Should Nikola Jokic’s 2023 playoffs run be talked about as one of the individual all time great run?
Nikola Jokic averaged 30.0 points, 13.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists in 20 games in the 2023 playoffs. He won his first Finals MVP award and his first NBA championship.
First time in history that a player has less the playoffs in points, rebounds and assists.
Individually, he played the best defenders at his position in Gobert, Davis and Bam.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2023_totals.html
I think we’ll have a better idea how good (or not) it was after this season. They beat teams which had deflated records relative to their standings:
The Timberwolves dealt with Towns missing FIFTY-THREE games. A lot of people felt he didn’t look like himself when he got back, either. Will a healthier season for this core prove to be a better playoff seed? Or was their record together (15-14 in the games Towns got to play) indicative of the fit with Towns and Gobert?
Now if they are better, that could be because of improvements from Ant. It doesn’t automatically make their playoff showing last season a lot more valuable. But it’s evidence.
Similarly, the Lakers had a horrible start to the season. Multiple impactful deadline moves improved their standings greatly. They were 25-31 on Feb 9th, the day of the trade deadline. They would close the season 43-39. That’s an 18-8 record down the stretch, or 69.2% win rate. Extrapolated over a season that rate is a 56.7 win pace.
Now there’s arguments about strength of schedule as well as the affect tanking has on some team’s records toward the end. But still, it’s clear the 44.6% win rate team had a new identity after the deadline. So the question is: what if they maintain that improvement this season?
While they did make some more adjustments this off-season, a big part of it was retaining their own players. The core is still the same. If they play at a ~55 wins pace, that speaks to that group being as good as advertised.
Last we get to the Suns. The logic is much more flawed here, since the Suns made the most impactful changes to their roster from the playoffs to this new season. If KD and Booker look fantastic, you could argue they were strong in the playoffs. But mostly, the roster is too shifted for apt comparisons.
However, my argument here is centered on the Suns entering the playoffs at the favorites in the west, according to media and betting odds. They were looked at very highly. And it wasn’t until posthumously that people brought up their seeding to belittle things.