Peak Jokic, Westbrook’s Revival and the Most Important NBA Storylines | Kevin O'Connor Show

Rudy Gobert might be the most underrated player of recent years.
If you watch the games he plays, he does everything Luka is not asked to do. He sacrifices helping his teammates get easier shots on EVERY possession. I saw a video a while ago presenting that he was the player with the best offensive rating of the decade or something.
Scoring takes a lot more than the guy scoring and Rudy understands this like few.
I'm no a Rudy fan nor a Wolves fan. I just love basketball.

I'm glad to see Adam continue to be featured in alot of different podcasts and platforms. He is one of the best basketball minds in the media. Not just a nuggets guy.

Kevin O’Connor is just wishing on Westbrook downfall on X every chance he gets. What’s the backstory behind the hate, seems personal.

Its more about no one replacing braun on the bench. Need to make a trade to get one playoff rotation player for dario and zeke and jordan who are all not playing need a backup big or a shooter a isiah joe or moritz wagner

I don't give Calvin Booth a credit because they could have BOTH KCP and Braun. Nice draft picks, sure, they are also playing with Jokic. He is making everyone look better than they are. Its beyond "J-Kidd made Kenyon Martin an All-star" level. They have paid too much a price for keeping 2023 championship roster together but one can argue it was also an overachieve DUE TO Jokic. Now everyone is over paid to keep the roster together and other teams leveled up their game which Nuggets can't match, even with the best version of Jokic, best player in world.

Dude…Kevin…I thought the nuggets were “done”? What happened? Did you do something crazy like…wait for more than 2 games to be played?

If I was OKC, i'd try and get Bam or Naz Reid before Giannis, they fit better with what they do. The bucks would be a lot better if Giannis would set a damn screen for Dame, instead of slipping to the basket all the time. .

I was wrong about Westbrook, he certainly can get ball to Jokic, I thought he would play for himself at least few possession, but no, every time with Jokic on the floor, ball goes to Jokic, only thing I don't think he should do, is take those open threes, even if Jokic passes the ball, attack, take the screen in the paint, let Jok rebound your miss. But without Jokic he looks like the dumbest players in the league, still... :D

Father John misty intro??

Adam Mares obviously has great knowledge of the basketball...Everyone looks good around Jokic....What i read between the lines, he wanted to say that Westbrook (even at this age) would be better fit for Jokic then Jamaal...I completely agree...If the Nuggets put Wess to their starting line up, they can go all the way...with Murray as the starter there is no chance they can win anything. Murray is below average PG who was just lucky to play around Jokic..and look..even those young kids look god arounf Joker..Murray is still average, and big ball waster in terms of efficiency.

Imagine Jokic with some PG like Kyrie..the truth and the sadness of the Nuggets is that all goes around Jokic who makes even kids around him good plyers. Imagine Jamal Murray in Brooklyn Nets...he would be invisible...no impact player ..so I agree with Adam who said between the lines that Westbrook is much better fit for Jokic then Jamal. In just two games as a starter Westbrook proved that..Jamal will never make 10 assist per game ..plus he will waste at least 10 balls more per game comparing to Westbrook.

Jokic dream game is get defense rebound and through it across the court for a score. All day, he love that. Booth got lucky with Jokic. Put any one by Jokic and they look good. Booth still way over paid Murray. If Murray left the Nuggets he look just like Brown and CP look, below average. I got Jokic I'm not maxing any one else out. unless a real top 5 player. Booth baaa.

Career 35% 3pt shooter. Get it right. You were looking at Luka's stats. How are you guys representatives of Yahoo!? You guys didn't even mention the fact that he's putting up these stats while getting doubled more than ever. That makes this run even more impressive.

Ayton
Porzingis
B. Bogdonovic
Capela

With the exception of KP, these players are on the last year of their contract- KP has one more year. These players would be a nice trade to Denver. They need a lob threat since Gordon has been out.

Paul Millsap was the one who taught Jokic to be more aggressive on offense.

Already a 2nd major injury for Chet in 3 seasons. They need to trade him asap for a true star. Think Giannis.

nice that Adam ended with a joke...Jamal Murray of course didn't work for anything in the last few seasons, that's why he so bad

Has any player’s play improved AFTER they were Jokic’s teammate?😎

He was never a liability on defense. That was a false narrative created by the black media/player crowd that did not want him to win his 2nd and 3rd mvp’s.

You literally have the equivalent of a new WILT right now And they're trying to sell us on Jayson Tatum. If you don't know how to market him hire someone who can morons

Embiid doesn’t have restrictions 😂😕🤡 will never qualify for another season award because he can’t stay healthy.

No moe Wemby lmao
Do you guys even watch the Spurs?? smh

If Murray had not blown out his knee after they got Gordon, very good chance they have at least one more ring. They were looking that good. Oh well, injuries always a large part of the game

It seems like the media won't give him another MVP no matter what he does unless the Nuggets finish with the best record in the league.

tatums iso numbers are definitely a big ceiling raiser.

the thing that adam is missing is that tatums isos dont get in the way of anything. the celtics and tatum have BEEN an extremely high volume iso team/player. last szn (a championship run) tatum was top 10 in iso volume and efficiency.

the reason why is that the celtics run a self proclaimed 'killer whale' offense where they use action (as a team) to target weak defenders (seals) and then iso them in order to draw 2 and then play drive and kick from there. jts improvement in iso just means that if the other team doesnt send 2, its easier for him to beat you scoring by himself..which forces teams to put two on him n then they can play the drive kick style they rly want to get to. its not like boston thrives on dwhite jrue pritchard al hauser creating their own offense or scoring out of actions like the warriors or the heat. the way bos plays those guys depend on jt n jb (n kp when healthy) to create the initial advantage.

adam just got finished talking abt jokic having to learn that sometimes the team needs you to score. so he should know that tatum being more efficient in those situations is key to a high ceiling. cant believe im sayin this but koc is right lol ... adam was among the mob of ppl criticizing the celtics for not executing in those situations. jt's improvements directly improve the teams chances in those moments

also comparing tatum to murray in terms of the importance of their iso possessions is NASTY WORK! lol jt is jokic if we're comparing teams. yet even still when ppl ask adam if the nuggets have a chance at a title he'll say yes as long as they get '23 playoff murray - who was hitting a ton of tough shots in iso. contradictions all over the place lol

what adam was rly trying to say is: 'ok tatum's iso efficiency is up, but we still shouldnt give tatum a lot of credit for this team being so good'.

its just a hate take and an unfair sentiment bc like i said this team ran off iso possessions last yr mainly from tatum and he executed at a top 10 level. even when his shot wasnt falling in the playoffs he was the one who relentlessly collapsed the defense in iso to get good looks for teammates. if he played the same way but shots fall this team is unbeatable....

this yr jt is averaging more ppg but hes still making the right play. like koc said tatum is 1.1 points per shot in iso but i think hes 1.3ppp in iso including passes. his shot volume hasnt increased despite kp being out and jb missing games. n hes averaging a career high in potential assists. so my concern level is v low that he'll stop making the right reads n try to hijack the offense in important moments

So yall are finally admitting the Kobe wasn't selfish? With this New jokic logic

Luka running around like Steph when he outweighs him by a hundred pounds is inconceivable but playing more like Joker makes sense.

insanity how good this pod is. really suits koc better having variety of hoop nerds. mismatch was cool during pandemic but lost the glamor quick.

Adam Mares! Subscribed.

Luka is running out of the air really fast, he is not in shape, he might need to change his diet, like Djokovic.

the nuggets front office is struggling and calvins booth ego may be getting the best of him with his whole, "stick with the young guys come hell or high water plan", look at what the nuggets have done around the margins, wasting a decent sized contract spot on zeke naji and a roster spot on DJ no matter how good of locker room vibes he brings. its letting kcp walk, (he may be playing bad on orlando but thats the jokic effect looking at us in the eyes, him on denver is a different animal). its signing jamal to another max even though he hasnt played like a max player since the 2023 season. its signing mpj to a max early on, he may be good but not a max player, we can blame that one on connelly. its dragging their feet on the best minimum contract guys this past offseason. I know the nuggets are avoiding the second apron but theres teams out there who are still good at bringing in guys on minimum contracts who can be contributors. denver doesnt seem to be able to do that. ppl would say there's no available roster spots for more good vet minimums, well maybe there would be if it werent for the other bad decisions i just mentioned. calvin booth got it right with the kcp and bruce brown trades and the christain braun draft decision. everything since then is either bad or suspect to say the least. the nuggets traded up with the suns to get to 22 to draft daron holmes. the suns used the nuggets 28th pick to draft ryan dunn who might be the current front runner for rookie of the year!!! meanwhile daron holmes is out for the season with an achilles tear and we all know how an achilles tear impacts guys careers unless theyre freaks of nature like KD. its sad to see a generational talent like jokic burdened with a cheap ownership group and delusional front office. they may be 7-3 now but who really thinks theyre gonna get past the best of the best in the west come playoff time with the roster surrounding jokic? unless jamal and mpj start playing up to thier contracts.



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It’s not just that there’s no way the Bucks will beat Boston - they’d be lucky to take a game…

Booth deserves credit for the draft selections but not for the roster construction. They don’t have enough NBA players - criminal that they didn’t sign Jay Huff

Hey, KOC, his name is pronounced Hartenstine.

Don't worry, you can count on Murray...
Calling in sick in the playoffs.

another great pod koc!

seattle sonic ghosts in the room

holmgren didnt "tear his acl"--kevy---it was his foot---lisfranc

Why doesn’t he talk about all his MAGA & musk love

Okay, so Yahoo is my favorite Sports channel now. Glad to have you back, Yahoo!