LOS ANGELES — They laugh about it. They can’t believe what we’re watching, either.
“Ridiculous,” they say.
Late Friday night in a gym in Lithuania, two of the men responsible for the greatest draft pick in NBA history again scouted a game together. Arturas Karnisovas and Rafal Juc reminisced. The subject was Nikola Jokic, the No. 41 pick in 2014, the lowest pick to be awarded NBA MVP.
“We talk about those days and it is something that is still kind of crazy to us,” Juc said on Saturday on a WhatsApp call from Lithuania.
“It’s kind of a miracle. It’s changed everything.”
The Joker has changed the NBA, the Nuggets, the city of Denver. He hasn’t changed one bit.
This is the unbelievable story of how everyone involved got here — the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals for the first time as the betting favorite to win the NBA title. Kind of a miracle.
“He was more of a practice guy” when Juc saw Jokic as a teenage reserve for Mega Basket of the Adriatic League. A Poland native, Juc was not yet employed by the Nuggets. He was 21 when then-general manager Tim Connelly made one of numerous sharp moves by hiring Juc as an international scout for the Nuggets.
His first NBA draft was the Jokic draft. I have told him he should have retired on the spot.
Better yet, Juc was not there to scout Jokic. Rather, he was scouting other Mega prospects.
“Nikola was not the priority guy with them,” Juc said. “He was more obscure.”
Two developments, in particular, turned the fortunes of Joker and the Nuggets. One, the Mega coaching staff adored Jokic as a young man and teammate and “were singing his songs.”
“They knew what he was before anyone else did,” Juc said.
Two, Jokic flourished in the 2014 Nike Hoop Summit, a Portland showcase. (By chance, Jokic and Jamal Murray were teammates.) The “turning point,” Juc said, was how Jokic handled Clint Capela, a projected lottery pick who now has made $87 million playing in the NBA. The Nuggets’ personnel department had a group chat going. It erupted after Jokic’s performance.
“That was the key moment for our decision-making process,” Juc says.
There’s a scene in “Air,” the new movie with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck that details Nike’s pursuit of Michael Jordan. A man tells Sonny Vaccaro, played by Damon, that “everybody knew” MJ would be MJ.
The Nuggets have never and will never say everybody knew Joker would be Joker. Connelly told me, “If we knew, we would have drafted him earlier.” Denver passed on Jokic three times.
The Nuggets drafted Creighton scorer Doug McDermott at No. 11 (before trading him to Chicago for Michigan State prospect Gary Harris) and Bosnian big man Jusuf Nurkic at 16.
The Nuggets, to a man, projected Nurkic as a better player than Jokic. The whole NBA did.
Now Jokic is a 28-year-old two-time MVP. He led the Nuggets into Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals late Saturday.
The collaborative nature of the Nuggets’ front office allowed the Jokic draft to happen. Juc scouted and suggested Jokic as a target. Connelly had the guts to pull the trigger on a risky pick, drawing on his experience as a Wizards scout when the Wizards passed on European prospect Marc Gasol in 2007. Connelly pledged not to err again, and he trusted his guys.
“Tim was always adventurous, looking for upside,” Juc said. “He says, ‘Let’s roll the dice.’”
Karnisovas, a Lithuanian hero and 1996 European Player of the Year, sealed the process. There was no guarantee Jokic would go to the NBA. Then the Nuggets’ assistant general manager, Karnisovas himself had played for Barcelona and became aware Jokic had a contract offer from at least one European club. Knowing Jokic was a family man keen to his Serbian roots, Karnisovas went all-in on the negotiations and made certain Jokic would come stateside. It helped, for sure, the Barcelona front office scouted a Mega game and Jokic played one of his worst games. Barcelona backed out.
“We hope to shoot for the stars when we select one (a European player),” Karnisovas told me in 2015. “Hopefully he hasn’t been exposed to most of the teams.”
As Joker propels the Nuggets upward, we are reminded life is but a strand of happy accidents.
The top of the 2014 NBA draft went this way: No. 1 Andrew Wiggins, No. 2 Jabari Parker, No. 3 Joel Embiid. And prior to Jokic at No. 41, there was No. 38 Spencer Dinwiddie (from CU-Boulder), No. 39 Jerami Grant (former Nuggets forward) and No. 40 Glenn Robinson III.
“Watching him play now, we are like everyone else. It is ridiculous,” said Juc, who first floated Joker’s name as a Nuggets possibility. “In the offseason, we discuss, ‘What new (progress) can we expect from Joker?’ And he’s always going to exceed expectations. Every time.”
On the doorstep of Denver’s first NBA Finals, the men responsible can’t believe it, either.
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Colorado studs of the week: CHSAA state track and field volunteers
Eight athletes from Ouray. One each from Ignacio, Soroco, Pikes Peak Christian, Montbello, Hinkley, Denver West and Creede. Two from South Park. Twenty-eight from the overachievers at Eaton. A meet-high 38 athletes from Niwot.
All told, 3,096 high school kids competed in the CHSAA state track and field championships at Jeffco Stadium this weekend in Lakewood.
How do you pull off an event of that magnitude?
Round of applause for the 225 volunteers who make it happen at CHSAA’s premier event.
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What’s On Tap
Monday: Avs writer Kyle Fredrickson brings his “NHL Insider,” a weekly must-read in Denver.
Tuesday: Vinny Benedetto and yours truly are in L.A. for complete coverage from Game 4.
Wednesday: Broncos writer Chris Tomasson has the scoop from Centura Health Training Center.
Thursday: Our weekly “Golf Insider” previews CU and CSU’s first joint trip to the NCAA finals since 1999.
Friday-Sunday: Will the Nuggets have clinched their first appearance in the NBA Finals?
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Just one question
With triple-doubles in five of his last six postseason games going into Saturday’s Game 3 at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles, is there any doubt Jokic was the real MVP?
