RealGM

Is it too early to talk about him yet?

Man, he was poor last season and the preseason leading up the opening game. What the hell just happened?

Playing like a beast right now. He was too skilled to be missing those easy shots. No more sky hooks from him...he's playing so much in control now.

I love his 3 point game. If your reading this Vuc...keep it up. Continue to play this way and All-NBA selection will be coming. I thought he regressed the last 2 years, but he's BACK!!!

Love the combination with Fournier

I’m very impressed with him so far this season. He had lose my faith before that. Seems like he found his mojo. Better for the team, whether as a contributor or as an asset.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

He reminds me of a kevin love without the toughness.

His shot selection has changed pretty dramatically.

Last year (1031 shots)
23.6% of shots at rim
25.4% of shots in paint
43.5% of shots from midrange
7.4% of shots from three

This year (50 shots)
26% of shots at rim
16% of shots in the paint
30% of shots from midrange
28% of shots from three

Midrange shots are the most inefficient shots in all of basketball no matter how good you are at them (and Vucevic has been good at them over the years). Vucevic has slashed his midrange attempts by 13.5% and has taken more at the rim and significantly more from three.

His shooting overall has been abnormally hot, but even when he inevitably cools down he'll still be more efficient than ever before if he keeps taking the most efficient shots (at the rim/from three) he can.

Still pretty soft, better at defensive positioning but still doesn't offer a ton of resistance defensively, still gets frustrated too easily, but if he can keep doing most of his work offensively in the paint and behind the 3 point line he will help this team a lot more than he has in the past.

He's stepped out on those midrange shots, and to be fair to vuc there were times last season where he had good position but they just ignored him. It looked clear to me that the team was trying to move away from using him like they had the season before last. He will drop off but if he keeps pushing those mid range shots he used to take to outside the arc defenders will have to follow him and it will open the paint up way more than we were able to last season which will help payton and gordon a lot.

He’s completely evolved his offense. Its very impressive. Having a 5 that can bomb 3s changes the entire offense.

Offensive Juggernaut.

I like his improvements. Always nice to see growth in our players.

probably should trade him now when his stock is highest in years. I don't expect him to shoot 3s that well forever.

Vuc has really impressed me so far this season. He has completely evolved his offense and adapted to become much more of an impact player. With AG and Payton out, he’s really stepped up and taken ownership of the team and offense.

You can’t dislike someone who’s done everything asked of them. I’ve never been a Vuc fan, but I’m really impressed with him and loving what he’s doing for the team.

As for the future of the team, who knows. We still seem to be figuring who and what we are and that changes daily with injuries and individual performances. Right now, we’re like a quality euro-team with the Vuc/Fournier tandem leading the charge, and they’re making it work.

I hope we keep him forever and he retires here.

my boy VUC!

pepe1991 wrote:probably should trade him now when his stock is highest in years. I don't expect him to shoot 3s that well forever.

its not unheard of. Gasol and Horford are 2 examples that developed good 3 pt shots later in their career.

tiderulz wrote:

pepe1991 wrote:probably should trade him now when his stock is highest in years. I don't expect him to shoot 3s that well forever.

its not unheard of. Gasol and Horford are 2 examples that developed good 3 pt shots later in their career.

Brook Lopez is another example. First eight seasons = two made threes. 9th season = 134 made threes.

Same thing for our own Mo Speights. 19 made threes his first seven years, 109 made last year.

Don’t think it’s sustainable but it’s helping us win so I’m all for it. Just so many points solely off jumpers, can’t kmagine he keeps it up at that rate.

Even if he regresses to the mean, the fact that he’s taking threes instead of long twos a lot of the time will be good for his offense.

I never lost faith in you Vooch and I always knew you would prove em all wrong!!!

j-ragg wrote:Don’t think it’s sustainable but it’s helping us win so I’m all for it. Just so many points solely off jumpers, can’t kmagine he keeps it up at that rate.

Even if he regresses to the mean, the fact that he’s taking threes instead of long twos a lot of the time will be good for his offense.

I wonder if Speights has been working with him on building his 3 point confidence.

You know, two summers ago I engaged in a lengthy argument with somebody who doesn't post anymore about whether it would be a good idea for Vooch to take threes. I argued in favor. This poster and others argued that no coach in his right mind would ever want his center shooting 3s.

Chucky, if you're lurking...

J_Magic wrote:Is it too early to talk about him yet?

Man, he was poor last season and the preseason leading up the opening game. What the hell just happened?

Playing like a beast right now. He was too skilled to be missing those easy shots. No more sky hooks from him...he's playing so much in control now.

I love his 3 point game. If your reading this Vuc...keep it up. Continue to play this way and All-NBA selection will be coming. I thought he regressed the last 2 years, but he's BACK!!!

Love the combination with Fournier

I feel like a few guys may have seemingly regressed last season. We have to remember that the team had gone through yet another coaching change and added players who shifted the SL. AG played out of position, Payton and Vuc were benched, and it turned out that Ibaka was causing a rift in the locker room. imo last years struggles were a result of starting an inferior player at center just because Hennigan blew his wad on him. As much as a i dogged Payton, he should've never been benched for an inferior player and the same thing goes for Nik. The only positive out of all of that is that both of those guys played their asses off as reserves and won their starting job back.

Like I said in the offseason multiple times, Nik needs to position himself behind the 3 pt line on those PnP, and hedge screens because adding a 3pt shot makes a massive difference. At this point even if he hovers around 35% teams have to respect his ability to shoot it which will open up the lanes Payton, AG, Simmons, and Isaac to attack the basket. While he's not a lock down defender he's definitely slimmed down which I think is helping him on that side of the ball with mobility and rim protection.

Of course once he has a bad game this thread will fall to crap but its nice to see him evolving his game.