Nikola Jokic is in the midst of another incredible season for the Denver Nuggets. After winning the MVP award a season ago, he has somehow managed to take his game to an even higher level this season, putting an extremely injury-ridden team on his back.
On January 3rd, NBA Math released a new MVP predictor ranking based on Rolling Player Ratings and team success, and Jokic was ranked first. Bones Hyland came across that tweet and took the opportunity to comment on the impressiveness of the Joker.
It’s no surprise that advanced stats love Jokic. He just does everything imaginable to help his team win, and is leading the Nuggets in points, assists, rebounds, steals, and blocks. But even if you aren’t a fan of advanced stats and doubt whether or not they are an accurate representation of greatness, all you would have to do to believe the numbers in this case is watch the Nuggets with Jokic on the floor and then without. The difference couldn’t be more drastic.
Hyland, a rookie with a lot of potential, has been tasked with the job of trying to help the Nuggets’ second unit stay afloat as much as possible in those minutes when Jokic is off the floor. As Hyland mentioned in his tweet, because Jokic isn’t on social media, he’s never going to be the player that self promotes and hypes himself up to the fans. That’s why it’s nice to see his teammates do it for him.
It’s still yet to be determined if Jokic will actually win MVP, but Nuggets fans, and Hyland, know the truth.
