Hi Stiifs, I bumped into an article about Jokic, talking about the fact he won't be playing for the national team which brought many negative emotions in Serbia. I liked it because it brings a rational point of view and explains why it can be good both for the national team and Jokic himself.

It's a long one and I had to use google translate for it, but I was not that lazy and I put some effort to do the editing, so you can understand what it is about. Of course it is far from perfect, but this was the best I could do at the moment.

Hope it will take some time away during the off season and I hope you'll enjoy reading it...

Here is also the original link:

http://www.b92.net/sport/teme/veselinovic.php?yyyy=2017&mm=07&nav_id=1284513

Case "Jokic": What is one compared to 10 years

The decision presented to the public as a wish and will of Nikola Jokic left an impact on the image of a young man who is the future of Serbian basketball.

SOURCE: B92

THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2017

Seems we are already healed from the fact that Jokic won't play at Eurobasket, but did the Sombor youngster easily get over everything he went through in past weeks, while everyone else around him, who influence his life more than himself, stay somewhere in the shadows, with "clean hands and faces"?

Every miracle in three days is enough - the saying in this region, in these modern days is not very precise. The longevity of "the news" may be a day and a half and the time is reduced.

Topics are stacking, events overwhelm each other, and "shocking" stories often remain only at that level - they raise dust and do not try to make any of it clear, but the shade thrown at people remains almost for ever.

The last in a row is about the guy who filled news and portal sites, who gave the reasons to most loafers to forget for a moment all their woes that torture them and who represented their country in a wonderful way, showing to the whole world that Serbia is the country that gives birth to brilliant basketball players.

Nikola Jokic became, from the national hero, an instant national traitor, in the eyes of those who are beating themselves in "patriotic Serbian chest", by making a decision to skip the national team this year.

A genius man from Sombor, hidden behind a baby's face and an awkward body on which he will work all year long, has done something that is quite normal, or at least someone decided on his behalf in such a way - He has the basketball "in his small finger", but in order to run his own brilliant mind, he needs also a powerful machine "made of steel".

The season after him was brutally difficult, and what will happen in next ten of them, bearing in mind the way he develops. From a chubby kid he became a guy with a look that is decent for a top athlete, but "just decent".

In order to be the leader of the national team and to become a long-term competitor in the physically more and more demanding NBA league, in the next ten years, he has to keep up with the requirements of modern times - if someone took care of him on time and made him aware that with a kilogram of burek he won't get far, today things would look different.

Nevertheless, the desire for immediate success, without understanding the topics that bring benefits in the future, blinded us. The principle "immediately and everything " doesn't know for "delayed action" and "higher goal", And just how small and miserable we are to throw all the trees and stones on a 22-year-old...

Jokic owes nothing to Serbia, nor to any of us

Do you remember the story about how the unreal talent of a chubby boy came to surface, although all the circumstances would say 'it will never happen'

He was found by a talent hunter, a businessman, a man who took advantage of the loop holes that remained behind those who's job should be not having such holes and he gave Nikola Jokic to Serbia, exactly as he is now, the same guy that we are angry at the moment.

If anyone sees Miodrag Raznjatovic as a state of Serbia, then it can be said that his protege is also in debt to the state ... But the owner of Beobasket, according to all parameters, is not that, and he is the only one responsible for (very important) the possibility that we all together see how Jokic uses his god given talent.

Why Jokic was not recognized by any scouting team of the Basketball Association of Serbia? So he could start proper training of his body, the body that carries an incredible talent? Or to ensure that it is clear to everyone who's member Jokic is - His manager's or the National basketball organisation?

Should I remind that Nemanja Bjelica debuted in national team only as a senior? That Bogdan Bogdanovic didn't have a even in Belgrade's team? Do those who's job it is, really care about it really care about kids who should be the leaders of national teams in five, ten, twenty years? Should this be done by one manager or one state institution?

Perhaps only then, when we clearly split the roles and job descriptions, we can say that Jokic or any other player is obliged to be constantly available to the national teams. Well, this is obviously not the case.

About patriotism, national pride, emotions, the cult of national team, it's not worth talking about, you should love your country as much it loves you, because you are not the property of the state, it is vice versa, but these are some far more complex themes.

Sportsmen in Serbia get love from Serbia only when they bring something big, till then they are left on their own, and then, by some kind of automatism, people expect big things to come endlessly.

For the ones that are still not clear - the example of Novak Djokovic is more than a clear indicator of this, we glorify him in good times , we tar and feather him, asking where does he pays his tax or does he uses three fingers when praying to god?

Misko's Maneuver and American Principles

There were roumors "Will Denver let Jokic leave?," but not so loudly till TV Pink did not speak to Raznjatovic, with a statement that was echoed by the media in a bombastic manner and understood as "Nuggets won't let Jokic play for Serbia ".

This was a clear sign that selector Aleksandar Djordjevic won't have a highly creative center at his disposal, but the audience remained agitated, hatred is directed at "the hated Americans who are taking our children away" (and we are trying to keep them) As well as the "traitor Jokic" (like we are god given to judge who is who).

"He has a great desire to play, but we will see what will happen,"Raznjatovic said on April 17th and caused a storm, while one more important sentence remained at the bottom of almost all media reports about it, which read:

"It's only controversial this year, the next 5-10 is not sure, but this matters to them (Nuggets)."

Raznjatovic's accusations against Denver were denied, the general manager of Nuggets Arturas Karnisovas told to Vecernje Novosti (newspaper) that according to the FIBA and NBA agreements Denver can not and will not block Jokic's participation in the national team.

Finally, after all this, the president of the Serbian basketball federation, Predrag Danilovic, gave a statement that could represent a utopian light in the darkness that exists through the "dictatorship of the management" and the weakness of a complete European basketball that is never in a high position, in an organizational sense.

"Given the frequent unprofessionalism, that the first news about eventual cancellation of participation of the candidates for the national team are often sent through the media through third parties, instead of first informing the KSF, we want to briefly explain the true fact. No NBA, or any other club, has the right or the opportunity, except in the event of a violation, to forbid its players under the contract to play for national teams for many reasons. First of all, because through national team preparations and competitions, players develop and return to clubs much better and more mature. Clubs have a direct interest that their players become standard national team members, especially those teams that have the chance to win medals in the competition, "said Danilovic.

A few things the first man of the KSS (basketball federation of Serbia) ignored ... Denver was negotiating with Jokic with a "third party", so in this case KSS is the third party. Do we want to admit it or not, things are like this - general managers of NBA teams and game managers are the real decision makers, players and alliances are "third party".

Furthermore, Denver does not need a "better and more mature" Jokic, they need a Jokic-machine, which will have back, strong enough to lead and carry a franchise that is hungry to be in a spotlight of the NBA league. Then he will become better and more mature, according to the logic of the American basketball system.

Third, and most important blind-side of Danilovic is, just to be realistic and in line with today's state of affairs - no NBA club is interested in whether his player will be a representative of his country, and every general manager, (apart from possibly Vlade Divac, judging by his statement through FIBA), would like his player to be ready for all challenges in the coming season during the summer, not risking an injury or dealing with things that they do not think are important.

NBA is interested in Europe league only as a market, it takes the best of it, and if it likes it and benefits from it, it knows how to preserve it, nurture it and extract maximum from it. And NBA pays very well for it. Market links are so intensified that it spreads into the "other league", so players who have not reached the elite at the European level also go "over the Atlantic ocean".

The old continent did not have the opportunity to see the games of Dirk Novicki or Yannis Adetokumba, Jokic is a "high school student" and the passability is so high, that the players who did not even think that they could ever find themselves in the Euro league competition Timothy Luvav and Rade Zagorac went there directly. That's right, we have adopted such a system and we have to live with it.

With this, for example, Dusko Vujosevic has to live, dealing with the national team of Bosnia - Jusuf Nurkic is training in Portland, because they don't want him to repeatedly fall on the dribble of the opposing guards.

The fact is, the NBA teams cannot "ban" the player from playing for his national team, but can "suggest ", as well as the others in the player's surroundings can do.

One year is one year - a decade is a decade

Short memory is often cited as one of the major national disadvantages, but should be added to the short-sightedness. Let's us remind ourselves, Jokic is only 22 years old and in front of him is probably fifteen years of brilliant career, if health and luck serves him.

For the luck one probably should not worry because he owns a virtue that has lost some sense in the modern age - fans of the gaming franchise 2K are probably remembering the intro of LeBron James who says that "basketball is not easy" - Jokic is the opposite of that ... Yes, basketball Is the easiest game in the world for a child who can play and it makes him happy. If it wasn't not, he would remain faithful to burek, Coca-Cola and racing horses.

Health in the US basketball system is not left to the case. How much of the amazing talent has been lost due to injuries that were not recognized on time or were unhealed properly, and how many players got injured all because their physical constitution could not withstand the hellish rhythm of the NBA league.

No one wants this to be the case with Jokic. Not Denver Nuggets, nor his manager, probably no basketball fan in Serbia, not even those who gave themselves the right to curse and insult this golden young man ...

In support of how much individual work in the summer, out-of-season months is important, Milos Teodosic's statement from last summer, when he pointed out that his career would probably go in the better direction (is this even possible!?), if he had more time to dedicate to his body.

The body - the biggest problem in Jokic's basketball life, and it is evident that the hard work is paying off, from year to year the former fatty looks better and more refined. If the top class fitness trainers from Denver wouldn't think so they would not come all the way to Sombor. Same goes for the head coach, Mike Malone, but he sees a golden nugget in Jokara.

It would not be bad for Jokic to spend the summer with Djordjevic, but he will spend the next dozen, more carved than he is now, more experienced than he is now, more mature than he is now, with greater credibility than he has now, and the ability to independently make decisions about his own career.

Until then, remember last year's "shocking theme". Boban Marjanovic has spent the whole season eager to play basketball, naational team, to show to everyone who have judged him for doing the right thing that he is a better player than before.

We will be also without Nemanja Bjelica this year, which is a consequence of a difficult adaptation to physical challenges in the NBA league...

Milos Teodosic and Bogdan Bogdanovic will play in the US in the autumn, and they may not have a problem because of playing for national team, but the differences between European and American basketball are so big that some things shouldn't be taken as granted.

You should not worry too much about the direction Jokic took, although the way the information about this year's "path" was not placed in the best way, starting October all of you will again go to the portal page and run on the last pages of the daily newspapers to see what this young man from Sombor did and what and who wrote something about him.

And you'll all vote for him to appear on the All-star match, if for nothing else, then at least we could all cheer together like in the movie "When I grow up, I will be a kangaroo" (Serbian movie) - "The son of Serbia, Prince of Danube and Sava ..."

And don't be judgmental, the medal has two sides, choose a better one and enjoy the beauty of the basketball that our countrymen organize on any level and do not forget we live in a time in which there are no emotions, moral, justice, patriotism...

The interests of the big and the powerful determine fates and lives, and the sport has become much more than a mere game, and the rules are determined by players who have not been in possession of the ball for a long time, if they have ever been.

P.S. The author contributes to the text, and something that some colleagues would call "bonus video". It's a recording of the training that is in the inter-season by Julius Randle, Los Angeles Lakers and a player with difficulties similar to Jokic's.

You can see the "before" and "after" in the footage, but also understand what the NBA league asks of players who give millions of contracts - perfect physical readiness, "the strength that lays in" to "make the mind better".

All of what Randle goes through, Jokic will have to pass because everyone around him wants, surely him as well, to get the most out of himself and his talent