Getting curious about Jokic’s ups
Been seeing lots of highlight reels lately showing Nikola Jokic doing these crazy tip-ins and contesting shots. Got me wondering—how high does that dude actually jump? Everybody always talks about athletic freaks like Zion or Giannis, but never Jokic’s vertical. Figured I’d measure it myself since no official stats exist.
Scrapping game footage
First thing Tuesday morning, I pulled up league pass and rewatched four Nuggets games from last season. Skipped all offensive possessions since he barely leaves the floor on those. Focused on defensive plays where he actually jumped—mostly contests and rebounds. Saved seven clips showing his max efforts, the clearest ones where his feet start flat right before liftoff.
Free tool frustration
Tried using Kinovea first since it’s free. Wasted two hours trying to calibrate the damn thing. Needed something in frame to set scale—like the rim height—but most angles sucked. Got mad when the software crashed mid-measurement on the third clip. Said screw it and paid $18 for Hudl Technique. Way better pause-and-zoom controls, plus frame-by-frame tracking.
Measuring the leap
Here’s how I did it step-by-step:
- Picked the frame where Jokic’s feet just leave the ground
- Advanced frame-by-frame till he peaked
- Marked his head position relative to the rim using the crosshair tool
- Set the scale using the 10-foot rim as reference
- Subtracted his standing reach (8’10” according to draft combine)
Took like five tries per clip because jersey flaps made it hard to spot the exact peak point.
Surprisingly consistent results
Expected maybe 25 inches max given how heavy-footed he looks. But numbers didn’t lie—every legit max effort measured between 27 to 28 inches. Not world-beating, but way better than folks think! His timing and wingspan compensate big time. Was shocked at how similar the results were across clips. Turns out his “low vertical” rep is way overblown.
Lessons from this rabbit hole
This whole process burned my whole Wednesday evening. Learned three things:
- Free analysis tools suck for precise measurements
- Jokic’s vertical is severely underrated by casual fans
- What matters isn’t just height—it’s when and how you jump
Gonna apply this method to measure Sabonis next week. Maybe I’ll start a whole series debunking vertical leap myths!
