Is Nikola Vučević actually any good?

[dhsilv2]

I don't watch him much, like I'd guess most people (who watches the magic or bulls all that often?). But people don't generally have "empty" stats and then show up high on things like BPM and RPM. When I do watch him, his 3 point shooting creates high value gravity pulling away opposing bit men and opening up space inside. His scoring efficiency is effectively league average (TS%+ of 99) and he's a pretty good passer (passing being more valuable than scoring but when you do both it's a multiplier). Defensively, it's harder for me to rank him given you just need to watch a guy a lot more to evaluate but he didn't come off as bad as others have said. But again, I've seen 20 games max.

But to me he looks like an allstar who you can win with if he's your 2nd option to score with a good defensive team around him. But I'd rather build around someone else.

[Jadoogar]

it's just very hard to win with an offense only center.
He's also struggled in the playoffs, Raptors completely destroyed him 2 years ago

[Bergmaniac]

His very low foul drawing rate has always been a serious issue and he was overrated offensively until a few years ago, but he improved a lot since then because he started taking and making a lot of 3s at a very good clip and improved his passing quite a bit.

Also it has to be taken into account that he's never played a good PG who can get him easy buckets reliably. His best PG partner in all the years in Orlando was DJ Augustin, and he was much more of a scorer and a really good shooter than someone who is great at creating easy looks for a centre. The OP mentions Kanter and Jonas, but they have had the luxury of playing with the likes of Lowry, Lillard, Russ and Morant for most of their careers while Vucevic had to make do with Elfrid Payton, DJ Augustin and Fultz.

[dacrusha]

One of the worst empty stat players in the league.

Has always put up a lot of big numbers when games are out of reach.

[Yeezus_]

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

Except Demar's been to 3 ECF while Vuc has never made it out the first round. He seems to be more like Sabonis in terms of empty stats.

[NZB2323]

He isn’t a great player, but he is a good player. He had a weak supporting cast in Orlando and carried them to the playoffs 2 years in a row. Last year in the playoffs against the Bucks he averaged 28, 11, and 4 on 50/40/90 shooting.

Before coming to the Lakers, Pau Gasol only made the playoffs 3 times and was 0-12 in playoff games. I’m not saying that Vuc is as good as Pau, but Pau was called an empty stats player who wasn’t tough, didn’t get to the free throw line enough, and wasn’t a good enough defensive player. Kevin Love never made the playoffs when he was on the Timberwolves and was called all those things. Pair Vuc with a Kobe/Lebron type talent and he can win a championship. Durant is a big fan of Vuc and Lavine so maybe we’ll see him come to Chicago someday.

[Ballerhogger]

He’s average or just above average role player his best days are behind him

[KokoKaizer]

I'm a Magic fan

And I was glad we trade him for that price

That's all I have to say

[NZB2323]

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

Except Demar's been to 3 ECF while Vuc has never made it out the first round. He seems to be more like Sabonis in terms of empty stats.

Sabonis is 24 years old, he didn’t play in the playoffs last year, and in 2018 the Pacers took the Cavs to game 7 and lost by 4 points. Slow your roll on calling Sabonis an empty stats player.

[mtron32]

He isn’t a great player, but he is a good player. He had a weak supporting cast in Orlando and carried them to the playoffs 2 years in a row. Last year in the playoffs against the Bucks he averaged 28, 11, and 4 on 50/40/90 shooting.

Before coming to the Lakers, Pau Gasol only made the playoffs 3 times and was 0-12 in playoff games. I’m not saying that Vuc is as good as Pau, but Pau was called an empty stats player who wasn’t tough, didn’t get to the free throw line enough, and wasn’t a good enough defensive player. Kevin Love never made the playoffs when he was on the Timberwolves and was called all those things. Pair Vuc with a Kobe/Lebron type talent and he can win a championship. Durant is a big fan of Vuc and Lavine so maybe we’ll see him come to Chicago someday.

I was just thinking that when the Lakers played the Clippers, if Vuc was in place of Drummond with a dead eye passer like LBJ, over. This has been the Bulls issue for a while now, we need a solid starting PG to make this work, we also needed a center that could be at least passable at defense while also getting rebounds and scoring, Vuc just happens to score more than I was expecting in the center we would get. I actually wanted Jarrett Allen.

As far as the foul calls, that's been an isue for this team as a whole. Zach is like a snake and that works when he's slithering in, but he actually needs to just start bodying people out the way and start getting FT's, same with Vuc, make the refs have to call it. Coby needs his fro back so there's that visual trigger, he got mad calls his rookie year. PWill, not even worried about him, that dude is a beast and once he figures out he's too big to stop, he'll definitely get to the line.

[Hugi Mancura]

He is good at helping his team to playoffs. He is good at losing in first round.

Longer answer. He is a very good offensive center. Who is also probably the worst defender among starting centers or among every center in NBA. His defense is not a big problem unless Bulls play against teams that run lot of pick plays. Example against Boston he didn't look bad because Boston didn't attack him. But when you play against Atlanta... He is just unplayable on defense. Bulls coaching has tried to hide him in defense by putting Theis on other teams center. This was in last game and against Boston where he didn't defend Thompson.

In playoffs teams start to look at other teams weaknesses and coaches are usually smart enough to build schemes which forces your worst defender against their offensive force. I don't see him being good enough on offense to cover his defensive weaknesses when other team attacks him, so that's why he is out on first round. Maybe Bulls play zone defense to cover for him. It is almost worth to try because he is so good at offense.

His defense has taken quite big leap backwards in last couple years, so I'm not sure is age starting to catch up or are other teams starting to attack against him even on regular season. He is not that old, but for big's getting slower is real killer.

[BK_2020]

He is good at helping his team to playoffs. He is good at losing in first round.

So good at it that he made the playoffs only twice in his career, once as a proud member of a 32-40 team with SRS that was 19th best in the league.

[matt6715]

Kudos to the Magic for cashing in at the right time to max his value in a trade.

[The_Hater]

Vucevic is a good player, but many people have overrated his impact because of his offensive stats.

Offensive minded Centers who play poor defence are very tough players to win at a high level with. They always have been. To me, Center is a position where you worry about defensive impact first and anything else you get is just a bonus.

[BK_2020]

Vucevic is a good player, but many people have overrated his impact because of his offensive stats.

Offensive minded Centers who play poor defence are very tough players to win at a high level with. They always have been. To me, Center is a position where you worry about defensive impact first and anything else you get is just a bonus.

offensive minded centers who play poor defence and average offense, now, that's a real challenge to win with.

[dickfox]

he's a steady force but nothing exciting. I can see him being the 3rd guy on a contender. Maybe 2nd if he is teamed up with a Kawhi like player... he's a poor man's Pau Gasol.

[The_Hater]

Kudos to the Magic for cashing in at the right time to max his value in a trade.

I thought they did too. I was surprised at the time that most people on this board thought the Bulls won the trade. Orlando clearly got a good package and had picked a direction instead of just striving to be average while I thought the Bulls lowered their future ceiling

[The_Hater]

Vucevic is a good player, but many people have overrated his impact because of his offensive stats.

Offensive minded Centers who play poor defence are very tough players to win at a high level with. They always have been. To me, Center is a position where you worry about defensive impact first and anything else you get is just a bonus.

offensive minded centers who play poor defence and average offense, now, that's a real challenge to win with.

That’s some deep analysis.

[Leslie Forman]

His offense is overrated, and his defense is absolutely god awful.

Saying he's not "any" good is probably harsh, but I have a real hard time seeing what he adds to a contender. Those types of teams would already have better offensive first/second options and need defense from their center.

[CLosP]

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

Orlando will take that top 8 pick thank you lol.