Choose the most capable Center of all time to slow down Jokic

[Jabroni Lames]

How useful is Tim Duncan when he has to defend Jokic out at the 3-pt line? Now the paint is wide open.

That's the whole point of Jokic that you guys keep missing: Timmy never had to defend a point-center, who could also make 3's, back in the day.

[Myth]

How is Yao Ming not on this list?

Yao has the length and size to slow down Jokic, smaller centers like Dwight or Ben Wallace aren't the right type of counter to Jokic if you ask me.

I wouldn’t think Yao can do much on the perimeter against him. Coming out to guard a 3 likely leads to Jokic driving past him. But in the post, I agree that Yao’s length and strong base would match up well.

[Myth]

How useful is Tim Duncan when he has to defend Jokic out at the 3-pt line? Now the paint is wide open.

That's the whole point of Jokic that you guys keep missing: Timmy never had to defend a point-center, who could also make 3's, back in the day.

Young Duncan was faster than Jokic for sure. I think he’d be fine guarding him out there. It would be faster players Duncan would struggle in the perimeter with.

[cupcakesnake]

Nate Thurmond or Tim Duncan.

You need a ton of strength, length, and discipline in this matchup.

You need to have a good chance of outthinking him on any given play.
You need the quickness to play out to the perimeter in a modern defense.
You need sufficient pure length to deal with the high release shots.
You need willingness to bang.

So Russell, Duncan, and Hakeem are the obvious thoughts. Did Thurmond meet the criteria as well?

Yes.
Those are all strengths for Thurmond and some of those things he's arguably the goat at.

[cupcakesnake]

Nate Thurmond or Tim Duncan.

You need a ton of strength, length, and discipline in this matchup.

You need to have a good chance of outthinking him on any given play.
You need the quickness to play out to the perimeter in a modern defense.
You need sufficient pure length to deal with the high release shots.
You need willingness to bang.

So Russell, Duncan, and Hakeem are the obvious thoughts. Did Thurmond meet the criteria as well?

Yeah, Thurmond was well known for studying his opponents tendencies, adjusting his strategy for different opponents and reajusting during the game. He was also very light on his feet, capable of switching on perimeter players (especially when he played with Wilt in the first 2 seasons). Willingness to bang is obvious in his case, he's also way longer than Russell and Hakeem (and probably Duncan).

I've never seen Duncan's wingspan as estimated as higher than 7'5". We don't have a real number for Thurmon, but the images and footage of his arms extended is pretty mind boggling. Blanketing Kareem's hook shots despite standing a few inches shorter. Wilt (reported 7'7" - 7'8" wingspan) himself is quoted as saying that Thurmond had a taller standing reach. I'm not one to sensationalize and I think it's a rationale assumption Thurmond might have had an 8'0" wingspan or something close to it.

[70sFan]

You need to have a good chance of outthinking him on any given play.
You need the quickness to play out to the perimeter in a modern defense.
You need sufficient pure length to deal with the high release shots.
You need willingness to bang.

So Russell, Duncan, and Hakeem are the obvious thoughts. Did Thurmond meet the criteria as well?

Yeah, Thurmond was well known for studying his opponents tendencies, adjusting his strategy for different opponents and reajusting during the game. He was also very light on his feet, capable of switching on perimeter players (especially when he played with Wilt in the first 2 seasons). Willingness to bang is obvious in his case, he's also way longer than Russell and Hakeem (and probably Duncan).

I've never seen Duncan's wingspan as estimated as higher than 7'5". We don't have a real number for Thurmon, but the images and footage of his arms extended is pretty mind boggling. Blanketing Kareem's hook shots despite standing a few inches shorter. Wilt (reported 7'7" - 7'8" wingspan) himself is quoted as saying that Thurmond had a taller standing reach. I'm not one to sensationalize and I think it's a rationale assumption Thurmond might have had an 8'0" wingspan or something close to it.

It's definitely possible. I have never seen anyone close to him in that regard until Wemby came in, but even Wemby length looks less ordinary in a way, because you kind of expect Wemby to make these unreal plays when you see him, while Thurmond is probably around 6'11 and he makes plays like he'd be 7'5. It's shocking what he could do with his height.

[Bornstellar]

Tim Duncan played prime Shaq even when they matched up. That should tell you something. Tim is just incredibly fundamentally sound and has GOAT level anticipation/timing/positioning on defense. Jokic is so good that no one is stopping him but I think Timmy has the best shot 1v1

Man gtfoh with that made up bs. Tim might have played him in spots but there's a reason you guys had DRob, Rasho, Fabrizio, Tiago. Duncan would be in foul trouble every game if he guarded Shaq exclusively.

Lmao you think any one of those guys you named were the primary defensive anchor for SA? Are you 12?

[hundreth]

Tyson Chandler

[Jabroni Lames]

How useful is Tim Duncan when he has to defend Jokic out at the 3-pt line? Now the paint is wide open.

That's the whole point of Jokic that you guys keep missing: Timmy never had to defend a point-center, who could also make 3's, back in the day.

Young Duncan was faster than Jokic for sure. I think he’d be fine guarding him out there. It would be faster players Duncan would struggle in the perimeter with.

Again, you guys keep missing the point. Sure, Duncan can "defend" Jokic at the 3-pt line, but now his value as a rim protector / defensive anchor is completely useless. There are a lot of centers who could hang with Jokic out there.

But now the driving lanes are wide open for Jokic's teammates to hit cutters, hockey passes, etc...

It's not about stopping Jokic 1-on-1.... it's about stopping the whole team. And he's one of the best in the business at maximizing his whole team.

[CIN-C-STAR]

How useful is Tim Duncan when he has to defend Jokic out at the 3-pt line? Now the paint is wide open.

That's the whole point of Jokic that you guys keep missing: Timmy never had to defend a point-center, who could also make 3's, back in the day.

Young Duncan was faster than Jokic for sure. I think he’d be fine guarding him out there. It would be faster players Duncan would struggle in the perimeter with.

Again, you guys keep missing the point. Sure, Duncan can "defend" Jokic at the 3-pt line, but now his value as a rim protector / defensive anchor is completely useless. There are a lot of centers who could hang with Jokic out there.

But now the driving lanes are wide open for Jokic's teammates to hit cutters, hockey passes, etc...

It's not about stopping Jokic 1-on-1.... it's about stopping the whole team. And he's one of the best in the business at maximizing his whole team.

Jokic averages 1 made 3 a game for his career lol
If the plan to neutralize Duncan's defense is to park Jokic at the 3-point line, you take that as a huge W every single time.

[ConSarnit]

I don’t know if he’s the best option but Marc Gasol is a good choice. High defensive IQ, can guard him in the post and is a very good pnr defender. Jokic isn’t a high volume 3pt shooter (he doesn’t seem to want to take many) so I don’t think that’s a huge issue when defending Jokic.

You need someone who can single cover Jokic in the post and guard the pnr when they go to that.

[CS707]

Another factor is wearing him out running on the other end. Olajuwon, Robinson, and Russell could make put some miles on him defensively.

This is a great point. I love Jokic so I don't want this interpreted as a slight or meant to be controversial, but I do wonder how he would fare in a league that was much more center centric than it is today. Teams were built to feature centers and defend centers back then. The ability to stretch the floor and pass would make him a viable offensive threat in any era, but he's sort of a man against boys in today's game. He just straight up bullied the most decorated defensive player of this generation at his own position. Between having to work harder defensively against really skilled post players and better post defense in general, it would be interesting to see. I'm actually curious to see how his dominance will influence the game back toward teams looking to feature bigs in the coming years.

[r0drig0lac]

Another factor is wearing him out running on the other end. Olajuwon, Robinson, and Russell could make put some miles on him defensively.

that's not the point, if that's the point, a portion of this list of players are more complete than Jokic (Timmy, David, Ewing, Akeem) and outperform him overall, they can all slow down Jokic and Jokic has absolutely no chance to slow down these guys.

[Showdown]

Jusuf Nurkic

[Billl]

I went with Ben wallace because I'm a major homer. He was just an incredible defender. He's undersized, but probably the quickest of the bunch. His recovery time from playing on ball and then still being able to make it back to contest shots is the type of thing you need to be able to do. Otherwise, jokic just keeps finding teammates for easy buckets against a lifted center. Ben is also up there in terms of steals, so the ball handling gets a lot harder than against most center defenders.

[Lalouie]

somebody smart with size

a healthy mature bill walton type

jokic is too smart. he'll make guys like nate look stupid

[amcoolio]

He's in the league right now, its Wembanyama. Literally the only one

[Slimjimzv]

Chose Hakeem, but Kareem and Yao should be on this list.

[jkvonny]

Did yall forget that Duncan used to slow him down? lol

But, ya, Jokic was younger at the time.

He only played against rookie Jokic.

True

Check out one of the videos, too. We had a young Kyle Anderson (current TWolves) at the time lol.

Also Andre Miller (former Nugget and other teams) was with us for a bit, too.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nikola-jokic-vs-tim-duncan

https://www.landofbasketball.com/games_between/tim_duncan_vs_nikola_jokic.htm

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[165bows]

Prime Kevin Garnett

Yeah it’s slander to leave him off this list. People forget how strong he was at that point. Plus smart and a great motor. Very savvy on the perimeter and pick and roll as well.