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I wanted to have a place other than the trade thread to discuss Vuc.

So far, he's been ok on offense and underwhelming on defense.

Discuss!

His stats so far:
27.1 PER
68.3%ts
17.2% rebounding rate
27.3% assist rate (I think this is the key one)
26.1p 11.2r 5.6a per 36

The bad stuff:
-21.0 net rating
0-2 record

Personally, I think his future role is as a Jokic-lite type point center. Its going to take some time for both him and his teammates to get used to him in that role.

........

I thought about making a thread on this but I'll just throw it here. Virtually everyone in the NBA uses some variation of the Thibodeau help scheme:
- Push the ball to the side line
- Help from the middle
- Weak side help the helper

You basically are trying to push the ball to one side of the court and then overload that side of the court with defenders.

Low post play generally sucks as a focal point. Its not efficient when you have a big versus a big and it clogs up the lane for people driving. High post play is where its at. You leave the basket open for drives and fundamentally break the Thibodeau help scheme because when the ball is in the middle, there is no weak or strong side. Not ironically, Thibodeau put the breaks on his own system in one of the games against the Knicks this year, blatantly telling people to not help when Lauri got hot.

Regardless, I expect Lavine + Vucevic + 3 shooters/cutters to be deadly on offense once they get healthy and on the same page. The problem is going to be defense.

coldfish wrote:Regardless, I expect Lavine + Vucevic + 3 shooters/cutters to be deadly on offense once they get healthy and on the same page. The problem is going to be defense.

Fair, or unfair - I see the bulk of the remedy to the problem lying on Zach's shoulders. He's the best player, he has all the athleticism in the world, and he's 4 years younger than Vuc. I don't expect Vuc is going to change a whole lot outside of gaining chemistry, and getting communication w/new teammates down.

Zach took a big step this year, but the next one needs to come on defense if he wants to reach the next level - for himself, and for the team. Endless film, summer-long defensive drills, getting in even better physical condition, all of the above...I don't know. But it's on him IMO.

Super small sample size, but so far in Chicago he's been a 99th percentile post up player with an eFG% of 70%. In Orlando he was 39th percentile, eFG% 48%.

At the same time his 3P% is way down. I will say it looks like a lot of our pick & pops with him look awkward and broken, and I don't even know if we run any handoffs for him like he was used to getting in ORL.

kodo wrote:Super small sample size, but so far in Chicago he's been a 99th percentile post up player with an eFG% of 70%. In Orlando he was 39th percentile, eFG% 48%.

At the same time his 3P% is way down. I will say it looks like a lot of our pick & pops with him look awkward and broken, and I don't even know if we run any handoffs for him like he was used to getting in ORL.

The 3 point shooting is down across the team it's not just him. I think they'll get it figured out

Is there a power forward who you think would work well with Vucevic? I'd like Patrick Williams to continue developing as a SF (if possible).

Dan Z wrote:Is there a power forward who you think would work well with Vucevic? I'd like Patrick Williams to continue developing as a SF (if possible).

A healthy Jonathan Isaac....

MGB8 wrote:

Dan Z wrote:Is there a power forward who you think would work well with Vucevic? I'd like Patrick Williams to continue developing as a SF (if possible).

A healthy Jonathan Isaac....

Also Anthony Davis, Durant, Zion, JJJ, Siakam, Clarke, Jerami Grant, and even, yes, Thad Young.

Dan Z wrote:Is there a power forward who you think would work well with Vucevic? I'd like Patrick Williams to continue developing as a SF (if possible).

As far as a possible player we could obtain, I think Richaun Holmes. He can player both big positions, is a big body, is a decent defensive presences. He doesn't have a 3 point shot, but Vuc does, and Vuc can play in the high post while paired up with Holmes, while Holmes works down low.

Dude's a beast.

kulaz3000 wrote:

Dan Z wrote:Is there a power forward who you think would work well with Vucevic? I'd like Patrick Williams to continue developing as a SF (if possible).

As far as a possible player we could obtain, I think Richaun Holmes. He can player both big positions, is a big body, is a decent defensive presences. He doesn't have a 3 point shot, but Vuc does, and Vuc can play in the high post while paired up with Holmes, while Holmes works down low.

Good idea. I'm not sure if we need someone with a 3 point shot (even though that's always good). It'll depend on how much he's asking for, but I can't imagine Sacramento let's him walk...right?

I like how Stacey has passed the Threekola mantle over to Vooch. Shocked he's not on ESPN by now.

Oh yeah, Vooch is a monster.

Vuc is the type of big I've wanted for so long. Dude can do everything out there. Mid range, 3 point, pass, rebound, post game. It's just a pleasure watching him play.

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.

Things are just so god damn easy for this guy on offense. It's a nice change of pace to have a guy who can just easily get his baskets.

Well it didn't take long for him to post one of the best Bulls performances since MJ.

bledredwine wrote:Orlando fans trying to act like Vuc isn't valuable :D

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

There's quite a few Bulls "fans" who have posted that Vuc isn't valuable lol

I love Vuc's game! He takes a lot of shots that are considered ineffective in the modern NBA, like long 2 point jumpers and post ups, but makes up for them with three point shooting and by acting as a hub in the offence. That really separates him from for example Drummond.

I’ll take this actual production over the promise of some mid-lottery pick every time.

Since coming over he has hit 10 of 27 3´s for a 37% average which is really good. But at least 2 of his attempts have literally rolled in & out so if they would have gone in his average would be 44%. All in all he is starting to mesh into the offense and of course he has his warts. Not withstanding I would say he will age really well like Gasol and probably has another very good 4-5 years in the tank, but let´s take it 1 year at a time.