Wind Chimes: What was behind Nikola Jokic's "different man" comment?

Welcome to Wind Chimes, a notebook of reporting, observations and analysis from me about what I’ve seen, heard and talked to people around the team about over the last week. Enjoy!

Is Nikola Jokic really a “Different Man”?

Nikola Jokic wore a suit to the arena for Denver’s home opener Friday, which certainly turned some heads. He’s worn one on only a couple of occasions over the years and infamously wore the same tan suit to the Nuggets’ charity gala in back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018. When Jokic was asked postgame about why he wore the suit — a perfectly normal question to ask the reigning MVP — he simply replied with two words.

“Different man.”

It was one of the more interesting quotes than I can remember from Jokic over the years.

On the court, Jokic has been the same man as he was last year. He torched Deandre Ayton, who did defend him well at times in the playoffs last year, and then put 32 points on 14-19 shooting (73.7%), 16 rebounds and 7 assists on past playoff foe Jakob Poeltl’s head. The Nuggets have outscored their opponent by 42 points in the 68 minutes Jokic has played through two games. That’s the fourth-best +/- in the league so far, but the three players with a better differential — Derrick Rose, Gordon Hayward, Miles Bridges — have all played in three games. Jokic has only played in two.

In those two games, the Nuggets have gone up against Monty Williams and Gregg Popovich, two of the NBA’s better head coaches. Neither could enact a game plan to bother Jokic one bit. Popovich was so impressed with Jokic that he compared him to Larry Bird postgame.

Pop on Jokic.

"He's a really spectacular, interesting, different player. He's like a 7-foot Larry Bird type guy. The way he can pass. The way he reads things. He's incredible." pic.twitter.com/K78PdpiTnC

— Adam Mares (@Adam_Mares) October 23, 2021

“He’s gonna be MVP again,” JaMychal Green stated Friday.

Maybe he will.

But off the court is where I think Jokic’s “different man” comment originates from. He became a father just over three weeks ago. It would have been a great excuse for Jokic to come out of the gate slower than he did last year, but the opposite has been the case. He’s been all business on the court. He called his teammates out after a sloppy scrimmage and preseason last week. Behind the scenes, team staffers say he’s been beyond focused. Something just feels a little different to me in terms of his approach and demeanor. Maybe we have Ognjena Jokic to thank.

Jokic is so beyond the bullshit. Nothing can phase him right now. He’s accepted that without Jamal Murray it’s going to be on his shoulders to lead this team throughout the next several months. He’s embracing it, owning it and seems ready for whatever’s ahead.

More Chimes

No Bones so far: One surprising — at least to me — move from Malone over the first two games was to leave Bones Hyland out of the rotation. We know by now how Malone prefers to rely on his veterans, but with how far he went this preseason to hype up Bones, he even got me to buy into the bit.

“The kid’s going to be on the floor,” Malone said two weeks ago. “It’s impossible to keep Bones Hyland off the floor.”

Malone indicated over the weekend that Bones could make his regular season debut during one of the Nuggets’ two upcoming back-to-backs this week. So many young players have developed through Denver’s pipeline that it would be laughable to second-guess Malone’s approach on this one.

AG’s Defense: Keldon Johnson had a night vs. Denver on Friday. He finished with 27 points on a ridiculous 12-18 shooting and a few of those makes came on Aaron Gordon. But I thought Gordon was locked in defensively throughout most of that Nuggets win. Take this possession for example.

I love how Gordon has fit into the role Denver’s needed him two so far.

Watching MPJ’s defense: Porter started Friday’s game guarding Johnson, but Malone switched him onto Doug McDermott early in the first quarter after Johnson scored five-straight on the Nugget’ newest max player. This was one of those early baskets which came after Porter missed a tough, contested jumper on the other end. Porter gave Johnson a wide open path to the rim, with his right hand none-the-less. This was bad.

This was the second bucket which prompted the defensive switch.

Porter had some better moments defensively, like this steal/block on McDermott. I also liked how Porter didn’t force the issue and hunt for his shot once he got up the floor here. You can tell by Malone’s reaction that he liked it too even though the possession ended in a turnover.

DPOG Chain: Michael Malone’s latest way to try and incentivize his players on the defensive end of the floor is here. Introducing the Defensive Player of the Game chain. It’s awarded after wins to the Nuggets player that the coaching staff thinks made the biggest impact on the defensive end of the floor that night.

Will Barton got the Nuggets’ DPOG Chain because of his defense on Devin Booker, who was held to 3-15 shooting, as well as his team-high in contested shots in Denver’s opener. Nikola Jokic got it for his team-high 16 contested shots and four deflections Friday vs. the Spurs. I can report that Jokic unfortunately did not walk out of the arena wearing it.

I was also told the chain is unfortunately not made of real diamonds. But if it gets the Nuggets to give a better defensive effort, it’s a win for everybody involved.

From after the Nuggets’ opening night victory: