NBA Season Preview 2017-18: Nikola Jokic revolutionized Denver’s offense

The Nuggets posted the fifth best offense in the NBA last season. However, when you look at the stretch from Dec. 15 through the end of the season, the Nikola Jokic-led Nuggets had the best offensive rating in the entire NBA, better than juggernaut offenses such as the Warriors, Rockets and Cavaliers.

The big change with Denver on Dec. 15 was Mike Malone’s decision to move Jokic back to his natural center position. Being big isn’t the only thing the Serbian is a natural at. He is one of the best passers in the NBA. Not one of the best big men passers or one of the best international passers. No qualifiers needed. He is one of the best passers in the league today.

The Nuggets used this to their advantage and funneled most of their action through Jokic at the high post. Surrounded by capable perimeter shooters and Kenneth Faried, Jokic had the choice to attack his defender 1-on-1, execute a dribble handoff on the wing that flowed into a pick-and-roll or hit a teammate cutting backdoor.

Jokic is clearly the best choice for the Nuggets as a facilitator. His 4.9 assists per game was second to Jameer Nelson’s 5.1 last season and his 28.8 assist percentage was only 2.3 percentage points away from ranking in the top 20 of the NBA.

However, he can easily break his man down from the elbow and get to the rim when he wants if teams overplayed him to pass. Jokic averaged 5.8 elbow touches per game last season. Not only was he amongst the league leaders in assists generated from the elbow, he shot 62.0 percent when he decided to look for his own shot.

Bigs like Derrick Favors are not agile enough to stop Jokic one-on-one and Jokic has the ability to finish in multiple ways when he gets around the rim. The defense is also at risk of giving up an open-3-pointer if they throw an additional defender at Jokic when the perimeter is loaded with outside shooters like Gary Harris, Jameer Nelson and Danilo Galinari.

If Jokic didn’t attack the rim himself in the possession above, he would have flown into a dribble handoff with the wing. Jokic and Harris developed great chemistry last season and it’s no fluke the Nuggets offense saw its surge with Jokic at center and Harris returning to action at the same time.

Once the handoff is made, Jokic plants all 250 pounds of himself in place and lets the wing wraparound him to start a pick-and-roll. With this action starting on the wing and the two offensive players already shoulder-to-shoulder from the handoff, the defense is in a rough spot. If Jokic’s man stays too far back the wing, he can either attack the rim or attempt a wide open jumper from 15-17 feet.

Most teams have their big attack the ball-handler in this scenario, but before the original defender can close out to his original man, Jokic will slip to the rim and often find himself with a layup or a push shot from around six feet.

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Finally, there was the beautiful backdoor cuts. These were not likely called plays or sets, but instead two players just making the right basketball decisions. Nelson and Harris are the recipients of Jokic’s dimes in the clips below, but any player that is a capable off-ball cutter found himself on the receiving end of these passes last season. Jokic’s IQ is high and it is showcased in these plays as he knows just the right amount of touch to put on a pass to ensure the defense can’t recover to steal it or block the resulting layup.

All Denver did this offseason is add another high-IQ passing big man in free agent forward Paul Millsap. The final two plays of the video above ended in open layups for Faried around the rim. With the addition of Millsap, those could easily turn into kick out corner 3s for the newest Nugget this season.