CLEVELAND — Nikola Jokic had a seemingly quiet All-Star Game and still nearly racked up a triple-double (10 points, nine rebounds, eight assists). He was throwing outlet passes like he was QB1.
So what was his highlight of All-Star weekend?
“If I take one thing from this All-Star, it’s going to be Monty Williams,” Jokic said of the Suns/Team LeBron coach. “He touched me as a person. This is a man, a human being, he’s calm, you feel like you can talk to him about anything. He surprised me with that.”
Jokic wasn’t alone in heaping praise on Williams this weekend.
“At this point in my career, I can’t imagine playing for another coach,” Chris Paul said. “I’m serious. Some situations you get in and you get spoiled, and you be like ‘this is the standard, I don’t know anything different than this.’”
Paul played for Williams for one season, 2010-11, with the New Orleans Hornets and they had a strong relationship. But it’s different now.
“What’s cool about it is we both had the opportunity to grow, sort of apart, to come back together,” Paul said. “Monty and our whole coaching staff, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Paul and Williams have a new challenge to deal with, Paul will miss the next 6-8 weeks with a thumb fracture. Williams, however, is the perfect coach to guide a team through this kind of challenge.
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Nikola Jokic’s biggest takeaway from All-Star weekend? Monty Williams is awesome. originally appeared on NBCSports.com