Is Nikola Vucevic a Good Defender?

bpcox05 · Post #1 » by **bpcox05** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 12:07 am

He seems to have had favorable defensive impact stats the last couple years but does it match what you see on the court?

Just some questions to get the brains working:
- Is he a good defender?
- What is he particularly good at on the defensive end?
- What is he not so good at on the defensive end?
- Who’s another C who has a similar defensive impact as him?
- Where would you rank him on a defensive C list?

bpcox05 · Post #2 » by **bpcox05** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:06 am

A breakdown of some of the impact stats I was referring to:

2015-16
Def On/Off = +1.50 (ranked 14th on his team)
Def RPM = +0.95 (ranked 112nd in the league)
Def RAPM = -0.50 (ranked 304th in the league)

2016-17
Def On/Off = -3.00 (ranked 2nd on his team)
Def RPM = +2.15 (ranked 41st in the league)
Def RAPM = +0.66 (ranked 107th in the league)

2017-18
Def On/Off = -2.60 (ranked 8th on his team)
Def RPM = +2.50 (ranked 24th in the league)
Def RAPM = +0.78 (ranked 111th in the league)

2018-19
Def On/Off = -0.01 (ranked 9th on his team)
Def RPM = +3.28 (ranked 12th in the league)
Def RAPM = N/A

Ballerhogger · Post #3 » by **Ballerhogger** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:40 am

Yes I can’t wait when he’s FA

Post #4 » by **FNQ** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:43 am

Yes. Positionally he reminds me of Bogut. But Bogut had an intrinsic value of being a defensive QB who was able to adapt very well to most situations. He's a very smart defender too.

Scalabrine · Post #5 » by **Scalabrine** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:43 am

I dont think youre gonna find enough people on here that watch Vucevic's defense enough to have a legit opinion here. It's mostly gonna be people talking out of their butt.

Post #6 » by **FNQ** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:56 am

Scalabrine wrote:I dont think youre gonna find enough people on here that watch Vucevic's defense enough to have a legit opinion here. It's mostly gonna be people talking out of their butt.

I dont understand why the general opinion is that you have to see a ton of a player to get a good read on them. This is especially true for evaluating whether or not a player has high BBIQ, which Vuc certainly does on the defensive end.

bargnanimvp · Post #7 » by **bargnanimvp** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:57 am

It depends on what you define as a good defender, he is bad at covering ground and isn't going to provide much help defense or a shot blocking presence. If a guard or wing gets by their man and is going at him it'll be a basket. Where he has improved is that he has gotten smart and is a solid 1v1 defender now, unless he's physically getting overpowered by like embiid he will cover his man. Where his numbers used to be awful were inflated because we had some many guards like payton and fournier who showed zero effort in staying with their man so he would always end up in 2v1 situations or just trying to cover a guard going full speed at him.

Scalabrine · Post #8 » by **Scalabrine** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 4:00 am

Ballerhogger wrote:Yes I can’t wait when he’s FA

He's about to get paid with you guys, Sacramento and Dallas all as great options, along with him staying in Orlando.

Would Lakers fans be happy with a max contract for him?

Prokorov · Post #9 » by **Prokorov** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 4:05 am

Does it matter? guy isnt on the floor to be a defensive anchor. i think the better question is how much worth does his offense have. are you better off in todays NBA giving those touches to a G or wing?

Ballerhogger · Post #10 » by **Ballerhogger** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 4:07 am

Scalabrine wrote:
Ballerhogger wrote:Yes I can’t wait when he’s FA

He's about to get paid with you guys, Sacramento and Dallas all as great options, along with him staying in Orlando.

Would Lakers fans be happy with a max contract for him?

If we don’t get kawhi or Kyrie or whoever yea

Ballerhogger · Post #11 » by **Ballerhogger** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 4:08 am

FNQ wrote:Yes. Positionally he reminds me of Bogut. But Bogut had an intrinsic value of being a defensive QB who was able to adapt very well to most situations. He's a very smart defender too.

Defensively sure but offensively is complete package

aemannarwal · Post #12 » by **aemannarwal** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:07 am

Most of the ppl don't understand defense and most of the matrixes cant account for it. Say you are klay and guarding kemba, and curry is guarding I don't know who he would.. when the match ends kemba has 30 and they guy curry is guarding has 20. Who is the better defender?

Now as a center you try to help your teammate who just got blown by and then he passed it to the big man at the center and he scored .. the stats will favour the guard more than the center.

These are something which can't be accounted for except for the eye test.

bpcox05 · Post #13 » by **bpcox05** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:35 am

Prokorov wrote:Does it matter? guy isnt on the floor to be a defensive anchor. i think the better question is how much worth does his offense have. are you better off in todays NBA giving those touches to a G or wing?

This really has nothing to do with the premise of this thread. If I wanted to assess his offense, I would have posted such a thread.

bpcox05 · Post #14 » by **bpcox05** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 7:22 am

bargnanimvp wrote:It depends on what you define as a good defender, he is bad at covering ground and isn't going to provide much help defense or a shot blocking presence. If a guard or wing gets by their man and is going at him it'll be a basket. Where he has improved is that he has gotten smart and is a solid 1v1 defender now, unless he's physically getting overpowered by like embiid he will cover his man. Where his numbers used to be awful were inflated because we had some many guards like payton and fournier who showed zero effort in staying with their man so he would always end up in 2v1 situations or just trying to cover a guard going full speed at him.

Among Cs who average 20+ mpg, he is only 27th in blocks per minute. However, he's 11th in Defended FG% at the Rim at 55.3% (Embiid is 10th at 55.1% and Gobert is tied for 11th at 55.3%). He was 42nd last year at 65.9% so this is a huge improvement from last year.

So he may not be a traditional rim protecting C but he at least seems to alter shots at the rim at a decent clip. He has a massive 9'4.5" standing reach. To give you a sense for how good that is, there have only been 21 players who have measured with a better standing reach at the combine in the last 20 years. Only 3 players in the last 8 years.

I'm curious how you view his pick and roll defense?

Johnny Bball · Post #15 » by **Johnny Bball** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 7:53 am

Not overly, no.

Dundalis · Post #16 » by **Dundalis** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 10:23 am

Johnny Bball wrote:Not overly, no.

What a fantastic analysis great contribution

Johnny Firpo · Post #17 » by **Johnny Firpo** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 10:25 am

No question he is a good defender. He uses his length well and has a good combination of strength/mobility to be good in today's NBA.

Dundalis · Post #18 » by **Dundalis** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 10:25 am

Scalabrine wrote:
Ballerhogger wrote:Yes I can’t wait when he’s FA

He's about to get paid with you guys, Sacramento and Dallas all as great options, along with him staying in Orlando.

Would Lakers fans be happy with a max contract for him?

I’m interested in this because I think the primary reason the Mavericks traded Harrison Barnes for cap space was to bring this guy in despite the fact he doesn’t seem like a good defensive fit with KP. If we can’t get Brogdan, Middleton or Harris as one of the second tier wings I think I’m good with big Vuc despite it not being an ideal fit

gh123 · Post #19 » by **gh123** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 10:36 am

I'd still rather have Randle tbh. But Vuc on 25 mil per is alright.

Trundle · Post #20 » by **Trundle** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 10:39 am

bpcox05 wrote:2018-19
Def On/Off = -0.01 (ranked 9th on his team)
Def RPM = +3.28 (ranked 12th in the league)
Def RAPM = N/A

His DRAPM is also quite good this season: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQdG8Zv84zqKEzETDjd8KPsClcw9bPETX9v_x_KEAxjv9NrFaWikOoiSaciy1jbMiygg2D-V8DUQn0O/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true

IMO he improved a lot on defense this year, his effort is better and maybe it is so because of "contract year magic".