Congratulations Vucevic!

[Optimus_Steel]

Gotcha. Harkless is probably a good example of that. He's got great athleticism, but it's really borderline on if he'll still be in the league in 3 years.

Hopefully, his situation is more a confidence thing and not having a defined role on the team with solid vets at a few other positions outside Center.

Yeah, agreed. I'm certainly pulling for him, but his play has been underwhelming to this point. Although is defense has been decent in stretches.

He has shown flashes but only flashes at this point. He has not been able to put a string of good games. He is still very raw but the talent is there. The thing I keep telling myself is 1993. That's the year he was born, he is extremely young and he needs a lot of seasoning.

[BadMofoPimp]

Hopefully, his situation is more a confidence thing and not having a defined role on the team with solid vets at a few other positions outside Center.

Yeah, agreed. I'm certainly pulling for him, but his play has been underwhelming to this point. Although is defense has been decent in stretches.

He has shown flashes but only flashes at this point. He has not been able to put a string of good games. He is still very raw but the talent is there. The thing I keep telling myself is 1993. That's the year he was born, he is extremely young and he needs a lot of seasoning.

What scares me is that players like Von Wafer showed many flashes of talent where you go Woah! and look what happened to him. Harkless really needs to make a step in the right direction next summer before his second year or he won't have much of a career. Because, I thought Liggins play had more potential than what I have seen from Harkless and DeAndre is playing more in the D-League than NBA. He will be given a flyer this year, but needs to show something next year.

[KingRobb02]

22 year old 7 footers putting up 10/10 in their first year as a starter in only 30 minutes don't grow on trees... There is A LOT to be excited about. Vuc has been an afterthought on offense for us... If we increased his minutes and actually used him consistently as an offensive weapon, he'd be more than a 10/10 guy. In 15 games where he's played 30-39 minutes, he's averaging 12.4pts, 11.5rebs, 2ast. In the 4 games where he's played 40+ minutes, he's averaging 17.3pts and 16.8rebs. We are not talking about a 30 year old. This kid is only going to get better with time/experience. He went from putting up 9.5/7.9 at 46% shooting in 28 minutes in November to putting up 12.1/12.8 at 54% shooting in 33 minutes in December. He's not Dwight, but he's underrated and worth way more than he's getting paid right now. Again, lots to be excited about.

I'm not saying the excitement is unwarranted. Just to celebrate the accomplishment for what it is and leave the Dwight comparisons out of it. Can you imagine if Bucks fans had deemed Brandon Jennings untradeable after his 55 point game as a rookie? I so wanted him to get that 30th rebound, but I know that he is closer to a 12-12 player than a 20-30 player or even a 20-15 player. A lot better than I thought he was in October though. I like the guy. Just don't think we should be calling him the 3rd best Magic center after 30 games.

[BadMofoPimp]

Bah!!! Forget all you haters. Vucevic is the real deal and is better than Dwight already. Next superstar in the making.

Unfortunately, I heard Vucevic has talked about joining Fegan's agency!?!?!?!

[RookieStar]

^^ Cm'on BMP don't even kid us about FAGan

[drsd]

The rebounding is nice, but the team defense must improve!

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[damon3825]

Nice write-up about Nicky Vuch and how Philly (specifically Doug Collins) did not know what they ahd and traded him way too soon.

?http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/Ex-Sixer-Vucevic-becoming-a-beast-in-Orlando.html


The comments below are pretty funny too.

Man its nice to be on the winning side of a trade for once isn't it

[walah123]

One lucky rebounding night for vucevic and you are hyping him up as better than howard?

Hahaha. So funny. Vucevic is nothing more than Darko Milicic part 2.

You guys traded howard for darko milicic plus peanuts. Hahaha.

[drsd]

One lucky rebounding night for vucevic ....

He followed this up with a strong 12 rebound effort. And 29 boards is not by luck.

[WeAreVenom]

One lucky rebounding night for vucevic ....

He followed this up with a strong 12 rebound effort. And 29 boards is not by luck.

Yeah, seriously.......

I've never heard someone call almost 30 rebounds "lucky". That makes no sense....

[Tarot Magician]

One lucky rebounding night for vucevic and you are hyping him up as better than howard?

Hahaha. So funny. Vucevic is nothing more than Darko Milicic part 2.

You guys traded howard for darko milicic plus peanuts. Hahaha.

You're right in a way, maybe Vucevic's talent ceiling is Darko.

That being said, if Darko had mental toughness and brought a consistently high effort level, he would have been a really good player in the league. Vucevic has been displaying a strong work ethic and willingness to learn. And this is after Doug Collins had sent him to oblivion.

Rebounding is all effort and positioning. Nobody can passively collect 29 rebounds. Luck is shooting 12/12 off long jumpers.

[KingRobb02]

One lucky rebounding night for vucevic and you are hyping him up as better than howard?

Hahaha. So funny. Vucevic is nothing more than Darko Milicic part 2.

You guys traded howard for darko milicic plus peanuts. Hahaha.

You're right in a way, maybe Vucevic's talent ceiling is Darko.

That being said, if Darko had mental toughness and brought a consistently high effort level, he would have been a really good player in the league. Vucevic has been displaying a strong work ethic and willingness to learn. And this is after Doug Collins had sent him to oblivion.

Rebounding is all effort and positioning. Nobody can passively collect 29 rebounds. Luck is shooting 12/12 off long jumpers.

I disagree. Shooting is a skill you either have or you don't. If a guy can make 12 shots in a row he does it because of skill. 12 half court heaves in a row is a different story. With rebounding, the "luck" comes in the fact that you have 11 other potential outcomes when a shot goes up (9 other rebounder, out of bounds, or points being scored). The skill is in positioning and guess which way the ball will come off the rim, but it's lucky that the Heat had no one challenging for those boards. Do you think Vucevic gets to 20 rebounds if Dwight Howard and Kenneth Faried are on the court?

[Optimus_Steel]

One lucky rebounding night for vucevic and you are hyping him up as better than howard?

Hahaha. So funny. Vucevic is nothing more than Darko Milicic part 2.

You guys traded howard for darko milicic plus peanuts. Hahaha.

You're right in a way, maybe Vucevic's talent ceiling is Darko.

That being said, if Darko had mental toughness and brought a consistently high effort level, he would have been a really good player in the league. Vucevic has been displaying a strong work ethic and willingness to learn. And this is after Doug Collins had sent him to oblivion.

Rebounding is all effort and positioning. Nobody can passively collect 29 rebounds. Luck is shooting 12/12 off long jumpers.

I disagree. Shooting is a skill you either have or you don't. If a guy can make 12 shots in a row he does it because of skill. 12 half court heaves in a row is a different story. With rebounding, the "luck" comes in the fact that you have 11 other potential outcomes when a shot goes up (9 other rebounder, out of bounds, or points being scored). The skill is in positioning and guess which way the ball will come off the rim, but it's lucky that the Heat had no one challenging for those boards. Do you think Vucevic gets to 20 rebounds if Dwight Howard and Kenneth Faried are on the court?

I don't understand why you are trying to downplay the feat because it came against Miami's front-line. How come other players aren't constantly getting 20+ rebs against them? Its not like Vuc is averaging 5 rebs and suddenly explodes. He has had 16 and 17 rebs games and is 7th in the league in rebounding, btw averaging more rebs than Farried. Did we say it was lucky when Dwight got 26 rebs against a weak Philly front-line several years ago?

[BadMofoPimp]

I don't understand why you are trying to downplay the feat because it came against Miami's front-line. How come other players aren't constantly getting 20+ rebs against them? Its not like Vuc is averaging 5 rebs and suddenly explodes. He has had 16 and 17 rebs games and is 7th in the league in rebounding, btw averaging more rebs than Farried. Did we say it was lucky when Dwight got 26 rebs against a weak Philly front-line several years ago?

Haslem, Bosh and Joel Anthony are very good defensive players with solid fundamentals. Vucevic had to battle them on the boards by himself being Nicholson and McBob are soft inside.

Actually, that makes his feat that much more amazing. It is not like he got 29 boards against the Wizards, but the defending NBA Champions. That was a superstar game and he deserves every ounce of accolade that can be thrown at him. He got freakin 29 boards against Bosh, Haslem and Lebron who are all decent rebounders or box out guys. He is 7th in the entire league in Rebounding and it is only his 2nd year! It was epic and nothing can take that away from him or his accomplishment. I almost feel like a proud father.

To all the haters, Vucevic Proved Ya'll Wrong!!!

[drsd]

This must be said: 29 rebounds is an Awesome achievement!

The Magic has played over 2000 games. For Vučević to be the only Magician in team history to gobble 29 rebounds is unbelievable. 29 boards is about as rare as a 55 point game. Does a player get 55 points by luck? No. And no player gains 29 boards by luck.

I am re-watching this game now (mid-way), and what I see is a bucket of tip and put-back rebounds. Those are hustle plays. Hustle plays are never "by luck." WOW!

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