It’s Time to Have an Honest Conversation About Nikola Vucevic

It’s Time to Have an Honest Conversation About Nikola Vucevic

At the NBA trade deadline in 2021 the Bulls Under New Management of arturus carner chovis and Mark everley decided to make their first Blockbuster move of a trade after assessing the roster the previous regime had assembled realizing this team while young and rebuilding needed to make drastic changes to the

Roster most notably in finding an actual starting level caliber Center and as such they decided to trade for Allstar big man and Nikola vich in exchange for two first round picks Wendell Carter Jr and Otto Porter Jr and while vuvi was an All-Star That season his trade value was

At its peak since joining the Bulls it hasn’t panned out to what the new regime had initially anticipated because while vuvi has still been a productive Center for them as well as being a durable and available player to play unlike Wendall Carter Jor the fact of the matter is

Vuvi hasn’t been the All-Star type player the Bulls traded for which obviously is disappointing for Bulls fans considering the amount you had to give up to get him but despite vvi and his overall performance relative to expectations being underwhelming I feel like it’s gotten to the point where the

Hate for Vu coming from Bulls fans is starting to get a little out of control and I think it’s time we have an honest conversation about the big man a fair and honest conversation about the value he brings to the team while also being critical of some of his weaknesses which

We’ll dive into further so what’s going on everyone you’re listening to Bull Central here hope you’re all doing well real quick though guys do you like making predictions I’m actually going to make a prediction right now from this point on vuvi will actually shoot above

30% from three for the rest of the year which isn’t saying much shouldn’t be a hard ask but the dude is shooting 26% from three so uh it’s a big jump in and of itself for niik lavich Mark it down book it it’s going to happen do what you

Need to do but if you like making predictions doing player props or fantasy all that good stuff and you want to win some money on the side and I know you’ve heard about these guys before but if you haven’t you’re going to want to check out Underdog fantasy let me tell

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To support the channel as well I’ll leave a link to the site and the code in the description if you’re interested and let me know what picks you guys end up making now I think most if not all Bulls fans will agree including myself by the

Way that the vich trade has not worked out for the Bulls hindsight is always 2020 but looking at it near 3 years later the Bulls got the shoulder end of the stick in the deal part of it is because vich himself has underperformed relative to the star player he once was

And the other part is just the overall roster construction that has impacted vu’s usage and overall Play here’s the thing I like to remind Bulls fans of though because I often hear that this was the worst first fleecing of the century and that how could the Bulls

Possibly have traded vvi for that much even at that time as in despite the fact that V had just been named an All-Star how could they have traded that much for him sometimes I feel like as Bulls fans we are very shortsighted and have very short-term memory I can’t tell you the

Countless amount of bulls fans yes including myself that were ranting and raving about how great this trade was Bulls fans were ecstatic that we finally made a big move and started acting like a big Market team people could care less about those first round picks at the time

Because the expectation was well the Bulls should be able to make the playoffs now and those picks will be mid first rounders and so many bulls fans were out on Wendell Carter Jr saying he was too soft couldn’t handle pressure couldn’t stay healthy all those things

Still remain True by the way so many people love this move even though they won’t admit it now and it made sense like if you look at what vuvi was as a player at that time a high-scoring elite rebounding big man a big man that could pass spread the floor because he was

Shooting 40% on high volume at over six attempts per game at that that time a true shooting percentage of 56 averaging 24 and 12 like there was a reason vvi was an All-Star that year he was a beast now was some of it a bit inflated

Because he was on an average magic team as the number one option sure to an extent but for vui’s production being an All-Star a durable All-Star that rarely gets hurt and was on at that time a favorable contract two first round picks on a young player is the going rate for

An asset like that you can say it was a bad trade after the fact because of everything that has transpired after vit’s perform performance declining and the front office not building a great roster that maximizes their players skills but at the end of the day just

Looking at the trade in a vacuum the Bulls paid what vuvi was worth at that time like let’s not forget that guys like jonte Murray a fringe Allstar was traded for three first round picks not two but three and Rudy goar five first round picks you have to put things in

Perspective of what V’s value was at the time of the trade relative to the overall landscape of the NBA Market Orlando capitalized on vit’s trade value being at its peak and not also being a part of their long-term plans the biggest mistake on the part of the bulls

Making that trade even with v playing like he was as an All-Star was his age he was 30 years old at the time of the trade and you’d have to think that even though V was a durable player and had consistently been putting up those kind of numbers whenever a player passes 30

There is always a risk of them falling off in terms of their production and impact on the court and it was obviously a desperate push to be relevant and make big changes under the new management now the trade itself aside because even though I get the disappointment and frustration and vich especially this

Season especially after the Bulls gave him that fat contract extension to the tune of three years $60 million I get all that but this notion that Vu is trash and not even a starting level Center in the NBA is inherently flawed the vhich hate like I said has gotten

Out of control V is a flawed player and he’s having a subpar season he’s shooting threes at a horrible rate one of the worst three-point Shooters in the entire league at the moment especially at the volume for which he’s taking threes he’s shooting threes the worst of his career since he started actually

Taking threes as F didn’t really start becoming a higher volume three-point shooting big until his sixth or seventh season in the NBA you also compound that with the fact that vvi is having one of his worst seasons in finishing at The Rim missing little floaters at Point

Blank Range he’s shooting 47% from the field overall which isn’t terrible but more surprisingly is he’s shooting 65% on shots from within 3 feet which is the lowest of his career since 2017 and while vuvi Still Remains one of the better rebounders in the game his rebounding has dropped a bit both in

Terms of rebounds per game but more so his rebound percentage and obviously vuvi like I said has his flaws on defense never really been known for his defense but it feels like that has been especially the case this season with how slow he is to defend the pick and Rule

Getting outw worked in the post slow to get over on closeout so yes all of these things are problems and why I say vuvi is a flawed player but I think what people often forget when it comes to Nicola vuvi is one his ability to impact

The game in more ways than just his scoring which let’s not sit here and act like 17 points per game and 10 rebounds is nothing but more so than just his rebounding and scoring is his ability to act as a hub for the offense with his high level

Court vision vuich is one of the better passing big man in the league his playmaking in the post isn’t a skill that just grows on trees that you can easily replace and his overall IQ when it comes to making the right plays on offense is unmatched for a higher

Passing big man and one that has high usage overall vuich really turns the ball over either in fact he’s actually turning the ball over at the lowest rate of his career since his rookie season when he only played 15 minutes per game vich has the best assist to turnover

Ratio of his career so far this season and is top five among centers in the NBA in that category don’t get me wrong I love Andre Drummond and Drummond offers a skill set and excels at things vvi doesn’t like his offensive rebounding and his better overall at protecting the

Rim but we saw how limited the offense was when Drummond was starting those few games that vich was out the ball wasn’t moving as much the paint was getting clogged little floor spacing and no playmaking in the paint also random stat B is actually shooting a career best

From the free throw line this season at 87% not that he shoots that many free throws in general but it’s worth noting but look the point is as Bulls fans I feel like we often get wrapped up in this narrative that Vu is a disaster a below average Center one of the worst

Starting centers in the league because of just how frustrated we are with this team’s performance overall and how that trade the vuich trade was the Catalyst of accelerating the Bulls timeline prematurely it’s what has led us to where we are today and I feel like a lot

Of the frustration and anger being taken out on vu more so than it should not saying that some of that anger towards vich isn’t Justified because V absolutely could be better he is to blame for some of the both struggles and he is to blame for some of his decline

In performance but this is more so on the front office than anything for the roster they constructed and also the coaching staff are not utilizing vuich to his strengths Vu going from a first option to a third option around players that are ball dominant and isoe heavy

Guys was never going to set him up for success but even despite all that vucha still managed to be a reliable and available scoring option and a highlevel rebounder on a nightly basis throughout his Bulls tenure he’s averaging 18 and 11 and 3.4 assists per game over 223

Games it’s not Allstar worthy but it’s solid and using v as a scapegoat for the Bulls problems has never made sense to me when there are so many other factors and bigger issues that we should be complaining about here just my take on the matter I would love to hear what you

Guys think let me know in the comments as always be sure to subscribe and I will see you in the next one

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It’s Time to Have an Honest Conversation About Nikola Vucevic

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