With Nikola Jokic safely inside the bubble the Nuggets can start believing again

While a cloud of anxiety hung over the city of Denver following the news that Nikola Jokic tested positive for conoravirus, back home in Serbia the Nuggets’ star center found a brief moment of serenity during the NBA’s hiatus.

“It was not difficult. I was home. I was quarantined for 14, 15 days. We have a little private house so I was there with my girlfriend,” Jokic responded Tuesday to a question about how difficult the last few weeks were after testing positive in June. “It was actually kind of a vacation for us.”

Jokic said that “vacation” was the only time when he put a basketball down during the NBA’s four-plus month suspension, which for the Nuggets is scheduled to end in just a few weeks when their season officially resumes Aug. 1 at Walt Disney World. Over the weekend, Jokic arrived in Orlando via Serbia where he’d been since early-June, returned multiple negative coronavirus tests, and rejoined the Nuggets inside the NBA bubble.

Tuesday afternoon, Jokic saw his teammates for lunch and then watched the Nuggets’ evening practice from the sidelines. After the team gets back the results of physical testing that Jokic has to go through, he’ll be cleared to practice.

Collectively, the city of Denver let out a huge sigh of relief when Jokic emerged from his league-mandated 36-48 hour quarantine Tuesday and was given the all-clear. So did his coach.

“It was great to see him, and I could kind of sense the relief of him being here,” Michael Malone said. “… I’m thankful that he’s here.”

As he should be. Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly and his staff have assembled a talented roster with arguably the best depth in the Western Conference. But for as skilled as Jamal Murray is, for as intriguing as Michael Porter Jr. has looked this season, and for the laundry list of intangibles that Paul Millsap, Jerami Grant, Gary Harris and others bring the table, this train starts and stops with the seven-foot, something-pound point-center who has quarterbacked a top-10 offense for the last four seasons.

Make no mistake about that.

“I think I’m not supposed to tell you my pounds and my weight,” Jokic said. “It’s a team policy. I like that.”

Jokic’s weight of course has been a hot topic of conversation this season. His conditioning, or lack there of, was blamed for his slow individual start, but personally I always believed it always had a lot more to do with an overall indifference around the somewhat meaningless opening act of the regular season.

Around the beginning of December, Jokic apparently caught the workout bug. After games, even ones where he spent the last several minutes in warmups on the bench, Jokic would descend from Denver’s second-floor practice court and weight room, and enter the locker room to fulfill his media obligations drenched in sweat. The transformation was noticeable to any reporter who interacted with him on a somewhat daily basis.

When pictures of Jokic surfaced on June 11 at an exhibition game in Serbia that honored his former coach Dejan Milojevic, the rest of the NBA caught on to Jokic’s transformation. But Jokic said Tuesday that he only lost 3-5 pounds since the hiatus and attributed the shock waves that the photographs sent throughout the league to people not paying attention to the changes he made throughout the season.

He was also asked Tuesday how his new physique would affect his game.

“I don’t know to be honest,” Jokic said. “I’m just happy to be here. To finally come to Orlando, to be with the team. Maybe I’m going to surprise everybody. Maybe I’m not going to be good. So we will see.”

And with that extremely Jokic-like response that you’d get from exactly zero other NBA superstars, you knew he was officially back. My biggest takeaway from Jokic’s Zoom call with reporters was that he was indeed in great spirits. He seemed refreshed, recharged and excited to get back on the court and chase an NBA championship. Once his interview ended, Jokic gave his official press conference sign off.

“Thank you guys, of course. It was my pleasure like always. Ooh I missed that,” Jokic said with just a hint of sarcasm.”

While Jokic’s arrival is certainly some needed positive news for the Nuggets, Denver is still waiting on much of its roster to arrive at Disney World. Malone said Tuesday that he didn’t have a firm timetable on when any other players would be parachuting into the NBA bubble.

But at least Jokic is safely inside and more arrivals from players should follow. Jokic feels healthy, was asymptomatic while he had coronavirus, and only got tested because he was readying to travel back to Denver to continue preparing for the NBA’s resumption. Team sources often remarked throughout the hiatus how committed Jokic was to staying in shape and while abroad, Jokic was in constant communication with Nuggets head strength and conditioning coach Felipe Eichenberger regarding his workout routine.

If you’re taking Jokic at his word that most of his weight loss came during the season, have a glance at his numbers over the final month before play was suspended. In theory, Jokic is currently close to the weight that he played at over the Nuggets’ last 16 games where he averaged 21.3 points on 60% shooting from the field, 10.8 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game.

During that stretch Jokic played what was, for my money, the best regular season game of his career when he went berserk on Rudy Gobert and the Jazz and poured in 30 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists, leading the seven-man Nuggets to an improbable road win. To close February, Jokic was one of the few Nuggets who showed up in a nationally televised showdown against the Clippers, and to open March, Jokic tallied 23 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists in an impressive 133-118 win over the Toronto Raptors.

So yes, Jokic should be dominant at his current physique.

Like the rest of his teammates, Jokic’s minutes will be ramped slowly through the team’s three scrimmages — the first of which is a week from Wednesday — and much of the Nuggets’ practice time in the lead-up to the eight seeding games will be spent on conditioning and working the roster into the required game shape for a deep playoff run.

With Jokic finally anchored in Orlando, the Nuggets can officially start believing again. Soon, the coaches and players currently at Disney World will be reminded about his magical passing, his supreme touch, his extraordinary feel for the game, and how when Jokic is at his best the Nuggets can compete with any team in the league.

“He’s in great spirits,” Malone said. “I think I can speak for everyone on our staff and our roster. Having him around is very uplifting.”