In fairness to Nuggets coach Michael Malone, subterfuge is a tricky word.
Malone invoked that description Wednesday afternoon when trying to ascribe motivation to certain articles tearing down MVP candidate Nikola Jokic.
“I think sometimes there are people out there that are just going really out of their way to prove a point,” Malone said. “I wonder what is the motivation? What are they trying to accomplish? They’re killing this guy, but they’re really trying to promote somebody else. Well, just do that. Promote your guy. What’s the word, subterfuge? Is that a word? Does it apply here? I think it applies here. I’m tired of the subterfuge.”
Not long ago Malone made the comparison to college basketball, where negative recruiting is a part of the game. As the MVP race rises to a boil, he implied there was some level of politicking going on.
“Hatchet jobs are made about Nikola’s defense,” Malone said. “I don’t know who’s paying some of these people to write these articles. They’re just so one-sided.”
On Monday, prior to what was supposed to be an MVP-caliber showdown between Jokic and Joel Embiid, ESPN published an article critical of Jokic’s defense. Embiid didn’t play due to a calf injury, though he’d played the prior 13 games and returned in the Sixers’ next game. Malone didn’t mention the article specifically, though it was fairly obvious what he was referring to.
Asked how articles like that wind up on his desk, Malone made a point he hoped his family would see.
“I love my family, but they read too much (stuff). … Ma, stop sending me stuff,” he said. He said one of his sisters, in addition to his coaching staff, can occasionally put something on his radar, too.
Malone defended Jokic’s defense after the article attacked his rim protection.
“If you really look at the game, is Nikola going to be a shot-blocker? Is he going to protect the rim at the level of a Dikembe Mutombo? Probably not. But he’s great in terms of contesting shots, and when he’s guarding a pick-and-roll, when I think deflections for years, I always just assumed that deflections with your hands. And Nikola’s deflections with his hands and his feet are what are amazing to me. His hand-eye, his eye-foot, whatever you want to call it, coordination is just remarkable.”
A lot of what makes Jokic a difficult player to gauge is how unconventional he is. Offensively, the NBA has never seen anything like him. Defensively, his coordination, anticipation and stamina all aid his defensive efforts, which also have their limitations as a shot-blocker. But if he was really as ineffective as some have portrayed, he wouldn’t be second among centers in steals (83) and seventh in the NBA, among all players, with 212 deflections.
“I’m not saying we should never be criticized,” Malone said.
But if there’s something else going on — ahem, subterfuge — he’d just like an explanation.
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