I have a ton of respect for the Dunc'd On folks, and I listen all the time, but I was shocked by their opinion. In my opinion, they put a little too much weight in the advanced metrics.

I think that specific argument is interesting, but I'm not convinced it's true. Don't forget it was Nate who swore up and down that the Nuggets could never win a championship with Jokic at center because of his perceived defensive liabilities; he was wrong then, as he's admitted. It turns out that true-blue superstars can't easily be put in a box. Giannis couldn't win a championship without a jumper, until he could. Steph Curry couldn't win a championship as an undersized shooting guard who only shot jumpers (narrative, not my belief), until he did.

I think we've proved that proper (and lucky) teambuilding can create anything around a good enough superstar. If Jokic was on the Thunder right now instead of Hartenstein and had the exact same cast around him, with Holmgren playing power forward, don't you think that team would still be an incredible defense? I do.

It might be harder with Jokic than SGA, but not that much so.