Analysis | NBA unicorn Nikola Jokic pads his MVP resumé, not his stats

DENVER—Of all the wonderfully unique players in the NBA — the high-flying dunkers, silky-smooth shooters, seemingly effortless ballhandlers who do what they want even when everyone expects it — Nikola Jokic stands out.

He’s not in the least bit fast.

He plays on the ground when so many operate in mid-air above the rim.

He works at his pace, always dictating how possessions and games unfold — the way he wants them to.

He is an anachronism and a sight to behold.

“He doesn’t jump very high or anything, but he’s a big body and he’s strong and he just kind of plays at his own pace, and he’s comfortable at his own pace,” Raptors centre Jakob Poeltl said of Jokic hours before Toronto played the Nuggets here Monday night.

“It’s tough with those guys. You’re really not able to speed them up very much. He doesn’t have to go fast, but he still gets to his spots. And it doesn’t really matter how fast he is or how high he can jump. He’s got a high release, so he gets his shot off.”

Jokic isn’t actually revolutionizing the game, but he is refining it and placing himself above all others who play it.

The six-foot-11 centre from Serbia has been the NBA’s most valuable player in each of the last two seasons, and it’d be foolish to dismiss his chances of winning the award for a third straight year.

The 28-year-old Jokic began Monday’s game averaging 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and 10 assists and has the Nuggets in a tight battle with the Milwaukee Bucks for first place overall in the NBA. Denver was a league-best 29-4 at home.

He was also posting a league-best 70.3 true shooting percentage, which takes in the value of all field goals, and shoots 63 per cent from inside the arc. Those are otherworldly numbers for any player; they are even more jarring when you look at Jokic’s size and foot speed.

He just does whatever he wants to do most games, despite every opponent devising game plans to at least slow him down.

“It’s not like you can trick him very easy,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said on the weekend. “It’s not like you can push him one way and decide you’re going to double-cover him and push him the other way, and it takes him three possessions to figure out. He just reads it and sees it right away.

“We’ll have our hands full, but we look forward to it.”

Despite his undeniable greatness, Jokic has become something of a lightning rod for criticism of late.

Maybe it’s because he doesn’t fit the explosive MVP example of Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo or Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid or Phoenix’s Kevin Durant, or even Luka Doncic of Dallas.

Maybe it’s because the Nuggets have yet to advance out of the Western Conference despite great regular seasons.

Maybe it was just old-fashioned jealousy that caused TV commentator Kendrick Perkins to foolishly accuse Jokic of padding his stats.

Whatever it is, it has unleashed a barrage of quips from Nuggets head coach Michael Malone.

“Nikola’s the central hub in everything we do on the offensive end of the floor,” Malone said. “Just because he’s that skilled to be a 10-assist-per-game centre, don’t hold that against him. He’s going to make the right play.”

Malone was at his acerbic best on the weekend, responding to nitpicky suggestions that Jokic’s defence was somehow lacking after a weekend win over Memphis: “I felt Nikola was outstanding defensively. If you watch that game and you say he’s a negative defender or a poor defender, I’d like you to pee in a cup, OK?”

It won’t be known until after the regular season whether Jokic can do something never accomplished by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, LeBron James or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: win a third straight MVP award. There may be a measure of voter fatigue — “that’s lazy,” Malone said — but Jokic absolutely deserves serious consideration for the regular-season honour.

SHARE: