Post by Rog on Dec 31, 2017 17:49:02 GMT
The 101st nominee for the NBN Hall of Fame, Nikola Miorotic, was another jack of all trades. He was spectacular at just about everything he did. Like the argument against Bradley, is there an argument that he wasn't good enough at anything he did or is he a true Hall of Famer, remembered as being elite at some stuff, also just good at everything he tried. Lets take a look.
Career Stats
34.6 MPG, 14.0 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 3.2 APG, 2.6 BPG, 1.4 SPG, 1.4 TOPG on 43.6% from the field, 85.3% from the line, and 42.5% from three
Best Season
Spurs(2019) - 14.9 PPG, 12.4 RPG, 4.1 APG, 3.5 BPG, 1.7 SPG, 1.4 TOPG on 42.6% from the field, 86.1% from the line, and 37.8% from three
Career Highs
Points: 40
Rebounds: 30
Assists: 12
Steals: 9
Blocks: 10
Achievements
Championships: 2
Player of the Game: 182
Player of the Week: 2
Player of the Month: 0
Double Doubles: 643
Triple Doubles: 5
Career Leaderboard Rankings
Rebounds - 15th
Blocks - 10th
Awards
2010 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2011 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2011 - All-Rookie Team
2012 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2015 - All-Star Game Participant
2015 - All-League First Team
2016 - All-League First Team
2017 - All-Star Game Participant
2017 - All-League Second Team
2018 - All-League Third Team
2018 - All-Defensive Second Team
2019 - All-League First Team
2019 - All-Defensive Second Team
2020 - All-Star Game Participant
2020 - All-League Third Team
2020 - All-Defensive Team
2021 - All-Star Game Participant
2021 - All-Star Game MVP
Arguments For Induction
- Nikola Mirotic did everything in his career. He won two titles, one with the Spurs as a key cog, and one with the Pistons in his last season when he was still a starter as well. He played in four All-Star Games, and was All-Star Game MVP once. He was named to three All-League First teams, one All-League Second Team, two All-League Third Teams, and three All-Defensive Teams, two seconds and a first.
- Mirotic was an absolutely fantastic and versatile defender. Even at age 35 when his entire game was breaking down, he held up an 'A+' defensive rating. He was named to three Defensive Teams in his career. He averaged 4 stocks in a career that went on too long and dragged down his overall numbers. In his prime you could count on 1.5+ steals and 3.3+ blocks per game, for 4.8 stocks a fantastic number. And he was a great rim protector overall too, showing up on the best defenders list for post defense most of the time it was published. He finished his career 10th All-Time in blocks.
- Mirotic was also a good, sometimes great rebounder. More a product of his longevity, but Mirotic finished 15th in rebounds all time, while averaging 11.2 for his career. Now granted, in his prime you could count on getting 12+ rebounds out of Mirotic, which for a stretch big defensive monster type like Mirotic is the wheelhouse for a great player.
- While not a stud scorer, Mirotic was a great offensive player. Remembering Mirotic was a power forward, his 2.28 to 1 assist to turnover ratio is absolutely fantastic. It was even better in his prime when he was averaging 3.8+ assists per game every season, getting over 4 once as well. His lack of turnovers was a fantastic plus as well. And again, he was a versatile scorer, even if not a great one. He took four free throws a game in his career, shooting 85.3% there. He also shot over 2600 threes in his career, making 42.5% of them. His combination of ability to stretch the floor, make free throws, and find the open man made him a tough guard. While not elite, his offensive arsenal made him very much a plus offensive player.
- Overall, his combination of awards, longevity, and fantastic prime make him an easy candidate to write about. He could do it all and it showed in his accolades. His two titles, one in his prime, and another at the end show how valuable he could be to teams who used him right. Plug him into a team in need of shooting and defense and he plugs both holes instantaneously. Just a fantastic player who should be a near lock for induction.
Arguments Against Induction
- He has a wide variety of accolades, but not enough in any one place, does he? Just feels light enough to make a person pause.
- He was adequate on the boards, but it was no where near a thing to really put any emphasis on in his case for. Anyone not averaging 12 rebounds a game, at any point in their career, is a net negative in that area as a big. Period. And he had a few seasons like that.
- Mirotic is another one of those guys who falls short enough offensively, specifically scoring, that while he did a lot of things well on that end, it just doesn't add up to all that much HERE. Granted he was very useful there, but we are talking about elite players, not guys with wordings like useful that make them sound like role players.
- Mirotic falls on the weird spectrums of players whose stats don't add up to a lot in my eyes, but their awards equal near lock Hall of Fame status even falling just short of that. Normally its the other way around. But not an elite scorer, doesn't really board that great, and has a few other holes here and there to pick at doesn't feel like a guy to add to the Hall of Fame that is already getting a little bloated, now does it? Your choice.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully.
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25***
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