Just a lightning quick update-silent protesting has made it to the NBA. It was performed by Denver’s own: Nikola Jokic. But Nikola wasn’t protesting police brutality. And he didn’t kneel for the anthem. Nah, Nikola protested during the game. And he was protesting the release of Jameer Nelson. We think. We may never know, but the joke this time is on the joker. If you watched the Nuggets win last night against Sacramento, you couldn’t miss that our franchise player intentionally limited his offensive production. Nikola shot the ball three times and did not score. In his protest, his plus/minus was still something like 21 in. the. green. and we got the win in the home opener. His protest might have mattered if we lost, or had a negative plus/minus with him. But Nikola can’t do that: he’s too freaking talented. Really, it was hilarious how he decided to protest: NOT SCORE. So all he could do on offense was set good screens, space the floor, and get seven assists. Man, once he starts scoring that offense will be rated #1 easily. It would have been much more effective had Nikola decided to protest by NOT PASSING. Nikola removing himself from scoring only made him focus on what makes him so promising: his court vision and passing instincts. Sure, his attitude took him out of the past and limited his offensive rebounding, low post presence, and putback game. And oh-my-god do the Nuggets need him to do that. But last night I learned something, protesting by doing what you do best is great. It was like if Lebron James said "Oh, Ty Lue wants to start Tristan Thompson at center tonight, well fine, I’m only gonna score in the paint then. Or Steph deciding to only shoot threes. Or Pat Beverley refusing to come out of the game and full-court pressing the full 48 minutes.. Or Joel Embiid demanding a trade to whoever plays against Miami and Hassan Whiteside next.
Yes, Nikola, protest by doing what you do best. Coach Malone should yell that in his face while repeatedly hammering on his shoulders right before every tip-off this season. I’d be fine if Nikola finishes every game this year with a statline like, > 5 assists, > 10 rebounds, 0 points. We’d be in the playoffs, absolutely. He’d probably still be an All-NBA player. And deserve his All-Star birth-oh wait Nikola Jokic plays in Denver that won’t ever happen.
Nikola isn’t a drama queen. He didn’t speak to the media last night, and that makes me think that this was completely supposed to be an in-house stunt. I think he was trying to send a message to the team, and intentionally avoid this becoming a distraction with the media and such. But should Nikola really have to do things like this? Let’s assume that Nikola really did play-not-to-score last night because of Jameer Nelson. Should he have had to? Why did the front office choose to bring on Richard Jefferson over Jameer? They’re both veterans who’ll play the same role, so what is it? It’s not championship experience, they’ve both been to the finals. It’s not that Jameer Nelson’s contract ate at the salary cap. The Nuggets were short on wings, I get it, but now we’re short on point guards. Shouldn’t the Nuggets have kept Jameer, signed Jefferson and dropped one of our 12 forwards (exaggeration), sorry 7 forwards (not exaggeration). And not have pissed off the franchise crown jewel. Sighhhhh…
But seriously, here’s what matters. All my thoughts kinda equate to null if this performance wasn’t because Jameer was waived. Maybe Nikola was just sick or maybe his shooting arm hurt or maybe the entire team dared Nikola before the game not to score and see if they could still win. But if it is because Jameer was waived then it exposes some incompetence from the Nuggets higher-ups (Connolly and Kronk). Even if it wasn’t because of Jameer still….the incompetence is there. Come on front office, don’t screw this up. Nikola Jokic may be the best player to ever play for the Nuggets, and I say that a day after the Nuggets brought out Dikembe, Alex, and David (real fans will know). We have the best shooting guard possible to play with Nikola, maybe with exception to Klay Thompson. And Paul Millsap is the best option to be Nikola’s front court mate (except for Draymond Green….damn the Warriors roster is pure). The rest of the team has the depth to compete with every team in the league. This team is for real. So please, don’t screw this up. Please, please, please. I already bought League Pass on a college budget then didn’t eat for a week. No more messing up the in the draft, trading players to rival cities, disrupting team chemistry, or overpaying role players (not Gary Harris, don’t worry). Hopefully the Nuggets are smart enough to look past last night’s win and see that Nikola isn’t happy with the organization. I’m sold on this team and it’s players, but I still don’t like what the front office and coaching staff have done with them. So here’s to Monday against the Wizards, hopefully Nikola scores.
