By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
A former NBA champion with the Denver Nuggets, Nikola Jokic, focusing on the senior national team of Serbia during several offseasons, inspired fresh new tactics for head coach David Adelman.
“We have used things that they’ve done with him, and they’ve used things that we kind of done with him, which makes a lot of sense. We’re the ones that are around him the most, and you’re seeing what fails and what succeeds,” the 44-year-old Nuggets play-caller explained during a recent press conference, answering a question by Toni Canyameras of Mundo Deportivo.
“I do think that there are some parts of the international game that are different, that don’t translate to our game. Just the rules are different. The way you can zone. Spacing brings a totally different attention. But yes, there are definitely things that we have implemented, the way they posted him up. Sometimes, you take a part of a continuity, a part of a motion that they use, and we use one specific part of it for a set play after a timeout, or whatever it is,” he continued.
Diving deeper into the international edition of Jokic, Adelman also mentioned tactics used by Svetislav Pesic, the former head coach of Serbia and current boss of FC Bayern Munich in the EuroLeague.
“Much respect to one of the better coaches in this world. All the success he’s had, and then just to know our best player is going back to that program, what they’ve done there, which they came so close to winning a gold medal. Total respect from our staff to theirs,” he praised the 76-year-old Serbian expert and his assistants.
“A lot of the misdirection stuff, taking the ball one way to find him in the post on the other side of the floor. Things like that, which are not unique just to us and Serbia. There’s a lot of really good coaches across the world,” he added on specific moves borrowed by the Nuggets.
🏀👨🏻🏫 Pregunté a David Adelman, entrenador de los Nuggets, si ha aprendido algo de Pesic en cuanto a utilizar a Jokic y puso énfasis en las jugadas de poste y cómo hacerle llegar el balón
“A veces llevas la bola a un lado para que reciba en el poste del lado contrario” #NBA pic.twitter.com/urQu1AdWd3
— Toni Canyameras (@Canyameridis71) January 9, 2026
Due to a left knee bone bruise, the Sombor native is currently stuck on the injury list. Before being sidelined, he averaged 29.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, 11.0 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.8 blocks per contest, entering a strong bid for a fourth NBA season MVP award.
At 25-12, the Nuggets sit third in the Western Conference table, half a game over the fourth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves and 5.5 games away from the leading Oklahoma City Thunder. Up next are the Atlanta Hawks in Ball Arena on Friday.