Nikola Jokić’s journey to multiple MVP titles in the world’s strongest league has certainly not been easy… The first hurdle was getting into the NBA, then it wasn’t easy to secure a spot on the team, but he managed to overcome all of that – partly thanks to hard work and partly due to luck and coincidence.
As Mike Singer already revealed in his book about the Sombor center, Jusuf Nurkić was an important player for Denver during that period, as he joined the team a year before Jokić. The Serbian national team player had to fight for the coach’s trust and playing time. Once he earned that, the decision had to be made about which player to keep.
That’s when Nuggets president Josh Kroenke revealed how the Colorado team decided which player to keep, as it was unrealistic to play with two centers in the starting lineup. Analysts gathered all the data, but the players remained anonymous…
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“At that time, everyone was trying to beat the Warriors, and you couldn’t play with both Nikola Jokić and Jusuf Nurkić at the same time. Both are tall, handle the ball well, and pass it, but it was hard to play with both of them on the court at once… It seemed good, but it was difficult to cover everything defensively,” Kroenke began explaining the situation in Denver during those years on Michael Porter Jr.’s podcast.
“We had to make a decision. It was halfway through Nikola’s second season, and we realized we had to choose between the two of them. Nurkić’s contract was expiring the next year, and our group of analysts pulled out the numbers to see how they would compare over 36 minutes played.”
“We had all the data – they were player A and player B. Player B’s numbers were significantly better, especially in the MVP category. I said, ‘Okay, player B is Nikola,’ and they agreed with me. I asked, ‘Who is player A? Is this comparison with Nurkić or someone else in the league?’ And they responded, ‘That’s Larry Bird,'” said the owner of the Denver Nuggets.
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Source: Mondo, Foto: AP