Yang Hansen looked back at Jokic s draft experience on the day he was transferred to see if his success can be replicated?

In the game between the Denver Nuggets and the Portland Trail Blazers, Yang Hansen did not get a chance to play for one second. He also missed the opportunity to compete with his idol Jokic. Today, Yang was sent to the Development League again. His mediocre performance and negative off-court news made the nickname "Jokic Jr." completely laughable. Handle, both Xiao Yang personally and the fans who support him need to calm down from the blind optimism and collective carnival in the summer league. In today's NBA profile, I will review Jokic's draft experience with you. After reading it, you may be able to understand whether Jokic's road to success can be replicated.

Jokic was the 41st pick in the second round. His low draft pick gave many players the motivation to pursue their dreams, but it also gave many players the illusion that "I can do it too." This is just like the appearance of Wang Baoqiang among the extras in Hengdian, which made many extras start to dream of big stars. But everyone has ignored the reality that there has only been one Wang Baoqiang in the entertainment industry for so many years. In the 79 years since the NBA was founded, there have been more than 4,600 non-stars. In the first round of the draft, there have been about 1,080 second-round picks since the two-round draft system was adopted in 1989. After 1989, 21 will become All-Stars, with a probability of 2%, and only Jokic will become the regular season MVP, with a probability of one in a thousand. With the increase in the number of second-round picks in the future, this probability will continue to increase, but based on today's time point, the NBA will have to wait at least another 79 years for another Jokic-like player.

Although we now see from God's perspective how discerning the Denver Nuggets were when they selected Jokic, the actual situation is that the then Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly would never have thought that Jokic could reach the heights he is today. Even Jokic himself did not believe that he could play in the NBA. However, various opportunities and coincidences later made people realize that an era might really be waiting for him.

In June 2013, the U19 Men's Basketball World Cup was held in the Czech Republic. Jokic represented the Serbian team. At that time, the number one core of the Serbian youth team was Misic. Jokic was the team's substitute center. Misic led the team all the way to the finals, and finally lost to the American team led by Aaron Gordon, Harrell, and Smart and won the silver medal. , Aaron Gordon won the MVP honor, and Misic was selected into the best team of the tournament. It is also worth mentioning that the Chinese team in this tournament was led by Zhou Qi, Zhao Jiwei, Gao Shang, and Wu Qian. They also faced off against the Serbian team in the second round of the group round robin but lost by a wide margin. However, this time the Chinese men's basketball team finally reached the top 8 and achieved the best result in the tournament's history of seventh place.

The International World Youth Championship is an important venue for American scouts to discover international talents. Many American college coaches and scouts will go there for inspections in person. Among these inspectors is Nuggets scout Rafael Uecker. It is said that he was deeply impressed by Jokic's golf intelligence and later recommended Jokic's scouting report to the Nuggets as the result of this game. The draft template he set for Jokic was Sol.

Also watching the game was Karnisovas (currently president of the Chicago Bulls). This Lithuanian basketball legend was the manager of NBA Europe at the time. He was familiar with young talents in Europe. Through this game, he also got to know Jokic to a certain extent. Not long after the U19 World Cup ended, he was recruited by the Denver Nuggets. When hired as assistant general manager, the Nuggets mainly valued his connections in Europe and his familiarity with European players. Soon he provided the team with a scouting report on European talents such as Saric, Nurkic, and Misic. What surprised him was that Jokic was also on the team's investigation list, which was hand-picked by general manager Tim Connelly.

At the time, Nuggets assistant general manager Karnisovas

The reason why Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly was interested in Jokic was mainly because his draft template was Gasol. Back in 2007, Connery was working as a scout for the Washington Wizards. He carefully inspected Gasol and strongly recommended him to the team. However, at the time, Wizards manager Glenfield believed that Gasol was only a prospect. Because of his brother's fame, he rejected Connery's suggestion. In the end, the Wizards signed Dominic McGuire with the 47th pick in the second round. Then the Los Angeles Lakers selected Garrett. Later, as Garfield entered the NBA and played better and better, this became something that Connery was very unwilling to do. So when another player like Garrett appeared this time, he always felt that it was God's will, so he asked Kanisovas to also focus on Jokic.

The then Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly

In the 2013-14 season, Jokic averaged 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists per game for the Serbian club Kosar Kaszki, but the club was Both the Adriatic and Serbian leagues were only ranked in the middle of the pack. At this time, Saric had already dominated the Adriatic League. He led the team to win the league championship and won the MVP honor. He was voted the best young player in Europe for the second time. Nurkic performed more efficiently in a short playing time.

Jokic’s agent received word that an NBA team was scouting Jokic, so in the summer of 2014, he arranged for Jokic to go to the United States to participate in the NIKE Global Classic. The lineup of the international team included Capela, Lyles, Towns, Noble, Mykhailiuk, Mudiay, and Murray.