After nearly leading Serbia to a gold medal this summer, three-time MVP Nikola Jokic will soon begin his 10th season with the Denver Nuggets. Although the Nuggets haven't improved over the summer, they will still have arguably the best player in the NBA. In fact, his scoring and passing make them a lock to have one of the best offenses in the league.
However, a hilariously named new advanced stat suggests that he is a more impactful defender than previously thought. Jokic is generally considered to be around league average defensively, though a lot of NBA fans tend to see him as a poor defender.
Nevertheless, Jokic ranks third in HELLNAHS, an advanced stat that measures when a player attacks the rim but declines to take a shot and dribbles back out when a player is within six feet of the rim.
HELLNAH leaders for the 2023-24 season. https://t.co/bM5cZvJPul pic.twitter.com/CtjIk1ewE4
— Todd Whitehead (@CrumpledJumper) August 17, 2024
It essentially measures how much of a rim deterrent someone is and based on who's on the list, it certainly seems accurate.
Is Nikola Jokic actually a good defender for the Denver Nuggets?
San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama led the NBA in blocked shots and teams seemed uninterested in challenging him at the rim. Other shot blockers, such as Myles Turner and Anthony Davis, also rank highly in the stat. Still, Jokic ranking third is surprising considering that he isn't all that mobile and lacks the athleticism of some of the other players on this list. At 7 feet, he is a giant and, apparently, more physically imposing than he gets credit for.
Even if you were to discount this particular stat, Jokic ranks 13th in defensive rating among centers who average at least 20 minutes per game. That is ahead of Wembanyama and about a point below rival Joel Embiid. That puts him in good company and suggests that he is indeed above league average for his position on the defensive end.
Combine his being slightly above average defensively with his eye-popping 122.4 offensive rating and it's no surprise that he won league MVP with his stellar 11.8 net rating. Ultimately, this new stat gives us another piece of data that suggests that Jokic is underrated defensively. That may not change many fans minds but the numbers clearly speak for themselves.