Colin Cowherd: “Basketball has made several key pivots since I’ve been watching. The 80s and 90s was back-to-the-basket centers, highly physical, tackling was semi-allowed, physicality, defense, and rebounding won. Then in 2004 they eliminated the hand-check. The game got faster. Guards, tempo, blazing speed. In 2014/2015 there was a three-point revolution with the small-ball Warriors. Do we have another one? JOKIC. Giannis and Jokic are 7-foot guys handling the ball but in Jokic’s case it’s the shooting which is elite even for a non-center. It’s the free throw shooting, it’s the passing… He’s gonna get a lot of centers paid. It’s historically unique. The NBA is getting very international and these international bigs are highly skilled. They make the flashy, domestic American guards less relevant. Jokic is kind of doing a Steph Curry. When Steph Curry came onto the scene he got a lot of shooters paid. Lot of imitators. Trae Young thought he was another Steph Curry. Trae Young is good but he’s not close to Steph Curry for a million reasons. Watch Jokic’s influence in the league. He’s going to get centers paid, and people are going to ask centers to do Jokic-like things. He’s one of one, and so was Steph. There was one Steph, one Kareem, one LeBron, and there’s just one Jokic. He averages 10 assists. You know who they think is another good facilitator and a good passer? Embiid. He averages four and he’s not nearly as durable, and he can’t shoot like this. I really like Giannis but he shoots 27% from three and 64% from the free-throw line, and doesn’t pass like this. It was about a month and a half ago that voters decided they could not give Jokic a third straight MVP. Their argument was: 'C’MON NOW! THAT WOULD HISTORIC!’ Let me give you some history— Jokic is the first player in NBA history to lead the NBA Playoffs in points, rebounds, and assists. Kareem didn’t do it, Hakeem didn’t do it, LeBron didn’t do it, Magic didn’t do it, not Shaq, not Giannis. THE FIRST AND ONLY EVER. That was the only knock on the third MVP. You gotta ‘save it’ for guys like MJ, guys like LeBron, guys like… Jokic?” (Full Segment Above)
Watch Colin Cowherd explain why he thinks Nikola Jokic will revolutionize the previously dormant center position that was nearly going extinct in the league’s obsessive ‘small ball’ era, as Colin thinks Jokic’s dominance as a big man could make teams finally start seeking true centers with Jokic’s same skill sets.
Check out the segment above as Colin discusses Nikola’s place in history as one of the best big men in league history, with Colin say he’s going to transform the league at center the same way Steph Curry did with three-point shooting.
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