There’s been a lot of speculation on the Denver Nuggets run at the end of last season, and why they looked so terrible compared to the playoffs. Although the more optimistic fans figured it all stemmed from having the 1 seed wrapped up and knowing they can flip the switch Kronke confirms it started with the media MVP talk.
On the DNVR Show team President Josh Kronke confirms Jokic let up intentionally due to the MVP stories in the media, and wanted to focus on the playoffs.
Although I cut the clip, Kronke spoke more to Jokic mentality but also Adam Mares mentions it probably helped as the team went into the playoffs with less stress, which I agree with.
Full Interview: https://www.youtube.com/live/GwvMF5YaPLg?si=l3HyMqE_bjhCplJ8
And we got the weakest playoff performer mvp in NBA history, perpetual second round choker artist, Joel embiid, who was literally crying and begging the media for an mvp.
I’d rather not believe that it’s lame. Whether he did or didn’t it’ll cost you the award.
Jokic could bring his horses to shit in the locker room and Josh Kronke would have nothing to say
You can’t simultaneously believe that Jokic tanked his own MVP chances while also believing he should’ve gotten the award anyways
In a perfect world, the voters should have given some consideration to the fact that the Nuggets coasted when they locked up the no. 1 seed.
Actively looking like you’re not giving a fuck for the last quarter of your season should ding an MVP candidate and leave a sour taste to the voters, and that’s what happened. You can’t be losing to the Rockets by over 20 points in a tight MVP race late in the season while your closest competitor is dropping 52 on the Celtics the same night. At the end of the day, it was a worthy sacrifice, Jokic got the awards that mattered most.
Wow coudnt care less!
Same note too
I’m pretty sure they had a talk behind closed doors. Embiid was announced the winner while on a road game. Embiid was in a hotel gathers around a tv with his team, while Jokic was at home not wanting the award. Embiid looked like a 5th round draft pick waiting to get drafted. Nastiness. MVP conversation is a narrative and a hand picked award
Jokic should of won it regardless
*should have
Focus on finishing 5th grade first and let the adults do the debating, yeah?
Got em
Embiid deserved it over Jokic. Jokic is the better player, but you should give the MVP to the man who want it more and is just as valuable to his team during that moment.
How can you say Embiid wanted it more? Even in the month of January it was evident that Joker was quietly having one of the greatest NBA seasons in stats and advanced stats… Nevermind after the fact he lead the nuggets to a championship. This is what boggles my mind you’re trying to tell me after he lead them to a ring he still deserved it more? Besides the fact if we look at the mid season stats and overall the two teams performances, Jokic still dominated.
He is propably talking about Christian Braun
Last year really proves u/Rentsdueguys right…MVP is a narrative award, is a coronation, and is a popularity contest. Jokic was the MVP through the Break, clearly…Nuggets had the best record in the league, were top 3 offense along with the Kings and Celtics, and Jokic was having his best overall season through the Break.
He was the odds on favorite to win it, and that was with he starting behind the pack, with people putting Tatum, Luka, Giannis, ahead of him, because they couldn’t stomach the idea of Jokic winning three in a row. Embiid was always lurking and to his credit, he balled out after the Break, played almost every game, huge minutes, huge numbers, and the Sixers and Nuggets ended up with like the same record. Nuggets trended down a little and let off the gas defensively, hence that 5 of 6 losing streak u/shanmustafa mentioned…they won four in a row after that, and that was when Jokic basically punted the rest of the regular season.
A lot of Black members of the media brought race into the debate and basically made it so that a vote for Jokic was anti-Black/reflection of bias with some White/NBPOC members tagging along. I’m not gonna dive into that too far but that had a huge influence on the direction of narrative, and it’s something these people will never have to answer for. They injected race into a discussion of basketball and will never have to answer to it, and exposed their biases along the way. Glad Jokic shut them all the fuck up in the playoffs.
Definitely there was lots of racist cards against Jokic cause he’s white and TV "analyst "were saying dumb shit like "Hes not a guy who deserves 3 mvps in a row " creating stupid narrative.
It was better for Nuggets to chill after that and focus on playoffs anyway Jokic shut up haters fast having one of most dominant playoff runs by a single player ever
The way the Nuggets played and tanked the end of the season was obviously the best way and nobnody can debate that. It obviously worked big time as they where ready and raring to go come playoff time. I think everyone can agree a ring is so so much better than an MVP. Notsure why anyone would put that down.
Lol what else do you expect to hear from the nuggets FO?