The Tao of Jokić

“Rabbit’s clever,” said Pooh thoughtfully.
“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit’s clever.”
“And he has Brain.”
“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit has Brain.”
There was a long silence. “I suppose,” said Pooh, “that that’s why he never understands anything.

– A. A. Milne, also quoted by Benjamin Hoff in the Tao of Pooh

I never did get around to becoming a Taoist. I suppose there’s a hint of comedy in that, if you know the philosophy. Instead, I was a poorly performing Methodist, who at one point fell in love with a Benjamin Hoff book meant to explain the tenets of Taoism via the wit and wisdom of one very think-think-thoughtful Pooh Bear. As a Pooh and Piglet acolyte, I was suddenly pretty sure I’d always been a Taoist, and just never knew it.

Turns out I was still just a really big fan of Winnie the Pooh.

Still, as I was listening to a press conference of Mr. Nikola Jokic after an at-home game against the Philadelphia 76ers, and an answer that DNVR captured immediately stuck out…

Nikola Jokic: "I think we don't need to talk about Joel Embiid, not just becasue he didn't play, because I think Paul Reed played really good for them and we need to give him credit." pic.twitter.com/dX3cp2IfT5

— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) January 28, 2024

Aside from our ability to spell “because” on the fly, Jokic, who was being asked to feed into the wave of negativity swelling up against fellow center and designated villain Joel Embiid, for all intents and purposes said…

I don’t really want to feed into that. He couldn’t play. Did you see how well the other guy did?

Amazing. It reminded me of a Tao of Pooh quote:

“Sourness and bitterness come from the interfering and unappreciative mind”

Nikola shows himself to be the opposite of that idea, someone who seems to enjoy and appreciate every moment in front of him, whether in the highest pressure situations… (from about 3:38 in this postgame interview from the Bucks contest)

“That’s why I play. To play these kind of games. To play under the pressure. To play tight games. I think that’s what every player’s dream is. To perform, or not to perform in those situations. I think even when you don’t perform in those types of situations, it’s still a lesson. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad player. It just happened to be like that. I love to play under those circumstances.”

Jokic was even charming stumbling over “circumstances”.

He also can be just as joyful and appreciative of moments that are… a little lower stress.

And that’s all just into the tunnel camera. You should see the other feeds.

That ability to find simple joys in any situation isn’t all that ties Big Honey back to Winnie the Pooh, or even something like their calm and even-keel thinking. Heck, they share yet another similarity in that both are often accused of being a little roly poly. There are a lot of similarities. For instance, Jokic embraces this Tao of Pooh idea rather nicely, as well:

“The easiest way to get rid of a Minus is to change it into a Plus.”
-Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

Even getting past the idea that Hoff was not discussing the basketball’s plus/minus, there is no one better at turning a fellow teammate into more of a plus than he was than Jokic. His selfless and “right play always” attitude is simply contagious amongst his squad, no matter who makes up the team year over year. In terms of both the eye test and sheer raw data, no one elevates those around him like Joker does.

How about this one?

“When you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don’t belong.”
-Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

Not many people are more aware of where they belong, both on and off the court, than Jokic. While his ability to be wherever a situation demands in the game is legendary, his sure knowledge of where he is meant to be when he is off the court is somehow even more dogged. Nikola simply wants to be at home, where things are simple. The Daoist’s clarion call for simplicity runs through the veins of the Serbain as if he were born to it. When he is supposed to be in Denver to play, he wants to be at his place there with his wife, daughter, and family, enjoying his swimming pool. When it’s time to NOT be in Denver any more…

“I need to go home.” He’d said the same a few minutes earlier in his on-court wrap up…

No doubt in what he desires. Here’s another…

“You fight fire with water.”
– Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

As simple as this one sounds, it goes back to the semi-ridiculous notion of the outcome when you literally “fight fire with fire”. In the example of the 76ers postgame chat, Jokic wasn’t willing to raise the stakes in the Embiid debate, pouring cold water on the plans of the interviewer. Similarly, Jokic often extinguishes the game plan of the other team by simply taking whatever route they are leaving hime, and dissecting them with it. Jokic is the epitome of “going with the flow” in temrs of what the game offers. He’s as happy with 40 points as he is with 15 rebounds as he is with a dozen assists… or even none of the above. As long as his team – his world – wins and is successful. Sounds about as Tao-ey as it gets.

One more, just for luck…

“I think, therefore I am… confused.”

Kidding, not that one. Let’s try this…

“The honey doesn’t taste so good once it is being eaten; the goal doesn’t mean so much once it is reached; the reward is not so rewarding once it has been given. If we add up all the rewards in our lives, we won’t have very much. But if we add up the spaces between the rewards, we’ll come up with quite a bit. And if we add up the rewards and the spaces, then we’ll have everything – every minute of the time that we spent.”
– Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

If there’s any of this that Jokic seems to have been on top of since before he ever became the greatest Denver Nuggets player ever, it was to capture the joy in the spaces between. Whether that came from growing up in a country in the middle of a war, or having older brothers treat you like you were a little older than you were, or just because he’s a guy with a brilliant mind and a sweet, simple soul… There’s an awful lot to be learned from the day-in, day-out approach of this Jokic guy. He seems to realize he had all the important stuff in hand before he even started achieving the rest.

Big Honey, indeed.

“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”
-Winnie the Pooh