Mueller: Unassuming, unique Jokic is NBA's unquestioned best

It’s once again that special time on the column calendar where, despite this region’s alleged* disdain for the NBA, I implore you to take a look at the league’s showcase finals series.

*I say alleged because a cursory check of television ratings will show that the NBA Finals do just fine in these parts, and typically do better than the Stanley Cup Final, unless of course the Penguins are playing. The notion that “Pittsburgh doesn’t like the NBA” tends to come from a vocal minority of tastemakers who would have you believe that basketball is a four-letter word in the 412. But I digress.

This year’s reason for tuning in – and if he keeps playing like he has these playoffs, you won’t have many more chances to catch him – is Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. I could have said Miami’s do-it-all forward Jimmy Butler, who would be something approaching a folk hero if there was a pro team here and he was its best player, but all his toughness and competitiveness looks futile when stacked up against the most fearsome force in today’s NBA.

That would be Jokic, of course, and I’ll state the obvious for you if you’ve seen him and are incredulous: No, he doesn’t look the part.

Compared to his peers, Jokic is an average athlete, at best, and may or may not have biceps, triceps and calves. Physiologically he has to, but they’ve never been seen. In a league that features some of the greatest athletes to ever walk the earth, Jokic looks underwhelming, to say the least.

Oh, did I mention that he plays a pretty earthbound game, and will never be seen throwing down a highlight-reel dunk, either? There’s that, too.

So, not the most compelling sales pitch, right? Bear with me, though. There are two simple reasons why Jokic is must-see-TV: First, he’s dominant, the best player in the league, and a man who probably should have three-peated as MVP. Second, he dominates in a way rarely seen. Casual fans might roll their eyes at Jokic when he steps on the court, but his peers know they’re in for a long night, every night. He might pass them to death, or hit a few dagger threes, or get on the low block and bulldoze whoever tries to guard him, or use his exceptional footwork to fake them out of their shorts.

Most nights, he just does all of those things.

Jokic is exceptionally skilled; the passing and vision is what jumps out the most. He has the rare gift of being able to anticipate where a teammate will be before they even decide to be there. He averaged 9.8 assists per game this year, up two from last year, owing to the fact that the Nuggets didn’t need him to score as much. Over his last three seasons, he’s averaging a tidy 26 points, 12.2 rebounds and 8.7 assists.

In a sport that is ever more positionless, and dominated by athletic wing types and unicorns – think Giannis Antetokounmpo – Jokic is a throwback, dominating from the block, letting the offense run through him effortlessly. He reminds me most of Lithuanian great Arvydas Sabonis, whose time in the NBA saw him as a barely mobile shell of his young, hyper-athletic self, but still a phenomenally gifted passer, playmaker and scorer.

Jokic is much more athletic than that version of Sabonis, but nowhere near the above-the-rim player that he was prior to a litany of injuries suffered while playing internationally for the U.S.S.R.

There’s a dash of Chris Webber in his game, too, specifically when it comes to interior passing. And his inherent unselfishness – the Nuggets seem to get even better the less he shoots – calls to mind Tim Duncan. His overall vision makes me think of Magic Johnson, LeBron James and Larry Bird.

Did I mention he’s 6’11”, 285 pounds?

Jokic isn’t fast, but it doesn’t matter. He forces the game to be played at his pace, and so long as that’s happening, he’s virtually unbeatable. He can take and make tough shots – he shot 62 percent from the field and 38 percent from three-point-range this year – and thanks to some hard work on conditioning, has delivered the goods consistently late in games.

You think of a great NBA player and you either think of someone whose skills are so overwhelming that they almost seem like a joke, like Stephen Curry’s shooting, or someone whose athletic advantage is simply unfair, like James, or Antetokounmpo, or Michael Jordan.

Jokic gives you a little bit of everything, at a position that was supposed to be going extinct. He’s the ultimate force multiplier for his Nuggets teammates, but he’s fully capable of taking over a game with his scoring if the need presents itself. He’s got nine triple-doubles in this year’s playoffs alone, including seven in his last nine games, and one in his first finals game - only Jason Kidd had ever done that before - and he does it all with the aesthetic of a guy at L.A. Fitness whose team inexplicably never loses the court.

Nikola Jokic doesn’t look like the best player in the NBA, or like appointment viewing. In his case, looks are very, very deceiving.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Mueller: Unassuming, unique Jokic is NBA's unquestioned best