NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nikola Vucevic and Billy Donovan were seeing the same thing.
Even thousands of miles separating the two at times over the summer, Bulls player and his coach were still connected.
Whether it was watching Miami’s big man Bam Adebayo in the Heat’s march to the NBA Finals or Denver’s Nikola Jokic dancing his way to history as an NBA Champion, the blueprint was staring Vucevic and Donovan in the face.
Sure, what Jimmy Butler did for the Heat was extraordinary, but using Adebayo to bring the ball up the floor and play-make actions off of it – especially in the Boston series – was the secret sauce. And what Jokic did out of that same type of action?
“Well, that’s just Joker,’’ Vucevic insisted.
Now what Vucevic would like to hear? Opposing teams insisting, “Well, that’s just Vooch.’’
With the front office opting to bring the entire core back with a sprinkle of outside shooting and toughness in Torrey Craig and Jevon Carter, something had to change for the league’s 22nd ranked scoring offense last season.
“The way our team is built we need a change,’’ Vucevic said. “I think at times last year we got a little too predictable the way we were playing and we became easy to guard. I think if we can throw different things at a defense we’ll be tough to stop.’’
Vucevic was hoping that one of those looks will involve him bringing the ball up the floor, and the team running actions through him, whether it’s a simple dribble hand-off, or a two-man action off the ball.
It would improve three weaknesses that Donovan and his front office have both said needed improving: First, the Bulls will get into transition quicker if Vucevic rebounds the ball and pushes the action himself. Second, off-the-ball actions are just tougher to communicate for the defense. Finally, because the opposing big has to respect Vucevic’ outside shot, he has to gravitate out, opening up the paint.
Donovan wants his team driving and kicking more this season, hoping to change the shot profile to one that has more free-throw opportunities and three-point looks, so Vucevic as a primary ball-handler makes sense.
“To be honest with you we were one of the worst teams in the league last year in getting into the teeth of the defense,’’ Donovan said. “We’ve got to create the space to do that.’’
But the first question the 6-foot-10, 32-year-old Vucevic had to answer was does he have good enough handles to push the ball up the floor?
“Yeah, I mean I’m not as good a ball-handler as maybe Bam – he’s a little shorter than me – but I can do it good enough to get into hand-offs and get into positions to help the offense,’’ Vucevic said.
How often this look will be used is obviously the unknown. The Bulls tip-off the preseason Sunday in Milwaukee, but considering it’s more of a scrimmage against the guys from the other neighborhood, don’t expect too much to be showcased.
Once the regular season starts, however, Vucevic expects that opportunity to put pressure on opposing defenses.
“I mean off-the-ball movement is very hard to guard, and we have guys that can do that,’’ Vucevic said. “Like for example, Zach and Coby in action without the ball, cut for each other, screen for each other, and a lot of times the defense is going to mess up the communication and it opens up. So there’s so much we can explore out of it, and using me – especially with my ability to shoot – it’s going to open up the entire floor for us. So we just have to find different ways to attack. Not just one way like we did too much last year.’’
