Nikola Jokic & the History of Basketball in Serbia | DNVR Documentary 

This is Adam's greatest piece of art so far. It's gonna be hard for any Nuggets' journo to top it.

Wow!! What a documentary!! I'm italian and i watched till the end. Beautiful! Great Serbia!!

Should have won a Pulitzer for this

My country is a basketball-crazy country as well, and when we got pulverized by Serbia in the FIBA World Cup, it was a huge reminder of how far we are from the level of elite Serbian basketball. Serbia is a true basketball powerhouse and the great unicorn Jokic is just one of the many products of that high level of quality basketball.

I just want to thank you guys for everything you’ve done to paint my country in such a beautiful way. We Serbs are used to the world spitting at us for who we are, and it really makes us emotional when someone really uncovers the amazing truth about us. You guys will always be welcome in Serbia!!

This is something that should be on National TV, for all the people to see. This is cross border, multi disciplinary story. This is story with a hundred invisible threads for everyone to see, learn and enjoy.

I cried watching this.

This documentary is AMAZING! I feel absolutely connected to Serbia albeit I am from Colorado and my only connection is through a funny kid the Nuggets drafted in the 2nd round during a Taco Bell commercial. Be excellent Serbia and well done DNVR.

Radivoj Korac (Serbia) Born on November 05, 1938, in Sombor, Serbia.

Thank you, guys. As a Serbian and American citizen, I'm touched by your openness and willingness to connect our two countries. It is about sport, but that reaches way beyond it. Let's go Nuggest!

The World Championship in Indianapolis 2002 and the title of world champion is a greater success than the title at the European Championship. Serbia won gold on American soil, defeating the American national team.

Man, you guys got me teared up.. We were always the little guy, the underdog and the only story we recognise in our lives, the only story that matters, the only story that will be remmembered is of the little guy winning against the big and powerfull. That is why I am a Nuggets fan. That is why Serbia loves Denver Nuggets, that is why I am happy Jokic is a Nugget and it wouldnt be the same if he was a Laker. Sure, we would cheer and support like we did for Divac back then but it was only a fraction of what happened when there were the Sacramento Kings. That is why the 95 was so huge because the world was hating and saying that we cant do it, that we have just a part of the team, that we are broken. Nobody wanted us to win but with all the INAT there could possibly be, we fucking won. I was 10 years old, my family was broke for the past 2-3 years, we didnt have enough food or clothes for most of the time, my dad lost his job and had to work in the black market and smuggle fuel on order for the family to survive, we had electricity shortages, my sister was 5 and I remmeber that for the last 2-3 years mother would water down milk because there just wasnt enough of it for her while I didnt get to have any. I dreamed of having a piece of chocolate but most times it would be a huge treat if I would get a cube of sugar, if I did all my choirs and was good. There werent much cartoons on tv but mostly images and reports from the war. In the evenings I could hear my mother and father cry, when they would think we, the kids, were asleep.. But that night, that night in 1995.. that made all the problems go away. That gave us hope. That made every single person happy. That night although it was late, after Paspalj lifted the trophy, the kids were out on the street and we played ball and the adults used the much valued petrol to drive around with flags and honk the horns of their cars long into the night.. That day I realised that after all the pain surely something nice will happen in my life but I have to work hard and have enough inat and endure all the hardships and Good will see you and reward you. That day is the best day of my life and although I have had a lot of good days since then, my family has made a lot of money, I have made a lot of money and made sure that no war and no man can ever keep any of our kids hungry again there still hasnt been a day more joyfull that that of 1995 and I dont think it ever will. But surely it can come close for me, or be that for some new generations. Denver Nuggets will win the NBA championship. I know it. I have seen it.. Just like I know Serbia will be champions once again. Great work DNVR team, you know now, you see us and I am so happy about it.. Embrace your inner underdog, take all the words and comments that are looking down on your team and your city and hear those but dont listen to them. Let your inat work and the victory will be so much sweater. One ring for Denver will be worth more than all the Lakers and Celtics rings combined. I know i wouldnt trade my 95 gold for the entire USA national team history combined. Thank you for this one. Hope to see you soon.

As somebody from Serbia, who is quite familiar with both the culture and the basketball history. It is EXTREMELY rare to see Americans understand the deeper dimensions of the culture and tie it into the more mundane once such as food, the stigma people feel and wanting to share what makes their culture so special to them. Thank you for this beautiful documentary!!!

I still remember the finals vs Lithuania in 1995. I was only 7 years old, best game of sports I have ever watched. Mostly I remember Djordjević's 9 threes, Danilović's dunk over Sabonis, them walking out and coming back. Legendary.

Amazing how much Nikola has connected two places so much in Denver and Serbia 🇷🇸

An absolute banger! For someone who didn't know that much about basketball history prior to visiting Serbia, you guys have outdone yourselves, to gather all those details and paint such an emotional picture is just an outstanding work, attention to detail, the passion and willingness to embark on such a journey and to quote Kapor in the end... Damnit, I must say I'm beyond impressed.

Amazing documentary, great to learn a bit about Jokic's country.

Damn, gotta give it up to Americans about storytelling...They are masters of storytelling. One great story is left out. In 2002 world basketball championship in Indianapolis. Our last gold medal, symbolically last time we playd under the name of Yugoslavia. Also for honorable mentions I'd put here names of the great Pistol Pete Maravić and great Greg Popović. They both have Serbian heritage. Awesome documentary, big warm greetings from Serbia.

As a Serb i can only sad THANK YOU for this documentary

Great job! It shows a country with a very rich history in the sport, a great basketball nation filled with wonderful people!

Well produced video with great content and Serbian Basketball history explained! Yet as a Serbian-American originally from Aliquippa, PA, I'm shocked that you missed one of the best ball-handling and NCAA men's all-time points scorer and record holder, (prior to 3pt line), Serbian-American: 'Pistol' Pete Maravić! Pistol is still a Serbian Legend!

One of the greatest documentaries i've ever seen. Was a complete masterpiece!

Had the opportunity to watch this a few weeks ago. Truly incredible. We are so lucky to have DNVR.

Radivoje Korac , in 1965, with OKK Belgrade, he scored 99 points in a OKK Belgrade 155-57 win against Alvik Stockholm

I had to study for my exams but couldn't close this once started. Great piece of work!

Thank you for awesome documentary. After 30+ years of bad lies from MSM and bashing Serbia this is like something nice that you can't describe. And the most THANK YOU FOR THE TRUTH that mean more then anything else.

In Belgrade now listening to this! still very early into the video but the history of Basketball in Yugo / Serbia is exactly what I was looking for, in addition to learning about Jokic. even as a Lakers fan, respect to Jokic, Serbia . the Bakans and the Nuggets. edit: just finished the video - wow, great job, incredibly well made!!

You guys make the Denver Nuggets experience so much more fulfilling. I can’t imagine missing your show before and after games. And now this! Very well done. You really couldn’t do better as ambassadors of Denver basketball not only in Denver,but around the world. A heart felt thank you from Las Vegas, NV.

The slow motion Sombor Shuffle against Greece brought a tear to my eye. Great job Adam and team 🎉.

this is fuckin awesome

Nešto najlepše ste stvorili snimajući ovaj video, vezali ste kroz priču prijateljstvo i ljubav bez granica. Veliki sta, a ljudski normalni kao ljudi sa pravim kriterijumima. HVALA ❤

An masterpiece of a documentary! Proud of our DNVR boys! Adam is killing it with narration! Tnx from Belgrade, Serbia!

I've been watching you guys for a long time now, and I never left any comments. And I will be honest, I did not think this documentary will be too good, but I appreciated the fact that you wanted to come to Serbia and experience it for yourselves. As native, 38 years old, I grew up living all of these events mentioned. This documentary made me cry multiple times, made me very emotional. Thank you, this is something I can proudly share with those around me who do not understand the connection of this beautiful sport, with one strange nation, or should I say region. This is way above and beyong what I could have ever imagined. Good luck with the future DNVR adventures!

I've been so hyped to see this! It's a dream (that we never knew we had) come true and it feels so fitting. It is so wonderful that we've been able to connect with various people throughout the globe (especially such amazing Serbian people) through basketball and the brilliance of Serbian team culture that Denver has been blessed with via the magnificence of the MVP. A big thanks to DNVR for your passion, to the Serbian people for your welcoming arms, and to EVOCA for sponsoring/featuring. I am so thankful to hit play on this fabulous turkey day.

I myself as part of the Serbian diaspora worldwide.. thank you DNVR lads and all others that put together this documentary! May the Nuggets/Serbian history keep flourishing !!

I remember that Momo Kapor in the book "Legend about Tabor" (Tabor is name of kafana, and maybe "Myth about Tabor" is better translation) have one sequence that every basketball coach should show to every kid that working on shooting the basketball. It's about mindset, keeping eye on the rim, focus, hand eye cordination, without single basketball word. It was mind blowing for me. It's a scene in kafana with glass for rakija and toothpicks, and I never reed better explanation of shooting the basketball than this one.

First they give me podcasts I can’t get enough of. Then they drop a documentary that keeps me glued to the screen and leaves me feeling smarter and entertained. I appreciate you DNVR.

I'm watching this for the second time, 4 days before the Nuggets are going to be playing in their first finals ever. This peice of media is absolutely incredible, and fans of both the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic are lucky we can learn these stories.

What a ride! Amazing job DNVR, and thank you for the kind words! I feel like there should be a part 2 😊

So well done. Expected no less from the feet-up journalists of DNVR in reaching out to our mvp savior's motherland. Thank you to the Serbians who let us split time with one of their greatest sons.

Great job honestly there are no Serbian documentaries like this

You guys should be proud. Such a well done documentary with interesting stories to tell. Definitely touched me to see the love Serbians have for Jokic and the love that you guys have developed for them. I by proxy have felt that appreciation grow. Keep up the great content. RG, Adam and the rest at DNVR great work on this!

After following your journey on Twitter and knowing myself Belgrade and some of its history, it was a gift to watch this documentary and to learn about Serbian basketball, culture and the values it brings for its players and people. Amazing job to all the DNVR crew that participated in the creation of such good content and the way that you shared your life experiences while in the land of Nikola Jokic!

Incredible documentary from start to finish. Ya'll crushed it!

The first Serb in the NBA was Zdravko Govedarica, known as Bato. Back in 1951, he was selected in the draft as the 24th pick by the Syracuse Nationals, today the Philadelphia 76ers. The second is Ljubiša Stefanović, known as Lou in America, who was chosen by Seattle in 1985 as the 97th pick in the draft. As well as Pete Maravich, who is of Serbian origin, and coach Greg Popovich.

Well made with care and love for fellow humans

The former Yugoslavia has had an enormous impact on the global basketball scene. It's truly fascinating and occasionally tragic.

Great documentary! Fascinating to see foreigners perspective on Serbian basketball experience. I was 10 in 1995, and can tell you, to this day when I am remined of that Eurobasket I have a tear in my eye. That is how much it meant to me! To all of us!

You are blessed that you have the oportunity to invest that much time and effort for the NBA player you like, going across the world for it. Welcome any time!

This is so great and informative. I wish something like this could be shown on national media. 😄

This is so Dense with fascinating history, legends of Serbian icons, and cultural - it really has the love ingredient permeating the whole thing. I hope Adam and the DNVR crew have more opportunities to make other Docs in this vein. Thanks again, gents, for all you do. Glad I found DNVR

❤❤❤come to Serbia and stay forever. you deserve that with this film ❤❤❤

A Hundred Invisible Likes!! Speechless. We will wait for you to come back home :) Thank you, Adam, Vogt, Dev, Harrison, RG, Eric, and Kalle

Excellent documentary! Very emotional story (for us Serbians :)) and honest represent of Serbia! Go Jokic, go DNVR!

Congratulations Adam and DNVR Sports for producing such an educational and unique documentary that does Serbian and Yugoslav basketball a massive service, especially acknowledging a troubled part of our history so sincerest thank you from bottom of our hearts! You're all welcome back to Serbia anytime so Ziveli!!! ❤

Several nationalities lived in Yugoslavia, and the majority of almost 3/5 were Serbs. After the collapse of YU, many remained in the republics where they lived, even though they were originally of different nationalities. That's how we got to the situation where Dražen Petrović, Luka Dončić, Goran Dragić... although originally Serbs, played for other national teams instead of Serbia.

Brilliant work guys, well done and thanks for going half a world across to do this. Denver is obviously very healthy surrounding when 7 friends can agree and do something like this together. Just to add to our Serbian and Yugoslav "glory days" memory highlights that was not mentioned: Gold in Indianapolis, USA, World Championship 2002, winning against USA in QF there and beating brilliant Argentina in final! For me, personally, that tops Euro gold in 1995. Thanks again!

Thank you DNVR guys for putting this together, it was great to watch it, and as Serbian i feel really honored by all nice things you had to experience in Serbia, love you guys.

So great ! Well Done! All the Aloha from Maui!

Bandwagon Nuggets fan from Canada. Thoroughly enjoyed this documentary and I am pretty much hooked on the DNVR podcast. Keep it coming!

INAT is like stubbornness, but with a twist...it is something you do despite the odds, or rather, because the odds are against you. You can see it in Djoković too, the crowd is against him, he is painted to be the bad guy, he gets deported and then he goes out there and wins it just to prove you wrong. That right there is when we do something "U INAT".

I am not crying, you are crying! Thank you Adam, thank you guys, for your desire to understand the ruth of a Serbian soul, drive, slowness, inat, temper, caring, sharing, family, food and sharing all of these with a friends, teammates, people you connect on a RU-vid, twitter. Thank you for a beautiful story, thank you thousand time for a thousand threads

Najjače su mi ove flaše od pola litra za rakiju hahahahah Realna prica 😂😂

Сјајно урађено! Свака част! Хвала и поздрав из Србије! ❤

Amazing video. You guys really poured love into this. Love it!

What an amazing documentary ..Adam you summed up in 50 odd minutes all most important stages of development of basketball in Serbia and the entire former Yugoslavia. Fantastic job!!! ....cheers from Sydney/Australia ...

Goosebumps and teary eyes! Thank you, DNVR ❤

Thank you for video! :-) Serb, proud to be!

This is definition of documentary movie. Absolutely nailed it! You menaged to tell so long story in just one hour without miss any substantial part, even much more than expected. Congratulations!

This is fantastic! These guys have created a new template that will eventually take over from ESPN. A more personal and fully immersive coverage that has such a great touch. It’s like getting together with my friends to talk about the Nugs.

What a beautiful story told and shown. Thank you all for such a great film.

Proud to see my face in this great documentary. Thank you for everything, I did not miss any DNVR show for 3 years

Man ... i need to cry .... Good job DNVR!

Amazing work, what a great basketball story! Very well done.

Such a shame this gem has so few views. This movie and the guys who made it deserve more!

I just want to express my eternal gratitude for this documentary. For real basketball fans and without any political connotation. I wish you much success in your future work. All the best...

This needs 100 million views.

The only thing you missed, and you shouldn't is the Indianapolis.

Поздрав из Србије 🃏💪🏀💍🏆👑

Well done!!! - A great watch. Thanks to everyone who produced this , what? Documentary, video, Nuggets film. To Mr. Mares & all who worked on this project, Thank you! You can tell you love the subject matter.

Fantastic sport documentary, one of the best for sure. I didn't blink for an hour.

Wow gives me chills watching this thank you DNVR

that was something 💎

Great work Adam, I was wondering how you are going to express yourself and you did a great job man, you had to study for years and years to be able to know all the things you have said in the documentary and I felt, I was proud while I was watching... I believe that it's says a lot. Because of the propaganda that was put on the Serbia during the 90s all the way up to the 2010, a lot of people had completely wrong picture about the Serbia and we by ourselves couldn't explain to the others that they had formed wrong opinions based on the wrong informations that they got from their TV networks, usually because of the politics, even though I'm not interested in the politics that harmed me, my family and my country so when I see that someone from the another part of the world has shown us better than we can show us by ourselves I believe that you have done a beautiful job and I really want to thank you for that - or to better say, thank you for doing this documentary and hopefully this marked new heights that you are going to reach, something that you never dreamed but completely deserved by you and whole DNVR crew (I don't want to say company because you are more than a company, you all are our friends)... I want to say that you are going to reach more, way more than you all dreamed and I know that dreams can reach really high reaches and you are going to reach more, waaaay more than that you already dreamed! And thank you all for being in Serbia, having Serbia in your hearts and we will have you in our hearts and souls to the rest of our lives! ❤️🙏👌👏👍💯💙💛🇺🇸🫶🇷🇸 Edit: I want to thank Evoca TV for funding this documentary, they recognised real gem. Best recognize best (we say that in Serbia), DNVR is the best crew in the world!

What a great basketball story! Very well done👍👍

Thank you for this documentary it is a place I've never been but it will always be in my heart

Thanks DNVR for giving us this great story and taking us along for your trip to the home of our 2-time MVP! Definitely worth grabbing a bag of popcorn and sitting down to enjoy it.

So warm and humble,wow❤Thank you guys😊🇷🇸

Beautiful documentary... we have a mountains as Switzerland 😎😷😷

Any time I'm feeling down watching this make me feel better......ty

Brilliantly done. Can't wait until you do a documentary on the Nuggets' championship.

Absolutely amaizing job putting this together! And on the behalf of all the a Serbs around the world, thank you! Well put together and well researched, history and basketball all in one Wow!

Just listend to then Lowe podcast and had to search this up immediately

Boiz, I’m so happy I found DNVR. What a day to be alive

Wow! This is IT.

Great work DNVR!

Brilliant

Now a finals mvp

Awesome job! Love the pace, it's faster than most documentaries. How did 2002 gold in World Cup in Indianapolis with coach Pesic not make it into the documentary? I feel it's the 101st thread with Andre Miller being a player/coach in Denver.

I love how you guys did this! It's like the story is: you pull on one thread to talk about your trip, and then pull another thread to go back through time and give the viewers a look into our history. The weaving of those threads is presented masterfully, keeping the viewer (or at least me) engaged throughout. Bravo!