Appreciating the quirky greatness of Nuggets center Nikola Jokic
May 9, 2019, 6:51 AM | Updated: 9:38 am
Nikola Jokic is awesome.
He’s big. He’s funny. He has fun with microphones. He’s a superstar.
He is putting up numbers in the playoffs that only superstars can dream of. He dribbles the ball up the court. Heck, his teammates give him the ball to dribble up the court.
He plants himself above the top of the key and sets this Denver Nuggets offense in motion. It starts the same and basically ends the same with the Nuggets scoring.
He is absurdly unselfish and absurdly talented, while barely leaving the floor.
Seriously, I know he can dunk, but when’s the last time you’ve seen him do it? I don’t think he cares all that much about dunking.
Watching Jokic during the All-Star Game was like watching Yo-Yo Ma at a bluegrass festival. You knew he was a better player than basically everybody, but he was happy to lay back and watch all the fiddle players show off.
The Nuggets PR people finally understood that Jokic doesn’t need a mic stand. It’s useless to him and apparently somewhat confusing. It doesn’t occur to Jokic that the nature of a microphone enables it to pick up what you are saying without having to actually pick up the mic. It’s like when folks in Hollywood feel the need to bend over to announce the supposed winner at the Academy Awards (I’m still burning from the “La La Land” / “Moonlight” fiasco – thanks a lot, Bonnie and Clyde!).
Now, they have the technology to automatically adjust the mic to the proper height at the awards show. For Jokic, it’s just an encumbrance he can do without.
He recently said that he wasn’t tired after the four-overtime game because he slept, ate, watched “the TV show,” ate and you know – uh – slept some more. No big deal.
Of course, it’s not a big deal when you have the perfect life. At 24, the world is his oyster or whatever meat-induced sandwich he most likely is devouring after games.
Hey, he’s not a skinny guy! In fact, he looks exhausted at all times.
In pregame warm-ups, he looks wiped out. In timeouts, he appears fatigued. At halftime, he looks like he’s been up studying for finals. In postgame interviews, he looks like he’s spent a week in a West Virginia coal mine.
But, it’s all somewhat of an act for the Joker. With all credit to Sergio Dipp, he’s “having the time of his life.”
The great thing about being young is you don’t know when you are supposed to be scared or even intimidated. Jamal Murray is Jokic’s partner in crime and I dare you to name such a dangerous duo since Stockton and Malone.
The history those two Hall of Famers put together seems to be exactly what will happen in Denver. We are witness to the dawning of the new dynamic duo led by infatiguable Nikola Jokic.
We will retire his number someday. He will be in the Hall of Fame one day. He will be the greatest Nugget of all-time.
Can’t wait to wait and see.
