Former Magic center Nikola Vucevic was aware that he could be dealt prior to the blockbuster than sent the All-Star big man from Orlando to Chicago, he told Alex Kennedy of Basketball News in a Q&A session.
“It wasn’t out of nowhere, we’d had discussions prior to it, so it was kind of mutual; it wasn’t just out of nowhere,” Vucevic said. “They pretty much just let me know that the trade was happening and said, ‘You’re going to Chicago.’ Honestly, even though I had an idea that it could happen, it was still a big shock to me.”
The Bulls are 3-5 in games that Vucevic has played since the deal. He’s averaging 22.9 PPG, 10.3 RPG and 3.6 APG for Chicago, which currently holds the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference, the last postseason berth under the new play-in format.
Vucevic had more than an inkling that he could be headed to the Bulls.
“I knew that there were a couple (of interested teams), but I didn’t know where I’d land or all of the details because that’s something that the front office was handling,” he said. “But I knew of the teams that were interested; I knew that part.”
Here’s more from Kennedy’s interview with Vucevic:
- Vucevic is impressed by the Bulls’ roster and believes they’ll be contenders in short order. “That’s one thing I’m very excited about: the team has great potential. It has very good structure, and we’re built to be successful for years to come, which is very important in this league. “
- Vucevic played with some talented guards in Orlando over the years but he says Zach LaVine is better than any of them. “I’ve never played with anyone who’s as good of a scorer as Zach is, so I think it’s going to be great for me to have a guy like that on the ball a lot. In some of the games, it’s shown already in some of our two-man game action, although we haven’t played together a lot. It’s going to be hard to defend.
- Vucevic believes that the trade showed potential free agents that Chicago is intent on becoming relevant again in the East. “I think by making these moves, the Bulls already sent a strong message to the rest of the league that they really want to win now, but making the playoffs would send a strong message, too. And when you make that step and have some success, it also attracts other people to want to play for a team like that.”
They just need to learn to stop blowing double digit leads. They’re doing it way too damn much and need to clean it up, big time.
The problem is besides offensively the Bulls aren’t a great team. A number of contenders are better offensively and it’s hard to build a good defense with Vucevic and Lavine. They went all in to be a 5th seed at best over the next 2-3 years.
They traded 2 first round picks and have a substantial amount of money leaving the books this offseason and weren’t up against the cap already, they made a big trade but it was not all in, they gave up a fine backup old school center for a defensive minded guard in the other trade and lost no picks…the bulls will be relevant in the East with a few more tweaks, if the bulls start getting good team calls they have a chance to be very good
Can’t win with LaVine as your primary or even top 2 scorer, same deal as with Melo. If you’re gonna be on the court that much, you have to play defense. You don’t have to be DPOY, but you can’t be a liability. LaVine’s still being paid his salary when the ball is in the opposing teams possession, he needs to act like it. Vucevic is nothing to write home about on defense, but he at least holds his own. Cannot say the same for LaVine
Watch some games. He is getting better, and smarter, on D. Coby and Lauri are the liabilities.
Coby will be a good 6th man scorer in time but I’m not sure that fits on a team with Zach, Coby brings no defense at all and lacks consistent scoring to be new Lou Williams, Lauri is completely unreliable and out of the bad defensive players on the team he takes the cake, it’s abysmal, Zach’s defense isn’t the problem this year, that guy is just commenting on his reputation not his actual play currently
What has happened to Aminu? Came from Orlando healthy. Have I missed injury/protocol? Need his D. Like you say getting pissed at blowing these leads. Fyi Zachs d had improved and will be even better next season.
Seems he has unimpressed Donovan somehow. I agree it is surprising, but there is a logjam at his position.
I just checked, and Vucevic has been posting up more in Chicago than spotting up. And he’s been taking five 3s a game out of 18 attempts per game.
Bulls need a PG. And play team D. Never been a fan of Donovan.
I agree with one of those opinions. Donovan has already earned his salary and the season has 1/3 to go.
Why is the app making me look like Jimmy TwoTimes?
I’m gonna go get the papers get the papers