Fansided

NBA Powerless Rankings: What to do what to do what to do

By Matt Rutkowski

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - JANUARY 23: The Oklahoma City Thunder stand for the National Anthem before the game against the Brooklyn Nets on January 23, 2018 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - JANUARY 23: The Oklahoma City Thunder stand for the National Anthem before the game against the Brooklyn Nets on January 23, 2018 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 6
Next
DENVER, CO – JANUARY 22: Nikola Jokic
DENVER, CO – JANUARY 22: Nikola Jokic /

5. Nuggets

If you’re reading about basketball on the internet, it’s more than likely that you know somebody who is deeply in love with Nikola Jokic. Maybe you are that person. That’s not a bad person to be. I mean look at how beautiful he is.

If that doesn’t sway you, look at how beautiful his passing is.

Okay. Whatever. This is old news at this point. We all know what Jokic does, and we all think it’s really great. This year was supposed to be like the end of last season’s Jokic except more and except better. That’s the thing about player trajectories: they are a straight line upward until they stop at which point they are overrated until they start trending downward (again in a perfectly straight line) when they become either “washed up” or “never that good in the first place.”

Hard to say where Jokic falls on that timeline. I think we should call him overrated just to be safe.

So what do the Nuggets do now? They were supposed to be better due to adding Paul Millsap to their roster over the summer, but right now they’re only a half game above the Los Angeles Clippers for the last playoff spot. Are they convinced enough to double down on the roster they have to push a bit harder? Or do they move Jokic because he’s terrible, and awful, and nobody likes his face?

Maybe there’s something in between.

Home/NBA