To celebrate the career of former Chicago Bulls guard Goran Dragic, current Bulls center Nikola Vucevic traveled to Ljubljana, Slovenia to participate in Dragic's "Night of the Dragon" farewell charity basketball game , which included a long slate of current and former NBA All-Stars such as Dirk Nowitzki , Nikola Jokic, Chris Bosh, Luka Doncic and Steve Nash. In the backdrop of Dragic's career celebration, Vucevic also provided an e xpansive interview to Meridian Sport that is equal parts a Vucevic Chicago Bulls retrospective and also a retrospective of Vooch's entire professional basketball career. Imagine Vooch delivering a rendition of Frank Sinatra's My Way and you should be prepared to digest the voluminous basketball takes he delivered to Meridian Sport.
Here are a few observations on noteworthy quotes from Vooch's interview, which are also translated into english from the original publishing of the interview. The End is Near "I am aware that I have been in the NBA for 13 years, that the end is not so far away. I don't believe I'll have another 13, but I have two more years with Chicago, I'd like to play two more after that.
I think I can do so much at a high level, and then I would see. I don't think much about it now. I feel great, I enjoy the game, so my sons are also an increasing motivation, they are a bit older and are aware of what I do, they come to trainings and matches.
So that they also remember that I played and practiced basketball at a high level. I would like people to remember me for what I was, not to see me off, but for me to say - thank you." Vucevic sounds likes someone who is reckoning with the end of his NBA career.
While Vooch may think he can still provide high level NBA basketball, his 2023-24 NBA season suggests otherwise. The 2023-24 edition of Nikola Vucevic recorded the third lowest Box Plus-Minus (BPM) of his career at 0.1, a number appropriate for an NBA 6th man , not a 23% usage rate starting center.
Vooch's high level NBA basketball is likely a historical artifact as opposed to material on-court production going into the 2024-25 NBA regular season. Realism "Since Lonzo Ball's injury, we haven't been able to achieve the result we could have. It disturbed us a lot.
When he played, we were at the top of the East for a while, which may not have been a realistic result, although we played well, but with him we would have fought for third to sixth place in the end." Vucevic's concession that the 2021-22 iteration of the Chicago Bulls, who played approximately a half-season of basketball as the number one seed in the NBA Eastern Conference, was not a realistic one-seed is a profound statement. Especially when you contrast Vooch's take on 2021-22 with reporting on Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley's view that the Bulls must recapture their 2021-22 "magic".
Vucevic's retrospective quote begs the question, how aligned are Nikola Vucevic and the Bulls front office on the future direction of the franchise? Self Awareness "The best European players, who are the leaders in the national teams, are mostly in the NBA and that helped a lot, but the national teams from all over the world got stronger. Basketball is developing globally, in the NBA there are players from all over the world. On the other hand, if it were NBA rules, it would be much more difficult for FIBA teams.
First, the three-pointer in the NBA is half a meter farther, which is no small thing in basketball. Three seconds in defense is also a big deal, I know for myself. It's also different offensively, in defense it's much easier for me to cover space here than there.
If it were played according to NBA rules, America would be even more powerful." On one hand Vucevic's Meridian Sport interview overstates the level of NBA basketball he is capable of delivering for the remainder of his career. On the other other hand you have to give credit to Vooch for demonstrating honest self-awareness about his abilities as he compared NBA and FIBA basketball play styles.
FIBA Vooch is a credible defender and three-point shooter. NBA Vooch is compromised on defense when he has to guard a larger court and constantly move in and out of the defensive paint. Moreover, NBA Vooch was also a 29.
4% three-point shooter on 4.1 3PAs/game during the 2023-24 NBA season. If Nikola Vucevic wants to continue to provide high-level basketball to an NBA franchise, perhaps Vooch has to accept a more narrow scope of basketball responsibilities that lowers his usage.
Ideally, Vooch also needs to find a NBA franchise that has the luxury of hiding him on defense from pick and roll action to minimize the space of his defensive assignments. Simply put, Vucevic should stop playing NBA basketball his way. This article first appeared on On Tap Sports Net and was syndicated with permission.
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