His name is
Jokic by the way but I'm not going to play that silly game with you.
Let's break down your arguments, one by one, using only facts and figures only.
Not opinions that you perceive to be facts and figures, but actual data.
And I would like you to respond by checking the name calling and pejoratives at the door.
I'm not sure you know the precise definition of +/- is.
It's actually BMI (commoners refer to it as +/-)
BMI is an NBA metric that estimates the contribution to his team when that player is on the court.
BMI is a sequence of calculations.
Embid's +25 last night is skewed due to the fact when you consider the team on the court when Embid was active were the Orlando Magic.
The Magic, an 8-28 team that's 29th ranked defensively in the NBA.
Pick a defensive metric, any defensive metric, Orlando is next to dead last in just about every defensive category, depending on what metric you want to argue, only OKC and Detroit are worse.
The Magic are a laughing stock, for lack of a better team a JV squad.
Doesn't matter if Orlando's starting defensive team was on the court when Embid was active, or the scrub garbage time unit was active, Helen Keller and Ray Charles both would have come out of that game with a +25 tag.
According to the NBA, not what you or I think, but offically with the NBA says Jokic had the better night last night.
Regardless of 10, 27, or 42 minutes played.
Here's the top six performances last night according to the NBA.
Rk |
Player |
Tm |
|
Opp |
|
MP |
FG |
FGA |
FG% |
3P |
3PA |
3P% |
FT |
FTA |
FT% |
ORB |
DRB |
TRB |
AST |
STL |
BLK |
TOV |
PF |
PTS |
+/- |
GmSc |
1 |
Nikola Jokić |
DEN |
|
LAC |
W |
41:16:00 |
16 |
25 |
0.64 |
3 |
5 |
0.6 |
14 |
16 |
0.875 |
7 |
7 |
14 |
10 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
49 |
15 |
48.2 |
2 |
Joel Embiid |
PHI |
|
ORL |
W |
27:03:00 |
17 |
23 |
0.739 |
1 |
4 |
0.25 |
15 |
17 |
0.882 |
1 |
11 |
12 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
50 |
24 |
45.2 |
3 |
Trae Young |
ATL |
|
MIN |
W |
35:49:00 |
10 |
17 |
0.588 |
6 |
10 |
0.6 |
11 |
11 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
14 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
37 |
11 |
36 |
4 |
Luka Dončić |
DAL |
|
TOR |
W |
42:16:00 |
13 |
24 |
0.542 |
4 |
10 |
0.4 |
11 |
12 |
0.917 |
2 |
12 |
14 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
41 |
7 |
35.1 |
5 |
Dejounte Murray |
SAS |
|
OKC |
W |
30:15:00 |
11 |
20 |
0.55 |
1 |
6 |
0.167 |
0 |
0 |
|
3 |
7 |
10 |
14 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
23 |
19 |
29.4 |
6 |
Ja Morant |
MEM |
@ |
MIL |
L |
39:21:00 |
12 |
27 |
0.444 |
4 |
10 |
0.4 |
5 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
8 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
33 |
0 |
29.3 |
What was your other argument?
Oh yeah, you stated Jokic wasn't even the best player on his team in last season's playoff?
That Murray was?
How is that even possible because Murray wasn't even active in last season's postseason.
Murray didn't play a game, a quarter, or even a minute.
He was inactive.
The only way Murray could have outplayed Jokic in last season's playoffs is if Jokic was Claude Raines (the old time actor who played the role of the Invisible Man)
JUST STOP!
Lastly, I'm going to kill two birds with one stone.
You claim Embid is clearly the better elite defender?
In the official NBA metrics rating, Jokic (as you'll see under the DWS column) is the elite defender.
That's what the NBA says, and they know more than me and you combined.
Now, using the same chart as provided by the NBA, just using facts and figures, who is your MVP.
The operative word in MVP is
VALUABLE.
See the VORP column on the right (VORP)
That's an acronym for Value Over Replacement Player.
Jokic is almost twice as valuable to his team as Embid is to his team.
Now you can't tell me VORP is not relevant, it's such a relevant stat that it's going to be adopted as a major factor determining first time free agents future contract salaries in MLB.
And down the road, all major sports.
Now VORP only applies comparing position players to other same position players.
Since Embid and Jokic both are centers, it 100 percent applies.
Read below, who has the better defensive ratings, who has the higher VORP rating?
Who's the better player, thus who is the MVP front runner.
Rk |
Player |
Pos |
Age |
Tm |
G |
MP |
PER |
TS% |
3PAr |
FTr |
ORB% |
DRB% |
TRB% |
AST% |
STL% |
BLK% |
TOV% |
USG% |
|
OWS |
DWS |
WS |
WS/48 |
|
OBPM |
DBPM |
BPM▼ |
VORP |
1 |
Nikola Jokić |
C |
26 |
DEN |
38 |
1251 |
32.9 |
0.646 |
0.235 |
0.303 |
9.6 |
36.9 |
23.5 |
42.2 |
2.1 |
2.2 |
15.3 |
32.1 |
|
5.2 |
2.4 |
7.6 |
0.291 |
|
9.3 |
4.7 |
14 |
5 |
2 |
Giannis Antetokounmpo |
PF |
27 |
MIL |
38 |
1239 |
31.1 |
0.613 |
0.207 |
0.578 |
6 |
29.5 |
18 |
34.9 |
1.5 |
4.5 |
13.1 |
35.2 |
|
4.8 |
2.3 |
7.1 |
0.276 |
|
6.8 |
3.6 |
10.4 |
3.9 |
3 |
Joel Embiid |
C |
27 |
PHI |
33 |
1080 |
30.6 |
0.612 |
0.187 |
0.594 |
6.4 |
29 |
17.9 |
23.5 |
1.6 |
3.9 |
11.3 |
35.6 |
|
3.9 |
1.8 |
5.7 |
0.254 |
|
6.7 |
1.9 |
8.5 |
2.9 |
4 |
LeBron James |
SF |
37 |
LAL |
33 |
1211 |
27 |
0.616 |
0.38 |
0.284 |
3.2 |
18.5 |
10.9 |
31.4 |
2.1 |
2.8 |
11.7 |
31 |
|
3.7 |
1.6 |
5.2 |
0.207 |
|
7.1 |
1.3 |
8.4 |
3.2 |
5 |
Jimmy Butler |
SF |
32 |
MIA |
27 |
896 |
26.1 |
0.593 |
0.117 |
0.527 |
6.3 |
13.2 |
9.7 |
29.1 |
2.8 |
1.3 |
9.7 |
27.1 |
|
3.6 |
1.3 |
4.9 |
0.262 |
|
5.8 |
2.4 |
8.2 |
2.3 |
6 |
Kevin Durant |
PF |
33 |
BRK |
36 |
1313 |
26.1 |
0.626 |
0.247 |
0.35 |
1.7 |
19.4 |
10.9 |
27.5 |
1 |
2.3 |
11.3 |
31.2 |
|
4.4 |
1.4 |
5.9 |
0.214 |
|
6.6 |
0.7 |
7.3 |
3.1 |
7 |
Stephen Curry |
PG |
33 |
GSW |
40 |
1376 |
21.9 |
0.592 |
0.637 |
0.236 |
2 |
14.5 |
8.5 |
29.9 |
2.1 |
1.3 |
13.1 |
32 |
|
2.8 |
2.5 |
5.4 |
0.187 |
|
5.9 |
0.9 |
6.8 |
3.1 |
8 |
Ja Morant |
PG |
22 |
MEM |
34 |
1105 |
24.5 |
0.572 |
0.231 |
0.329 |
4 |
15 |
9.3 |
35.8 |
1.9 |
1.2 |
12.9 |
31.7 |
|
2.9 |
1.2 |
4 |
0.175 |
|
5.9 |
0 |
5.9 |
2.2 |
9 |
Luka Dončić |
PG |
22 |
DAL |
30 |
1050 |
21.7 |
0.533 |
0.381 |
0.296 |
2.5 |
25.3 |
13.8 |
45.7 |
1.7 |
1.2 |
16 |
35.9 |
|
0.6 |
1.8 |
2.4 |
0.108 |
|
4.2 |
1.6 |
5.8 |
2.1 |
10 |
Rudy Gobert |
C |
29 |
UTA |
40 |
1296 |
25.5 |
0.732 |
0.003 |
0.863 |
12.5 |
36.7 |
25.1 |
5.1 |
1.2 |
6 |
14.6 |
16.9 |
|
4.8 |
2.7 |
7.5 |
0.277 |
|
3.2 |
2 |
5.3 |
2.4 |
I welcome debates like this, using only facts and figures, and data.
Feel free to comment, just check the name calling and argue facts, not opeinions.
Bear in mind this is what I do for a living.
I get paid very well for being an IT Operations Analyst for a life insurance company here in the insurance capital of the US
I deal with actuarials, life expectancy numbers.
I analyze and crunch those numbers.
Boring? Maybe to you and others, but it's who I am and it's what I do, and I'm good at it.
I have to be, million dollar life insurance policies ride on my figures.
I'm more than capable of arguing sports analytics.