Nikola Jokic | The Greatest Passing Big Man Of All Time
Coming into the 2014 NBA draft, analysts touted this draft class to be one of the deepest in recent history. With potential superstar prospects such as Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Aaron Gordon, Julius Randle, Zach Lavine and many more tipped to take over the reins of the NBA in this rapidly changing landscape. Although many of these players turned out to be above average players in the league, only 2 have made an all-star appearance in their careers thus far. Those 2 were Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic.
Nikola Jokic was practically unknown coming into draft day. Funnily enough, when Jokic was about to be drafted with the 41st pick by the Denver Nuggets, ESPN cut to a Taco Bell commercial break for the entirety of his selection. He didn’t have his profile examined or any highlights playing during the pick. But to be fair, Jokic himself wasn’t expecting to get drafted either. On the night he was drafted, his older brother Nemanja called Jokic from New York to break the news while popping open a bottle of champagne. Jokic answered the phone groggily whilst half asleep. His brother started shouting “You got drafted in the NBA! How do you sleep right now?”.
Turns out, the entire NBA were the ones who were sleeping on Jokic, with media experts and draft analysts making comments like “Perhaps this sounds harsh, but Jokic is being talked up as an NBA prospect and it is hard to see how he gets there unless he can really improve his athleticism”. To be fair though, anyone looking at this guy at the time would definitely make similar assumptions. Oh, how wrong they all were.
Today, Nikola Jokic is arguably the best center in the NBA and is by far the greatest passing big man to ever play the game. Now, this may be a bold statement as Jokic is only 5 years into his career however his numbers, when compared to other historical big men, can’t be disputed. His nonchalant demeanour and seemingly apathetic attitude on the court can be misinterpreted for a lack of interest in the game. However, he has shown on countless occasions that his unique playstyle for the Centre position leaves defences often scrambling and scratching their heads in finding a solution to contain him.
Jokic is a generational talent when it comes to passing and playmaking, and if I’m being honest, there hasn’t ever been a centre who comes close to the playmaking ability of the Joker.
Passing Breakdown:
His no-look passes mesmerize defences and leave them wondering what just happened and his anticipation of his teammates' movements is what allows him to execute these passes. His ability to throw the outlet pass as fast and as accurate as anyone else makes him deadly, even in a full-court setting. Although he is not nearly athletically gifted as some other superstars, he can be just as deadly in transition with his hawk-eye vision. As soon as Jokic gets his hand on the ball from a defensive rebound, he turns his head and throws a full-court quarterback type pass to the fast break player. At times, he doesn’t even properly secure the rebound before launching it cross-court for the assist.
In the half-court, he is just as lethal, especially when the Nuggets run dribble handoffs through him. His size allows him to see over other defenders, and his unique vision for his height enables him to almost always find the cutting man in a number of different ways. Jokic’s patience on the ball in these situations is what allows him to throw these pinpoint passes every time.
Jokic’s ability to stay calm in double or triple-team situations and then make the right pass is often underlooked. Usually in these situations, a big man will pass it back out to the perimeter to reset the play or otherwise chuck up a wild shot, but Jokic in these situations holds on to the ball and stays poised until he sees a player cutting to the basket where he then dishes it off.
The Joker’s creativity is unrivalled. Aside from being the best passing big man in NBA history, you could make an argument he is one of the most creative and flamboyant passers we have ever witnessed. Just look at his gameplay to see the types of passes and assists he racks up. Only a handful of players come to mind who have the court vision and spatial awareness to pull off these kinds of moves and these are players such as Lebron, Magic, Bird, Nash and Stockton among others.
Historical Advanced Stats:
Now for the good stuff. You’re probably thinking, surely he can’t be that good compared to some of those players I mentioned. Here’s where you’re wrong. To further prove how great of a passing centre Jokic actually is, let’s dive deep into some historical stats.
Let’s start off with some basics. Nikola Jokic in his last 3 seasons has averaged more than 6 assists a game. In NBA history, the only other player to have averaged at least 6 assists a game for a season was the one and only Wilt Chamberlain, and he had only done this twice in his entire career. Adding on to this, not even Wilt surpassed the 6 assists a game for an entire season mark within his first 5 seasons, whereas Jokic has already done it 3 times.
Not bad company thus far, let’s dive a bit deeper. There also have only been 2 centres in NBA history who have recorded 8 or more assists in 100 or more games. Yup, you guessed it. 1st is Wilt who has tallied 8 assists or more in a game 149 times throughout his career. He is followed by none other than Jokic, who has already reached this milestone 100 times, at the tender age of 25.
Up until now, we have only been comparing the Joker’s first five seasons against the entire careers of NBA legends. Let’s see where Jokic lies amongst his peers when we compare his first five seasons, to that of every other Centre’s first five. As I mentioned above, in his first five seasons, Jokic has already recorded 8 or more assists in a game exactly 100 times. The 2nd closest Centre to have recorded 8 or more assists in a game in their first five seasons is Alvan Adams of the Phoenix Suns, who did this only 40 times. Kareem is in 3rd place with 32 games and Wilt down in 8th spot with just 20 games. Although these are great achievements by these other players, you can’t deny how far ahead Jokic is in relation to his peers when it comes to passing milestones in their first 5 seasons.
Let’s narrow this down even further. When looking at Centre’s who have recorded 10+ assists in a game, Jokic is light years ahead of his peers having tallied a whopping 57 games throughout his first 5 seasons. Behind him is again Alvan Adams who had 10 games with 10+ assists and 3rd was Wilt who had 8 games.
What’s even more interesting is, when you expand this list to include Centres AND forwards in their first 5 seasons, Jokic is still in 1st place with 57 10+ assist games, followed by Grant Hill who had 51, and Lebron who had 49 games with 10+ assists. Wild.
Nikola Jokic truly is a point guard in a Centre’s body and unlike anything we have ever seen before from his position. I am eager to see his creativity flourish on the offensive end and see how far he can take this Nuggets team in the years to come. Having played at an MVP level in the previous season, Jokic still has improvements to be made within his game which is scary to think about. Having not entered his prime and still dominating in the way he does, it is exciting to see what the future holds for this youngster. With numbers like his, you can quite easily project that Jokic will end up surpassing Wilt in total assist stats once his career is over and undoubtedly retire as one of the greatest passers in NBA history.
