5. Denver’s big man will finish top three in MVP voting
The Denver Nuggets had a good season in 2018-19. They were a top-10 team in offense and defense. They finished with the second-best record in the Western Conference. Furthermore, they were within one game from advancing to their first conference finals in a decade.
One of the reasons why the Nuggets had a great deal of success last year was the play of the big fella in the middle, Nikola Jokic. During the regular season, Jokic put up 20.1 points, 10.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists per contest while shooting 51 percent from the field for the third time in four seasons.
Nikola Jokić is UNBELIEVABLE and that's all we have to say about that. https://t.co/UrR17NXogH
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) January 11, 2019
But if you thought the playoffs were going to be too big for Jokic and a Nuggets team that hadn’t been to the postseason since 2012-13, you’d be mistaken. In fact, during the Nuggets’ 14-game playoff run, Jokic elevated his game, compiling averages of 25.1 points, 13.0 rebounds and 8.4 assists per contest.
In addition to shooting 50.6 percent from the field, Jokic knocked down 39.3 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc. Although Jokic finished fourth in MVP voting last year, he did not receive any first or second-place votes.
Not only do I expect Jokic to turn in another solid season, I’m predicting that he will finish in the top three in the MVP voting race.