In the first games of the season, i was sure this was gonna be his last year, but his connection with Nikola is crazy good. They play so well of eachother both ways. Russ is so good at finding Nikola in these wierd windows in the pnr, and russ hard cuts work perfectly with the post ups.
Another good reason for the startling line up is his chemistry with MPJ (most shots via assist as well) and allowing Murray to play sg Only potential issue is the back up pg minutes, but they're never great anyways
He played with some elite playmakers James Harden LeBron James despite his sabotage exploit of Russ .Hes never played with a elite playmaker from interior position. Steven Adams elite in terms intangible not like Jokic
Call me a hater but the giant elephant in the room is that the reason they were 10-11 without Westbrook starting (and 13-4 with) is _Russell Westbrook_ ... He has been *horrendous* without Jokic and Murray (-35 net rating) Meanwhile basically _any_ lineup with Jokic is awesome. So while I want to give Westbrook his flowers -- his decision making, shot selection and attention to detail are the best I've ever seen from him -- because he really is playing great basketball, I don't think this is the renaissance or resurgence people are making it out to be I also think we are burying the lede. This is about Jokic's brilliance as much as anything. He molds his game to whatever is needed to maximize his teammates. And he got _Russell Westbrook_ who is the most intransigent superstar of our time to play a completely different style of basketball than he's ever played in the NBA
@benpfeifer8192 Love ethical analysis. Although Gordon, Brown and Braun are all great cutters in their own right. Between those three and Russ I'm not sure there's a clear best cutter. They are all pretty equal.
In fairness jamal and russ’s Net rating with no jok is a relatively (but not really) respectable -3.4 which won’t kill ya. it’s actually one of the best non-jok pairings with significant minutes
The bench sucks with or without Russ, starters are literally better with Russ. Math dictates that Russ deserves some credit for his elite playmaking off Jokic and MPJ.
Really wish we had chosen Russ over Reggie Jackson as the trade deadline addition back in 2023. Possibly could have beat the Wolves in 2024 with that swap and Denver wouldn't have had to give up 3 draft picks to dump Russ
I was good with your video until the boston game and you showing video of missed plays means NOTHING when westbrook shot 50% and had high score of 26 in a close game against boston without both gordon and jokic so let's be real here, murray shot 8 of 17 this game was terrible shooting so this example is a poor choice🤡
In the first games of the season, i was sure this was gonna be his last year, but his connection with Nikola is crazy good. They play so well of eachother both ways. Russ is so good at finding Nikola in these wierd windows in the pnr, and russ hard cuts work perfectly with the post ups.
Another good reason for the startling line up is his chemistry with MPJ (most shots via assist as well) and allowing Murray to play sg
Only potential issue is the back up pg minutes, but they're never great anyways
Love this vid. Crazy to see how Malone has maximized his personnel. Houston-esque with the short roll stuff lol
Forget the bit where Jokic is the only reason there's a season to save
That's a given, he needed someone else to be consistently great since Murray done with that life.
So u not gonna talk about the games they won w/o Jokic. Stop with the false balance nonsense
of course
He played with some elite playmakers James Harden LeBron James despite his sabotage exploit of Russ
.Hes never played with a elite playmaker from interior position. Steven Adams elite in terms intangible not like Jokic
Call me a hater but the giant elephant in the room is that the reason they were 10-11 without Westbrook starting (and 13-4 with) is _Russell Westbrook_ ...
He has been *horrendous* without Jokic and Murray (-35 net rating)
Meanwhile basically _any_ lineup with Jokic is awesome.
So while I want to give Westbrook his flowers -- his decision making, shot selection and attention to detail are the best I've ever seen from him -- because he really is playing great basketball, I don't think this is the renaissance or resurgence people are making it out to be
I also think we are burying the lede.
This is about Jokic's brilliance as much as anything. He molds his game to whatever is needed to maximize his teammates. And he got _Russell Westbrook_ who is the most intransigent superstar of our time to play a completely different style of basketball than he's ever played in the NBA
@@michaelahurt agreed but i pretty much covered all of this in the video
@benpfeifer8192 Love ethical analysis.
Although Gordon, Brown and Braun are all great cutters in their own right. Between those three and Russ I'm not sure there's a clear best cutter. They are all pretty equal.
In fairness jamal and russ’s Net rating with no jok is a relatively (but not really) respectable -3.4 which won’t kill ya. it’s actually one of the best non-jok pairings with significant minutes
The bench sucks with or without Russ, starters are literally better with Russ.
Math dictates that Russ deserves some credit for his elite playmaking off Jokic and MPJ.
@@michaelahurttune changed quick
Really wish we had chosen Russ over Reggie Jackson as the trade deadline addition back in 2023. Possibly could have beat the Wolves in 2024 with that swap and Denver wouldn't have had to give up 3 draft picks to dump Russ
so high post playmaker + fast athletic cutter = good?
Westbrook Jokic but also Amen Sengun.
@@beckembrown7002 if only sengun was even close to a jokic lvl passer
I was good with your video until the boston game and you showing video of missed plays means NOTHING when westbrook shot 50% and had high score of 26 in a close game against boston without both gordon and jokic so let's be real here, murray shot 8 of 17 this game was terrible shooting so this example is a poor choice🤡
Nikola Jokic is SAVING Russell Westbrooks career