Nikola Vučević discussion thread

[bledredwine]

He shot 48% from the field and went 4/7 from downtown. I'm not sure how anyone who watched that game could walk away with the analysis that he was atrocious.

Of course Vuc wasn't atrocious, but at that volume, it starts to matter how many shots you miss. Not exactly like shoooting 7/15 or something.

Anyway, hopefully this was an outlier, with the Pacers being so depleted

The one thing surprising about Vuc is that he doesn't really get to the free-throw line much. Hopefully that's a facet he can still add to his game.

That said, if someone's giving you 32 points on good shooting, it's hard for me to understand why you'd say it was atrocious (although, you then said he wasn't atrocious, so I'm not sure what exactly your criticism is). The number of shots missed don't really matter if the overall shooting percentage is at least on par or better than what we shoot as a team. In this game Vuc shot better than the team (although Zach primarily dragged down the rest of the team's FG%). The days of equal opportunity offense are over IMO. This is Vuc and Zach's team now, so the offense is going to be designed to get them the most shots and that also gives us the best chance to win games.

I’ve noticed this as well. I think that it’s partially due to his game being finess and space-oriented. He doesn’t seem like the type to force anything. Even his aggressive post-ups are controlled. That might be why.

[suursahuri]

There's a Aaron Gordon story by Sam Amick in the Athletic. I don't have a subscription right now and I would like to know if Gordon mentions Vucevic. Can anybody help with that?

[Ice Man]

Returning to the previous topic, 32 points on 29 shots truly isn't much good. SexLand went a combined 44 points against us on 43 shots. Had that been a single player, many would have said, "Hey 44 points, great game." But those guys sunk the Cavs' offense.

The rest of the Cavs scored 52 points on 45 shots, a better ratio. And the Bulls were 106 points on 82 shots, much better yet. If you're only getting about 1 point per shot, your team generally will lose.

[MrSparkle]

Like Pau Gasol, IMO there's a threshold at which a one-way offensive center is more helpful than a defensive (i.e. Noah). I thought we could go further with Pau, and had a good chance until he missed the rest of the Cavs series. I feel like schemes can mask your 1 or 5 (not both), assuming their offense is worth the effort.

With Vuc, our 1-4 must be on point defensively.

Just my 2c. Also fully aware that it can back-fire spectacularly. I thought Jokic and the Nuggets were going to be booted by the Jazz in last year's bubble, until Malone figured out a defensive combo at 1-4 which worked.

You need to build a very specific team, which presents some limitations. Your top-priorities become tweener/defensive wings and a PnR/scoring PG. Which we are short on.

The big problem with Vuc, is he's listed at 7ft... But he looks small next to Embiid and Jokic. The way Embiid is playing this year, and their athleticism, if we do somehow sneak into the first round, I'd expect a bloody, 4-0 massacre.

[SalmonsSuperfan]

Returning to the previous topic, 32 points on 29 shots truly isn't much good. SexLand went a combined 44 points against us on 43 shots. Had that been a single player, many would have said, "Hey 44 points, great game." But those guys sunk the Cavs' offense.

The rest of the Cavs scored 52 points on 45 shots, a better ratio. And the Bulls were 106 points on 82 shots, much better yet. If you're only getting about 1 point per shot, your team generally will lose.

these things depend though. if you say 'x amount of points on y amount of shots' you're not factoring in free throws as a shot even though 2 free throws is effectively 1 shot. for instance, a player might score 30 points on 10/20 shooting and you might say, wow that's a pretty nice shooting performance, 30 points on 20 shots. but then if those 10 made baskets translate into 20 points and the extra 10 points came from 10/20 from the line, suddenly the adjusted shooting performance is 15/30 which is still pretty good but not stellar. that's where TS% becomes a more useful stat than pure FG%.

[Creativetran]

Orlando fans trying to act like Vuc isn't valuable

He's a top 4 rebounder and one of the best scorers this season. Of course he's worth our crappy picks.

I don't think MOST Magic fans are in that boat, we love the guy and still follow him closely.

[Creativetran]

The big problem with Vuc, is he's listed at 7ft... But he looks small next to Embiid and Jokic. The way Embiid is playing this year, and their athleticism, if we do somehow sneak into the first round, I'd expect a bloody, 4-0 massacre.

I don't recall his exact stats against Embiid but he was never really embarrassed by him I want to say, the only center Vuc really had issues with was Marc Gasol

[MrSparkle]

The big problem with Vuc, is he's listed at 7ft... But he looks small next to Embiid and Jokic. The way Embiid is playing this year, and their athleticism, if we do somehow sneak into the first round, I'd expect a bloody, 4-0 massacre.

I don't recall his exact stats against Embiid but he was never really embarrassed by him I want to say, the only center Vuc really had issues with was Marc Gasol

I think Embiid's on another level this year. Every center in the league is going to get massacred by him. I'm assuming he was pretty pissed off after the bubble, being called out by everybody. Only thing stopping Philly will be their outside shooting (obviously tied into Simmons).

[bledredwine]

Orlando fans trying to act like Vuc isn't valuable

He's a top 4 rebounder and one of the best scorers this season. Of course he's worth our crappy picks.

I don't think MOST Magic fans are in that boat, we love the guy and still follow him closely.

That’s actually good to hear. I love his offensive style and think that he’s a great team player. His defense is indeed awful.

This all being said, I’m rooting for you guys and have been for decades. I hope that you can make good use of the picks and get some solid guys in the rotation. If we’re being honest, the lack of Competent New York, Detroit, Orlando and Chicago squads has left the East in a state of boredom for decades. For good basketball to happen again, we’re all in it together IMO