(04-15-2024, 07:53 PM)RGP1981 Wrote: Well, not all the time, and certainly less than your usual Center. However, Jokic positions himself on the floor like a Center a lot more often than Luka does (or needs to) when generating offense, as almost all of Luka's offense is generated from the perimeter or thereabouts. So since this MVP race is between Jokic vs Luka, not Jokic vs more traditional type of Centers or Centers of old, I think it's important that the MVP voters keep it in mind. Would you agree?
Then there are other advantages that Centers have on defense due to being closer to the basket that add to their PER, BPM, WS, VORP, etc too, is it not?
I don't think MVP voters typically lean on advanced statistics enough that centers end up with an advantage. You could make a case that points, assists, rebounds, team success, years of sustained high-level play, all influence voters more.
df98 enjoys digging into the numbers and makes a good statistical case for Jokic. But that doesn't mean that the advanced statistical case is the only case to be made for Jokic.
He averaged 26/9/12 this season while shooting 58% from the floor and 36% from three. He's one of the best shooters in the league, one of the best passers in the league and one of the best rebounders. He's the fulcrum of one of the best teams in the league. He makes insane plays at important times. He just led his team to 57 wins in a stacked Western Conference. And he's consistently played like this for years now.
Jokic is one of the handful of best players in the league, has been so constantly for years, and he leads one of the top teams in the league. Those are the dudes that get voted MVP.
I'm not even a Jokic fan. I want Luka to win MVP. But these arguments against Jokic are just silly.
It seems like you guys making these arguments are just grasping for straws, trying to elevate Luka by downplaying Jokic. That's silly and not intellectually honest. By all means, make the case for Luka! I want Luka to be the MVP! But don't try to make the case for Luka by coming up with a bad case against Jokic.
"He's a center, so... advanced stats..." is a bad argument against Jokic for MVP.
Not very astute ^^^^