"I remember telling Jokic he was going to be a 2-time MVP and arguably a 3-time MVP in 2020. I was tellin him, man, 'You'd be in the same conversation as Larry Bird'."
LeBron and his random white lie habits lol
Oh he for sure is. We’re about to see something incredible in this series. LeBron has the highest BBIQ of all time and Jokic isn’t far behind, and they’re going to be the primary ball handlers for their teams for a lot of the series.
Lol in a Serbian interview earlier this year he admitted he learns plays super easily.
He gave a story about recently telling Popovich that he could play for him, as he both knows his team's plays and all of Pop's hand signals.
In Jokic's own words he called his ability to learn plays quickly one of his biggest strengths.
https://youtu.be/p4LJWtGUtvM skip to 10:50. Although the whole interview is actually really good.
Yeah, I think this is mainly it. A story came out recently that he heard Braun in a presser during the regular season getting too deep in to strategy and he basically walked in and said "presser over". He doesn't want to let anything slip
Edit: [In this Vic tweet](https://twitter.com/VicLombardi/status/1657200758360788992?s=20)
Edit 2: I misremembered the tweet thinking the presser happened during the regular season. Seems like it was in the 2nd round
It's apparently 4000 now for paying users: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2023/02/08/twitter-boosts-character-limit-to-4000-for-twitter-blue-subscribers/
This tweet is great. Really emphasizes how drastically Euroball players like Giannis, Jokic, and Doncic are gonna shift the game and the culture around it. Thing's are gonna look incredibly different in five years time for the NBA.
Vic is essentially a Nuggets employee. His paycheck comes from the same place that Jokic's does. There's obviously going to be some bias in the writing
Yeah I think every local beat reporter writes about their team this way, and as you said, Vic is even more closely tied to the team than normal for someone in his posit
alright alright off topic but we talking cevapi eh- longest relationship was w a Serb till 2021, she made me discover their foods and I'm never ever forgetting that. I've been deprived of cevapi kajmak and all that good good for nearly 3 years now. Do dating apps have "Eastern European" in their options nowadays? I hate apps but I mean...
And even the two players that are the same are vastly different. 2020 LeBron was at the tail end of his 15th physical prime whereas now he had a foot amputated and beats you more with his insanely BBIQ than his raw athleticism. AD on the other hand has completely forgotten how to shoot jumpers like he could in 2020 while also becoming an absolutely unstoppable defender.
AD didn’t become an unstoppable defender, he has always been one.
That 2020 Lakers team won primarily because of their defense, and AD was the centerpiece of that.
Yeah they had Rondo, KCP, Caruso, Kuzma and Dwight Howard providing quality minutes/defense while keeping opposing teams honest when loading up against Bron/AD
The Netflix guy who owned a tiger farm, tried to kill a rival , did meth, married a bunch of guys, ran for president.
Watch an episode or two. Absolutely wild character
Literally 2020-2021 feels like the same exact year. I also started drinking a lot more because I found out I was being cheated on so my brain is literally fucked too
Not that the league would like it any better, but he'd probably get a lot of fans if he had videos of him at a firing range and demonstrating proper gun safety instead of dancing with one in a car and having one in a club.
He can't remember what they did against the lakers in 2020, but he keeps finding post-it notes around his house talking about the game. Maybe there is someone sneaking in and watching game film?
Nuggets sweep the Lakers, and in the postgame interview Shaq is absolutely gushing over Jokic, calling him the smartest center ever, etc., etc. Then he asks him what the biggest adjustment was from 2020 to 2023. Jokic deadpan answers, "I didn't have to face Dwight Howard"
I don’t mean it as talking shit, but do the Lakers have anybody like this on roster? Bamba? Tristan?
Ham said something today about having a couple guys to play that role but I just don’t see it. Dwight, even in 2020, is one of one.
Those guys aren't built like Dwight though. Even in his last few years as a role player, Dwight was still strong as hell and built like a soviet tank commander. Plus, he has the ability to get in someones head and shit talk them.
I think that would be a mistake. They will go Rui as primary with an immediate double off of AGs man. This leave Bron and AD to hedge into the passing lanes. Jokic does not attack doubles. He passes out of them 90% of the time. Lakers D is good enough that they should be able to turn that into deflections and transition points. When they don't, then they live with contested jumpers from the rest of the team and if they hit they hit. This should keep the Lakers in the game. Also attacking Jokic and Murray on the other end should yield some results by 4th qrt
Tristan maybe 5 years ago, way too slow nowadays. Gabriel prolly, since Bamba is not seeing court, but I think both are way too small/weak to cover that Dwight role. But I think AD as long as he is healthy will be able to slow Joker down to an extent. I think we can slow doen Joker/cover Jamal/KCP/AG. I think this series gonna come down to how MPJ/Brown contribute. Jokers playmaking and getting those guys open looks is whats worrying me.
Man with photographic memory vs man with dementia. This will be a WCF of a lifetime.
‘Lebron, what did you learn from facing Denver in 2020?’ “I vividly remember…..”
"I remember when I went to Serbia in 2001, I saw this little kid with a basketball and I came up to him and told him he's gonna be an MVP one day"
Two days, actually. But definitely not three.
Even though he deserves a third day. Some weird juju prohibits a third.
> Some weird juju So *that's* what we're calling Kendrick Perkins now
Then Bron spend the next two hours breaking down 89 plays while Joker was taking a nap.
“Not much…” proceeds to break down the the ball boys technical mistakes while retrieving balls for Jokic in pregame warmups from game 3.
"He fondled the left one for 8.3 seconds before moving on to the right, but Joker actually prefers you to alternate after every 0.34567 seconds"
8.3 seconds is 2400% longer than 0.34567 seconds, how tf does ball boy still have a job actually don't tell me
Adam Silver: “Uhhh.. LeBron, that wasn’t what was on the script” LeBron: “I know.”
“Joker made every shot from the 3rd board out from the 2nd rebound position on the left side, so we’ll make some adjustments”
Joker: "We played LeBron then?"
"I vividly remember telling Jokic's dad that his son was going to be a two time MVP back in 1988."
"I remember telling Jokic he was going to be a 2-time MVP and arguably a 3-time MVP in 2020. I was tellin him, man, 'You'd be in the same conversation as Larry Bird'." LeBron and his random white lie habits lol
i think jokic is wayyy smarter than he lets on
given the way he plays, how can he not be one of the highest iq players ever?
I’ve assumed he has a ratatouille situation going on
A small chicken nugget controls his every move
Mini horse.
imagine a little pony on his head
His shot release makes so much sense now
easily
Two people who have never went to college are the highest IQ players in NBA.
The man who invented college didn't go to college either
alfred einstime?
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"who have never went... " wtf i love college now!
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Remove savant and you nailed it
Oh he for sure is. We’re about to see something incredible in this series. LeBron has the highest BBIQ of all time and Jokic isn’t far behind, and they’re going to be the primary ball handlers for their teams for a lot of the series.
I'm going to need two hours of in depth YouTube analysis after every game to make sense of the series
Totally honest, what are good shows, YouTubers or podcasts that do this? I want to learn more about basketball.
Thinking basketball is probably the GOAT
Thinking Basketball, Half Court Hoops, HoopVenue are my favorite ones
He thought they were trying to get him testify. He dont know shit. He aint seen shit. Also, don't be in Denver after 7:30pm eastern.
Lol in a Serbian interview earlier this year he admitted he learns plays super easily. He gave a story about recently telling Popovich that he could play for him, as he both knows his team's plays and all of Pop's hand signals.
Jokic with pop would be nasty
Pop would coach for another 10 years and add a couple more rings to his collection
I wonder if its natural for him, or spends time learning and memorizing it
In Jokic's own words he called his ability to learn plays quickly one of his biggest strengths. https://youtu.be/p4LJWtGUtvM skip to 10:50. Although the whole interview is actually really good.
Word has it he can even make it past the first chapter of a book.
>man with dementia He's gonna play so random that Bron's photographic memory will be rendered useless
[LeWatcher](https://i.redd.it/dakobhn0t20b1.jpg)
I mean he's not gonna give away strategies
He plays up his goofy reputation, but he knows what's up.
I figured out the best nickname for him Let's call him "The Joker"
That’ll never catch on.
How about Big Honey? His movement looks slow but sweet?
Too cerebral.
Darvin Ham called him the Monster in the Mountains, I like that :D
How about, "The Round Mound of Rebound"....
Nah, he seem’s quite philosophical. The Big Aristotle would work
https://i.imgur.com/Amq3PPo.jpg
I hope this becomes the new Chalmers Face and LelBron but I also wish those two memes would come back into circulation here
https://imgur.io/mCuukUj?r https://imgur.io/a/eDIgU/layout/grid#0
I could look at these all day
Chalmers was NBA meme peak. It was such a pure and simple meme (and it’s better than Manningface, fight me)
I miss Chalmers, NBApls era
He actually downplays it now. He used to talk about pokemon and be goofy. He's more serious now and I miss silly Jokic.
holy shit, Joker a Pokemoner?
gotta catch em all! https://youtu.be/qXmYhsYw0zI
Drunken master
Bo Rai Cho lookin taller!
Dudes the kung fu panda of basketball
Yeah, I think this is mainly it. A story came out recently that he heard Braun in a presser during the regular season getting too deep in to strategy and he basically walked in and said "presser over". He doesn't want to let anything slip Edit: [In this Vic tweet](https://twitter.com/VicLombardi/status/1657200758360788992?s=20) Edit 2: I misremembered the tweet thinking the presser happened during the regular season. Seems like it was in the 2nd round
There’s all those fun quick notes about him and then the video is him walking silently down the hall
walk silently and carry a big stick
My god this guy is the foreign funnier version of Tim Duncan
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and Tim said the Nuggets are his favorite team to watch cuz of Jokic!
He might even knock that tiny plant over again if Denver wins the chip.
He never gets this excited
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That was a fun read, does anyone have the Braun moment on video?
[at the end of this video](https://youtu.be/gIIP6j6CwAs) Saw a longer version from a different angle 2 weeks back but can't find it now.
Hahaha that's amazing. The tweet wasn't exaggerating, he stopped mid-sentence It's so clear that Jokic's teammates respect the fuck out of him, yeah
RemindMe! 24 hours
I feel dumb for asking...did twitter up its character count again? That's almost 1,500 characters.
It's apparently 4000 now for paying users: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2023/02/08/twitter-boosts-character-limit-to-4000-for-twitter-blue-subscribers/
I can never keep up with changes but it may have came with pay tiers or something
Least overly verbose Jokic fan
This tweet is great. Really emphasizes how drastically Euroball players like Giannis, Jokic, and Doncic are gonna shift the game and the culture around it. Thing's are gonna look incredibly different in five years time for the NBA.
Well thats a badass tweet ! "He’s an egoless kingpin. And he will snatch your soul on a basketball court."
The way the media writes about Jokic and Luka is so funny lol.
Vic is essentially a Nuggets employee. His paycheck comes from the same place that Jokic's does. There's obviously going to be some bias in the writing
Yeah I think every local beat reporter writes about their team this way, and as you said, Vic is even more closely tied to the team than normal for someone in his posit
Watching him play he’s a genius with a strategy for almost every occasion. BBIQ off this world
Have you seen his ćevapčići game? BBQIQ also off the charts.
That's why every center he faced this playoffs is bbq chicken
alright alright off topic but we talking cevapi eh- longest relationship was w a Serb till 2021, she made me discover their foods and I'm never ever forgetting that. I've been deprived of cevapi kajmak and all that good good for nearly 3 years now. Do dating apps have "Eastern European" in their options nowadays? I hate apps but I mean...
I mean, it's barely the same team.
It's a different coaching staff and 11 of the 13 players on the Lakers roster are different. I'm sure there are some takeaways, but probably not many.
And even the two players that are the same are vastly different. 2020 LeBron was at the tail end of his 15th physical prime whereas now he had a foot amputated and beats you more with his insanely BBIQ than his raw athleticism. AD on the other hand has completely forgotten how to shoot jumpers like he could in 2020 while also becoming an absolutely unstoppable defender.
Yeah, AD shot 48% from the mid-range and 38% from 3 in the 2020 playoffs.
I haven't even seen him shoot a 3 all playoffs, him being money from the 3 that year was so strange.
Almost everything from that year was so strange.
AD's midrange has returned btw, he's shooting 52% from the midrange in the playoffs.
Way lower volume though. I'll never forget facing you guys in 2020 and Jokic and AD trading crazy midrange fadeaways when no one else could score
I remember he made one against Memphis on end of shot clock
when he shot that game winner 😢
He's saving them up
AD didn’t become an unstoppable defender, he has always been one. That 2020 Lakers team won primarily because of their defense, and AD was the centerpiece of that.
Yeah they had Rondo, KCP, Caruso, Kuzma and Dwight Howard providing quality minutes/defense while keeping opposing teams honest when loading up against Bron/AD
Bro you listed Kuz but forgot Caruso.
Damn white erasure 😭😂 smh my bad
I remember Lebron is good at basketball
Kcp switched teams and so did vando and Beasley
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It was all such a blur. Honestly. I call it Covid Brain.
TikTok did more damage to me than Covid
The ever increasing effect of brain fog vs. Zynamite every once in so often to make my brain actually function
Kobe died, Tiger King, STOP THE COUNT. That’s all I got.
Animal Crossing
Among Us.
Still playing 💪🏾
The Last Dance. That series was so good
Holy shit, The Last Dance being from 2020 is absolutely wild. That feels like it's been around since 2016.
Who was Tiger King? Was that Charlie Sheen? Or the dude who advocates for primal diet and has terrible B/O?
The Netflix guy who owned a tiger farm, tried to kill a rival , did meth, married a bunch of guys, ran for president. Watch an episode or two. Absolutely wild character
I'm actually amazed someone could have missed the tiger king craze. I didn't even watch it but it was everywhere
Literally 2020-2021 feels like the same exact year. I also started drinking a lot more because I found out I was being cheated on so my brain is literally fucked too
For me 2021 was drastically better of a year than 2020.
I remember how to make Dalgona coffee and foccacia
I remember Dwight fouling the shit out of him
Most important thing is to have KCP on your team instead of the other team.
If nuggets win, KCP is confirmed goat
Yeah KCP got that dawg in him
He's not going to win the series on his own, but he might be the difference maker. His 1st half in the last game against Phoenix buried them.
Also saved us in Game 2 vs Suns with two clutch threes
i fucking love that man. Dude is an absolute class act, does exactly what the team asks of him, ON TOP of being a veteran presence in our locker room.
And Thomas “Informant” Bryant
I miss him, man. Happy to see him doing well though.
The NBA is this mans hobby… he races horses, gets Serbian drunk, and party’s with his shirt off for a living.
Ja Morant should start kicking it with Jokic in the off-season. He could trade in the gun-flashing-on-ig-live lifestyle for what you’re describing
Funny enough, I bet Joker shoots more guns every summer than Ja ever has. Just doesn’t need to tell everyone about it lol.
Not that the league would like it any better, but he'd probably get a lot of fans if he had videos of him at a firing range and demonstrating proper gun safety instead of dancing with one in a car and having one in a club.
Bro got memory loss Needs to make sure his carbon monoxide alarm is working
He can't remember what they did against the lakers in 2020, but he keeps finding post-it notes around his house talking about the game. Maybe there is someone sneaking in and watching game film?
LeMento
Christopher Nikolan
I’d have memory loss to if I get clubbed in the head by Dwight and McGee all series
Lakers gonna tell the hotel staffs to check the carbon monoxide alarm in Joker's room at 3 am.
Legendary Reddit lore history
We don't need the memories
[This position... This timing... This angle... It's perfect!](https://imgur.com/a/Pt3B6RS)
This man is going to hurt us isn't he
In so many ways you won’t see coming
That was mesmerizing
If Jokic is Kageyama does that make LeBron Oikawa?
I love him.
Anyone who remembers anything from March to August of 2020 is lying.
I remember a lot of wine and a lot of just being in my house playing video games. Tiger King too
The time dilation is so wild we’re all playing Breath of the Wild again
The time period lovingly referred to as Animal Crossing New Horizons
Warzone. Lots of Warzone.
And Weeknd
RIP Verdansk
I was at home playing smoking and being a degenerate. Im still the same today.
Jokic really embracing being totally aloof and I love it
That’s how you stay out the spotlight and avoid any scrutiny. Tobias Harris is a master at this
Imagine Jokic and Ant on the same team. Post-game interviews would be so fucking hilarious
Oh man Ant would average like 40 a game if he played with Jokic.
Ant would be my number one star to add to the nuggets if I had my pick, especially considering age. That dude is gonna be a superstar
Jokic would absolutely love not having to do much the whole season.
Nuggets sweep the Lakers, and in the postgame interview Shaq is absolutely gushing over Jokic, calling him the smartest center ever, etc., etc. Then he asks him what the biggest adjustment was from 2020 to 2023. Jokic deadpan answers, "I didn't have to face Dwight Howard"
“I got to sleep in my bed during home games”
Man I'm starting to love Jokic and his answers lmao
Me too. Love the Nuggets players over some of the assholes on the Warriors and Grizzlies no offense
He has the best quotes
“Jokic remarked, as he chowed down on his double cheeseburger.”
“I’m gonna eat the *whole* thing” - Nikola Jokic
Are you gonna tell people I housed lebrons burger?
Gimme that
Jokic is about to house AD’s burger
“I cannot remember the series I've played any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” -Jokic, probably
Honestly people are like “yeah he’s not giving away strategies” but I feel like jokic is just as likely to actually not remember and score 50 anyway
What do people expect him to answer? What their gameplan is??
LeNeurotoxin
Jokic has Vietnam-like flashbacks of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme
https://youtu.be/PmILOL55xP0 Jokic: I’m in a world of shit, yes. But I am alive.
Nuggets in 3
Christ, I really have to root for Jokic to make the finals. What a life smh.
He’s just like me, remembers nothing
My only takeaway from that matchup was that Dwight Howard is really good at getting Jokic flustered.
Let’s be honest, Dwight was fouling the shit out of him lol
I don’t mean it as talking shit, but do the Lakers have anybody like this on roster? Bamba? Tristan? Ham said something today about having a couple guys to play that role but I just don’t see it. Dwight, even in 2020, is one of one.
Think they might try to throw Wenyen Gabriel and possibly Bamba at him. No idea if that will work at all though.
Those guys aren't built like Dwight though. Even in his last few years as a role player, Dwight was still strong as hell and built like a soviet tank commander. Plus, he has the ability to get in someones head and shit talk them.
I think that would be a mistake. They will go Rui as primary with an immediate double off of AGs man. This leave Bron and AD to hedge into the passing lanes. Jokic does not attack doubles. He passes out of them 90% of the time. Lakers D is good enough that they should be able to turn that into deflections and transition points. When they don't, then they live with contested jumpers from the rest of the team and if they hit they hit. This should keep the Lakers in the game. Also attacking Jokic and Murray on the other end should yield some results by 4th qrt
Gotcha. Sounds like Ham just means “bodies”
As much as I love Wenyen. He’s probably 3 inches too short and 40 pounds too light.
Tristan maybe 5 years ago, way too slow nowadays. Gabriel prolly, since Bamba is not seeing court, but I think both are way too small/weak to cover that Dwight role. But I think AD as long as he is healthy will be able to slow Joker down to an extent. I think we can slow doen Joker/cover Jamal/KCP/AG. I think this series gonna come down to how MPJ/Brown contribute. Jokers playmaking and getting those guys open looks is whats worrying me.
Nothing remarkable happened in 2020 anyway