Why did Jokic fall to the 41st ranking then? Who were the top three rankings back then? They are all familiar

Domestic young player Yang Hansen was selected by the Trail Blazers in the 16th overall pick this year. Compared with the previous domestic No. 1 pick Yao Ming and the 7th overall pick Yi Jianlian, this undoubtedly attracted some fans' attention and research on the NBA's low-coordinate draft. Then they found that the lower NBA picks also have the possibility of becoming successful, the most famous of which is Nikola Jokic, who was once called the "No. 1 player in the active league" in recent years. As we all know, as a three-time regular season MVP, one-time NBA champion and FMVP winner, Nikola Jokic's strength is undoubtedly strong, but strangely, he was not selected by the Nuggets until the 41st pick when he participated in the NBA draft, which was very abnormal. Therefore, today I will take you to analyze the reasons why Nikola Jokic's low rankings back then, and review who are the top three players in the same class as Nikola Jokic, and how are their current developments? Is it similar to Nikola Jokic?

The reason why Nikola Jokic's low draft pick:

Compared with those NBA players in the past, physical talent has obvious shortcomings and deficiencies

I believe many people know that in addition to the title of "Teacher", Nikola Jokic is often called "Fatty Man", which means that his body shape is "swelling" and an alien even in the long NBA league. In fact, "obesity" is the culprit for Nikola Jokic's low ranking. Although Nikola Jokic is now called "Fatty Jokic" by fans from time to time, he has actually lost a lot of weight compared to himself in the draft that year. When he participated in the NBA draft in 2014, Nikola Jokic's weight once reached 129 kilograms, which was described by scouts as "moving like dragging a refrigerator." Of course, it’s nothing to be obese. After all, there are not many talented players. Can Zion Williams jump high even with a bloated body? Unfortunately, Nikola Jokic's obesity is really "fat". Such weight directly makes him jump almost without any, and his bench press strength is insufficient. Coupled with slow foot movement, his defensive ability is even equivalent to none, so many scouts think it is impossible for him to adapt to the NBA game intensity. As the age of small balls approaches, Jokic's physical shortcomings have been further amplified

As mentioned above, due to his overly bloated figure, Nikola Jokic's footsteps are very slow, and the large center will only "squat" in the inside, so many people subconsciously thought that Nikola Jokic was an ordinary standing center. With the implementation of Pat Riley's "forward theory" and the rise of Stephen Curry, the NBA league had begun to develop towards the small ball era, and many teams began to pay more attention to centers with strong athletic capabilities, thus directly ignoring Nikola Jokic, who actually played with his brain.

The NBA was still biased against international players at that time

In addition to lacking physical talent, Nikola Jokic's identity as an international player is also one of the reasons that restricted his draft pick. Unlike the NBA, which is now open to the world, although the NBA has already had successful cases of international players in 2014, the arrogant Americans still believe in local players more. Especially in the center position, there are many cases where European players are not suitable for the NBA, so they can only score 11.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game in the European League. Naturally, Nikola Jokic will not be valued.

The top three picks in 2014:

No. 1 pick: Andrew Wiggins

The No. 1 pick in the NBA draft with Nikola Jokic is the "mouth brother" we are very familiar with - Andrew Wiggins. As a super small forward who was selected by the Cavaliers and then traded to the Timberwolves for Kevin Love, Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 pick, can be said to have a ill-fated fate. After all, a talented genius boy with super physical talent praised by many people was traded as soon as he entered the league because LeBron James wanted to return to the Cavaliers and needed more mature helpers. What else can this be considered the No. 1 pick? So Andrew Wiggins started his own autism journey directly in the snowy Minnesota, that is, he played very much like "point control" almost every game, and averaged 20 points and 4 rebounds per game and completed the task. Even if he was traded to the Warriors later, this is still the same way of playing until he donated his spinal cord to his father after winning the championship, and his condition began to decline. Now, Andrew Wiggins has come to the Heat and has become the boss of the "nameless" team, and his future is confused.

Second pick: Jabarri Parker

The second pick that year was Jabarri Parker, a talented player who has been living under the shadow of others. During high school, Jabbarri Parker was a well-known talented player and was rated as "the No. 1 High School Student in the United States" by many authoritative media. However, as Andrew Wiggins transferred from Canada, he became the second child. The same was true in college. He performed very well, but he eventually lost to the better Andrew Wiggins and could only finish second. When he came to the NBA, Jabarri Parker was indeed not suppressed by Andrew Wiggins. He developed for a period of time and was able to score 20+6 per game at one time. Unfortunately, with the emergence of another genius in the team, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabarri Parker became the "second" again. Later, due to injury, he completely set a stop line for his career and began to go around many teams, completely fading out of the NBA league in 2021.

Third ranking: Joel Embiid

As for the third ranking in 2014, it is Nikola Jokic's "old enemy" Joel Embiid who has been exaggerated by the media.. Yes, old rival, although the two players have played very few times, they both came from the 2014 NBA Draft, and were both centers, and both won regular season MVP. Therefore, the two were hung together and were always promoted to be "old enemy". However, Joel Embiid is really injured a lot. Even with the regular season MVP awards, it is still hard to say that he is a superstar, far from Nikola Jokic's career.