamcannon9617 ye but he's the best OFFENSIVE player in league. Kinda pointless statement, cause if he had defense and disallow opponents to score... he'd easily be goated in year or two
I have actually NO idea what is saving this team. They are completely fckd with Murrays and MPJs contract. They will probably make the playoffs off Jokic alone, which would be crazy in this stacked west in itself, but they will be 1st round exit if they keep playing like this. Jokic already has to play close to 40 minutes and the lil time he is on the bench, the other teams seem to catch up like crazy. I have watched almost every Denver game this season and trust me, this basically happens everytime. Russ as a starter for you in 2024 like cmon now....and i love Russ. But other than that this team just ain't good enough. Really bad defense and they don't shoot any threes. Doesnt matter how bad a team is, if they get semi hot from deep, they will most likely make it a close game or even win, we already saw that. Murray needs to lock in or i want Jokic to demand a trade, which prolly won't happen considering the typa person he is.
@@Yorkshireman5For MPJ it's just the money as opposed to his play most of the time. A lot of NBA teams just aren't using RFA anymore, like who else out there was threatening to pay an injury risk MPJ at the time 30 mill+ a year that the Nuggets didn't want to try to negotiate at all? It for sure screwed them on at least being able to sign Bruce Brown or a decent backup big
No mpj has been great this year and has really improved his game overall. His defensive awareness needs to get better but this really my first time watching the nuggets this year but the bright spots has been jokic and mpj and pwat for me. Russ is really in a confusing situation because he’s clearly been playing better than Murray but Murray has to step up to make this team as good as they supposed to be. Aaron Gordon was shooting great and looking like an allstar level player before his injury and just getting his wind back
@@Christopher._MNo he's just been on a superteam for almost every year of his career.Having Booker,who is a MVP caliber player,and Beal,who is all-star caliber player,I guess just isn't enough.Hes one of the guys who's had the most help in his career,and you're comparing him to Jokic,who never played with an all-star.
The Nuggets extending Jamal Murray for $200 million after a terrible end to the regular season, a terrible playoffs, and a terrible Olympics will go down as one of the worst front office decisions of all time. You couldn't trade him for Ben Simmons.
Fumbling that hard while having Jokic on your team is so funny and sad at the same time. Just hope Jokic eventually land on a decent team or that a miracle happens in Denver
When Simmons' contract expires, Jamal will have the second worst contract in the NBA (behind Beal) Before anyone says "but Zach LaVine!" LaVine is healthy (feels insane to say) and is not playing like a third stringer
At least those guys have been All-Stars at one or more points in their careers. Beal is currently averaging similar numbers to Murray while being more efficient as a third option, so his contract does not look worse than Murray's right now.
@urbaindelva7869 Beal's contract is only the worst, possibly ever, only because of the NTC Remove that and the contract is just an overpay, which is a lot more justifiable
On Murray, I think he has proximal hamstring tendinopathy. It is a nagging injury that affects people who do things like martial arts because it happens in a elongated postion (it's sometimes called 'yoga butt'). It will start to feel better but then one bad move and you're back to square one. And it takes a very long time to rehab (18-36 months). It's the kind of recurring thing that could suck your willingness to be aggressive. But trading him is pointless. Both because he has no value and this team is dependent on him performing somewhat to standard to getting another chip.
I think that at this point nuggets would probably be better by putting Jamal Murray to focus purely on recovering from his injuries the rest of this season and the beginning of next season and then trying to get a second ring on the 2026 playoffs or the 2027 playoffs
Nope its because Jamal Murray is simply out of shape, and it’s clear he doesn’t put in the necessary work during the offseason. The difference in his body shape from 2019 to now is noticeable. I really hope the Nuggets can bring in some top-tier personal trainers to get him in peak condition. It could make a huge difference in his performance and the team's success.
@@isho2x The Nuggets do bring in top trainers, Every team does. I don't think he's out of shape just because he's lazy. In fact if anything Jamal's story is that his dad pushed him insanely hard and he trained too much..
@@RomnysGonzalez Yeah you're probably right. Sure until last year he was the biggest playoff riser ever, but really he just sucks. And sure his backstory is that his dad trained him into the ground, putting wear and tear on his body, but really he's just lazy. And yes, he literally out with an injury right now, and has missed about 30% of the games in his career, but really he's not hurt. Your argument is iron clad my friend!
Hey Rusty I don’t usually comment but love the work man! Keep it up. I know changing titles and video formats throws off the algorithm, but I personally like the change you made. I think it’s the right direction to go in, hopefully the numbers will adjust back up soon!
This looks like a coaching/communication issue. In some of these clips the defense is recoverable, especially clips 1 and 2. I've seen Miami and Boston recover from worse.
I have no idea what’s going on with Jamal Murray. At times it seems more like an injury issue and at others it seems to be a complacent mentality leading him to just never really try. I think they’ll clean this up throughout the season (especially if they make some kind of trade) but, yeah as a Nuggets fan it’s been pretty frustrating.
It seems to be a mix of a mentality and cardio issue. He seems like he’s getting in his own head now, and you even see him hesitating on shots that are normally his go to. It’s weird cause that used to always be his strong suit, never getting in his own head being at his best when the pressure is highest, but he just seems like he’s over thinking everything on offense. Also he looks like he’s dragging usually pretty quickly early on. Just hunched over out of breath 5 minutes into the game. Which, missing time constantly only makes that worse.
No its because he's out of shape, and it’s clear he doesn’t put in the necessary work during the offseason. The difference in his body shape from 2019 to now is noticeable. I really hope the Nuggets can bring in some top-tier personal trainers to get him in peak condition. It could make a huge difference in his performance and the team's success.
@ spoke it into existence probably not the right choice of words, but him calling out his teammates (paycheck and benching remarks) gave em a reality check
*Hot take: No offense, but basketball RUclipsrs ROUTINELY make very big over exaggerations with numbers. I’m not saying “eye test matters more,” but a 2 game difference in wins & losses, I’m sorry is not significant enough or a drop off in percentage points by 2 (ex: 38.2%-35.9%)is also not that significant. I love the stats, but can we slow down with these overreactions please. Also I’m talking strictly about the NUMBERS not context in wins or losses
Unfortunately I think balancing stats with the eye test appropriately might be an intrinsically hard task. Either a person lacks statistical training, so they draw conclusions from data that isn't strong enough. Or they do have the stats chops but lean too much into the numbers and can't identify confounding factors that are revealed by film.
Jokic's on/off stats were a big part of why I thought he deserved MVP the last few seasons, but I don't even want to look at them this season. It's like having an NBA player play with a middle school team. Of course his on/off will be off the charts.
Giannis East, Jokic West. Both having overpaid inconsistent unhealthy 2nd star. Both missed a defensive big piece, Tucker and Brown. Both could have repeated but fell short. Both have been down hill since winning the championship. PS. i was talking about Khris, their 2nd best in like 4 years stretch before having Dame.
@@selloutfadezIdk about that. I like Dame, but he is overpaid for his actual impact on the game, and he can be inconsistent, just nowhere near as much as Murray is right now. He is more durable, though.
@@urbaindelva7869dame currently has the 39th biggest contract in the league, behind guys like michael porter jr and desmond bane, I wouldn’t say he’s overpaid
The defense isn’t on Jokic. He did his job in getting the ball out of the ball handler. It’s on the low man to tag the roller and they kept getting there too late or not at all. Then everyone else is already out of rotation because of that.
Jokic has ALWAYS been targeted in the pick and roll. I believe in their championship season malone had Jokic play high in PnR a lot, the team defense was just MUCH better
Pro tip: watch Rusty’s videos 1.5x speed. Sounds much better and everyone wins. You save time and are more likely to watch his full videos even when they are ‘long’
People in US don't understand how fast you loose your place in team need just 3-4 games if you after 10 don't come back you get fired sell you to any club who wish to give any money!!
Imagine if Jokic and Giannis decided to take massive pay cuts, form a team together and surround themselves with decent 3 point shooters. Might as well just save everyone the trouble and pass them the next four or five Larry O'Brien trophies.
Jokić and Giannis would never fit together. Giannis likes to drive into the paint, which he would not be able to do alongside Jokić because Jokić is at his best when directing traffic from the post. You could have him be Brook Lopez 4.0 and stretch the floor for Giannis, but that would be a severe waste of his impact. Also, Giannis is neither as good at nor willing to play like a big man like Jokić is despite being one, which could also cause issues.
Under Euroleague coach Željko Obradović (Serbian nationality) who is such a great coach that Greg Popović praised him and has said multiple times he has stolen plays from him. Just saying that to give context to American audience... And in club he is coaching at, whatever club u pick, whether club he coached before or is coaching rn. A player like Jamal Murray after these debacles would be benched and after some time would be waved off by club. That is sincerely how it would go. Of course they try here to make sure u get back in pace. But these shenanigans Murray has been showing would be visible and no Euroleague coach would allow this stuff... While in NBA it's all about money. And they don't do this stuff because well money talks, Murray is the second paid on team although he doesn't deserve it... Maybe Jokić should be the shot caller for everything. Seriously, he should be the one to decide who stays and who leaves. Make him the GM, the coach and center at the same time and lets see how it goes. Because it seems like in NBA the star player like LeBron for an example decides everything which is crazy stupid. Front office should be aware what is bad contract and that they don't their star player to tell them, doesn't matter which club. Idk who's calling shots there for Murray to stay. I think they got some weird nostalgia over trading their players away if they don't want to.
12-10 verse 14-8 is literally 2 games, and how many total games between Jokic, Murray and Gordon have been missed? Probably like 20. Only had all 3 of them in a few games. They'll be fine, they have the best player in the world.
Jamal M. has achieved his lifelong dream, Jamal has signed a new contract that is among the seven biggest in the NBA... the contract is secure and Jamal is insured for the rest of his life. If Jamal didn't go to the bench after bad games - it was a fake injury, Jamal doesn't play anymore and sometimes he might want to play once every 3 months.
The other players of the championship team Jamal, MPJ, and AG have to step up when Jokic is not there. Every single game is total desperation when he is not playing. They're awful without him.
Screen navigation is where they miss KCP the most. But when you have bad screen navigators throughout the roster it is better to have Jokic play up to the screen. Drop coverage has never worked well with him. You need the third defender to be sharp and rotations on point. They're just not doing this.
Gotta say that the analysis given here for a lot of these plays is quite poor. When the big hedges a PnR, the weakside corner defender is responsible for tagging the roller. The nearest weakside defender is then responsible for "zoning up" between his man and the tagger's man allowing time for rotations to catch back up. These are always, 100% of the time, the case when hedging, but are treated in the video as only a product of Jokic hedging too high in this video. In the first clip Russ is in no man's land on the weakside when he's supposed to be the zoner, and that's why the rotation fell behind. Second clip the tag came from strongside (should have been Russ but he was again in no mans land). The breakdown of the clips and overarching point just kinda point to not understanding the defensive schematics.
Um - we are 22 games in. Let's say they won 2 games they lost so far - they'd be 14 and 8, nobody would be saying a thing. So what are we doing here - panicking over 2 games lost 22 games into the season? C'mon....
You sound like someone who doesn't actually watch the games and see just how bad they play, regardless of W or L result in the end. Not to mention that two games went to OT, where we could easily have been 10-10. OKC is 19-5. Rockets and Grizzlies 17-8. Just 2 L away, yes, but 5 W away. In West that's lightyears away from getting that spot. And half of those teams are plagued with injuries themselves. But results aside, WE DO NOT PLAY GOOD BASKETBALL. We let far too many open 3s while we are dead last at 3 point shot attempts.
They have one of if not the worst bench in the league. They haven’t had a quality backup center since Plumlee in 2020. Jamal Murray sucks now and his contract makes him untradable. The front office is content with only winning one championship and Jokic is the only thing keeping them a contender
It’s called seeing the writing on the wall you can watch a few games and see where the team is heading and how the playoffs can look with this roster. Jokic is doing the most he can while the others aren’t showing up as much
When u got 1 max player in murray playing like a backup pg on a min contract like shroeder or another max player playing like a 3 and d role player without the elite 3 point shooting or elite d like kpj.....your kinda fucked. Max players need to play like max players especially when u have 3 on your roster.
We got 3 players in yrs 2-3 who weren’t used to getting playing time like that. Defense of course is going to be rough until 50 games in. A new pg in russ trying to adapt his game for them as well but how can he went the starting pg is out? Basically what im saying is this. - 2 starters misses quite some time - 3 players in yrs 2-3. - yes. Murray. Hes a shell right now. But he’ll get right. People needa chill
I know this isn’t Russel Westbrooks fault but he feels like a bad omen. It’s like the kid in the group project who when he is in control you get a A but if he’s a part of the team talk get a F.
I still think were just over worried for this team. They haven’t been healthy and this team always had a depth issue and still was a contender. I do think they should be get a shooter that doesn’t have a high ceiling. Like gabe or cam Johnson not big name shooter and their value at a low right. As I see it still have 6 good to solid playoff players. Plus 5 of them where from your championship team that consists only of 8 players in retrospect ( the two that left one is overpaid and the another one is never healthy). To be honest thats a good job for office. I thought the goal for most front office to keep a championship team core. They kept the best pieces in my opinion. They just need to get healthy get some low risk shooters with high reward. Cuz joker and Russ will make them playable
The worry is they don’t really have any way to upgrade their depth, and for some reason, whether it just be a small market that no one is interested in or the GM actively trying to force young guys into the lineup, nuggets have just been unable to attract free agents willing to take a discount the last 2 years, which frankly, boggles my mind. After having watched what happened for KCP, Bruce Brown, Jeff Green, and Russ, I don’t know why any free agent wouldn’t be clamoring to join this team.
True Joker must go closer to rim and must try stop them how many times I see they just pass by him he just watch and wait AG or somebody who can jump to jump and try block!
So are you saying that Jokic is just going to allow open 3s on top of the key when his teammates get caught in a screen? IT IS NOT JOKIC's FAULT BEING TOO HIGH DUE TO WEAK SCREEN NAVIGATION BY ALL OF THOSE PERIMETER DEFENDER TEAMMATES
U are right with watson as a screen navigator. I thonk overall watson and braun are both great great defensers, even es good as kcp, but we got no one that can keep up with smaller, faster guards. Braun is a menace but defensively, but once murray in on the field, we cant contain sh!t
Not falling apart, so much as they have yet to Come Together - Murray is a problem....he should be moved to 6th man and traded if they could actually get anything for him.....MPJ is a head case but he is a keeper. Strawther doesn't seem like he's all that with it and Zeke Najji has an absurdly high salary. Watson is a keeper and needs to be polished up. Russ is Russ...not sure what anyone expected....should get stronger as he gels with Joker and Gorden is solid when he heals up it will get better. Denver in tough spot by giving Murray and MPJ monster contracts.
Jamal Murray and Bradley Beal are without a doubt the worst contracts in the league. Nuggets need to do anything they can to get out from underneath Jamal
So many bad points "they didn't bring back bruce brown" all they could offer was the MLE, which he obviously played his way to a much fatter contract. They obviously would've brought him back if they could've. And I also think letting KCP might've been the right move, he's been awful shooting the ball this season, was awful in last seasons playoffs, and Christain Braun has been better in both this season and last playoffs, them paying KCP would've taken them over the 2nd apron and they would literally have 0 flexibility whatsoever.
Even though he deserved to win MVP, I don't think Jokic will win if Denver stays at play in position or not in top 3. Because remember, Luka didn't win last year even tough he had the same stats. Kobe didn't win in 2006 even though he had better stats and Wilt didn't win 1962 even though he had historic stats due to their team's win loss record.
This is problem with NBA Joker is now superstar and nobody can tell him what to do first trainer's and how call people for food to put him on diet he will be 10 times better and he was when he was slimmer need to loose at least 10kg and need to work on his jump work Jordan exercises for jump it's easy don't need anything only wall,I am sad to say this but he is mostly useless in defence we are all focused on offence but he must improve his def at least whit all that mass block with body force him far from rim! But understand very good mentality we Serbians have special mentality that can see in football if we give 6 goals till halftime maybe we win at the end with 6-5 bcs our will stop at 45min and who wish to run 45min more! We have that finding loopholes in system mentality how to work less and be ok!
Denver nuggets should trade for Malcolm brogdon just saying he on 23 million if you trade for but he already Played half of the season but owe 11 million can you trade 11millon or still 23 can you trade for him at 11 million
You can break most all teams down like that every night. Sounds like a coaching problem but you say nothing about the coach. It's a GM problem but you say nothing about that.
I’ve been saying for years that Jokić gets a pass for playing terrible defense and it’s been that way for years. Just another example of how disgusting bias can get. Just about every other great offensive player who can’t play defense has it constantly mentioned alongside them, but with the Jokic crowd the narrative becomes “He’s not a bad defender, he’s just not known for his defense” when the truth is he is a bad defender. He’s slow footed, he can’t move laterally, and he’s constantly watching the ball and prioritizing rebounds instead of shot contests to pad his stats. If he wasn’t 7 feet tall with a big body, nobody would be defending his defense. There’s a difference between being able to clog the paint and put your hands up and being able to play good defense. He’s basically a 7 foot tall traffic cone that moves a little bit. Very much like Luka, his idea of playing defense is ball watching and trying to get steals.
Well, the stats do not bear that out. I think your bias is showing as well. Defensive stats, normalized over many years show Jokić as a plus defender overall. While he’s not much above the NBA average,he is above it. Therefore, not a terrible defender.
If Jokic was indeed a liability on defense then the Nuggets wouldn't have won the championship, the Center position is the most important defensive position and Jokic's defense isn't hugely impactful but it's not bad either, people would cheery pick games where he performs poorly and say "OH LOOK AT HOW BAD HE IS" which is something you can do even with elite defenders.
I totally get the spirit of what you're saying, but the more I read that statement, the sillier and more nonsensical it became lol. The act of self destructing and having a solid structure are not mutually exclusive.
When are people gonna call it like it is, Jokic takes plays off defense, he's a one sided player as masterful as he is on offense, he gives up plays on defense. Tbh, if he gets MVP for a 4th time it only emphasizes how much people glaze analytics over winning and overall impact from an intangible standpoint.
@bilindabutcher8913 I very much watch basketball, but I knew someone was gonna reply back with a sentiment based on the entire team playing bad defense. Typical deflection, because if you understand how concept machines work, or assembly lines, or anything that has connectivity, if a piece, or a cog, or a part falls apart everything else either falls apart or has to compensate. Peyton Watson literally has to help on the nail, abandon his man so that Jokic has some help guarding his man, BECAUSE HE'S TERRIBLE DEFENSIVELY!! Jokic being slow footed don't help his cause but what don't help is Jokic trying to air "swipe" towards a player driving towards him like that's actually going to do anything to anyone even semi athletic. Rusty even listed how many times Jokic was targeted on Pick and Rolls, it's obvious when you remove AG, and have Mediorce play of Jamal Murray, Jokic has to will himself offensively for victories and that usually works but definitely has limits. As I said, Jokic should not and I repeat, should not get a 4th MVP this season.
Whose fault it is, is almost entirely irrelevant. He never even came close to implying that Jokic had try and guard TWO players at once. He was pointing out the lack of effort on actually affecting the ball handler with adequate pressure, who in that very instance should become priority number one if you're the big man trying to defend a drive. If anything, Rusty was criticizing him for TRYING to guard two players simultaneously. You're not expected to guard two people - you're expected to take the better option between a) just standing there in the middle, trying to guard both players and b) press the ball handler hard enough to potentially stifle them enough into possibly making a mistake and making their path to the basket more difficult. With option B) you at least have a chance of potentially making something happen.
Exactly, joker is just as much to blame as everyone els, take away his pay for his defense, at least embid plays both, joker should not be a 3 time mvp
Jokic got 56 points against the Wizards, not 54. It's a detail but it's his career high so it's significant.
He gonn break it soon anyway 60+
and his opponents drop 40 on him everytime
@@liamcannon9617 ye but he's the best OFFENSIVE player in league. Kinda pointless statement, cause if he had defense and disallow opponents to score... he'd easily be goated in year or two
Jamal got a sore back from carrying all those 50M
I have actually NO idea what is saving this team. They are completely fckd with Murrays and MPJs contract. They will probably make the playoffs off Jokic alone, which would be crazy in this stacked west in itself, but they will be 1st round exit if they keep playing like this. Jokic already has to play close to 40 minutes and the lil time he is on the bench, the other teams seem to catch up like crazy. I have watched almost every Denver game this season and trust me, this basically happens everytime. Russ as a starter for you in 2024 like cmon now....and i love Russ. But other than that this team just ain't good enough. Really bad defense and they don't shoot any threes. Doesnt matter how bad a team is, if they get semi hot from deep, they will most likely make it a close game or even win, we already saw that. Murray needs to lock in or i want Jokic to demand a trade, which prolly won't happen considering the typa person he is.
Mpj isn't as bad as Murray, although if he's your second highest scorer it's a big issue.
@@Yorkshireman5For MPJ it's just the money as opposed to his play most of the time. A lot of NBA teams just aren't using RFA anymore, like who else out there was threatening to pay an injury risk MPJ at the time 30 mill+ a year that the Nuggets didn't want to try to negotiate at all? It for sure screwed them on at least being able to sign Bruce Brown or a decent backup big
No mpj has been great this year and has really improved his game overall. His defensive awareness needs to get better but this really my first time watching the nuggets this year but the bright spots has been jokic and mpj and pwat for me. Russ is really in a confusing situation because he’s clearly been playing better than Murray but Murray has to step up to make this team as good as they supposed to be. Aaron Gordon was shooting great and looking like an allstar level player before his injury and just getting his wind back
@@imhimdk1785 definitely not all star level. You guys really need to stop lying like that
@raiou5010 I get that but he's still a decent option even if slightly overpriced Murray is the guy that hampered them.
The two best players in the league are stuck on garbage rosters, sad
Still better than what KD has been stuck with ever since hard e bailed on him
@@Christopher._MNo he's just been on a superteam for almost every year of his career.Having Booker,who is a MVP caliber player,and Beal,who is all-star caliber player,I guess just isn't enough.Hes one of the guys who's had the most help in his career,and you're comparing him to Jokic,who never played with an all-star.
Milwakee is good...give Jokic Dame and that shooting off the bench and he is winning the chip for sure...
@@realone296 stop it, you act like he doesn't have mpj, Murray and Gordon. I'll take that over dame any day of the week.
@@Christopher._M Jamal Murray has been ass this year. Was not sure if you were aware of that lol
The Nuggets extending Jamal Murray for $200 million after a terrible end to the regular season, a terrible playoffs, and a terrible Olympics will go down as one of the worst front office decisions of all time. You couldn't trade him for Ben Simmons.
Fumbling that hard while having Jokic on your team is so funny and sad at the same time. Just hope Jokic eventually land on a decent team or that a miracle happens in Denver
@doublejazz I couldn't even get myself to watch the Jxmyhighroller video because it was just going to make me depressed that they're wasting him.
When Simmons' contract expires, Jamal will have the second worst contract in the NBA (behind Beal)
Before anyone says "but Zach LaVine!"
LaVine is healthy (feels insane to say) and is not playing like a third stringer
At least those guys have been All-Stars at one or more points in their careers. Beal is currently averaging similar numbers to Murray while being more efficient as a third option, so his contract does not look worse than Murray's right now.
@urbaindelva7869 Beal's contract is only the worst, possibly ever, only because of the NTC
Remove that and the contract is just an overpay, which is a lot more justifiable
As long as they keep beating the Lakers, I don't see a problem.
As a certified Lakers hater, I can agree with this
I second this
Then you are apart of the problem
Admitting they live rent free is crazy
😂
On Murray, I think he has proximal hamstring tendinopathy. It is a nagging injury that affects people who do things like martial arts because it happens in a elongated postion (it's sometimes called 'yoga butt'). It will start to feel better but then one bad move and you're back to square one. And it takes a very long time to rehab (18-36 months). It's the kind of recurring thing that could suck your willingness to be aggressive. But trading him is pointless. Both because he has no value and this team is dependent on him performing somewhat to standard to getting another chip.
I think that at this point nuggets would probably be better by putting Jamal Murray to focus purely on recovering from his injuries the rest of this season and the beginning of next season and then trying to get a second ring on the 2026 playoffs or the 2027 playoffs
Nope its because Jamal Murray is simply out of shape, and it’s clear he doesn’t put in the necessary work during the offseason. The difference in his body shape from 2019 to now is noticeable. I really hope the Nuggets can bring in some top-tier personal trainers to get him in peak condition. It could make a huge difference in his performance and the team's success.
@@isho2x The Nuggets do bring in top trainers, Every team does. I don't think he's out of shape just because he's lazy. In fact if anything Jamal's story is that his dad pushed him insanely hard and he trained too much..
Nah. He just suck ass. This got nothing to do with injuries. He isn't injury. He isn't hurt. He's just bad and he's out of shape
@@RomnysGonzalez Yeah you're probably right. Sure until last year he was the biggest playoff riser ever, but really he just sucks. And sure his backstory is that his dad trained him into the ground, putting wear and tear on his body, but really he's just lazy. And yes, he literally out with an injury right now, and has missed about 30% of the games in his career, but really he's not hurt. Your argument is iron clad my friend!
Hey Rusty I don’t usually comment but love the work man! Keep it up. I know changing titles and video formats throws off the algorithm, but I personally like the change you made. I think it’s the right direction to go in, hopefully the numbers will adjust back up soon!
This looks like a coaching/communication issue. In some of these clips the defense is recoverable, especially clips 1 and 2. I've seen Miami and Boston recover from worse.
it's very rare to hear Jokic be frustrated with the people around him. Whoever's running the Nuggets needs to stop being stupidly complacent
I have no idea what’s going on with Jamal Murray. At times it seems more like an injury issue and at others it seems to be a complacent mentality leading him to just never really try.
I think they’ll clean this up throughout the season (especially if they make some kind of trade) but, yeah as a Nuggets fan it’s been pretty frustrating.
It seems to be a mix of a mentality and cardio issue. He seems like he’s getting in his own head now, and you even see him hesitating on shots that are normally his go to. It’s weird cause that used to always be his strong suit, never getting in his own head being at his best when the pressure is highest, but he just seems like he’s over thinking everything on offense.
Also he looks like he’s dragging usually pretty quickly early on. Just hunched over out of breath 5 minutes into the game. Which, missing time constantly only makes that worse.
No its because he's out of shape, and it’s clear he doesn’t put in the necessary work during the offseason. The difference in his body shape from 2019 to now is noticeable. I really hope the Nuggets can bring in some top-tier personal trainers to get him in peak condition. It could make a huge difference in his performance and the team's success.
@ That would fall under what I was saying about mentality. He’s complacent and let himself get out of shape
Nuggets will win 15 straight now. Jokic spoke it into existence
U mean what he has said during the intro of this video or?
@ spoke it into existence probably not the right choice of words, but him calling out his teammates (paycheck and benching remarks) gave em a reality check
*Hot take: No offense, but basketball RUclipsrs ROUTINELY make very big over exaggerations with numbers. I’m not saying “eye test matters more,” but a 2 game difference in wins & losses, I’m sorry is not significant enough or a drop off in percentage points by 2 (ex: 38.2%-35.9%)is also not that significant. I love the stats, but can we slow down with these overreactions please.
Also I’m talking strictly about the NUMBERS not context in wins or losses
Unfortunately I think balancing stats with the eye test appropriately might be an intrinsically hard task. Either a person lacks statistical training, so they draw conclusions from data that isn't strong enough. Or they do have the stats chops but lean too much into the numbers and can't identify confounding factors that are revealed by film.
MPJ was completely asleep on rotations and cuts, not a good defensive game from him
Jokic's on/off stats were a big part of why I thought he deserved MVP the last few seasons, but I don't even want to look at them this season.
It's like having an NBA player play with a middle school team. Of course his on/off will be off the charts.
Giannis East, Jokic West.
Both having overpaid inconsistent unhealthy 2nd star.
Both missed a defensive big piece, Tucker and Brown.
Both could have repeated but fell short.
Both have been down hill since winning the championship.
PS. i was talking about Khris, their 2nd best in like 4 years stretch before having Dame.
Dame isn’t Overpaid, inconsistent or unhealthy what you on about
Just because Murray is overpaid, inconsistent and unhealthy doesnt mean Dame is.
@@selloutfadezIdk about that. I like Dame, but he is overpaid for his actual impact on the game, and he can be inconsistent, just nowhere near as much as Murray is right now. He is more durable, though.
Bro please do not group Dame and Jamal Murray together. That shit is honestly disrespectful to Dame.
@@urbaindelva7869dame currently has the 39th biggest contract in the league, behind guys like michael porter jr and desmond bane, I wouldn’t say he’s overpaid
Sad part was, the Wizards are deliberately tanking this season, yet the Nuggets still lost.
The defense isn’t on Jokic. He did his job in getting the ball out of the ball handler. It’s on the low man to tag the roller and they kept getting there too late or not at all. Then everyone else is already out of rotation because of that.
Jokic has ALWAYS been targeted in the pick and roll. I believe in their championship season malone had Jokic play high in PnR a lot, the team defense was just MUCH better
Pro tip: watch Rusty’s videos 1.5x speed. Sounds much better and everyone wins. You save time and are more likely to watch his full videos even when they are ‘long’
I find that's often the case with most videos on YT, but yeah, I tried it after reading your comment and you're right!
2.0x. I can’t watch RUclips at normal speed. Everyone sounds drunk.
Lol, Gen Z is cooked, I just did that and it was annoying af. Y'alls brains are fried.
People in US don't understand how fast you loose your place in team need just 3-4 games if you after 10 don't come back you get fired sell you to any club who wish to give any money!!
Imagine if Jokic and Giannis decided to take massive pay cuts, form a team together and surround themselves with decent 3 point shooters. Might as well just save everyone the trouble and pass them the next four or five Larry O'Brien trophies.
Jokić and Giannis would never fit together. Giannis likes to drive into the paint, which he would not be able to do alongside Jokić because Jokić is at his best when directing traffic from the post. You could have him be Brook Lopez 4.0 and stretch the floor for Giannis, but that would be a severe waste of his impact. Also, Giannis is neither as good at nor willing to play like a big man like Jokić is despite being one, which could also cause issues.
@@urbaindelva7869they're two of the smartest players ever bro cmon now... Even Dwade and LeBron fit and on paper they are a bad fit together
Under Euroleague coach Željko Obradović (Serbian nationality) who is such a great coach that Greg Popović praised him and has said multiple times he has stolen plays from him. Just saying that to give context to American audience...
And in club he is coaching at, whatever club u pick, whether club he coached before or is coaching rn. A player like Jamal Murray after these debacles would be benched and after some time would be waved off by club. That is sincerely how it would go. Of course they try here to make sure u get back in pace. But these shenanigans Murray has been showing would be visible and no Euroleague coach would allow this stuff... While in NBA it's all about money. And they don't do this stuff because well money talks, Murray is the second paid on team although he doesn't deserve it... Maybe Jokić should be the shot caller for everything. Seriously, he should be the one to decide who stays and who leaves. Make him the GM, the coach and center at the same time and lets see how it goes. Because it seems like in NBA the star player like LeBron for an example decides everything which is crazy stupid. Front office should be aware what is bad contract and that they don't their star player to tell them, doesn't matter which club. Idk who's calling shots there for Murray to stay. I think they got some weird nostalgia over trading their players away if they don't want to.
Great video, would love to see more film breakdown
watch the nuggetss go like 10+ games undefeated now that rusty posted this lmao
12-10 verse 14-8 is literally 2 games, and how many total games between Jokic, Murray and Gordon have been missed? Probably like 20. Only had all 3 of them in a few games. They'll be fine, they have the best player in the world.
Jamal M. has achieved his lifelong dream, Jamal has signed a new contract that is among the seven biggest in the NBA... the contract is secure and Jamal is insured for the rest of his life. If Jamal didn't go to the bench after bad games - it was a fake injury, Jamal doesn't play anymore and sometimes he might want to play once every 3 months.
The other players of the championship team Jamal, MPJ, and AG have to step up when Jokic is not there. Every single game is total desperation when he is not playing. They're awful without him.
Screen navigation is where they miss KCP the most. But when you have bad screen navigators throughout the roster it is better to have Jokic play up to the screen. Drop coverage has never worked well with him. You need the third defender to be sharp and rotations on point. They're just not doing this.
Jamal and MPJ are the Glass Bros
Gotta say that the analysis given here for a lot of these plays is quite poor.
When the big hedges a PnR, the weakside corner defender is responsible for tagging the roller.
The nearest weakside defender is then responsible for "zoning up" between his man and the tagger's man allowing time for rotations to catch back up. These are always, 100% of the time, the case when hedging, but are treated in the video as only a product of Jokic hedging too high in this video.
In the first clip Russ is in no man's land on the weakside when he's supposed to be the zoner, and that's why the rotation fell behind. Second clip the tag came from strongside (should have been Russ but he was again in no mans land).
The breakdown of the clips and overarching point just kinda point to not understanding the defensive schematics.
Jamal's efficiency has fallen off of a cliff, which does make a noticeable difference.
Um - we are 22 games in. Let's say they won 2 games they lost so far - they'd be 14 and 8, nobody would be saying a thing. So what are we doing here - panicking over 2 games lost 22 games into the season? C'mon....
You sound like someone who doesn't actually watch the games and see just how bad they play, regardless of W or L result in the end. Not to mention that two games went to OT, where we could easily have been 10-10. OKC is 19-5. Rockets and Grizzlies 17-8. Just 2 L away, yes, but 5 W away. In West that's lightyears away from getting that spot. And half of those teams are plagued with injuries themselves.
But results aside, WE DO NOT PLAY GOOD BASKETBALL. We let far too many open 3s while we are dead last at 3 point shot attempts.
It’s mostly because of that one wizards game
@@krle24I don’t think they’re saying the team hasn’t been playing badly, just that people are acting like they’re 5-17 or something.
They have one of if not the worst bench in the league. They haven’t had a quality backup center since Plumlee in 2020. Jamal Murray sucks now and his contract makes him untradable. The front office is content with only winning one championship and Jokic is the only thing keeping them a contender
It’s called seeing the writing on the wall you can watch a few games and see where the team is heading and how the playoffs can look with this roster. Jokic is doing the most he can while the others aren’t showing up as much
If they don't start playing defence along with Jamal coming out we will be in trouble.
When u got 1 max player in murray playing like a backup pg on a min contract like shroeder or another max player playing like a 3 and d role player without the elite 3 point shooting or elite d like kpj.....your kinda fucked.
Max players need to play like max players especially when u have 3 on your roster.
We got 3 players in yrs 2-3 who weren’t used to getting playing time like that. Defense of course is going to be rough until 50 games in. A new pg in russ trying to adapt his game for them as well but how can he went the starting pg is out? Basically what im saying is this.
- 2 starters misses quite some time
- 3 players in yrs 2-3.
- yes. Murray. Hes a shell right now. But he’ll get right. People needa chill
The moment they gave Murray a max contract, knowing full well how the new second apron works, I knew the anuggets were cooked.
I know this isn’t Russel Westbrooks fault but he feels like a bad omen. It’s like the kid in the group project who when he is in control you get a A but if he’s a part of the team talk get a F.
I still think were just over worried for this team. They haven’t been healthy and this team always had a depth issue and still was a contender. I do think they should be get a shooter that doesn’t have a high ceiling. Like gabe or cam Johnson not big name shooter and their value at a low right. As I see it still have 6 good to solid playoff players. Plus 5 of them where from your championship team that consists only of 8 players in retrospect ( the two that left one is overpaid and the another one is never healthy). To be honest thats a good job for office. I thought the goal for most front office to keep a championship team core. They kept the best pieces in my opinion. They just need to get healthy get some low risk shooters with high reward. Cuz joker and Russ will make them playable
The worry is they don’t really have any way to upgrade their depth, and for some reason, whether it just be a small market that no one is interested in or the GM actively trying to force young guys into the lineup, nuggets have just been unable to attract free agents willing to take a discount the last 2 years, which frankly, boggles my mind. After having watched what happened for KCP, Bruce Brown, Jeff Green, and Russ, I don’t know why any free agent wouldn’t be clamoring to join this team.
True Joker must go closer to rim and must try stop them how many times I see they just pass by him he just watch and wait AG or somebody who can jump to jump and try block!
So are you saying that Jokic is just going to allow open 3s on top of the key when his teammates get caught in a screen?
IT IS NOT JOKIC's FAULT BEING TOO HIGH DUE TO WEAK SCREEN NAVIGATION BY ALL OF THOSE PERIMETER DEFENDER TEAMMATES
In my opinion only Joker, Aaron and Poter worth staying in team.
U are right with watson as a screen navigator. I thonk overall watson and braun are both great great defensers, even es good as kcp, but we got no one that can keep up with smaller, faster guards. Braun is a menace but defensively, but once murray in on the field, we cant contain sh!t
thonk, defensers, made me chuckle 👍
Jokic is so mad at the team that he can average 40 ppg this year. He is done with assisting bullshit.
That aint possible with yhe way Jokic is defending plus his best of all time passing from the C position.
@@supermerio8335 I'm telling you. No more assists to armless teammates.
They *couldnt* resign bruce brown it was not legal because of how they acquired him they *couldnt* match what other teams offered him
Jokic needs help! That guy should have 2 or more rings now but oh well, his team is 🗑️ now
Not falling apart, so much as they have yet to Come Together - Murray is a problem....he should be moved to 6th man and traded if they could actually get anything for him.....MPJ is a head case but he is a keeper. Strawther doesn't seem like he's all that with it and Zeke Najji has an absurdly high salary. Watson is a keeper and needs to be polished up. Russ is Russ...not sure what anyone expected....should get stronger as he gels with Joker and Gorden is solid when he heals up it will get better. Denver in tough spot by giving Murray and MPJ monster contracts.
Why tf am I getting yelled at smh 🤦♂️
Scored all those points only to lose. This man is not the mvp front runner Shai is… Shai makes his team better and the record proves that…
Jamal Murray and Bradley Beal are without a doubt the worst contracts in the league. Nuggets need to do anything they can to get out from underneath Jamal
So many bad points "they didn't bring back bruce brown" all they could offer was the MLE, which he obviously played his way to a much fatter contract. They obviously would've brought him back if they could've. And I also think letting KCP might've been the right move, he's been awful shooting the ball this season, was awful in last seasons playoffs, and Christain Braun has been better in both this season and last playoffs, them paying KCP would've taken them over the 2nd apron and they would literally have 0 flexibility whatsoever.
Even though he deserved to win MVP, I don't think Jokic will win if Denver stays at play in position or not in top 3. Because remember, Luka didn't win last year even tough he had the same stats. Kobe didn't win in 2006 even though he had better stats and Wilt didn't win 1962 even though he had historic stats due to their team's win loss record.
Joker better not win it this year.
5 days later and this video seems like an overreaction. Nuggets have gotten off to slow starts for 3 years now. Let’s be patient
This is problem with NBA Joker is now superstar and nobody can tell him what to do first trainer's and how call people for food to put him on diet he will be 10 times better and he was when he was slimmer need to loose at least 10kg and need to work on his jump work Jordan exercises for jump it's easy don't need anything only wall,I am sad to say this but he is mostly useless in defence we are all focused on offence but he must improve his def at least whit all that mass block with body force him far from rim! But understand very good mentality we Serbians have special mentality that can see in football if we give 6 goals till halftime maybe we win at the end with 6-5 bcs our will stop at 45min and who wish to run 45min more! We have that finding loopholes in system mentality how to work less and be ok!
he the joker
Hello my good man.
Maybe this is out of line, but I think it’s time for a change. #FrankNtilikinaToTheNuggets
Jordan Poole for MVP!
Denver nuggets should trade for Malcolm brogdon just saying he on 23 million if you trade for but he already Played half of the season but owe 11 million can you trade 11millon or still 23 can you trade for him at 11 million
You can break most all teams down like that every night. Sounds like a coaching problem but you say nothing about the coach. It's a GM problem but you say nothing about that.
Are you this lazy??? They dominated Atlanta the next game! ALSO MPJ has really taken his game to the next level!!
Nuggets 12-10 and most of the wins were against non playoff weak teams. So the Nuggets are just a mediocre team as for now.
bit dramatic.... Denver beat the Hawks with a 30 point lead the next game
Jokic is greater than Magic Johnson. Magic could never carry a team of scrubs like this. This proves Johnson is overrated.
I’ve been saying for years that Jokić gets a pass for playing terrible defense and it’s been that way for years. Just another example of how disgusting bias can get. Just about every other great offensive player who can’t play defense has it constantly mentioned alongside them, but with the Jokic crowd the narrative becomes “He’s not a bad defender, he’s just not known for his defense” when the truth is he is a bad defender. He’s slow footed, he can’t move laterally, and he’s constantly watching the ball and prioritizing rebounds instead of shot contests to pad his stats. If he wasn’t 7 feet tall with a big body, nobody would be defending his defense. There’s a difference between being able to clog the paint and put your hands up and being able to play good defense. He’s basically a 7 foot tall traffic cone that moves a little bit. Very much like Luka, his idea of playing defense is ball watching and trying to get steals.
Well, the stats do not bear that out. I think your bias is showing as well. Defensive stats, normalized over many years show Jokić as a plus defender overall. While he’s not much above the NBA average,he is above it. Therefore, not a terrible defender.
@MrBubblecake At least he is a 7-feet traffic cone. But you're just a ground-level doormat.
If Jokic was indeed a liability on defense then the Nuggets wouldn't have won the championship, the Center position is the most important defensive position and Jokic's defense isn't hugely impactful but it's not bad either, people would cheery pick games where he performs poorly and say "OH LOOK AT HOW BAD HE IS" which is something you can do even with elite defenders.
0 basketball iq
if jokic was such a net negative that you disingenuously try to paint him as they would have never even sniffed a championship
On the bright side they still own the lakers
Murray isnt a true pount guard and hes selfish, shoots 3s thats all. Get rid of him get the ball to Jocic
Murray doesnt pass he stinks trade him
Just trade jokic he sucks at defense he is trash worst mvp. his offense is so empty they cant win with him he lost to wizards he trash
Minor spelling mistake therefore your opinion is invalid 😢 (jk)
Thanks lmao
Just trade jokic he sucks at defense he is trash worst mvp he offense is empty they cant win with him he lose to wizards he trash
Murray selfish trade him
Can’t self destruct something that wasn’t a solid structure anyways
I mean.. in a literal sense you can
I totally get the spirit of what you're saying, but the more I read that statement, the sillier and more nonsensical it became lol.
The act of self destructing and having a solid structure are not mutually exclusive.
You could still self destruct even you have solid structure. 2018-19 Celtics is a good example of it.
Start russ
When are people gonna call it like it is, Jokic takes plays off defense, he's a one sided player as masterful as he is on offense, he gives up plays on defense. Tbh, if he gets MVP for a 4th time it only emphasizes how much people glaze analytics over winning and overall impact from an intangible standpoint.
Nah you just don't watch basketball
Look at some of the guard defense on some of the plays. Mfs are behind the play BEFORE a screen is even set
@bilindabutcher8913 I very much watch basketball, but I knew someone was gonna reply back with a sentiment based on the entire team playing bad defense. Typical deflection, because if you understand how concept machines work, or assembly lines, or anything that has connectivity, if a piece, or a cog, or a part falls apart everything else either falls apart or has to compensate. Peyton Watson literally has to help on the nail, abandon his man so that Jokic has some help guarding his man, BECAUSE HE'S TERRIBLE DEFENSIVELY!! Jokic being slow footed don't help his cause but what don't help is Jokic trying to air "swipe" towards a player driving towards him like that's actually going to do anything to anyone even semi athletic. Rusty even listed how many times Jokic was targeted on Pick and Rolls, it's obvious when you remove AG, and have Mediorce play of Jamal Murray, Jokic has to will himself offensively for victories and that usually works but definitely has limits. As I said, Jokic should not and I repeat, should not get a 4th MVP this season.
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Fabo
11:18 - how dumb are you?
it was all westbrook's fault.
then jokic were supposed to guard 2 players at once?
Whose fault it is, is almost entirely irrelevant. He never even came close to implying that Jokic had try and guard TWO players at once. He was pointing out the lack of effort on actually affecting the ball handler with adequate pressure, who in that very instance should become priority number one if you're the big man trying to defend a drive. If anything, Rusty was criticizing him for TRYING to guard two players simultaneously.
You're not expected to guard two people - you're expected to take the better option between a) just standing there in the middle, trying to guard both players and b) press the ball handler hard enough to potentially stifle them enough into possibly making a mistake and making their path to the basket more difficult. With option B) you at least have a chance of potentially making something happen.
206 views after 3 mins. Rusty fell off 😢😔😔
Only 1015 views now 25 mins in - man, this just gets worse and worse for Rusty....
Click merchant.
Exactly, joker is just as much to blame as everyone els, take away his pay for his defense, at least embid plays both, joker should not be a 3 time mvp
And you shouldn't be a responsible citizen, who is allowed to vote.