It probably wasn’t in his story nba draft a choice of such value above his place, that o 41st pick in 2014When the Denver Nuggets they were left with the already two-time MVP of the regular season and one-time MVP of the finals, Nikola Jokiche is called among the great legends of this sport.
But how exactly did Jokic fall to that 41st pick? Why didn’t any of the other teams pick the Serb in the previous 40 spots in the series? The truth is that for this surprise of historic proportions to come to fruition, there was several factors that they hurt to that of Sobor and made him fall into the class. Next, we look at the three most important.
Doubts about the natural
If they were heard before Doubts or questions to Jokic about his physiquealready being a league MVP, they certainly multiplied in n. power before his arrival in the NBA.
In a league dominated by exceptional athletes, an inside with several extra pounds and? she could barely get off the floor to set in the hoop. A player who did everything with his speed, no spectacular plays in the open court or flying around the boards offensively or defensively.
“With her body type it was easy to have questions“the former Nuggets manager said a few years ago, Tim Connelly, during an interview with the Denver Post. “We thought about the teams that had failed in previous years when it came to drafting players like this. As Marc Gasolwho also didn’t exactly look like Adonis (a Greek mythological figure) when he was selected in the 2nd Round“.
Lack of minutes in his team
His name Ratko Vardaof the NBA’s memorable run through the Detroit Pistons in the early 2000s, created one of butterfly effect which helped the Nuggets take Jokic in the second round of the 2014 draft.
The inside veteran was the great signing of Jokic’s Mega Bemax for the 2013-2014 ABA League season and his presence, limited his minutes joker in the first team of Serbia.
2012-2013 was the first season with few minutes on the court for Jokic (4 games in the Serbian league) and the same in 2013, showed some interesting qualities during the U19 World Cupaveraging 7.1 points and 5 rebounds for runner-up Serbia.
Without Varda, we could easily see Jokic starting in 2013-2014. However, it was the veteran ex-Pistons who took that starting spot in addition to being the team’s primary offensive reference: he averaged 14.8 points in 23.7 minutesthrough 24 games (all starts) in the ABA League.
Jokic, on the other hand, Came on as a substitute in 22 of 26 gamesthough he managed to average 11.4 points and 6.4 rebounds.
For next season, Varda left the team and Jokic, who had already been drafted by the Nuggets in 2014, became a starter. The result? it was was selected as the 2014-2015 ABA League MVPshortly before making the jump to the NBA.
What would have happened if Jokic had started in 2013-2014? It’s impossible to know, but seeing that the following year he managed to win the MVP, we can reasonably conclude that at least he would be one of the best players in one of the toughest and most competitive European leagues. And if that were to happen, another franchise would likely have targeted the Serb before the 41st pick.
silent growth
Unlike other major international players like Luka Doncic or recently Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic wasn’t one of the names that sounded loud years before the time of the Draft. Partly because of the huge competition that Serbia’s youth teams always offer and partly because they play in a team a little bitaway from the big continental competitions like Euroleague or EuroCup.
This is so true that even within the Serbian structure itself, Jokic was not such a household name like others during their formative years. To the extent that he barely registered the U19 World Cup as his only involvement with youth teams, without official matches in categories such as U18, U17 or U16.
Other Serbian internals of his generation such as e.g Nikola Jankovic, Nikola Milutinov or Dusan Ristic, was ahead of him in estimation. Until of course, Jokic’s talent exploded onto the scene between 2013 and 2014, to show that his level was far above that of any of his teammates or teams.
