Nikola Mirotic Is Not Your Stereotype

The old stereotypes about European players in the NBA cast a continent's worth of players as effete softies who preferred to play on the perimeter, intellectualizing the game without exuding any of the masculine burliness required to be true stars. Dirk Nowitzki and his early playoff failures were evidence of a crucial fault in his game, a shaky foundation that prevented him from winning. This reductive logic has an epistemological forbearer in centuries-old articulations of America's muscular morality, that might is right.

Even as players like Vlade Divac and Sarunas Marciulionis defied the narrative in the 90s, the heuristic proved hard to shake. Darko Milicic's flameout and Nowitzki's playoff struggles served as confirmation bias. European players were just different, not competitive enough. The initial, narrow stereotype has expanded somewhat, but they are still otherized. Despite Nikola Pekovic playing like a reanimated battering ram and Pero Antic slotting in perfectly as a modern stretch-4, old men are still yelling at clouds. But, after 20 years of lazy xenophobia, Nikola Mirotic's rookie run with the Chicago Bulls has a long-standing NBA stereotype on its deathbed.

Mirotic is the latest in a stylistic line of big men that includes Nowitzki and teammate Pau Gasol. Each advanced popular conceptions of Europeans by featuring for title-winning teams. Gasol's passing wizardry and Nowitzki's perimeter-hugging were legitimated as acceptable strengths, not tactical deficiencies, because they won championships. Mirotic, a rookie, obviously hasn't won anything yet, but he is the first post-Nowitzki, post-Gasol European big man to take tenets of their styles, chop them up, and re-contextualize them within the framework of conventional big man duties. He likes to scrap in the post, but he also shoots a few threes per game. He is a willing and able passer, but he also affects the game with his tireless running. Mirotic isn't a star like Gasol or Dirk—he's part of the league's deepest frontcourt—but he co-opts their strengths so well that he's an ideal modern big man.

Which is special, since the stereotypical niche for Mirotic would be one pole or the other, brute or artist. Charles Oakley and the fading orthodoxy he represents wouldn't know how to classify Mirotic. After four years with Real Madrid, he finally signed with the Bulls this summer. For all the threes and skirmishes, Mirotic's most impressive aspect is how he arrived NBA-ready. He's not fully formed, but he is confident and prepared.

In contrast, teammate Doug McDermott, thought to be one of the league's modular rookies thanks to four years of college, is struggling to find his role on the team. Some of this is on coach Tom Thibodeau's rotation rigidity, but it's worth noting that before his knee injury, McDermott couldn't make a meaningful impact on games. Meanwhile, Mirotic earned himself minutes on a front line featuring Taj Gibson, Pau Gasol, and Joakim Noah.

And so, it's time for the declining stereotype of the soft European NBA player to die forever. It's a xenophobic relic, and it's not remotely useful in describing how a continent's worth of players operate. Nikola Mirotic is thriving in the NBA and erasing all supposed borders between continental styles. If he got more minutes, Mirotic would be a Rookie of the Year candidate, if not the sole favorite. Impressive for a Montenegrin on the most traditionally run title contenders in the NBA, but not surprising. Not at all.