Player Simulation Ratings

Speaking of All-Defensive First Team selections, in Chen's view, Jokic was not actually incapable of making an All-Defensive Team.

Although his foul control limited him and made his rim protection efficiency look less than impressive, his overall contribution to the team on the defensive end was absolutely tremendous.

In this Small-Ball Era, with the center position being the easiest to target and manipulate, the Nuggets could still produce a defensive rating in the regular season that was almost second only to the Pelicans next door. This alone showed, from another angle, how capable Jokic was at switching and delaying against pick-and-rolls above the arc.

Besides that, as the team's undisputed floor general, the Nuggets clearly did not rely on Jokic only on offense. On defense, they also depended heavily on Teacher Jokic's direction and adjustments.

Over the past two games, similar scenes had appeared repeatedly against the Thunder: Westbrook would only just begin the opening motion of a play, while Jokic had already read the situation and started directing his teammates' movements.

Unfortunately, this sort of influence on the court could not easily be explained through statistics, which put him at a disadvantage in the race for honors.

However, a player's individual ability obviously could not be measured solely by honors. Otherwise, how could I, Chen, have so many Little Blackies clinging to me and refusing to let go?~~

The fact was that Jokic could have an incredibly positive impact on the Nuggets at both ends of the court.

Teacher Jokic was the strongest player the Thunder had encountered in this season's Playoffs.

And clearly, this season's Jokic was a whole level stronger than this season's Butler and James.

If Jokic was a player rated a 10 this season, then Butler and James were probably only around 8 to 8.5.