Nah, I get what you are saying.
I've watched pretty much all of the Denver games this year. And about 30% of the time, Jokic looks about as interested in playing basketball as one would be a root canal. I know what the stats say at the end of his games, the advanced and all of that, but I promise he cruises through at least 1/3 of the time he is on the court.
But when he decides to take over, its amazing to see him impact the game seemingly as effortlessly but undeniably with his mind and just pure skill.
Sabonis was the same way. He was like 40 yrs old in that 2000 playoff run that ended with the refs sending the Lakers to the finals. I just remember how he embarrassed Garnett and the Twolves in the first round that year. He played like 30+ mins but actually only crossed half court 50% of the time on offense. He made the ball move with outlet passes and when he finally made it to the 3pt line in the offense, he would carve the Twolve D up from the high post and get their offense moving again if they had a few ISO possessions before that.
Kevin Love is not Jokic or Arveydas Sabonis, but because so much of the league is low-IQ now, even 20-30% Love engagement early in a game can not only impact in that moment, but can set the tone for the rest of the game. He still has just enough physical ability to compliment his brain.
This is what will help Rondo propel the Clippers past the Lakers if they meet early in the playoffs, even if Rondo can really only give 20 mins a night.