Historic Jokic

“A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.”

– Larry Bird

“I would say that anytime you pass Larry Bird in any category, that is a hell of an accomplishment.”

– Michael Malone

Believe it or not, Coach Malone’s quote was a three games ago. He was talking about the fact that Nikola Jokic had passed Larry Bird on the all-time triple-doubles list to take over eighth place. All time. Over Larry effing Bird. Malone had more to say on the topic:

“Growing up in New York, we hated the Celtics, hated Larry Bird, but you also at the same time had a tremendous amount of respect for the assassin that he was, and the great player that he was. And the great thing about this is, Nikola is in the prime of his career. 26 years old, reigning MVP. And this is gonna sound strange: I don’t even think he played that great tonight. That’s great. When you can go out there and get 17, 12, and 15, and I don’t think you had one of your best games. We expect and demand so much of him. Nikola needs to be great. It’s so unfair. But Nikola needs to be great every night. And so when he’s not great, it’s like, ‘Aw, man, c’mon Nikola!’ But he’s got 60 (triple-doubles) now? Well cheers, and here’s to 60 more.”

Passing Larry Bird in any category is a hell of an accomplishment, agreed. And in the two games since, Jokic has posted triple-doubles of 39-11-11 and 22-13-10 to now find himself at 62 triple-doubles for his career. That ties him for seventh all time with James Harden. The six players ahead of him now…

• Wilt Chamberlain (78)
• LeBron James (99)
• Jason Kidd (107)
• Magic Johnson (138)
• Oscar Robertson (181)
• Russell Westbrook (189)

Some pretty big names on that list, huh? Jokic made that happen in the first 473 games of his career. Six-and-a-quarter seasons to break into the top seven. At his current rate, Jokic will pass Chamberlain before next season is half over to be the highest-ranked center on the list. The funny part of that is Chamberlain only pushed himself so high on the list when he was accused of not caring about assists, and so he decided one season to push himself and lead the league in the category. Conversely, Jokic has proven time and again he could care less about his stats, as long as he is helping his team to win. The three triple-doubles these last three games? Joker would give them all away to have the two losses in there be wins.

But even so, if Jokic can keep his current pace, he could easily pass most of the players on that list. Only James and Westbrook are still active. If Jokic and his slow-it-down style can have a career as long as many of the best big men to play the game, he will easily find himself in the top five. While James may pass Kidd, Jokic most certainly will. But here’s where it could really get weird. And when I say weird, I mean effing amazing.

If Jokic’s easy-on-his body style of play lets him play as long as some of the best, he could end up playing around 1,500 games in his career, which would also place him amongst the top five to ever play. If he were amongst the top ten, he’d still play around 1,400 games. At his current pace, Jokic averages a little over .13 triple doubles per game. If Joker plays a thousand games, he’ll be in fourth place. 1,100 games? Third place, past the unbelievable Magic Johnson.

1,200 games? 157, and still third. 1,300? 170. Still third. That’s how great Robertson and Westbrook have been in this category, though Westbrook chases triple-doubles like my dog chases every piece of food that drops to the floor.

But if Jokic can somehow maintain this pace, and play 1,400 games, he’ll have 183 triple-doubles and pass the great Oscar Robertson, the guy that was supposedly insurmountable in the category. And if Jokic can somehow keep this up for 1,500 games, he’ll actually be a few games shy of 200 triple-doubles. That may not pass Westbrook, who will probably just keep chasing those crumbs. But Jokic will also have made his team and teammates better than Westbrook ever could or would. Moreover, Joker could truly care less if he ever notches another. The guy who may be the most original center to play in the NBA is a Denver Nugget. A surefire lock for a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. And quite probably a guy who will be amongst the top three in this category. For sure the best to ever put on a Nuggets uni. The guy who notched the fastest triple-double in history (14 minutes). If you are somehow missing out on this party, you’re missing out on a piece of Nuggets history.

Jokic.

Historic.