Nikola Jokić’s dramatic leap as a shooter this season isn’t directly linked to the Denver Nuggets’ playoffs semifinal loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves last spring. But when one goes 2 for 14 from 3-point range over Games 6 and 7 as Jokić did, it certainly can be looked at as a turning point.
Jokić didn’t shoot the ball well enough. He knew it, and privately, it ate at him.
So one day during the offseason, Jokić went to his player development coach, Nuggets assistant Ogi Stojaković, and said almost every shot feels different to him. Did that lead Jokić to shoot 23 percent from 3-point range against Minnesota in that playoff series? Maybe, maybe not.
But Jokić is a perfectionist, a creature of routine. He felt something was obviously wrong with his shooting mechanics. And he wanted to fix it.
“I think it helps you so much when you are able to shoot the ball at a high level,” Jokić told The Athletic. “It helps you build. It gives you another thing that defenses have to respect on your game. If you can shoot the ball, teams are going to have to guard you differently, and that helps. It helps yourself, and it helps the team.”
Ultimately, Jokić wanted to become more difficult to guard, to keep adding to his game as all the great ones over the course of NBA history have. With Jokić now less than two months from his 30th birthday, longevity has become a focal point to him and those close to him.
“Once he came to me before the season, we talked about his shot and what we could do with it,” Stojaković told The Athletic. “We decided to try and put the ball closer to his body and eliminate negative motions. He tried it and felt good about that, and that’s helped a lot. From there, it was about general reps. What we want is for him to be more fresh for the playoffs, and what we are aiming for is longevity.”
Jokić has won three league MVP awards, spearheaded an NBA title run and established himself as the best passing center in history. But somehow, this season arguably has been the best version of Jokić we have seen. He’s averaging 30.7 points, 13 rebounds and 9.7 assists per game. And even with those numbers, the shooting numbers have metaphorically left Earth.
Jokić is shooting 49.2 percent from 3-point range this season. That would represent a career-high by leaps and bounds — his previous high was 39.6 percent in 2017-18 and he shot just 36 percent from 3-point range last year.
He’s always been a good shooter from distance, particularly for a big man. But this season, on volume, he’s become arguably the best shooter in the league. He and Stojaković did this with preseason repetition. Instead of using the time between the Olympics and the season to rest, Jokić came to Denver roughly a month before he normally would. And then, the two got into the gym daily and worked.
Jokić’s shot used to start lower, which means he had to put his legs more into the shot. The issue with that is Jokić takes so much contact during a game wrestling with opponents in the paint that the legs can go during the course of a game. By the end of a night, a lot of those 3-point attempts end up short and clang off the front of the rim.
Jokić now is starting his shooting motion higher, which means he uses less leg and more arm to get the shot off. The hitch that had been there previously is now gone. It looks a little like how all-time great Larry Bird used to shoot.
Nikola Jokić rebuilt his shot by starting his shooting motion higher up, relying more on arm strength. (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
It’s worked. Jokić has been a more willing 3-point shooter this season. His volume — 4.6 attempts per game — is, by far, the highest of his career. If the numbers hold anywhere close to where they currently are, it could represent one of the greatest achievements of his career.
“What we like is that he’s taking less energy to shoot the ball,” Stojaković said. “He’s shooting the ball closer to his body. After the Olympic games, we realized that we needed to clean up his mechanics. He shoots it better now. It’s a cleaner shot, and it’s more confident.”
Jokić’s shot has become a bridge for what he’s done the entire season. Even as a good shooter in past seasons, opponents could at least hold out hope of not having to guard him the entire three levels of the floor. And ultimately, going back to the Minnesota series, that’s one of the things that allowed the Timberwolves to be somewhat successful in keeping him relatively in check.
But this season, there hasn’t been any recourse for opponents. He’s been as close to unguardable as any player in NBA history, and because of this, the Nuggets have been one of the best teams in the league offensively (fourth in offensive rating, 117.4).
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“I think there are a lot of factors into what he has been this season,” Stojaković said. “He played for the national team, and that was almost like playing an extra playoff series for him. Every possession and every game mattered, so there was good transfer for him. He came into the season in great shape, and he has continued that.
“But we have continually tried to keep adding things to his game. I think he’s been the best player in the world for the past five to seven years. What we want is to keep him happy and healthy. Every period of his career has had certain challenges. He’s a tactically better player than he has been, and now we are aiming to extend his longevity.”
If there is a negative to this, it’s that the Nuggets are relying on Jokić too heavily. He’s playing 36.9 minutes per game, which would be a career high by far (he’s twice logged 34.6 minutes per game over a season, including last year). It also could result in why his defensive performance hasn’t been as good.
But one reason the Nuggets have expressed strong interest in the trade market is that they want to find someone to help alleviate offensive pressure off Jokić. Denver’s goal is to be the last team standing, and that will always be the goal for the Nuggets as long as Jokić is playing at this level.
Currently, he’s playing at maybe his highest level ever, and it’s on Denver as an organization to maximize just how good a player he is. As for Jokić, he will keep fine-tuning to level up.
“His work ethic is through the roof,” Stojaković said. “That’s the reason he is who he is.”
(Photo illustration: Meech Robinson/The Athletic; photos: Patrick Smith/Getty Images; Kenny Giarla/NBAE via Getty Images; Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
