Nikola Jokic has the tools many point guards can only dream about

DENVER— There are point guards on this planet who feel shortchanged, who are envious. The most meaningful skill for a player at that position, and that size, is the ability to see the floor, find teammates and deliver the ball to them in a timely manner. And so, these point guards are watching Denver Nuggets games in awe and wondering how an outsider, who’s not in the fraternity, who’s almost 7-foot freaking tall, can do what they do, and do it better than most.

Well: They can hate … or they can appreciate.

It is that pure and simplistic gift, giving the ball to others, which separates Nikola Jokic from all other centers of today and even yesterday. Actually, taking it a bit further: It is the gift that’s arguably the most valuable of the three necessary skills allowing him to go on his frequent triple-double binges.

The ability to elevate his Nuggets teammates by putting them in position to score, and therefore raising their confidence level and self-worth, cannot and should not be understated. And he’s doing this … from the center position? It just doesn’t happen. That, too, should never be taken for granted. 

“Nikola takes great satisfaction in making plays for others. He really does. He takes more joy in that than anything else. He’s going to make every one of his teammates better.”

– Nuggets coach Michael Malone on Jokic’s elite passing ability

What we’re witnessing from Jokic is once-in-a-generation stuff, to be able to drop dimes so often and so skillfully on the game’s highest level, and doing it so routinely that by now it makes observers numb. As in: Oh, the Joker just threw a one-handed pocket pass from the top of the key to a cutting Jamal Murray? Cool. Grab me a beer, please. 

True basketball players know, however, and especially point guards. They know this dude is different. 

“Look, I’ve been around this game longer than a lot of people, been on more teams than anyone, seen a lot of point guards, and I’m a point guard,” Nuggets veteran Ish Smith said, “and he’s really one of us, just in a bigger body. It’s crazy the way he delivers that ball. And making it look easy, too.”

As the Heat prepare for Game 2 of the NBA Finals (8 ET, ABC), Miami is probably feeling frantic, not only because the Nuggets are up 1-0 in the series, but there seems no defense for Jokic’s passing. Seriously: Teams can game-plan for scorers, shooters, they can box out rebounders, etc. Teams can make adjustments for all that. But how the heck do you stop a guy from passing? Has that ever been done before? 

When Jokic is racking up the assists — he’s averaging 10.5 in this postseason — most likely the Nuggets are racking up wins. That usually means the offense is balanced and multiple players, not just Jokic, are causing problems with their scoring and putting the defense on high stress.

This was the case in the first half of Game 1 when Jokic was content to flick the ball to shooters and cutters and players running off screens. He had 10 assists (of the Nuggets’ 18) in that half and Denver rolled up a lead too big for Miami to overcome. 

“I think that’s the beauty of Nikola,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “I learned a long time ago the defense tells you what to do, and Nikola never forces it. If they’re going to give him that kind of attention, he had 10 assists at halftime, I believe. Well, he’s going to just pick you apart.”

But this of course is nothing new; Jokic has led the Nuggets in assists every season he has been in the league except his first two, when he was just getting started. That’s six straight seasons, astonishing for someone at his position and with his height.

“It comes naturally to me and my job is to make sure to put my teammates in position to succeed, if I can,” he said.

So: How did this happen? Who force-fed Jokic some passing pills and got him addicted to them? Well, the finished product is perhaps due to an innate ability to throw the ball, sharpened over many years, starting at an early age. Some players are just born with that instinct. Some things just can’t be taught.

But there’s also another issue here. Suppose Jokic was born and raised in the States? Would he be this efficient with the pass? Probably not. In this country, kids with height are somewhat punished for being tall. They’re immediately thrown into the post and told to rebound and dunk. They don’t get to play point guard or anywhere in the backcourt. They’re not programmed to dribble more than twice, and they’re taught to pass only by kicking the ball out from the paint. They’re not included in small-player drills. They’re told to “go practice with the bigs” on the other end of the floor. 

They don’t play the high post, and when they do, it’s to set screens, not to use their height to scan the floor and pass to teammates, and come to think, wouldn’t that be a better way to make full use of tall players?

In Serbia, as in many other foreign countries, fundamentals are stressed to players of all heights, shapes, sizes and positions. When Jokic left his native country for the NBA, he brought those skills and lessons with him. Even then, the Nuggets didn’t know what they had until his second season, and didn’t run the offense through him exclusively until midway of that season.

“We tried to play Nikola and Jusuf Nurkic together to start that year,” said Malone, who had two young centers in the 2015-16 season. “It did not go as well as we had hoped. I was bringing Nikola off the bench. We lost a game to Dallas. I remember having a conversation, `What am I doing?’ I started him that next game. And that’s when our team took off. He became the focal point of everything we did. We realized we had a player we could build our offense and team around.”

Before then, the Nuggets used — get this — point guards to throw passes. How prehistoric of them. And here’s a trivia question and answer: The last point guard to lead the Nuggets in assists? Jameer Nelson, way back in 2017.

Jokic was a game-changer for Denver. Suddenly, Murray could play off the ball and off Jokic’s passing. The two players, both unorthodox, developed a nice chemistry that was briefly interrupted by Murray’s knee injury, but remains intact today.

None of this would be possible without Jokic’s floor management. He studies the defense. He develops an understanding with his teammates. He learns where they want the ball, how they want it, how to throw it to them, when to throw it to them. A simple pass isn’t so simple; so much goes into the delivery and the connection. And the precision.

 As LeBron James said recently: “He plays the game exactly the way I play the game.”

Jokic is helped by his height, allowing him to see over defenses. And he’s comfortable being a facilitator, too. He can throw it on the bounce, with the lob, off the dribble, the full-court outlet, behind the back, or tapping it to a teammate while standing in the post.

And also one-handed, like a water polo player. That allows Jokic to get rid of it quickly, with a flick, instead of using two hands, which requires a split-second to gather the ball first.

In the history of the NBA, only two centers can even begin to compare. Arvydas Sabonis was a passing wizard initially for the former Soviet Union at a time when he was one of the world’s premier big men, then with the Blazers during his twilight. Before him was Bill Walton, really the first of his kind, who called plays from the high post for the Blazers, threw to constantly cutting teammates, excelled on the give-and-go and used his passing to help Portland win the 1977 championship. 

Jokic is all that, just a notch above. And he’s only 28.

He’s also laser-focused on getting his first championship, the only award that has proven elusive. He’s three victories away from achieving that, and if nothing else, laid the blueprint for a Nuggets’ championship in Game 1 by throwing passes and giving Miami one more reason to worry.

If this is how the Nuggets must win this series, with fewer shots by Jokic and more for his teammates, Jokic will gladly sign off on that. It’s an opportunity he won’t … pass up. 

“Nikola takes great satisfaction in making plays for others,” Malone said. “He really does. He takes more joy in that than anything else. He’s going to make every one of his teammates better.”

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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

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