By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Nikola Jokic is arguably the top big man in the world right now and many rightfully believe that he can be considered as the best player on the planet.
Hall of Famer and three-time NBA champion Toni Kukoc argued that Jokic isn’t quite there yet but also that the Serbian big man hasn’t even topped two of the greatest Balkan basketball figures: Serbian Vlade Divac and Croatian Dino Radja.
“Despite the statistics, Jokic isn’t at the level of [Vlade] Divac and Dino [Radja] in the center position,” Kukoc said to Sporski Zurnal. “30 years ago, Divac surprised America with the way he handled the ball while being this tall. Radja when it comes to how he could catch the ball under the basket and reach the other side of the court to score.”
“Jokić has improved a lot and can improve his game a lot,” Kukoc, a key player during the Chicago Bulls second threepeat, added.
Divac and Radja, both members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame since 2019 and 2018 respectively were indeed impressively unique and highly skilled big men back in the 90s when they established themselves in the NBA.
Radja, a former teammate of Kukoc in legendary Jugoplastica, spent four years with the Boston Celtics from 1993 to 1997, averaging 16.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists over 224 regular-season games before returning to Europe. Divac’s NBA run was much longer, beginning in 1989 with the Los Angeles Lakers and ending with the same team in 2005 after stints with also the Sacramento Kings and the Charlotte Hornets.
In his most productive NBA season in 1994 – 95, Divac averaged 16.0 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists.
Kukoc still praised Jokic for the way he’s dominating and controlling the game.
“Jokić is not an athlete, he doesn’t run as fast as American college players, but he has an incredible ability to get the game into a rhythm that suits him,” Kukoc mentioned. “He scores, assists, catches balls, all in his own ‘mode’. When he gets the game into a rhythm that suits him, then he can do what he wants.”