A devastating knee injury to Joker would be the perfect exclamation point for the weirdest winter I’ve had with my sports teams.
NBA: *** 2025-26 NBA Thread ***
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Not a Nuggets fan but that would absolutely suck if he’s out. Putting up historical numbers right now.
Great it’s not an ACL, but we (Nuggets) are still in trouble. We’re only 3 games out of the play in, and we’re now down 4 starters, including the best player on the planet, for the foreseeable future.
Denver has had a ridiculous run with injuries and the only silver lining was it was rarely or ever Jokic. Probably best possible news and I’m guessing if it were another player they’d be saying 2-3 weeks instead of 4 weeks.
Gordon was taking his “next level” step before injury too and the problem has always been even when healthy they didn’t have a 3rd or 4th threat on offense that he was evolving into.
It's kind of wild Joker got hurt since he used the same strategy I do at noon ball of never jump and never leave your cylinder.
It's very similar to the Purdy haters...but even more insane and even more wrong.
I know you and I are 100% on the same page here. I saw that graphic and thought of our conversation here the other day. Dude is putting up better assist numbers than J Kidd, better 3% than Bird, etc.
We're talking about production of all-time greats at positions he doesn't even play. People saying he's not the best "center" ever are completely missing the point here. He is so much more than that. I don't even know how you define his position, to be honest.
I've heard the "he hasn't won a championship" knock on a lot of players (Malone, KG until he got one late, Barkley, Iverson, Paul, Kidd until he added one late, Nash, Dirk before he got his, etc) but this is the first time I've ever heard critics demand that a player has to drag a clearly below average rosters to MULTIPLE championships to be good.
If LeBron had stayed entire career in Cleveland and never recruits a super team there, he probably ends up with 2 or maybe 3 instead of the 1 he actually got Cleveland. That's not a knock on him, that's saying he was good enough to drag below average rosters to titles. That's the comp for Joker being in Denver with these rosters and these injuries to teammates.
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Agree. It's the same people moving the goal posts on everyone.
Same people that just can't admit anyone whose prime came after 2010 is an all-time great basketball player. It's getting really old and their arguments are so weak.
It's fun to compare but some just can't do it without being unreasonable.
Hakeem has always been one of my favorite players. Could he have have maybe won more than two titles on a more loaded team? Sure. If Jordan never steps away is it possible he gets none because the Bulls keep right on winning? Yep, and to me he'd still be greatest defensive player of all time even with 0 titles. Would the Jazz teams that lost to Chicago have been NBA champs those years if no MJ? Yeah, probably. Unlike Hakeem whom I love, Karl Malone is a pretty miserable person but I can't crucify him for "no titles" because the guy was an absolute beast and still probably a top 3 power forward I've ever seen. It gets very complex and the people putting up huge moving goal posts are the people who are wrong. I don't think Duncan was a better player than Malone (and definitely not better than Jokic), but his team/coach/organization was elite and I think his contribution was a big part of that and part of why he got a bunch of titles.
Just the idea that Joker has never had an elite roster or even a HEALTHY typical NBA team most years, and already has the Championship to go along with maybe the best per year statistics in basketball history...wtf do people need him to do? They're just irrational nasty haters.
Someone could average 40/20/20 and they'd give them no credit. It just doesn't matter.
Here is my favorite example:
Bulls fans/Jordan fan boys: Scottie Pippen is better than Lebron and Kobe.
Also Bulls fans/Jordan fan boys: Jordan won 6 championships with no talent around him.
Bulls fans/Jordan fan boys: Scottie Pippen is better than Lebron and Kobe.
Also Bulls fans/Jordan fan boys: Jordan won 6 championships with no talent around him.
I have a feeling if it was a young American black guy (being handsome/charismatic wouldn't hurt) who was a top 5 draft pick and played a year or two of American college basketball these same people would have no problem saying that player is on track to match or exceed Jordan and LeBron.
Not really that it's typical racism, but more that Jordan and to a lesser extent Kobe/LBJ have had such a MASSIVE impact that people can't fathom a "GOAT" caliber player who doesn't play, look and act very similar to the way they do. Jokic doesn't fit the stereotype or archetype or vibe that those three created. Kobe was so much like MJ, I really think a lot of criticism of LeBron beyond his ill advised "the decision" was that he has never been the exact kind of player MJ/Kobe were.
There is a growing disdain for foreign players that is an undercurrent for some of this. Look at the league right now and ask yourself if you took the top 5-10 foreign players versus the top 5-10 US-born players, who would win? I personally don't think it's even close...
I love watching elite passers and a lot of these guys are, so to me it has increased my interest, but I agree it doesn't help domestic overall interest and it's definitely some of the Jokic deniers in the media.
Globally the league continues to increase footprint. Have you seen some of the games in Indianapolis where Haliburton would have droves of fans who flew from Asia just to watch him? Those fans didn't get the weird angry gatekeeping media over there yelling "HALIBURTON IS NOT A STAR!!!" and just saw Tyrese was obviously one of the 5-10 most entertaining players, it actually put them ahead of the curve compared to American fans, their lack of exposure to our biggest idiot media.
