Is Nikola Vučević actually any good?

[UcanUwill]

Got to start with saying I am a hater I guess, so you can disregard me, but man I can't stand this guys game. I have never seen a big who is so bad at drawing fouls while in the post, and if he doesn't do his half spin hook reminiscent of generic 2k move, he is just jacking shots. Its ok while its falling, but when you dont go to the line at all, you need to be absolutely elite to even crack average efficiency, which he did for a while, but overall, 54TS% on his career, he just burns possessions and to me the guy is Monta Ellis of centers.

He continues to get love and even being called underrated, because he is not really talked about, but in reality he has never elevated his team to any sort of success and has 2 all star appearances too many. I said this before, and you can call me a massive homer, but I would rather have Valanciunas than this guy, yes Vooch has better shot, he spaces defenses a bit better, he is also a decent passer, but he is not a tone setter in any way, way less efficient and his game is pure fools gold. He fools fans because he has very nice jumper for a big, so people just assume he is better scorer than guys like Valanciunas or Kanter, who are slower and a bit more robotic, but in reality Vooch is just a glorified low efficiency high usage gunner and not great one at that. He is just a 7 foot version of Crawford, Lou Will and Monta Ellis, big scoring and little impact.

Chicago trade will probably be a coffin for Karnišovas sadly, not a good start for a new GM, Am I a way off?

[Maxthirty]

Looks right to me.

[heatwillbeback]

He is all world against the Heat.

In all seriousness, he is an excellent offensive center and is extremely valuable in today’s NBA with his passing and shooting. A team playing him at center will always be limited defensively, but that is not as important today as it would of been 5-10 years ago.

As for winning, it was Orlando a majority of his career and all his good years before the trade. I’ll give him a break for that one. I do expect Chicago with him and Lavine to be a playoff team next year.

[BenoUdrihFTL]

Yeah if he could play every game against Miami he'd go down as the GOAT

But that FT rate is weird. Never actually noticed it was so miniscule until you pointed it out TS, dude could easily be getting at least 5-6 attempts a game if he prioritized it

[jordanwilliams6]

As a Bulls fan, I really like him and he's been pretty impressive. He's basically a 50/40/90 player putting up 23/12/4. He certainly has his defensive limitations but not we're paired Vuc & Zach, it's up to the FO to now put around them complimentary players. He plays basketball the right way, he isn't a black hole in the slightest and is a very good passer. His FT rate is definitely a concern though.

They've looked a lot better (Zach & Vuc pairing) in recent games after some early struggles so it will be great to get an offseason of work to continue the improved chemistry. Daniel Theis is actually a pretty good fit with Vuc, and hopefully PWill grows into more of an elite defender to offset the weaknesses.

[GoBobs]

Give him a little more time to figure things out with the new team. He is slightly better than val. Trade was probably 1 first round pick to many.

[Bologna Smasher]

His bad free throw rate is something that's always bothered me as well. He's obviously a good player, but I never thought he was best suited as a primary scorer. I think he and the team would look best if they could use him in a third option type role where he can be more of a facilitator and used to exploit match ups. Unfortunately, the Bulls don't have the talent to use him this way right now.

This is why I think the development of Patrick Williams as a scorer is going to be crucial for the Bulls. If they get him to move into that second option next to LaVine, I think they'd have the foundations of a really good team.

[theonlyclutch]

His free throw rate is genuinely awful to the point that he needs to be great at shot making to have decent efficiency. 20 FGA/g to 2.3 FTA/g does not cut it for any player these days. His efg+ of 102 this season gets dragged down to a TS+ of 99 because of his allergy to FTs.

[basketballRob]

He had his first bad game of the year tonight and then someone makes one of these threads. It's like they've been waiting all year.

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[The Box Office]

He's ACTUALLY good. On defense, he's terrible. However, he's good enough to be a long term starter, 2 time All Star.

[ForeverTFC]

His bad free throw rate is something that's always bothered me as well. He's obviously a good player, but I never thought he was best suited as a primary scorer. I think he and the team would look best if they could use him in a third option type role where he can be more of a facilitator and used to exploit match ups. Unfortunately, the Bulls don't have the talent to use him this way right now.

This is why I think the development of Patrick Williams as a scorer is going to be crucial for the Bulls. If they get him to move into that second option next to LaVine, I think they'd have the foundations of a really good team.

He's just not a good enough defender to be a 3rd option at C. You're better off anchoring the defense at the 5 and finding the scoring elsewhere at that point. Nice player, but a big that eats that many possessions, doesn't get to the line and can't anchor a defense is pretty hard to build around though not impossible.

[the_other_guy]

For me, he is like Derozan was for the Raptors. Can't really take you anywhere.

[PlatinumState]

In my eyes he was never the player you build around. Empty stats, idc what anyone says

[Sofia]

He had his first bad game of the year tonight and then someone makes one of these threads. It's like they've been waiting all year.

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So 2 weeks ago when he had 17 points on 27 fga, that was not a bad game?

[Sofia]

In my eyes he was never the player you build around. Empty stats, idc what anyone says

Was a very good fantasy player, but he’s killing me with how poorly he chucks up shots these days

[Wagonband]

Haven't watched him much, but whenever i do he looks unstoppable offensively. Maybe i'm just watching him the wrong games

[ayyayyron]

It'd be pure slander to say he isn't a good player, but personally, I'm not a fan of centers who aren't good defenders. He's not a liability, but he's not good enough on D for me to think he can ever be a 2nd option on a team that'll win a playoff series (unless the first option is LeBron James).

[Raps in 4]

Empty stats player.

[Godymas]

Overrated, he shouldn’t have been chosen for ASG over Trae Young or Khris Middleton aka guys that are playing on winning teams

[BK_2020]

Karnisovas traded for him to guarantee a top 3 pick. An EoY-type move.