Nuggets Mailbag: Ranking Nikola Jokic’s greatest passes after no-look dime to Peyton Watson

Denver Post beat writer Bennett Durando opens up the Nuggets Mailbag periodically during the season You can submit a Nuggets- or NBA-related question here To follow up on your tweet what are Nikola Jokic s top five passes Alex Sloans Lake There s perhaps a longer project to be done someday ranking Jokic s greatest dimes when he s a little closer to the twilight of his career For now I think it s a fun exercise to pull from memory without combing through highlight compilations because you shouldn t need a refresher for the best of the best right My tweet asserted that Jokic s lefty no-look behind-the-back pass to Peyton Watson in Memphis this week was a top-five pass by the Serbian center since I ve covered him It was a thoroughly arbitrary number in the moment but I think it belongs on the list again the time period here being the three full seasons I ve been on the Nuggets beat I aimed for a variety of types of passes Regrettably I couldn t single out any one look-away bounce pass in transition the kind where he leads the receiver through traffic like an NFL quarterback would Also one honorable mention goes out to his pass in Miami last season when he caught a long outlet pass on the run and straightaway tossed it backward over his head as his momentum carried him out of bounds He drew two defenders with him and the pass hit Aaron Gordon in stride for a dunk No-look skip pass at the Garden Jokic loves slinging these to the weak-side corner And Madison Square Garden just makes everything cooler doesn t it The center caught an entry pass at the right elbow from Gordon who went into a split action with Russell Westbrook Jokic s head was fully facing the strong side of the floor the right side His eyes were focused on the primary action which often results in a slip cut to the rim by Gordon Perhaps knowing this the Knicks back-side defender was creeping in pretty far to cover the paint And knowing that Jokic was able to blindly catapult the ball over his right shoulder across the court between four defenders to Christian Braun The -pointer was good Jan Game-icing assist to Watson It s not often that Jokic s cheekiest passes occur with a minute remaining in a challenge That adds specific allure to his latest work Monday the aforementioned lefty bounce pass out of a double-team with his back to the basket The ball almost grazed Santi Aldama s leg but was so perfectly thrown that it left Aldama feeling a draft instead softly landing in Watson s hands His layup gave Denver a nine-point lead and cemented a win over the Grizzlies Nov Touch pass improv in Hollywood His floor-mapping intuition in the halfcourt offense might be his greatest strength but Jokic loves playing unpredictably in the open floor as well In Battle of a first-round playoff series against the Lakers he was running up the right side without the ball in transition Kentavious Caldwell-Pope tried to loft a pass over Jokic s head from behind him but the big man didn t know where the ball was until it landed in front of him Like a soccer athlete one-timing a through ball to his teammate Jokic totally tapped the ball with his right hand and it gracefully sailed over a defender to Michael Porter Jr under the basket April Fooling Brook Lopez Jokic has thrown countless lobs and no-looks from the paint to Gordon on the baseline It s the diagram for a large number of of his best passes This one is twice as good in slow motion because of how thoroughly Jokic wrong-foots Lopez a generational defender who was roaming the back line for Milwaukee Jokic drove into Kyle Kuzma with his left hand then started to spin the other way only to flick the ball back over his right shoulder once his back was to the basket Thinking the pass going to the perimeter Lopez jumped the opposite direction while Gordon was cutting to the rim behind him March The -foot alley-oop Also in Memphis my top pick stands in for Jokic s hundreds of full-court outlet passes This is the epitome of what makes him a historic play-maker the strength and precision the cunning illusion of indifference the audacity It was so sneaky that even the Nuggets and Grizzlies local broadcasts failed to capture the play live Jokic snagged the ball from a ref on the sideline while players from both teams were distracted by a previous call and he launched the inbound pass over everybody It wasn t designed as a lob but it worked out that way Gordon caught the ball in mid-air and dunked it Jokic commented afterward he had never practiced an alley-oop from that distance I was seated court-side right behind the spot where he threw it I was lucky I happened to be looking up Oct At the quarter mark of the season what letter grade do you give the Nuggets for their record and efforts Why that grade Ed via Twitter I can t judge them too harshly when they re on pace for wins which would comfortably break the franchise record of Let s go with an A- for now with points docked only because Denver has lost two home games to inferior opponents These things happen in an -game season no matter how good a company is But the loss to Chicago was especially unforgivable under the circumstances The Nuggets were rested and the Bulls were playing a back-to-back at altitude They had flown into Colorado late the previous night after losing a double-overtime match to the Jazz in Salt Lake City Then their bench took it to Denver s I do think this association s best wins are more revealing than its worst losses so far The Nuggets have defeated the Wolves in Minnesota and the Rockets in Houston while missing two starters in both games In the playoffs how you stack up to those teams will matter more than how you handled your business against Chicago and Sacramento Overall Denver s offense is elite its defense is improved and its all-important second star is hooping Forget Jamal Murray s scoring he has assists and two turnovers in the last two games That s a microcosm of how crisp the Nuggets have been as a company But maybe it s just Thanksgiving week and I m feeling the spirit of giving Ask again at Christmas after a meager weeks without Gordon and Braun and my answer might not be so generous I d be genuinely curious to know if guys like DaRon Holmes would rather be in the G League getting consistent minutes or with the Nuggets only playing in garbage time Ryan via Twitter The answer here is boring but it s a mix of both Everyone wants to play but riding the bench on a good unit and being around experienced NBA stars can be exciting David Adelman is plenty aware of that The guys that are down there we have to get them back with us and then send them back he mentioned They need to get back with the guys keep a relationship with the coaching staff If you leave guys down there too long I think it s unfair to them as a professional player So we ll do the best we can to rotate them through Jalen Pickett has noted that playing G League minutes in a system that resembled Denver s helped him gain confidence Holmes stated me just now that he s using his time in Grand Rapids to learn concepts that ll make it easier for him to fit on an NBA court with Jokic I think the majority players see the benefits of spending time in the minors even if it s really freaking cold in Michigan Related Articles Nuggets vs Grizzlies takeaways Jamal Murray steadying the ship for Denver Aaron Gordon out to weeks with hamstring injury Where can the Nuggets turn Why former Michigan star Tim Hardaway Jr is ideal Nuggets role performer If Aaron Gordon misses time with hamstring strain will Nuggets play more double-big Nikola Jokic s points lead Nuggets past Rockets in white-knuckle NBA Cup win Are there any sneakily complicated matchups you see on the horizon with AG and CB out Madalynn Denver Well it helps that Oklahoma City isn t on the schedule until February That s a bad matchup for pretty much every crew regardless of who is and isn t playing The Nuggets have a skilled and cerebral roster profile but not as much raw athleticism as various other teams I think they ve traditionally struggled more against particular of those opponents the ones that can apply heavy ball pressure with athletic wings and attack Denver s on-ball defenders with quick guards to open up the offense Without Gordon the focus also shifts toward figuring out how to guard star forwards without fouling A lot will be petitioned of Spencer Jones and Zeke Nnaji The road back-to-back in Phoenix this Saturday is obviously tough Moreover I think the Nuggets first matchup with the renovated Hawks next week could be challenging Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker an experienced Murray defender can take turns wearing out Denver s primary ball-handler Offensively Atlanta moves the ball well and shoots the three efficiently Jalen Johnson will test Denver s short-handed frontcourt Want more Nuggets news Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis