Anatomy of the Nikola Jokic Pass: How the Serb Became the NBA’s Biggest Offensive Weapon

He received, looked up and saw a blank canvas in front of him. The rest is the story of each night. He said Ranko Zeravitsa that “Coaches put tactics before players and both the result and the tactics depend on seconds”. At a time when every movement that occurs on the floor is measured, every tiny detail has a statistic called, Nikola Jokic appears as a mismatched element, an error in the table. As if it were an evolutionary line different from the one that prevails today, with mobile interiors of small stature or the eaves that can perform the functions of five, the giant of Sombor means a break with the present. It is the best Balkan school gift, the result of years and years of work. Legacy of an integrated philosophy, where learning as a whole is the best guarantee of success.

A very strange thing happens on most NBA benches. While its brilliance alternative talents like Jokic’s own, what you really crave is an army of specialists in very specific areas. Until you have all the necessary pieces to complete this multicolored puzzle. The figures are asked to follow the instructions given by the band to the letter. Breaking this shell is within the reach of a select few, the Serb being among them.

Michael Malone gives his players some basic commands, lays the groundwork and game plan, but then it’s Jokic writing the story for the Nuggets on offense.

“He’s a unique player. You never know what to expect when he has the ball.” Nikola Vucevic recently explained about the Serb. “He’ll look here and there and then throw an incredible pass to the other end of the field.”

For Jokic, unpredictability is a virtue because it is a symptom of his great intelligence. I’m watchingdetecting cracks in the opponent and act accordingly. And if you can’t really see where the advantage is, advantage that he himself makes possible.

His genius is that he understands the game five dimensions. In other words, it not only controls space and time, keys to understanding what happens in this sport and defines the top of the league, but also perceives other elements of reality. his look joker projects beyond the tangible, creates in the strictest sense of the verb: “It makes something out of nothing.”

There is something romantic about these players whose essence lies in the passage, more in the present tense. While the scorer can shine on his own, based on individual actions and regardless of the context around him, with the passer it is the opposite. There are a select few who can stand out on this pitch without some teammates making good use of their passes. for one presence To reach such a degree, the connection between two is necessary, and both must fulfill their role and role without hesitation, otherwise the work of each would be of no use. Sometimes it’s a look, other times it’s a finger sign, a code word… Jokic (and those who accompany him) dominate the language of gestures, what does it mean that a team “I play from the heart”, composition of a total hedge. Relationships are forged based on error and success, over time and games at that, and in today’s NBA there is no better guide in that regard than a passer of the caliber of the Nuggets interior.

Gonzalo Vázquez and Andrés Monje stated in January 2022 that the next hurdle the game was going to pass had to do with passing. A very successful vision, which had to do with the definitive takeoff of a Jokic that outlines a horizon where creativity, reactivity and vision are the defining factors of the offense. The Serb’s example draws a line for the rest of the league to emulate or rather emulate. A source of inspiration that allows us to overcome this historic period as it was before Stephen Curry and the 2015 Warriors. even though the joker It cannot be cloned and its profile is not easy to replicate elsewhere, it creates a precedent, a reference.

“There are actually times when I throw a pass without knowing where my teammate is.” The protagonist told us a few months ago on Arena Sport TV. “There’s one thing NBA coaches always want and that’s to have a corner, and I like that. Sometimes when I don’t know what to do with the ball, I throw it in the corner and normally there’s always one of my teammates that I can read those situations where I know someone’s going to be there, and sometimes he’s just reading the play ».

Words aside, in the NBA the 30 teams are governed by results, that is, by statistics and numbers. And for Jokic’s Nuggets there are some very interesting ones.

Before, a look at Jokic’s connections with his teammates in the form of assists:

This season, three of the four best offensive pairings have Jokic as a member and first five places in terms of offensive efficiency have members of his franchise Denver. Of all the best, with 125.5 cm offensive rating in almost 1,500 minutes, it is the one formed by the Serbs and Aaron Gordon. Because?

Short answer: both complement each other.

Big answer: While Jokic talks through the pass, Gordon has the ability to move the ball away. The latter may be easy from the outside, in the end it’s all about reacting on the ball, but it’s terribly complicated in this league. To get it right, it is necessary to pay attention to the key variables (time and space) and also the positioning of the defense and its aids, as well as the dynamics of the team itself. flow insulting.

Jokic and Gordon understand each other fantastically because they speak the same language on the field.

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One of the reasons why the Balkans are so special is because of their status as decisive player.

Indeed, it is about an interior. It moves best around the lip and toe light bulb like so many others. But the way these operations are performed will be better suited to the traditional parameters used to refer to a base.

Nikola Jokic is the player who touches the ball more often per game, averaging 99.2 strokes. The difference between this and the second ranked, Tyrese Haliburton (94.5), is practically the same as Pacers’ youngster and sixth-ranked Damian Lillard (87.8). Considering Denver’s offensive pace with the Serb on the floor (100.6), this means that the joker He touches the ball in almost all of his team’s attacks. At a time when the game in transition and arrival constitutes almost 20% of the composition of the teams, these data are important.

Everything is born from his nose for the rebound. From there you start building your game. Jokic builds on the opponent’s mistake, feeds off it, and his first instinct after the rebound is to look away, almost like a center back in football. From this intent result sequences such as these:

His testimony goes further.

It is in a way to deal with the attack. Jokic does not wait for his moment, he approaches it decisively. It is the origin and source.

So it is better understood when during a match the Serb grabs the ball and receives a direct block from an outside player. Specifically, Jamal Murray:

How are Jokic’s pair supposed to react? A large interior tends to be the part not directly involved in a pick and roll, hence its strangeness when exposed to it two by two. Players of this type are not trained to react and respond positively to these types of situations.

Equal parts unusual and unusual, this is yet another example of the versatile player that Nicola is.

“Teams can double him in the post, but when he has the ball there, you can’t defend him.” Michael Malone told ESPN in 2019 about this duo. “Because if you shoot two, you’re going to leave Jamal alone, a pick and pop threat, who can go to the basket as well. I haven’t seen anything like this in many, many years, if ever.”

Even when the Serb and the Canadian reverse roles, returning to more traditional structures, their results are just as deadly. Both combine on average 11.4 screens per game, with an ERA where Denver is producing 1.23 points per possession. Figures similar to Draymond Green and Stephen Curry (1.23), Joel Embiid and James Harden (1.21) or Deandre Ayton and Devin Booker (1.19).

If Karl Malone and John Stockton honed the art of direct blocking in an era when the game survived in a trench, the combination Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic arrived to lead her to a horizon yet to be discovered.

The easy way to praise the Nuggets star’s skills and knowledge would be to highlight his numbers. At the end of the day, he’s the player with the most passes per night and overall this season, by quite a margin as well.

But that would be missing half of it joker.

Different faces coexist in Nikola Jokic. The tradition is represented by his excellent low post technique, both classic and decisive, especially in the supports, receptions in his turn and reading his opponent’s position. The point guard emerges when he gets a defensive rebound, starts running and is the recipient of a screen or looks for it himself through a one-on-one. The Balkan school gave meaning to a base locked in the body of a center the only way they knew how, but his explosion as one of the richest and most versatile quarterbacks of all time could only have been possible in a context like the Denver Nuggets.

It took 88 years for the basketball world to see a point guard his size magic Johnson breaking all plans and almost five decades after that, Nikola Jokic is writing a new chapter in the history of passing in this sport. The one that knows no positions, closed systems… Only freedom for the protagonists of the game: the players.

The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the NBA or its organizations.