Nikola Vucevic is one of the lone veterans on a youthful Chicago Bulls team.
He’s the voice of reason and is often measured in his assessment of the team’s performance. Vucevic, who recently played his 1,000th career game, has experienced any situation imaginable on an NBA roster. His myriad of experiences helps him relate to his younger teammates who are still experiencing growing pains.
“Because of my experience and everything I went through, [there are] some things that seem very simple and easy, and I understand right away,” Vucevic said. “Sometimes for younger guys, it’s not as easy, just like it wasn’t for me when I first came [into the league] and I’m sure veterans were upset with me at times. To me, [it’s about] just managing my emotions and my reaction and understanding [on] how to approach guys.”
Vucevic was prescient as his boisterous teammates celebrated and jumped around him during his off-court interview after the Bulls narrowly beat a rebuilding Wizards team on Nov. 22 — the Bulls would go on to lose seven straight games.
Coach Billy Donovan has lauded Vucevic for his professionalism and conditioning.Against Charlotte, Vucevic sat for the final 18 minutes, 58 seconds of that game. Vucevic would regain his starting spot, but the team has explored playing more double-big lineups that has proliferated accross the NBA. Those lineups also help mask much of Vucevic’s defensive deficiencies.
Entering Friday’s game, the Bulls were a -0.7 over 50 possessions with both Vucevic and center Jalen Smith on the floor. The offense in those lineups has been scintillating, torching teams to the tune of 132 points per 100 possessions. The defense, however, has been porous, allowing 132.7 points per 100 possessions.
“We are undersized at a lot of the positions, and so I think special rebounding party helps a lot on both ends offensively and defensively,” Vucevic said. “All three of us bigs have pretty high IQs, and we were able to figure it out how to play off each other and how to, you know, get play inside-out.
“I’ve been liking it so far. I think it’s showing good results. it helped us with some of those matchup situations, but especially mainly on the glass, and being able to really hurt teams on the offensive glass and really control defensive glass, and [Smith] gives us size of the rim as well, which is something we kind of struggle [with] throughout the year.”
The rebounding, which has been a weakness for the Bulls, becomes a strength when playing two bigs. For a Bulls team that doesn’t force turnovers at a high rate or get to the free-throw line often, getting second-chance points is one way to supplement the offense when shots aren’t falling.
Forcing turnovers
Even though the Bulls’ double-big lineup gives the team added rim protection, coach Billy Donovan still doesn’t want his team gambling. Entering Friday’s game, the Bulls were 26th in opponent turnover rate.”
“We’re not telling our guys, ‘Hey, those two guys are back there, just go for steals,” he said. “We’re not doing that.”
Williams in the lineup
Forward Patrick Williams was available Friday after being on the injury report with an illness. Over his last four games, Williams has played no more than 11 minutes.