The Denver Nuggets are playing winning basketball on a consistent basis this season, proving that their offseason additions were well worth the hype. And the thing that fans are noticing is that Nikola Jokic has been having his way in situations that analytics has been trying to kill off: post-ups.
Jokic has been totally dominant in post-up situations so far this year. He's made a stunning 34 of his 45 shot attempts when posting up this season. Nuggets fans and even the casual NBA fan know that Jokic is an efficiency monster, but that 75.6% shooting mark is just unheard of.
Modern NBA analytics have placed such an emphasis on premium floor spacing. As such, three-point shots and drives to the hoop are considered the most logical shot attempts according to the numbers. But Jokic is so good on the interior that he's turning what analytics would consider a bad shot into the best shot possible.
The truth is that the league average for post-up efficiency usually lags behind other types of plays, which is why most teams will avoid it if they don't have a very specific archetype of player with which that play can succeed by. For the Nuggets to have a player who can take a lot of post-up shots as well as convert them at an elite rate goes against conventional wisdom.
Nikola Jokic has been dominating on the interior
But efficiency alone doesn't tell the whole story of Jokic's dominance. It's the way his decision-making is so sharp, and how he knows exactly the way to play against certain looks, as well as where and when to post up. When to drift into the paint from the perimeter, and either put up a high efficiency shot or deliver kick-out passes when he draws two defenders.
It's not that Jokic is forcing these post-up shots on the interior. He's not trying to go against the analytics, he's just so good that he's able to make the analytical logic look silly. It's ironic because a lot of teams intentionally go away from posting up because it would clog up their offense and make them less productive. But Nikola's post-up dominance does exactly what other teams are trying to avoid, and yet it works better than anything the analytics crowd can recommend. It's irony at the highest level.
Jokic's shot-making on the interior is the perfect safety cushion for Denver. When other guys on the roster are struggling with shot-making, Nikola can quickly shift from his mentality of playmaking and just start taking guys one-on-one due to his basketball IQ and scoring mastery.
His skills are the reason why it's a common opinion that he remains the best basketball player in the world. The Nuggets aren't a perfect team, but when you have a guy who can bend conventional wisdom and do things so outside of the ordinary on a nightly basis, it's obvious why Denver looks like a title contender once again.