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

[jkvonny]

It's Thurmond, people still aren't aware how ridiculous he was at his peak.

Thats old school!

Yup, great defender.
Sidney Moncrief (Bucks) was another great defender on those good defensive Bucks teams of the '80s, but he was a smaller guard.

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[jkvonny]

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.

There's the "other" option on the poll.

[sikma42]

Duncan could come out of retirement now and do a better job guarding Jokic on the block than 99% of the NBA.

He’d have obvious trouble with stamina and injuries but his length and anticipation haven’t gone anywhere.


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[LLJ]

Marc Gasol!

[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.

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.

So your idea of slowing down Jokic is an individual player guarding him on the perimeter and protecting the rim at the same time? lol, ridiculous. I hope this is a troll job. That's like saying anybody guarding LeBron can't be effective because they aren't simultaneously guarding him and everybody else he could potentially pass to. If he is assigned to guard Jokic, his job is to do his best at slowing Jokic and then hopefully he has teammates who can do their jobs too. This is simply how basketball works.

[GiannisAnte34]

I’ll pick Rodman to protect the rim and dominate the boards

[reddyplayerone]

I mean considering I saw an older Dwight with a bad back do it, I'd be willing to guess basically everyone on this list could were they in their respective physical primes

[CumberlandPosey]

Just wilt.steal the ball,block the shot,grab the board,slam it down,drink some 7-up.easy money...

[Sign5]

Towns?

[Johnny Bball]

I'll take a healthy OG and put him on Jokic.

[LaLover11]

Yao Ming would've been too much for Jokic

[dirkdiggler4177]

Voted Hakeem. You wont slow down this big men if you can't also attack them on defense.

[Kingdibs19]

Old man Dwight locked him up. Can’t imagine what prime DPOY Dwight would do. But RealGM loooooves them some TTimmy D so he’s def going to win this poll. Timmy D would win a greatest defender of all time poll on this site even though he has 0 DPOY to his name, again this site is in love with Timmy D. The legend has outgrown the reality at this point.

[PedroFlu]

Couldnt Bill Russell, Wilt or Kareem do it?

[MavsDirk41]

Old man Dwight locked him up. Can’t imagine what prime DPOY Dwight would do. But RealGM loooooves them some TTimmy D so he’s def going to win this poll. Timmy D would win a greatest defender of all time poll on this site even though he has 0 DPOY to his name, again this site is in love with Timmy D. The legend has outgrown the reality at this point.

Tim Duncan was named all defensive team 15x
Dwight Howard was named all defensive team 5x

But if it was a player you liked you would discard the value of said player not having a DPOY award…..

[KyletheDingbat]

Not listed but Shaq. He would take that matchup so personally. Most of his work defensively would be done on offense, where he would eat the Joker, but when he locked in on defense he could be a big problem there too.

Of the ones listed, Bill Russell. He could match wits and maybe even outwit Jokic.

[Harry Palmer]

People underestimate how strong Hakeem was. The power players of his early and late career (Moses and Shaq) both called him the strongest player they ever faced, though Shaq may have moved Yao up there later on, hard to tell he wasn’t as specific. But Moses said that Hakeem’s muscles felt inhuman, more like wrought iron than flesh, and all of his amazing arsenal of moves depended on the defender first having to account for basics/power, and if you watch early Hakeem highlights you’ll be surprised how much of his game was straight up power and athleticism.

[Ol Roy]

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.

I think you missed my point. The point isn't who is more well-rounded, but that making Jokic exhaust his energy on defense can slow him down offensively.

I'm not going out on a limb here: this is the same answer Russell and Chamberlain gave in regards to slowing down Shaq. Make him run.

[The Explorer]

Shaquille O'Neal. He will pound the heck out of Jokic on the offensive end and cause him to get into foul trouble. Jokic will tire over the course of a game and be somewhat limited offensively due to fatigue. He may even catch O'neal's elbows on those turnaround baby hooks.

[165bows]

Shaquille O'Neal. He will pound the heck out of Jokic on the offensive end and cause him to get into foul trouble. Jokic will tire over the course of a game and be somewhat limited offensively due to fatigue.

Fascinating matchup really. Almost nobody could handle prime Shaq but I do think people generally under rate Jokic’s size and physicality.