1. The pivoty goodness of Nikola VucevicAlmost no one strings together pivot moves with the whirring, balletic brilliance of Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic:
Oh, baby: three pivot moves in less than two seconds. Vucevic pivots middle searching out his righty jump hook. Deandre Ayton sticks with him. Vucevic then pivots inside for a Kevin McHale-style up-and-under. Ayton hangs, but straightens up onto his tippy-toes. And right there, Vucevic has him. Vucevic spins back into that same jump hook before Ayton can regain his footing.
That is a masterpiece. Vucevic has a little bit of McHale and Jack Sikma in him. "I didn't have that all mapped out," Vucevic says after I text him the clip. "I have an idea of what I'd like to do, and if they take that away, I have my counters."
Vucevic had good footwork as a kid, but he focused on pivot moves when he discovered he couldn't just shoot over NBA centers, he says. He watched film of footwork masters, including Kobe Bryant.
He doesn't need to blow by defenders, or fake them off their feet. Tipping them a hair off balance is enough. When Vucevic pivots into defenders' bodies, some instinctively back away just enough for him to flick a hook over them.
"I try to use my pivots to create a little space," he says. It helps that he's nearly ambidextrous. Whatever window you reveal, Vucevic can sneak the ball through it.
The one downside of bobbing under and around defenders instead of powering through them: Vucevic rarely gets to the foul line. That's one reason Orlando has scored at a middling rate when Vucevic posts up, though some of that is due to teammates missing open looks when opponents double him, per Second Spectrum. He can also pivot himself into the ground. "Sometimes I get stuck," he says.
Vucevic has actually been more efficient on drives, and fakery helps him there, too. He stops on a dime, fakes a shot, waits for defenders to fly by, and pivots into his counter.
Vucevic is shooting 55 percent overall, and 41 percent from deep. He is the fulcrum of an Orlando offense that ranks 12th in points per possession since Nov. 1. (Anything above average counts as a minor miracle for the Magic. They have ranked 22nd or worse every season since 2011-12.)
They fall apart whenever he sits. Orlando has outscored opponents by 4.5 points per 100 possessions with Vucevic on the floor, but opponents have obliterated them by almost a dozen points per 100 possessions when he rests. The difference -- plus-16.2 -- is the 11th-fattest among all rotation players, per NBA.com.
Vucevic ranks seventh overall in player efficiency rating, snug between LeBron James and James Harden. Orlando is 12-13 against the toughest schedule of any Eastern Conference team so far. If they hang around .500, Vucevic may garner enough support for his first All-Star appearance. He's deserving.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25470903/10-things-like-including-bucks-weakness-nbaThe No. 1 entry in Zach Lowe's 10 Things column this week features non other than Nik Vucevic.
