Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic was one of the many stars in attendance for Goran Dragic’s farewell game this weekend. A Montenegrin player who was born in Switzerland, he has no connection to Dragic’s native Slovenia. However, the 33-year-old was teammates with Dragic for the better part of 2022-23, the Dragon’s final NBA season.
Bulls’ Nikola Vucevic Explores Nikola Jokic’s Status As All-Time Great
After the game, Vucevic would tell Meridian Sports’ Milun Nesovic that the turnout for Dragic’s event “just shows the kind of career he had, how much people appreciate him, and how much he meant to basketball” (h/t BasketNews). The veteran would also discuss Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, who was a headlining participant in Saturday’s affair.
“Judging by what he’s shown so far, he is definitely among the best players who have ever played. Three MVPs, a championship, stats, All-Star appearances… His résumé is already great, and he still has much playing to do before he finishes.
Surely, when he finishes, he will be among the best players in basketball history, maybe even the best center of all time. It’s just a question of how long he wants to keep playing at this level.
The longer he does it, the more he will leave such a deep mark that it will be hard for anyone to surpass him. He is already the best player in the world right now, and when he finishes, he will be among the greatest of all time.”
Vucevic saying Jokic is on a path to be an all-time great isn’t exactly a hot take.
There are only 10 players to have won three or more NBA/ABA MVP awards, and the Joker is one. Of those 10, he and Moses Malone are the only players to have won a single championship. Furthermore, there are players who won fewer MVPs but more titles, like Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, and Stephen Curry. Nonetheless, Jokic’s already arguably a top-15 player of all-time.
It is interesting that Vucevic doesn’t consider Jokic the greatest center of all-time though. That isn’t to say he’s earned it, with O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Hakeem Olajuwon all having more impressive resumes. However, in an age of rapid reactions and recency bias, Vucevic’s nuance is rare.
Joker’s Influence
Among the more intriguing topics Vucevic covered was the way the center position has changed. Detailing a conversation he had with trailblazers Chris Bosh and Dirk Nowitzki, Vucevic says:
“I was talking with Bosh and Nowitzki about how things have changed. Bosh was one of the first power forwards who had to play as a center. Even though he didn’t want to when he arrived in Miami Heat, he was forced to.
It was hard for me to guard a player like that. Now, very few centers play with their backs to the basket, traditional fives; they almost play like power forwards used to. As a center, you must know how to put the ball on the floor, drive, shoot, pass, read the game, and let the team play through you…
There was talk that centers were disappearing; we didn’t disappear, but we adapted to the new way of playing, and now we’ve changed how centers are used and impact the game.”
That led Vucevic to circle back to Jokic, who believes players now want to play like the Serbian center, but that it’s impossible.
“When great players emerge, everyone wants to play like them,” Vucevic says. “There was Curry, now there’s Jokic… That can’t be replicated. Jokic is one of a kind. You can build a team to compete with him, but no one can do what he does, play the way they play.”
Jokic’s feel, playmaking, and shot-making ability may very well be exactly impossible to replicate. Looking around the league and one sees very few Euro-style bigs starting.
Aside from Jokic and Vucevic, there’s Washington Wizards center Jonas Valanciunas, Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis, Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun, and Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic. Among those players, Sengun is arguably the closest to Jokic thanks to his touch, creativity, footwork, and passing ability. Yet, he’s also a bit more focused on getting his own points than Jokic. As a result, he’s not as threatening as a facilitator.
Nonetheless, centers today are more adept at being offensive fulcrums than a decade ago. Many are also looking to space the floor. Before European bigs became popular, American centers from Princeton offenses demonstrated these skills. However, it’s Jokic’s success that’s re-established the importance of these types of players.
