{"id":417820,"date":"2026-01-16T22:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/417820\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T22:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:35:09","slug":"how-nikola-jokic-has-helped-nuggets-survive-his-absence-from-the-bench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/417820\/","title":{"rendered":"How Nikola Jokic has helped Nuggets survive his absence from the bench"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like a quarterback reading the defensive coverage before the snap, Nikola Jokic<\/a> barked orders to his teammates. He called out what he saw as the 76ers positioned themselves, signaling with his hands how he expected them to move.<\/p>\n

Except that he wasn\u2019t preparing to inbound the ball or defend a screen. He was dressed in a gray sweatsuit in the corner of the gym. He had spent most of the last three hours clapping stoically from the end of the Nuggets\u2019 bench. But this was urgent enough for him to stray a few extra steps from his seat, ever so briefly onto the court.<\/p>\n

They were five seconds away from a season-defining win in Philadelphia<\/a>, with the entire starting lineup out. They were also in peril of their hard work going to waste. A one-point margin hinged on Philly\u2019s final inbound play, drawn up during a timeout by veteran coach Nick Nurse. Jokic relayed his message after the huddle had broken, when he could see the full picture, the placement of all the pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said that it was gonna be (Tyrese) Maxey with a \u2018banana cut\u2019 toward the ball to get the ball, and for him to try to win the game,\u201d Peyton Watson<\/a> told The Denver Post. \u201cAnd that\u2019s literally exactly what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denver defended it successfully, at least enough to prevent Maxey from having enough time to get all the way downhill for a layup. He had to settle for an off-balance floater, which rimmed out as time expired. The Nuggets had pulled off the most improbable of their six wins without Jokic.<\/p>\n

Without him in the lineup, anyway.<\/p>\n

\"FromFrom left, Denver Nuggets players Bruce Brown, Jalen Pickett, Peyton Watson and Zeke Nnaji celebrate after defeating the 76ers in overtime Monday in Philadelphia. (AP Photo\/Matt Rourke)<\/p>\n

The superstar center has assumed the responsibilities of a volunteer assistant coach this month while recovering from a bone bruise in his left knee<\/a>. Those who watch Denver\u2019s sideline carefully can often spot him pulling young players aside for individual advice or shouting out directions on how to defend an opponent\u2019s set plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like as soon as a formation comes out on the court for an ATO, after a timeout, he\u2019ll stand up and start yelling exactly what they\u2019re gonna do,\u201d Hunter Tyson told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they come out and run it,\u201d Jalen Pickett said, shaking his head, \u201cand I don\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jokic suffered the injury during the second chapter of a grueling seven-game Eastern Conference road trip. Confronted by the longest absence of his NBA career, he traveled with the team for the last five games, rather than returning home alone. By sticking around, the 30-year-old was able to begin his rehab process with Denver\u2019s training staff while also mentoring his young teammates in huddles and film sessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for the young guys, the guys that haven\u2019t played as much, to have a three-time MVP pull you aside and give you confidence, talk to you about what you can do better in this situation (is valuable). \u2026 Especially Nikola, who has memorized this league\u2019s playbook,\u201d coach David Adelman said. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely insane. So leadership comes from a million places. Your veteran players are so important. \u2026 All these guys that have been through it, and I always say this, not just the successes they\u2019ve had but the failures, too. They\u2019ve been through it, and they can have a commentary that sometimes a coach can\u2019t have with a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"InjuredInjured Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) looks on from the bench in the second half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)<\/p>\n

That commentary has been different with each individual. Last Friday, during a home game against Atlanta, he gave DaRon Holmes II<\/a> a one-on-one tutorial on how to maximize the effectiveness of his screens by setting them at the proper angles. Holmes played his first NBA rotation minutes only two weeks ago, receiving a temporary promotion by necessity with Jokic and backup center Jonas Valanciunas injured<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll help me out with my (player development) workouts with the little things that will translate to the game,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cMy DHOs, stuff like that, making sure I screen the right way. Those little things matter for winning. \u2026 Jokic is probably one of the greatest of all time, so it\u2019s pretty cool to have him there. Even when he\u2019s not playing, just to hear his voice is insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be a person I\u2019d listen to,\u201d Adelman said, \u201cif I was DaRon.\u201d<\/p>\n

For two-way forward Spencer Jones, the individual dialogue has been about how to release from a screen in response to how it\u2019s guarded \u2014 what space to occupy next, basically. The Nuggets\u2019 offense under Adelman has always been dependent on off-ball movement and all five players being able to screen, read and react. Jones has been treated as a lesser offensive threat than his teammates in many cases, whether he\u2019s in a pick-and-roll or freeing up a shooter on the weak side of the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot it for me is when to pop on a screen, when to slip out of a screen, when setting it for Jamal (Murray), Tim (Hardaway Jr.), guys like that,\u201d Jones told The Post. \u201cIt opens up a shot for me, or it opens up a shot for one of them. He always tells me it depends on who\u2019s guarding me. If you\u2019ve got a five-man who\u2019s in a drop, you\u2019re gonna want to pop (to the 3-point line). Because then Jamal can get downhill. That\u2019s who they typically double, and it\u2019s a wide-open three.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s coming off a pin-down and it\u2019s Tim or anything like that, probably slip out of it quick, because it\u2019s gonna be hard to set a really good screen if they\u2019re chasing right behind him. But if you slip, it could be an easy layup for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of this is totally new to Jokic\u2019s leadership style, his teammates and coaches attest. His intellect has already been the basis of Denver\u2019s success for years. But its importance is inflated, its exposure heightened, by the fact that he isn\u2019t able to pull the puppet strings himself. Usually, he\u2019s using his energy to post up opposing centers or direct traffic from the middle of the floor. The ball is in his hands. His primary form of in-game communication is intuition, not the spoken word.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like a lot of times, he doesn\u2019t get to talk as much and coach as much because he\u2019s out there really playing hard and is exhausted,\u201d Watson said. \u201cSo it\u2019s hard to talk so much. But I think now that he has obviously this injury and he\u2019s been sidelined for a little bit, it\u2019s allowing him to communicate the things he sees more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DenverDenver Nuggets guard Peyton Watson (8) drives around New Orleans Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears (0) in the first half of Tuesday in New Orleans. (AP Photo\/Gerald Herbert)<\/p>\n

An outwardly vocal Jokic has been a defining characteristic of Adelman\u2019s tenure so far<\/a>. It started last April in Sacramento, when Michael Malone lost his job and Adelman took over a ship in danger of sinking with three games left in the regular season. In that first game, Jokic was seen commandeering the whiteboard to draw up a play in a timeout. Adelman welcomed the passion from his star player. It was his team, the interim coach asserted at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think behind closed doors for a long time, it\u2019s always been there,\u201d Adelman added on Sunday. \u201cIn film sessions, always had a strong opinion about game plans. I think you\u2019re just seeing it more in public, things we\u2019ve already seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a lot more vocal than people think. \u2026 The camera only catches about half of it,\u201d Jones said. \u201cBut he\u2019s individually going to guys, telling us how to get our offense going, especially with a lot of teams throwing different coverages, either blitzing Jamal or switching everything. He gives us great tips. \u2026 Then when he\u2019ll take over a timeout, DA lets him. Obviously, we all trust him because how cerebral the guy is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The center\u2019s knack for seeing the future isn\u2019t new, either. Jokic memorably left the Timberwolves\u2019 locker room dumbfounded last season when he yelled out one of their ATO play calls. Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards started hatching conspiracy theories of espionage<\/a> after the game. The Nuggets, meanwhile, were used to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how,\u201d Tyson said, laughing. \u201cI couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not doing anything especially different this month. He\u2019s just wearing a hoodie and sweats or a tailored suit instead of a jersey. The outfits of a coach.<\/p>\n

Coach Jokic has helped the Nuggets secure at least one win so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a basketball genius,\u201d Tyson continued. \u201cSo any time we can get insight from him, everybody is going to listen. No matter what he says.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like a quarterback reading the defensive coverage before the snap, Nikola Jokic barked orders to his teammates. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,3912,4699,3896,3897,1662,3913,120243,3899,3900,3902,3914,3905,590,3906,3909,85],"class_list":["post-417820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-colorado","tag-daron-holmes","tag-david-adelman","tag-denver","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-front-range","tag-hunter-tyson","tag-injury","tag-jalen-pickett","tag-jonas-valanciunas","tag-latest-headlines","tag-more-nuggets-news","tag-nba","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-peyton-watson","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}