Draymond Green Says Nikola Jokic Is Not A Lockdown Defender But He Perfectly Reads The Game

When Nikola Jokic was winning his MVPs in 2021 and 2022, the knock on him was that he was a poor defender and that it would lead to the Denver Nuggets failing in the playoffs. 

Well, in 2023, Jokic put to bed all that talk with a dominant postseason run that culminated with him winning his first championship. He played some pretty good defense along the way and earned some praise for his improvement on that end of the floor from Draymond Green.

"I think an area that he's improved a lot is defensively," Green said during an appearance on Podcast P. "He's not some lockdown defender or anything, but if you actually watch him on the defensive end, it's all just high IQ plays. It's not like he athletically beats you to some spot or he got there (and) he out jumps you at the rim to make up ground. No, it's just IQ like, 'Oh they went there I think they're trying to get to this.' He just go over there and take something away."

(starts at 2:10:04 mark):

Green and Paul George were picking their all-time high-IQ starting lineup here, with Jokic being the pick at center for Draymond.

While Jokic's jaw-dropping averages of 30.0 PPG, 13.5 RPG, 9.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, and 1.0 BPG in the playoffs were understandably what everyone focused on, those improvements he showed on defense were crucial to the Nuggets' success. Jimmy Butler praised him for it during the Finals too, calling him a 'hellified defender.'

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Draymond Green Reacted To Nikola Jokic's Comments About Basketball Just Being His Job

What Jokic made clear during that run to his title, is that basketball isn't the most important thing in his life. It is just his job, and he hilariously stated that no one likes their job, and if they say that they do, they're lying. 

Green was asked about those comments from Jokic during this episode, and he agreed with the Serbian. Draymond stated that he loves playing basketball, but that at the end of the day, it is work, and no matter what else is going on in their lives, they are expected to go out there and perform.

He also lamented the politics and the bulls*** that come with it but did add that he wouldn't swap his job for any other in the world.

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