Mark Knudson’s Three Strikes Blog: Strike One
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Turns out that most everything great that happens in Denver (and isn’t predominately Orange) does stay in Denver…
STRIKE ONE: Anointing any player as any sort of award winner at mid season is of course pointless and based totally on speculation. Yet when these lists start to come out, they do reveal what the national media is thinking at the half way point. They can be a pretty good indicator of who’s out in front in the minds of the voters, and more than likely who will get the heaviest consideration when they vote for real after the end of the season.
Recently, Sports Illustrated came out with a list of who would be the NBA MVP if the season ended today. No surprises. The list contained the usual suspects – LeBron (who you could argue should get the award pretty much every season) and Steph, plus veteran Paul George of Oklahoma City along with newbie Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee – who’s the only one on their list from the Eastern Conference. The mid-season MVP according to SI? Last year’s winner, James Harden of Houston.
Noticeably absent, Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic. Big shocker.
As if SI – or most of the rest of the national media not named Charles Barkley – know or care about what happens in Denver, right? It’s not the first time we’ve been down this road with one of our non-football athletes. Happened to several Colorado Rockies over the years, as well as guys like Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, who should have gotten a lot more votes for NHL MVP than he did at the end of last season.
Is the MVP award all about stats? Jokic isn’t the same kind of prolific scorer that Harden is, nor is he in the same stratosphere as a ball hog. But Jokic is arguably far more “valuable” to the Nuggets than Harden is to Houston. Harden is averaging just under 36 points per game, which is eye popping. But he’s doing so with an incredibly high volume of shots, shooting just 44% from the field. Playing in 42 games, Harden has attempted just short of 1,000 field goals.
Jokic meanwhile, is averaging a double double at the moment – just under 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. He’s shooting 50% from the field on approximately 350 fewer attempts. He’s also the best passing big man in the league, averaging just short of eight assists per game.
Most importantly, Jokic embodies what the term “valuable” really means. The Nuggets – who lead the Rockets by five full games in the Western Conference standings – would be nowhere close to the top of the conference without Jokic. He does a lot of everything for a team than relies on him every night. Harden piles up the stats, and make no mistake, he should be a candidate for his second consecutive MVP. But to exclude Jokic is laughable. No MVP list in January is complete without The Joker. Check back in June.
Stay tuned for Strike Two coming on Wednesday…Should the Denver Broncos have kept Gary Kubiak in the fold?
