“I went at Nikola Jokic’s defense, I showed him four clips and was very critical of him”: Draymond Green discusses how the Joker responded to his advice

Akash Murty | 23/12/2021
“I went at Nikola Jokic’s defense, I showed him four clips and was very critical of him”: Draymond Green discusses how the Joker responded to his advice

Draymond Green advised the 2021 MVP, Nikola Jokic, on his bad defense, the Nuggets center took constructive criticism and came back with an improvement.

Having a great basketball mind and talking basketball good enough that you can make a living in sports media are two different things. Don’t get the wrong notion here, nobody is pointing towards Stephen A Smith or Skip Bayless.

But Draymond Green will be some otherworldly analyst after he retires and does it on a nightly basis. The Warriors’ point forward already deepens every basketball fan’s knowledge of the game whenever he makes an appearance as a guest analyst.

Also read: “LeBron James in year 19 at 62k mins, Russell Westbrook in Year 14, and Anthony Davis, who ain’t exactly Cal Ripken, this was always stupid”: Bill Simmons takes an indirect dig at Rob Pelinka and co

The 3-time NBA Champ is never shy to call out players, who he believes have major holes in their game and are capable of improving on it.

Be it his teammates or a player from opponent teams, Green gives his two cents, even if it means that the Warriors will have to face better oppositions. He once suggested something to The Joker, which made the Nuggets Big make certain improvements in his already tremendous game.

Draymond Green’s suggestion on defense helped Nikola Jokic

Denver Nuggets have been one of the best teams in the West for the past two seasons, and Nikola Jokic is one of the reasons why. But still, the Serbian giant lacked a certain element in his game that basketball fans are aware of. It’s his defense that fans and experts always believe 2021 could improve on.

A part-time expert analyst, Draymond Green, also has a podcast namely The Draymond Green Show. On one of its recent episodes with his former teammate and NBA Champion Matt Barnes, Green shared a story from the time he heavily scrutinized Jokic’s defense during an appearance on Inside The NBA and the mistakes Jokic made during the first half of a game.

“I went at Jokic’s defense. I’m like, ‘If they’re gonna ever be a good team, he’s the backline of the defense, he has to be good defensively.’ I showed four clips. Him not rotating over as the low man, him not moving, four clips. And I was very critical of him.”

Green then says Jokic told him that he saw the criticisms from that segment, agreed with the points Green made. He then worked on it and believed he has improved defensively.

“I said you’ve 100 percent gotten better. ‘I’ve been watching you this year, and you’ve 100 percent gotten better.’ That was a big moment for me because this TV thing is new.”

Also read: “People were like Kevin Durant, you’ve got to get to a different place!”: Nets superstar and 2014 NBA MVP accuses people of dramatizing their Game 5 vs Bucks ahead of the match

As new as Green believes he is into broadcasting, his insights compensate for everything he is trying to improve on. As far as Joker and his performance this season goes, he is having another MVP caliber year.

 

Post Edited By: Akash Murty
Draymond Green Nikola Jokic

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

Don’t miss these