Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen undoubtedly had the scoring chops to take a shot every time down the floor and fill the box score up with points. However, that wasn’t how the 6’8″ forward from Hamburg, Arkansas, rolled, nor was that his best suit.
Truth be told, Pip was in his element when he made life easier for his teammates by creating scoring opportunities for them. The Hall of Famer relished setting his teammates up for buckets, using his size and length to see over the defense and find the open man. He sees the same selfless approach in a player who’s dominating the game like never before in today’s NBA: Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic.
Jokic caught Pippen’s eye
Even though the versatile 6’11” center from Sombor, Serbia, had been the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in three of the last four seasons, Scottie admitted he didn’t get to watch a lot of “The Joker’s” games for the simple fact that the Nuggets weren’t the former’s cup of tea. However, a closer look at how Nikola played the game made an instant fan out of the six-time champion.
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“I’ve been looking at uh Jokic and it’s like… I think we’ve all missed out on how great this guy been the last two years,” Pippen said in a talk with his former teammate, Stacey King. “And we look back at him — and I think the last time I really focused on Joker’s game was probably during the bubble. But even though I live on the West Coast — I watch a lot of West Coast basketball — I just don’t seem to have the liking for the Denver Nuggets.”
However, after watching how the 11-year-pro orchestrate the Nuggets’ offense like a seasoned conductor, Scottie couldn’t help but be impressed. With his unique combination of heft, grace and skill, Jokic has transformed Denver into a perennial contender in the Western Conference.
“When I watched this guy play, I can only say, like — How do the best player in basketball not get picked in a pickup game? I’m like wow,” Pip said, referring to the 2023 All-Star Game when Jokic was Team LeBron’s last pick.
The best player in basketball
Truth be told, it makes sense for fans outside of Colorado not to give the lumbering big man the appreciation he rightfully deserves. His game isn’t made for the All-Star Game; he may throw passes that blow fans’ and defenders’ minds, but he’s never going to be a one-on-one highlight reel. He won’t drop foes with a filthy crossover, nor will he posterize anyone any time soon. But that’s okay with “The Joker.”
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He plays with an intent to win, not to entertain. He plays with passion and grit, not with flash and flair.
“I mean just looking at him — we had this same discussion before we came on — If we were in a pickup game and they said: ‘Hey, I’ll take Larry the electrician. I’ll take, uh, you know, Mike the plumber. And the big fella? Nah, I don’t think he can play,'” Stacey shared. “He’d be the last person picked.”
“But once he’s on your team? You ain’t losing the game. You’re gonna win every game out there in the pickup game,” he added.
Such is Jokic’s essence. He goes about his work on the basketball court the best way he knows how and at the end of the day, he goes home to be with his family or tend to his stable of horses. But make no mistake, as Pippen said, this is undoubtedly the best player in the world.