Episode 150: Ognjen Stojakovic, NBA Player Development

Guest: Ognjen Stojakovic, Denver Nugget's Director of Player Development

In this week’s basketball coaching conversation, Denver Nugget's director of player development Ognjen Stojakovic joins the Basketball Podcast to discuss the NBA skill development and teaching decision-making.

Coach Stojakovic has been with the Denver Nuggets for eight years and has recently been promoted to director of player development. This comes after the Nugget's success over the past two seasons despite being one of the youngest teams in the league. During that time the Nuggets went to the conference semifinals and the conference finals in a stacked western conference. Stojakovic also has been influential in the player development of young stars like Nikola Jokic, Michael Porter Jr, and Jamal Murray. Along with skill development, Ognjen thrives in developing his players to have a high basketball IQ.

Before being the director of player development he was an assistant and a video coordinator with the Nuggets. During 2013-2018 Ognjen Stojakovic got a feel for the NBA game, learned what skills were needed, and what opportunities there were to give Denver an edge on the competition. All of these were things Stojakovic applied to his coaching and made a winning impact on the team. Before the NBA, Ognjen was a youth coach with FMP a club team in Belgrade, Serbia.

Ognjen Stojakovic has played a major role in growing the sport in Serbia. Today basketball is a part of Serbian culture and the nation frequently has success in basketball around the globe. Serbia is currently a pipeline for NBA talent with players like Nemanja Bjelica, Boban Marjanovic, and Bogdan Bogdanovic. Stojakovic's Serbian roots helped get his name out for the Nuggets job. He shares the same nationality as Nikola Jokic and Nuggets head coach Mike Malone has coached and consulted for the Serbian National team.

Breakdown

1:00 - Role with the Denver Nuggets

4:00 - Rise of Serbian Basketball

6:00 - Fun and Productive Games

8:00 - Developing Positional Players

11:00 - Underrated Skills in Basketball

20:00 - Blocked Repetition Type of System

24:00 - Perceptual Cues

27:00 - Perspective on the Youth Level

31:00 - Shaping a Certain Behavior

36:00 - Role Identification

39:00 - NBA Player's Dream Goals