What if Nikola Jokic was on the Utah Jazz? | Defend The Take

What if Nikola Jokic was on the Utah Jazz? | Defend The Take

If nicoa yic was on the Utah Jazz they would be better than the current Denver Nuggets team with joic so Zack your 60 seconds begins now unquestionably yes unquestionably yes let’s go down the list all right one yic is going to be yic the best player in the league right so that’s that’s

Unquestioned two Larry marinan great scorer serves his country military man versus Aaron Gordon complains about losing the dunk contest Michael Porter J antivaxer right Simone fono World traveler not afraid of of regulations and travel tips cavius calwell Pope really nice player think he fits in anywhere Colin ston just scores better

More reliable shooter more reliable with the ball in his hands and then the point guard position Jamal Murray I don’t know seems like he gets hurt a lot you know give me Chris Dunn give me K George give me those guys playing off yic what could yic turn those guys into Jamal Murray

Not not even even an All-Star this dude can’t make an Allstar team he can’t make an all NBA he’s bumping up jokic’s stats left and right because yic is like hey he’s never play with an Allstar never play with all NBA guy and look how good

He is now you’re putting allba time uh Dave before you go Zach I don’t know if you know this but I’m an Orlando Magic fan and Aaron Gordon thoroughly deserved those Dunk Contest Awards and so you’re getting subtracted a points I’m so sorry that you were forced to buy into a vich

Fornier Gordon team do matter you’re getting subtracted a point so Dave you you you have a chance to tie this Dave your 60 seconds begins now I mean listen I think the most important thing to remember here is that the Denver Nuggets just won a title and a playoff run in

Which they were extremely dominant and that dominance has continued that that’s the story here is that the Denver Nuggets as constructed it’s as close to a perfect team as exists right now in the NBA they are by far the best team in the league removing joic makes him a lot

Worse because he’s the best player in the world and it would make Utah uh much better by adding him but I think that when you go down the roster the quality of player it’s just not the same head-to-head no matter what Zach says and I understand the off the court stuff

You got to take that into account when you think about the locker room I don’t think about that stuff I’m just thinking about the on court product Jamal Murray is um a little bit of a clone of Steph Curry in the way that he plays off the

Ball around joic it’s a perfect mix and his handle is so much better than Colin seon his ability to get to the B I mean I just think he’s a perfect sidekick number two guy next to yic whereas I don’t think could be the third time uh

I’m going to take this a one step further to start this discussion but do you think the Utah Jazz are better set up for the future than the Denver Nuggets or is jokas just that good where the nuggets are they they’ll be better for a long time let me let me start here

So I would say this the Utah Jazz are slightly younger I think that they’re their window or as we call it on nerder the hallway the door is not quite open yet like they haven’t started this we’re pushing for top four in the west you know they’re just not there it’s

Different phase of team building whereas the Nuggets they’ve been building now for five or six years you know this is this is a lot of continuity that’s causing them to be so good I mean this is same coach same core players that you’ve had throughout this entire run I

Think that that’s something and Zack like we don’t see it often number one but you can’t replicated it right it’s tough to do um I would say this like the Jazz are way deeper uh in terms of rotation um I do think their weapons would complement yic

Just as well as what Denver has um very different ways but just as well this Jazz team is trying to lose and they’re 500 so now you put the best player in the world on the team and that seems pretty good to me like you’re Denver is

Developing their bench and the end of their rotation but it still has like a lot of like we don’t know if this guy’s going to be good tonight whereas you throw in you know you’re talking like Jordan Clarkson Off the Bench you’re you’re talking you know real role

Players who are already established you know I don’t know if that means like Kelly o linck in this world is now the backup center but whatever like or Walker Kessler is like the full-time backup center but like there’s so much depth there that isn’t either an old guy

At the end of his rope like like DeAndre Jordan or young guys who are trying to good like Christian braa I will never call him Christian Brown your name is spelled Braun and like pton Watson really nice encouraging young player they’ve got some guys like Strather and everything but those guys aren’t

Completely reliable yet I’m with you on the depth and I I do think that regular season like you add joic to this team they’re a homecourt Advantage team in the playoffs but once you get to the playoffs that’s when everything sorts sorts itself out you know and those

Players like you’ve got low and you’ve got joic and I know I kind of know what they would do it’s the other guys you shorten that rotation like you trust Jordan Clarkson in the playoffs playing off yic yeah for sure sure yeah I I would say I would say

Jordan Clarkson and Jamal Murray are closer than Jamal Murray and Steph Curry in terms of what they would be next to yic next to yic yeah that’s interesting I I happen to disagree um but I I think part of that is just because Murray is a three-level scorer and and I don’t think

That Jordan Clarkson is this is you can run Murray I mean and Clarkson for sure will will absolutely run an offense by himself I think you run better offense with Murray um but I do like Utah’s depth I think that you’re right about that like this is going to

Be a thing that that sorts itself out for for Denver come playoff time we’ll find out if they’re as good as last year um in the playoffs once these young guys have to play something Dave said that I want to push back on he said like obviously Denver is the number one team

Here I don’t know they have a lower win percentage than Minnesota Tal have never come close to a championship so I you know you calling them number one team they have a low win percentage and then a team that’s definitely worse that just lost the Hornets with the guy going for

62 I don’t know I don’t know you know I don’t I don’t know if that’s uh I don’t know if that’s accurate I mean I I do think that there’s a little bit of sleepwalking through the regular season here for the for the Nuggets feels easy

For them when they when they turn it on awake enough to beat out the the timber if if joic was on this current Utah Jazz team would you lock them in as final f I wouldn’t I would I would lock them in I would lock them into the second round

Of the playoffs I think no man I think I don’t think stop I don’t think yish is just like it’s it’s hard to describe I I didn’t I didn’t watch will I didn’t you know what I mean but it feels like that uh the way that he’s described in the

And the clips you see it feels like like the way he just it it’s just he’s unguardable I I don’t know I I I it’s hard for me to to count him out let’s just put it that way the way he plays and the way he is right now it would be

Hard for me to count him out I don’t think that they I think they’re absolutely the best team in the west um I’d have some questions about who they play in the finals but in terms of getting through the West like yeah like that this I mean the Jazz team is is

Already really good after a bad start and now you’re telling me the best player in the world is on that team that’s a title Contender but to back to the to the prompt if you were asking me to take the Jazz with joic versus the jazz or the nuggets with joic I’m taking

The Nuggets I’m I’m taking the Jazz just simply because yeah you’re right like when we get to the playoffs depth it it matters less unless they’re injuries Denver I don’t think can sustain injuries the Jazz with joic could sustain injuries and still maintain their level of play I mean it’s possible

I will say that we’ve seen yic by himself sustain injuries and make run you know playoff run without mpj without Jamal Murray you know you are going to run into a wall at a certain point because you other guys but this is but this is my point about Utah I I have

Their guys ranked lower than a lot of the guys in the Nuggets I think you know one for one or whatever however you want to look at it and then there’s the continuity aspect which I we we can’t even use that here because that’s not fair but I think that I think they’re

They’re just going to be better at the higher end even even if they lost a guy or two um because by the same token Utah could easily lose a guy guys get hurt all the time I guess it kind of the Utah team kind of reminds me of two things

One like remember like the 95 magic and how deep they were and then you go to like the 2009 magic and how deep they were like it it just reminds me a lot of that in terms of sustaining that but they don’t have a Hu turo to to be out

There like making things happen and and frankly Dwight Howard and his defense was so important oh for sure right they wouldn’t have like y is a good Defender but he’s not a alter every single game plan for the opposing Team Defender like Dwight Howard was sure but you still have

Like dominant center with a bunch of depth see I think it’s more a little bit more like I compare Utah to the Tampa Bay Rays like I I just think they’ve got a lot of really good guys right who do their job role players but no guys that

Are going to help like you’re not saying oh man here’s our three four and five hitter if you get yic hey we got our three hitter but who’s going to hit fourth oh probably Lowry marinin well who’s our fifth hitter no Colin seon’s probably lead off guy disrespecting Evan

Longor who is an alltime great like I I just don’t I don’t know like I I’m I’m old enough to remember like like you have you have Utah maybe make a trade for a veteran to come I’m old enough to remember Wade bogs on the Rays and how

Just what how much that set that franchise forward in knowing that like someday this team’s gonna be a problem I think look Colin seon could definitely be like a Carlos P for this te I just like I Zach you don’t know this but uh Dave already knows the Tampa

Bay Rays are my favorite team and so Dave I figured that out real quick when trying to kiss ass with that comment I think it’s shameful I think it’s shameful I think it’s shameful as all the times the ray have been cheated in the postseason you know that 95

Orlando Magic team man yeah okay yeah Zach you get a minus one for that too you can’t you can’t be kissing ass up here listen pandering is literally the name that’s what he just dids one final question we’ll end with this um let’s say we live in a world where

Yic does not exist um which team the the the current Denver Nuggets or the current Utah Jazz would you rather have for this season and for the next three seasons oh with no joic with no y there’s a world without yic I mean I don’t see how the I don’t see

How Denver is even a definite playoff team it depends on who you’re replacing him with if you saying like League average Center no replace yeah just like League yeah League average Center uh for for both like for like let’s say like I mean well maybe he’s not League average

Like but I was thinking like all right so now like Kelly oin is their starting center yeah know if you want to make things Fair a way to look at it is like this um because it’s hard to say what does it look like on the court but like

Which and I I’m also not an asset head so please excuse me for this but like which players do you like better you know what I mean like do you do you would you start with this team and add pieces to it or this team and add pieces

To it I mean both are are you know imperfect I guess that’s my question like would rather for me I think today the the Denver Nuggets and part of this again is the Aging curve right these guys are you know like Murray is entering his prime Gordon’s in his prime

Mpj’s coming into his Prime and it’s just a little bit further along in the process for some of them um so I tend to lean toward them I I just think the higher end Talent is a little higher end the starters are better than they are in

Utah but utft assets are you are you plugging in a center who may like who can kind of do it all you know right a Ben zis a Carl Crawford type of athlete who can just do whatever I’m just talking about the type of that those are just guys that come to

Mind when I’m thinking of like complete athlete you know yeah yeah I know like hu tur just um yeah really can just Swiss army knife type guy just or like a just a solid veteran presence that you trust with your life like a jir

Nelson got me he got Z which one if you had to make a decision though which which roster would you rather start with um with no yic no yic the Jazz I just think there’s more there like I could see the nuggets with their young

Because I do like a lot of their young guyss they’re just not I can’t be definite that they’re going to be something whereas with the Jazz there seven eight dudes in that rotation where I’m like yeah give me like give me that guy on my team I I just think that the

The nuggets have more guys that I can look at and say oh yeah that’s that’s a dude I also just don’t I don’t believe in as much as Denver media is trying to lead us towards this I don’t think Michael Porter Jr is that guy I think

He’s a nice role player who got a great agent to get him that contract he’s in a perfect spot no matter yeah like you put him in a lot of other situations and and not even just the medical stuff like with him where like his you know there’s

Some real question I mean he was he was going to be the number two pick granted it was by the Kings but like the kings were going to take him number two before the injury stuff would they looked at the Medicals just like all right we we

Can’t trust the number two pick with this we’ll go and the family history right like when you look like his sister his has had huge injuries I think you put him in a different situation where there’s more pressure on him to be a guy and he’s got

To play more I I think it probably crumples but I do think that Denver did a good job of protecting him phenomenal job they handled it as well as as you could handle it and he looks healthy right like he looks like whatever the back issue was where he had the surgery

Looks like it’s not bothering him and you’re right like playing next to yic like what a luxury it’s like Klay Thompson like what what would Klay Thompson look like if he didn’t have Steph Curry I don’t know I think that I’ve always thought he would look like

Miller well maybe a little bit like Michael Porter Jr right like Michael Porter Jr is like a 610 Klay Thompson offensive type he doesn’t want to pass this is one of the things that’s been so amazing about him this season is that you can like there’s so many shots where

I’m like oh he’s gonna force it and he throws a pass and I’m like every pass but every pass comes with a sigh so like he just grudgingly like just I guess I can move the ball here but his part of that is also though these guys like he’s

Such a smart cutter yeah that that when he throws a pass he now cuts off the pass and so he’s getting a bucket out of it so I I just think that his growth has been uh pretty impressive and it doesn’t happen without joic but to say you take

Joic away and all that growth is gone that’s a little harsh I I do think he’s a pretty good player I think I think I think he’s a really good talent but it doesn’t always translate into a really good player you know well this is where the team context

Just matter so much you know the fact that he is they have forced him into a role where like you this is how you have to play and he can do that because he’s so talented I mean he there’s a there’s a world in which he’s Kyle kosma and

He’s you know the best player on an awful team and he’s 25 a night on a 25 win team but here it he is bought into being 15 to 18 a night on a 52 55 win team I think that that’s mentally that tells me a lot about about who he is you

Don’t hear there’s no squeaking Wheels there is a world where he does get drafted by the Kings number two and he is currently dominating turkey like just well man him and shenon would be him and shenon oh my God if we can can we naturalize mpj can the Turkish

Government naturalizing like Shane Lin him to the National he’s never he’s never USA look man we keep calling shenon baby yic let’s see it uh in some International competition that that’s actually you know that’s the next step all these uh all these teams yic just gonna be like hey Aaron Gordon come be

Serbian you you feel pretty Serbian to me come be Serbian yeah come be Serbian and win and win an Olympic gold Bal and obviously we mentioned turkey that’s where NBA legend hoo Turk lose from yeah

The Athletic NBA Show discuss what would happen if Nikola Jokic was on the Utah Jazz.