[Highlight] A visibly frustrated Nikola Jokic has a heated conversation with the Nuggets Assistant Coach Ryan Saunders during a timeout
Nuggets will be the reason jokic is with his horses by next week
“1-2-3…. Zlatibor!”
Such a lovely town and area. Now I’m craving palacinke
Oof. Tara is half an hour away and is proper wilderness.
Senta nice place too
1, 2, 3, 4… Zlatibor! (it rhymes now)
Put some other syllables in to fill out the rhythm, like a cheer. “One, two, three, four, now we’re off to Zlatibor!”
Firing Malone before the end of the season basically guaranteed this result. They just in the playoffs winging it right now.
They somehow thought this shit was easy last week.
Nobody thought it would be easy. They need to get Jokic some help. MPJ is a liability cause he can’t create his own shot, and they need another big that can be an actual backup and play more D, sometimes with Jokic on the floor.
For all his defensive woes, Nuggets are still a much better defensive team with him on the floor. But expecting him to be locked in on D and run the offense is just asking too much. Especially when they miss open shots as much as they do.
They have one of the greatest offensive players of all time who’s average on defense and decided that the best way to complement it is by adding players who are worse on offense but not a significant upgrade on defense.
Just look at how much better the Mavs got when they added Gafford and Washington to Luka.
Ownership needs to bite the bullet and loosen the purse
Almost like we’d called this shit four months ago.
The only chance we had is if Gordon recovered from injury during his week off, Murray had a hot streak, and MPJ decided to lock in. All of that was possible and it’s happened before, but it was always going to be a long shot.
Gordon had a great first quarter and then just never made another shot. Murray was hot at times and trying hard. MPJ just looks like he doesn’t even want to be there. and then… live by the russ, die by the russ.
He and Giannis GONE
unless one joins there other?
Going to Seattle and bringing KD with em.
In 3-4 years maybe?? There are no expansion plans right now
Not in the NBA but there is the Seattle Super Hawks in the TBL
Joining the Storm. First co-ed team in the W.
They’re joining up in los angeles
Nuggets’ 7 player bench scored 6 points on 2-14⁄1-5⁄1-4 6 reb 1 ast 1 steal 1 block 6 TOs .
Who wouldn’t be frustrated?
Most of these stats is just russ westbrook in 8 minutes
Yeah and he missed like 4 wide open threes too lmao It’s impressive how bad he is at shooting
He airballed one that I swear was about 10 feet short.
Clippers love seeing Russ on the court now for some reason
Every playoff team does lol ever since his Rocket days.. he hasn’t had a “good” playoff series since the bubble
He wasn’t good in the bubble either, in the semifinals the Lakers gave him what felt like 10+ feet of space to shoot and he shot the Rockets out of that series going 26% from 3.
and yet you guys traded for him a year later
Unjustifiably so. We closed our window with Bron and AD with one fcking horrible offseason. I know Pelinka should get some praise for the last year or so, but still, what a massive blunder was destroying that 2021 team. And Bron should get a quota of blame also.
The sins of the past are absolved by the deals of the present. If signing Russ and ruining our chances in 2021 leads to us signing Luka and keeping him for the next 10 years then we do it every time.
Both can be stupid decisions.
He played well with the Clippers against the Suns. They still lost that series, but he balled tf out in games where Kawhi and/or PG were missing, to the point that even KD and Chris Paul showered him with praise.
He’s never been a 3 point shooter though. Idk why teams get him then start sticking him in the corner. They wanted him for the 2nd team but their starters kind of suck and they need him for everything else.
Funnily enough he has pretty high % in the corner iirc over his career. The rest though…
What’s weird is how a lot of former star players who relied on athleticism in their prime somehow became really good shooters as they aged, and that just never happened with Russ.
He’s regressed significantly as a shooter actually. He’s down nearly 20% in FTs from earlier in his career
I think he had a hand injury with OKC that ruined his touch. It probably contributed to his increased struggles as a shooter
Because he’s still relying on that athleticism
Because they have to work on it, doesn’t seem like he ever did
RW is the only bench player that isn’t scared to shoot.
Watson played over 18 minutes and had 2 pts on 1-4. Strawther and Pickkett each 0 pts on 0-1 in 11 minutes,
the problem is that he should be
everyone’s leaving him wide open because a russ 3pt attempt still is a win for the defense
id rather have a player who at least tries to shoot rather than a player whos too scared to do anything
People forget about Marcus Smart literally shooting his way into having to be guarded even though he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn for years. Obviously he got more and more solid throughout his career but going full Ben Simmons and not even taking them is going to be worse than not taking 3-4 a game on a bad percentage.
Rajon Rondo has always been a very aggressive player on offense despite not being a good shooter yet he had a season where he shot 40% from 3 and he had a couple of memorable 40 point performances. I will always respect players who give it their all more than those who play scared.
Except the fact is that even with last night’s 20% from three, Westbrook is shooing 35,3% from three for the series so far, and arguably was a key to the Nuggets win in game 1 when he played all 12 minutes in the 4th Q and shot 4-7⁄1-2 (getting them the lead 3 times including his three with 24 seconds left to help get them to overtime).
Basketball terrorism
That’s why he’s the real MVP - Shia elevated an amazing team. Jokic masked a dogshit one
It’s hard to argue against that point - especially with the Thunder destroying the Grizzlies in the 1st 2 games with Shai not playing well (after 3 games, 47.5 TS% for Shai to Jokic’s 62.1%).
I swear this sub has reached “quality loss” status with Jokic lol.
jokic playing on nightmare difficulty
Always is, issue is the burnout as he can’t leave the court for 1 minute without cataclysmic events.
He legit might be more stressed out when approaching the bench for resting then carrying all the weight on his shoulders in game.
Stressful af.
I saw a stat that said Nuggets are shooting something like 2⁄30 this series when Jokic is sitting, how the fuck can NBA players be that bad?
What the fuck lol
To add to that, their defense is significantly worse when he’s on the bench. They don’t have a backup center. They need a trade, or they need Holmes to exceed expectations next season
Similar to Zeke Nnaji, is Holmes really a center or a PF who they would play at center if they have to?
Have you seen their bench? How is Peyton Watson still in a league? Outside of his wingspan, he legit has no other basketball skills.
Watson is a great project, probably should be the 10th man on a contender. The fact Basketball Terrorist Booth was bragging about him after Bruce Brown left 2 seasons ago is proof that dude should have stuck to scouting and not being a GM.
It starts with Booth paying “his guys” bloated contracts with player options that dont allow the nuggets wiggle room to sign good players. Then Malone refuses to give the young guys enough minutes to properly develop. On top of that, Nuggets have very little draft capital because Booth pissed a bunch of picks away on getting rid of his more disastrous contracts. This is complicated by the fact that Jokic is great at creating open opportunities for his teammates which leads to inflated stats and subsequently more bloated contracts. Mpj shouldnt be a max player. Jamal is too inconsistent to be a max player, and a bunch of bench players are unplayable.
Must be annoying for Jokic, an ensuing cold war between his team’s coach and GM and he gets hung out to dry because they’re not on the court playing, he is
Annoying for the whole organization. They got stuck in the mud because one guy is pushing the car from the front side and the other is pushing from behind while Jokic is being the engine
There is not enough talent over there and even the existing talent is over payed. AG might be the only one aside from rookie deal Braun & Watson and Westbrook on minimum to be actually valuable.
Aaron Gordon is for sure valuable. He legit has been their second best player this year, getting his numbers up and still being a pest on defense. I think he should be praised more, any team would love to have him.
If they had 4 more AG-caliber players (ie players capable of doing their job) they would be the Thunder
Ships get payed
People get paid
And people were saying the Nuggets supporting cast isn’t actually that bad and Jokic’s carry job is overrated lol
And that is why Jokic should be mvp
that means they only made 2 more shots than I did..
If I were Jokic, I would also find playing with horses more fun than basketball
Maybe his horses can play better ball
Best season in his career and he has to be on the floor as much as possible. That’s no way to play the game
Pull a Jason Kidd and just keep spilling water everywhere to buy extra rest for Jokic. Accumulate all the fines; totally worth it!!!
Water is too fast to clean up, they need to spill molasses or like wet cement out there.
This dude makes everyone around him better but nevertheless he doesn’t tolerate shitty play.
Definitely something all of the greats have. Jordan and Bron are like that
High standards, high expectations, high chance of success
Lebron was so close to strangling JR on the court that one time LMAO
Bron was frustrated that game but the look of despair when he found out that they had a timeout and Ty Lue didn’t call it always stuck out to me Bron lost all hope.
That wasn’t Ty Lue’s fault. He trusted a professional with an eight figure salary to understand the situation. At a certain point you gotta have trust in your players.
True but even Lebron was out there signaling timeout. At that moment he realized he really was playing 1v5 and needing to be HC in certain situations too
That famous play where Lebron recognizes it’s the Lakers ball and Frank Vogel and the coaching staff didn’t. It’s like damn, isn’t that your whole job to think the game?
That quote lives in my head rent free
Literally every single Lakers game at some point I’ll think “THAT’S OUR BALL AIN’T IT?!” even if it doesn’t really fit with whatever’s happening on the court.
He was so animated, it still makes me grin thinking back on it.
he would’ve been justified in doing it.
I mean I don’t think Jokic could’ve gotten that team to the finals. The fact that they could’ve won that game, that’s when I became a Lebron fan. That playoff run was incredible
Only way joker’s taking people’s meals on a flight is if he’s eatin them shits himself
Wish any player on the grizzlies would show a tenth of this emotion
Can’t believe how soft this team has gotten, GnG died in a strip club in Denver.
That’s former Wolves coach Ryan Saunders
Saunders and Adelman kids coaching Jokic. A tad bit out of their depth!!!
On a team run cheaply by another nepo baby and his nepo dad.
The word order and word length of your comment made me briefly think it was Latin and I spent about five seconds trying to parse it before I realized I was just dumb
Son of MN legend. Weird to see someone I went to HS with on tv while I’m sitting on my couch eating bbq chips.
At least you can rest easy knowing you actually do know as much as your teams coach
Tbf to Jokic, Saunders is the worst head coach in any franchise in a long time.
I mean he’s been an assistant in Denver since 2022, it’s not like he was just brought in after Malone left. I have no love for the guy but I think we’re being pretty uncharitable if we’re saying that Jokic going at him during a moment of frustration game proves he‘s out of his depth as an assistant, he was in the same exact role during their championship run.
That’s why people complaining about finch is wild. I’ve seen Ryan as a coach, Finch has his shortcomings but the Ryan era is wild.
Honestly malone should be relieved. Vibes were bad and it’s clear it was above his pay grade.
Yeah it was looking like him being fired reinvigorated the team initially but now it seems like bad vibes are back.
Classic dead cat bounce
Classic WHAT?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_cat_bounce
this guy doesnt trade
stonks
Puts on the nuggets hopes of another chip
Coaching is so much more important in the playoffs then in the regular season. And it’s clear the Nuggets don’t have good enough coaching right know, especially going against Ty Lue
Ty Lue AND JVG
The classic honeymoon period is over
Reading Mike Singer’s book about his life, my greatest fear as a Nuggets fan is not that Jokic will ask for a trade but that his brothers will.
the book gives a lot of insight into jokić’s actually personality, people think he doesn’t care when in reality he sees himself as a tom brady type of underdog. i don’t think he would try to leave unless another regime came in and whiffed completely, he’s got a lot of attachment to the organization at every level and doesn’t want to be viewed as a selfish diva.
The viewpoint that Jokic doesn’t care is so tiresome. You simply don’t get as good as Jokic without caring. It’s just impossible. The guy is 100% a fierce competitor and he obviously works very very hard
It’s so annoying, it hasn’t been funny since like 2018
You just watch this 15 second video and you see that he cares
He isn’t leaving for at least two seasons IMO.
If they can’t get something going by end of 2026-2027 season, might be getting nervous.
He’s already 30, not sure if he’s going to wait 2 more years.
I don’t see how people have watched this guy for the past 5 years and still trot out that same tired ass joke “he doesn’t care! Lol!”
He doesn’t draw attention to himself or like ask for a lot of people. Plenty of NBA players are like that. But people have latched onto like the goofiest aspects of Jokic personality.
Like you CANT be that good at something without being kind of obsessed with it.
Also more recently I think he’s become a much more vocal leader. The report of him being a star that “finally understands the power of his voice” from a couple weeks ago seems to be ringing true.
can you go a little more into that? i havent read the book and im intrigued
Basically his older brother Strahinja kind of gave up his own goals and ambitions to help jok get to where he is. Both of his brothers motivated and protected him but Strahinja was probably more invested than anyone else. They didn’t want to see Nikolas talent go to waste so if they see the organization dragging their feet or taking advantage him, they’ll probably say something.
Oh thank goodness for that. Do nuggets fans want to see Jokic mouldering his career away just because he’d be on their team?
Well they probably don’t want to see the best player they’ve ever had leave for another team
No, I would rather see him leave and have success elsewhere if we’re not gonna put a competent team around him. I’m grateful for the championship and frankly what we’ve done since as an organization is disgraceful
Also, to add to the guy below you, it was his brother who basically made an ultimatum to tim connelly (former GM) that they (jokic and the nuggets) either get “married or divorce” meaning the organization either make up their minds, give jokic the bag and establish him as the franchise player or they trade him/he signs with other teams. It was not mentioned implicitly but i think jokic would’ve been chill with whatever the nuggets were gonna do considering he volunteered to go to the bench and let nurkic be the starting center in the beginning.
When a player has this level IQ it’s tough because he probably knows the game better than most coaches but it’s also not really his responsibility but he must speak up in time of desperation.
I like when he speaks Serbian so when hes really upset lol
Aside from Murray and AG, the rest of the team doesn’t understand spacing. And clippers are abusing that
Nuggets gotta hire Rondo
Lol I honestly thought about him. Insane basketball IQ
Just give him the clipboard for the rest of the series. Can’t be any worse than yesterday lol.
It’s not just coaching, they only have AG and Murray who can create their own shot. The rest heavily rely on Jokic. It’s just too much man
And Booth really thought he deserved his job?
They should have fired his ass a while ago and loosened the purse to get Jokic some real help
I love how animated joker gets lol.
“visibly frustrated.. heated conversation” Just a run-of-the-mill everyday Serbian conversation tbh.
I’m Balkan and when my American wife first met my family she was aghast at the noise level and animated conversation. Everyone is up in arms at dinner just discussing how we’ll get to the stadium the next day and she thought it’s a heated confrontation about something life or death.
Mark Hamill did a great job.
This man is losing his mind being on that nuggets team. Would he actually request a trade if they lose this series especially without winning another game?
I mean he could request a trade the question is who can afford jokic and why would they go for it.
Like in terms of basketball worth he is basically more valuable than entire Suns organisation.
Random stray but ok
Why he say фуцк me for?
lmao this cracked me up
Suns been through enough this season
Just replace him with Nikola Topic and Nikola Jovic
Throw him on the Celtics, they have enough defence to cover for him.
Would be funny as shit seeing the meltdown media would have, would be painful as shit seeing actually be in a team with good players
Kevinovic Duranitch
Jokic vs Luka
Cetlics vs Lakers rivalry renewed
You mfers do not need a Jokic. Unless ofc you gut your entire team for him just to pair him with Tatum.
Says the mfing Laker fan who’s team just got Luka for half price lol
Yeah but there’s only one Nico so
By your standards the price is Porzingis, Scheierman, and a first.
Plenty of people can afford Jokic if the Nuggets try to get a Luka-level return
Toronto
Underrated option. Tons of defense and away from America fits Jokic
mavs will trade everyone for him then send him to lakers for some bum on the bench.
Nico: “Defense wins championships” Proceeds to trade everyone to get Jokic
Not gonna lie, that would’ve been a hilarious timeline.
Alex Len your time is now
Ironically, I think he’s one of the players who’d get traded the easiest if he actually wanted out.
We ain’t talking about some guy who sitting out would tank the team from being a mid-tier playoffs team to being a play-in one, we’re talking about arguably the greatest floor riser in history… The Nuggets would crumble if they had to play 10 games in a row without him, especially if they knew he ain’t coming back.
I still don’t think he’s leaving, but if he wanted out they’d have no choice but to go full rebuild… There’s no one in the league who could replace him in his role, and the longer they’d wait, the later they could start the rebuild, and when you have to begin from scratch, you pretty much wanna get to it ASAP, especially when your franchise ain’t exactly the most marketable one.
OKC could put an actual package together
Jalen Williams, Harkenstein, Isiah Joe plus 5 1st rounders/swaps could do it I think
Yeah, something based around that. Would be the most value anyone could offer, I think.
Trade him for Embiid and PG.
we’ll take one for the league if we have to… 😔
Bulls: coby white and Zach Collins and Kevin huerter
I feel like he’s the kind of guy who wouldn’t ask for a trade, but rather just leave when his contract is up. Unfortunately that’s a ways away, so instead he’s probably going to start making some demands for them to acquire talent or specific coaches.
That’s usually the next step for people like him. They’re not going to give up on the team, they’re just going to speak up more and try to force the bosses hands into fixing the problems he sees need fixing.
Then if that doesn’t work with a year or two left on his deal, and they know he isn’t going to re-sign, then you deal him and go full rebuild route.
I can understand the frustration. They just quite simply don’t have enough with all the injuries and even when healthy their roster is seriously lacking shooting, defense, and depth.
Nuggets would be a great team if they weren’t missing everything that makes a basketball team great
Nuggets are a good team they just need to work on shooting, passing, rebounding, perimeter defense, interior defense, attacking the rim, taking care of the ball, blocking shots, running plays, transition defense, running fast breaks
There is not one person on the nuggets beaides jokic who can take the ball and give you an easy bucket when needed. Zero iso talent on this team and its needed because every point is a mission for them
Yep I forgot to add that. No shot creators. The only one outside of jokic who is okay at that but not what it used to be is Murray.
The level of spacing the front office put around Jokic is a fucking crime. How do you build a team around the best post player/inside player in the NBA that has this level of shooting and spacing?
Yeah Murray’s regression since the 2023 playoffs has been a major reason for Denver’s demise since winning the chip
Westbrook legit their best iso player besides Joker lol. Murray has 0 capability of getting free which is alarming. Dudes body might be cooked?
He looked impacted by injuries in the olympics as he was atrocious for Canada, then Booth gave him a max lol.
I know they had no alternatives with their cap space since they could only afford the extension baceause they had Murray’s bird rights.
They could have given him a cheaper extension then, waited a year and see how he played to determine an extension or let him walk if he refused anything other than the max and not be saddles with an untradeable max.
I think it’s funny when people see clips like this and assume he’s leaving Denver or going to get traded. Any team would have to give up so many assets that he would be in a similar position, just somewhere else
Lakers will get him for reeves and a 2nd round pick.
Knect and a 2nd round pick
Come on now, give us some credit…we will at least try to match salaries…and throw in maybe 2 first round pics, unless they want DK then your only getting 1…Joker was really chubby as a lil kid just saying!
eh. It’d never happen but there are 1-2 teams in the league that could trade for him and still be perfectly fine after the package that goes out. OKC/Boston come to mind immediately. But those are also 2 teams that seem the least likely to make drastic roster changes.
Jokic deserves a much better situation than he’s in right now.
So should Giannis, but what you gonna do with this new CBA. We’ll see a bunch of great teams whose best player is extremely good (Tatum, cavs guys, Shai even tho he’s MVP he’s not transcendent like Giannis or Jokic for me) winning rings
So the real question is does Jokic come to Milwaukee or does Giannis come to Denver? 🤔
Giannis to Denver. I know Giannis is tired of them Milwaukee winters and wants some sunshine
..and people say he doesn’t care about basketball. Always been a bizarre take. Nonetheless get this man some help.
He pretends and people fall for it. To be at the level he is, you have to care.
He doesn’t pretend anything. Hating media requirements != hating basketball
Gotta combine the bucks and nuggets to create a championship again.
“The Buckets”
Sounds like an automatic chip
Mike Malone was right, they don’t watch film
This is why all the “Jokic doesn’t even care about basketball” comments are always so corny to me.
Come to the clippers jokic. Your buddy bogi is already here. We will build a great team around you lol
Oh no who would have thought that firing your coach right before the playoffs would be a bad move. I’m shocked
I’ve never seen Jokic so frustrated. He’s flopping about lately too which imo means he’s annoyed / mad. Usually doesn’t do that much hope the guys alright :/
Passion for the game! Most bums in the nba wouldn’t have any ounce of passion like this
Jokic dealing with a half assed roster and two nepobabies as his coaches.
I’m sure adelman and Saunders work hard but they’re in way over their heads.
Imagine if you had your actual head coach…
I’m enjoying watching every team that fired their coach prematurely is getting dominated in the playoffs.
Giannis and Nikola stuck in limbo, both their orgs need to make moves this offseason. Wasting away their primes
go to the lakers Joker…do it for the luls and luka
The spirit of Michal Malone lives on.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Jokić was saying things that Saunders didn’t quite grasp, conceptually.