Nikola Vučević is aware of there isn’t something new to say about Denver Nuggets middle Nikola Jokić.
“He’s pretty OK,” the Chicago Bulls middle joked after follow Tuesday on the Advocate Center. “He’s a stat padder, though, so I don’t know.”
All that’s wanted to know Jokić’s credentials is a straightforward look on the stat sheet. He averages a triple-double — 24.4 factors, 11.8 rebounds, 10 assists — for the group with the Western Conference’s finest document (46-19).
As the Bulls put together to face the Nuggets on Wednesday in Denver, the sport plan will likely be centered across the inconceivable process of slowing the two-time MVP.
“He’s obviously a one-of-a-kind player,” Vučević stated. “You just don’t really know what to expect when he has the ball. He’ll be looking one way and throw a crazy pass to the other side of the floor.”
Vučević, 32, and Jokić, 28, share a long-standing friendship as a part of a close-knit fraternity of gamers from Europe and particularly the Balkans. Their childhood hometowns — Bar, Montenegro, for Vučević and Sombor, Serbia, for Jokić — are 9 hours aside by automotive.
Although they got here up at totally different occasions, Vučević was conscious of Jokić’s rising star through the latter’s ultimate years enjoying in Serbia earlier than the Nuggets drafted him in 2014.
“You could tell, it’s just a natural talent,” Vučević stated. “He has a pure really feel for the sport. It’s simply not one thing you educate. It’s one thing he was born with.
“You can tell when he plays basketball, it’s just joy for him. It’s easy. It just comes natural to him. That’s what makes him so unique.”
The international locations that after fashioned Yugoslavia have been a hotbed for NBA expertise for many years, producing gamers similar to former Chicago Bulls star Toni Kukoč from Croatia.
The area stays well-represented within the NBA: Jokić, Boban Marjanović, Bogdan Bogdanović, Aleksej Pokuševski and Nikola Jović from Serbia; Jusuf Nurkić from Bosnia and Herzegovina; Dario Šarić, Ivica Zubac and Bojan Bogdanović from Croatia; Cedi Osman from Macedonia; Luka Dončić, Goran Dragić and Vlatko Cančar from Slovenia; and Vučević from Montenegro.
“It’s a huge achievement for us,” Vučević stated. “It’s not straightforward to return from Europe and get an opportunity within the NBA. Obviously the NBA has been rather more open to bringing guys from in all places, but it surely’s simply not as straightforward as a result of a lot of the scouting and every thing performed is right here within the U.S. throughout school.
“Once you get here it’s a huge opportunity. You’re as happy for someone else (from Europe) to succeed and play at a high level.”
Vučević stated there are a number of causes for this success. The Yugoslav area is understood for its pure peak benefit, which helps gas sturdy nationwide packages in basketball and volleyball.
But extra necessary, Vučević stated, is the wealthy historical past of basketball in the entire international locations. Children develop up with a hero worship for his or her nationwide groups, watching EuroBasket with an analogous depth to the World Cup.
This tradition solely grows with every wave of recent gamers breaking into the NBA.
“It’s in our blood,” Vučević stated. “It’s in our genes.”
Jokić stands because the premier consultant of the area — a generational expertise on target to win a 3rd straight MVP award — but his standing has come into query in current weeks.
ESPN analyst and former NBA middle Kendrick Perkins stoked heated debates on TV and social media when he accused Jokić of “stat padding” and stated MVP voters are biased towards white gamers.
Vučević shrugged off any doubting of Jokić as media patter.
“You take him out of that team, it’s not even close to the same team,” Vučević stated. “He’s done his part more than he needs to do it. I think he deserves to get another (MVP). The way he’s playing, it’s not even a question.”
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com