Nikola Jokic

Denver Nuggets' center Nikola Jokic looks like the guy who shows up at your house to load your stuff on to a moving van. This impression is cemented by his no-nonsense gaze, squared-off jaw and a haircut which says freshly discharged. Or paroled.

You pity the bartender forced to cut him off.

He's big (7' 0” 250 pounds), but his musculature isn't cut the way so many player's are these days. However, any inferences you draw from his lack of definition are at your own risk. Just ask Enes Kanter.

In contrast, his hands are as soft as a used baseball mitt. They are quick and supple and move with a speed completely at odds with the physique attached to them. When they're not depositing the ball into the basket, they're deftly firing a no-look pass to a forward standing on the wing or sending a letter-perfect bounce pass to a guard streaking towards the hoop.

For someone predisposed to a style of basketball reliant on ball movement and motion, it is a thing of beauty.

Without a post-season appearance, I have been mostly unfamiliar with Mr. Jokic. But minutes into a Nuggets game, it becomes clear how their offense works. He is not only is one of the best-passing big men I've ever seen, but one of the best passers, period.

His passes are sharp and focused. They rarely find their way into opponent's hands. The Golden State Warriors, practitioners of soft, lazy, frequently ill-advised cross-court lobs, could learn from this guy.

Also running counter to type is Jokic's free-throw shooting.

For reasons unknown, many big men struggle at the line. Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O'Neal are just two of the literal and figurative giants who could seemingly score with a dozen power forwards hanging from their necks.

But a straight on, uncontested shot fifteen feet from the basket? Nope. Both struggled to make half their free-throws, frequently making far less.

Fortunately, Jokic is better. His career mark stands at eighty-two percent, which removes the temptation of the Nuggets' opposition to employ the hack-a-Shaq routine as tight games draw to a close.

Lastly, would it surprise you to learn that Jokic also has a nice touch from the three-point arc? Although he retrenched from his career-high of .396 a year ago, Jokic demands attention when loitering on the three-point line.

So. Jokic can score. Jokic can pass. Jokic hits his free-throws and is a threat from the three-point line. What can't Jokic do?

We may be decades-removed from the nineteen-nineties, but rumor has it that defense is still played in the NBA. And like so many of his eastern European brethren, every day is business casual Friday when it comes to playing D.

Yes, the rebounding is solid. But no one will ever accuse him of suffocating opposing bigs. Perhaps it's the long shadow cast by Yugoslavia's oppressive Tito regime that keeps Jokic from offending (or defending as it were).

But Jokic is young. And abundantly gifted with what is called basketball IQ, the future is bright. Denver has a talented and cohesive core. They play well together. Can you imagine the league-wide nightmare the Nuggets would be if Kawhi Leonard headed west? Or Anthony Davis?

(Playing in front of Denver's combustible fans would require OSHA-approved hearing protection.)

Perhaps the addition of a bona-fide superstar would spur Jokic to take that final step to unassailable, incontestable greatness. That the scent of a championship would drive him to fulfill this last, empty corner of his potential.

Alas, I am an old man writing about a young one. And I know only too well the cocky arrogance of the youthful male ego. Surrounded by adoring fans, sycophants and ass-kissing agents, Jokic may feel things are fine just the way they are.

That he has come a long way from Serbia and attained the American dream of wealth and fame. What else is there?

It will be interesting to see this story play out.