Nikola Vucevic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Bulls Notes: DeRozan, Vucevic, Williams, Drummond

November 26th, 2022 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

It has been hard to know what to expect from the Bulls on a night-to-night basis so far this season.

After capping a four-game losing streak with a home loss to Orlando last Friday, the team had its two best wins of the season on Monday in Boston and Wednesday in Milwaukee. The win over the Bucks was Chicago’s best defensive outing of the year, as Darnell Mayberry wrote for The Athletic.

However, the Bulls followed up those two statement games with a letdown performance on Friday, falling in overtime to Oklahoma City.

According to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times, head coach Billy Donovan had braced for some up and downs in the early part of this season as the club tried to move away from leaning so heavily on DeMar DeRozan‘s isolation-heavy offense and late-game heroics.

“DeMar took us as far as he can take us (last season), and we really have to look at, OK, how can we make another step or jump?” Donovan said. “If we get back to that, where it’s all (isolations) all the time, it just gets too easy to defend. This is going to take some time offensively for us to play the way we need to play, which is a little bit different.”

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The 2021 deadline trade that sent Nikola Vucevic to Chicago has netted the Magic a pair of potential building blocks (Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter Jr.), with another lightly protected first-round pick still to come. Still, Vucevic isn’t worried about the critics who wish the Bulls hadn’t made the deal. “I know some people want to bring back the trade, the picks that were given, but it happened,” Vucevic told Cowley of The Sun-Times. “If it didn’t, it’s not for sure the Bulls would have picked Wagner or hit on the pick. Who knows what would have happened?” As Cowley observes, without the Vucevic trade, it’s also not clear whether free agents DeRozan and Lonzo Ball would’ve chosen Chicago later in 2021.
It has taken some time for former No. 4 overall pick Patrick Williams to get comfortable at the NBA level, but the third-year forward finally seems to be finding a rhythm, according to Cowley, who writes for The Sun-Times that Williams hasn’t looked as passive recently as he did during the first few weeks of the season.
Although two-time All-Star Andre Drummond is averaging a career-low 15.4 minutes per game this season, he has no intention of pushing for more playing time as long as the Bulls believe his limited role gives them the best chance to win games. “I’m at a point now where I’m just focusing on winning,” Drummond said this week, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “I told Billy and the guys when I came here from the beginning: ‘Whatever you guys need me to do to help win, that’s what I’m willing to do.’ If that’s to play eight minutes, 12 minutes, 30 minutes, I’m able to do that. I’m cool with the role that I have. I just have to maintain it.”

Central Notes: LaVine, Donovan, Bey, Nesmith, Stewart

November 20th, 2022 at 8:25pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bulls star Zach LaVine, who re-signed with the team this summer, let off some steam after getting benched in the late going of a loss to Orlando on Friday.

Donovan said on Sunday that LaVine and the the team’s other top players must live up to a standard to maintain their minutes, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago relays.

“There’s a lot he can do to get into the game. If the scoring isn’t there for whatever reason, we’ve got to have a group standard,” Donovan said. “And it wasn’t all about him. Clearly the whole group in the first half, (the Magic) scored 66 points and then we gave up 42 in the second half. That game was two halves. With the way the game was going, you get caught as a coach thinking, ‘We’ve got to do something different here.’ Sometimes those decisions work and sometimes they don’t.”

LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic need to get into a rhythm early in order for the Bulls to be effective, Donovan told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times and other media members.

“We’re never going to be as good as we can be as a team until those three guys really drive the opening part of the game. … Those three guys are important to our team, and if we’re working around them . . . I don’t know if we can ever get where we need to get to.”

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Saddiq Bey has his streak of 152 consecutive games played — the second-longest in the league — snapped when the Pistons forward sat out against Sacramento on Sunday. Bey tried to push through his ankle sprain and keep the streak alive, Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press tweets. However, he was ruled out during warmups.
Aaron Nesmith scored a season-high 19 points for the Pacers on Saturday and forward Jalen Smith said his teammate was due for a big offensive game, he told Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star. “We all know what Aaron can do,” Smith said. “Aaron’s one of the best shooters on the team, arguably one of the best shooters in the NBA in my opinion. We knew that he was due for a breakout game some time soon. We kept telling him to keep trusting himself, keep shooting. It’s going to fall sometime soon. It can’t be off all the time.”
Longtime Bucks scout Ron Stewart passed away unexpectedly on Friday, the team tweets. Stewart scouted pro and college players for Milwaukee after previously serving as the head women’s basketball coach at Western Michigan.

Bulls Notes: Vucevic, Roster, Drummond, White

November 11th, 2022 at 2:47pm CST by Luke Adams

Bulls center Nikola Vucevic was fined $15K by the NBA for making an “obscene gesture” during the first quarter of the team’s Wednesday loss to New Orleans, the league announced today (via Twitter). After being whistled for a traveling violation, Vucevic briefly flipped a middle finger in the direction of the stands (video link).

“I figured I would (get fined). It was just in the moment,” Vucevic said on Friday, per Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago. “I got called for a travel. I heard somebody in the stands say something. It wasn’t really towards anybody. It was just frustration.

“Obviously not my proudest moment. I wish I hadn’t done it. But I knew as soon as I did it, there was a good chance somebody caught it. Obviously, I have to do better and make sure I don’t do that again. Just not a great moment. I apologize to the fans and everybody for it. I’ll learn from it.”

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Vucevic is in a contract year and knows he’s unlikely to receive an extension this season, telling K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago that “the front office kind of wants to see how everything goes this season before they make decisions.” The uncertainty might’ve stressed Vucevic out a few years ago, but now that his career earnings are in the nine figures, he’s not worrying about his next contract. “Obviously, when you have an extension, you have security. But one good thing about not having one is you still have options to do what you feel like is best for you and your family,” he said. “I’m not in a position where it’s like a pressing thing for me, where my whole life depends on it. I don’t have to worry about when I get my next contract, how big it’s going to be. I’ve set myself up for a nice life, post-career. That’s why I have more peace of mind now than maybe I had the first time when I was heading into (unrestricted free agency).”
According to Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com, some people around the NBA were surprised that the Bulls didn’t make any significant moves to try to upgrade their rotation in the offseason. Head coach Billy Donovan explained that injuries last season to Lonzo Ball and Patrick Williams, among others, meant the Bulls never got a good look at their full roster. “I really felt after sitting down and talking to the front office that the hard part was we never saw our team really whole together for a long period of time,” Donovan told Bulpett. “I think the feeling was, you know what, like, hopefully we can get healthy and we can see what this group looks like.”
Andre Drummond‘s injured shoulder responded well after he returned to action on Wednesday and he should be good moving forward, tweets Schaefer. As for Coby White, he’s still dealing with swelling and a limited range of motion in his injured quad. White has made progress, but isn’t practicing yet, according to Donovan.

Bulls Notes: Lineup, Dosunmu, Vucevic, Drummond

October 30th, 2022 at 9:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Following another slow start, the Bulls were defeated by Philadelphia on Saturday. Coach Billy Donovan will consider juggling his lineup after his team fell behind by 19 points in the first half, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic writes.

“I think I have to look at that,” Donovan said. “I don’t think there’s any question. Obviously, it’s a small sample size with seven games. But we do have veterans in that lineup. I don’t want to throw them (under the bus). All of us, myself as a coach. We’ve got to figure something out to get off to a better start. We have to look at all those things.”

Power forward Patrick Williams appears to be the most vulnerable in terms of losing his starting job.

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Guard Ayo Dosunmu cleared concussion protocol, but he’s still out of action. He’s dealing with a “thoracic contusion,” according to Donovan. Dosunmu has discomfort in his neck and upper back and is struggling with his mobility, Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago tweets.
Center Nikola Vucevic has taken the second-most field goal attempts behind only DeMar DeRozan. An assertive Vucevic is essential to the team’s success, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “I know how good I am. I know what I bring to the table,” Vucevic said. “I’m a two-time All-Star, so I didn’t get to where I am by chance.”
Vucevic played a season-high 36 minutes against the Sixers, in part because backup Andre Drummond was sidelined by a left shoulder sprain.

Bulls Notes: LaVine, Caruso, Williams, Dosunmu, Terry

October 16th, 2022 at 11:57am CST by Arthur Hill

The Bulls are trying to get center Nikola Vucevic more involved in an offense that was often dominated by Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. LaVine hopes to even out the scoring duties after Vucevic saw his average drop to 17.6 PPG last season, his lowest mark in four years.

“We’ve all been main options,” LaVine said. “When things get a little tougher in the game, I think that’s when we look to our own ability to try to implement ourselves. But we need to look more inward and play more as a unit. That’s what we’re working on.”

Coach Billy Donovan tried some new looks with Vucevic during the preseason, Johnson notes, giving him additional opportunities in the paint and putting him in more read-and-react situations. Donovan trusts LaVine to make the approach work and says he has been willing to adapt to whatever the coaching staff has asked.

“For Zach, you’ve got to look that it’s always been about the team,” Donovan said. “My first year here — and just calling it like it was — he was the only guy who could really make a play at the end of the game off the dribble. We just didn’t have breakdown guards. … Now you add DeMar and Vooch and some other pieces, this is different. All these guys look at ways our team can get better and they can get better. And they have enough confidence in their own offensive ability that they’ll figure out where those spots are at.”

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Alex Caruso credits his time with the Lakers for helping him become a more complete player, Johnson adds in a separate story. Caruso was surrounded by veterans in L.A., and he says LeBron James had the biggest influence. “He helped me reach new levels of my game that I maybe didn’t have the confidence to reach at a certain point in my career,” Caruso said. “He enabled me to get on the court because we had such good chemistry. I was able to play off him and understand the game. … He shows up and plays every night. He’s out there as the best player, No. 1 on the scouting report. And he’s going hard.”
After returning from an injury last season, Patrick Williams played noticeably different with the second unit than with the starters, notes Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune. He’s more aggressive on offense when surrounded by reserves, but when he’s on the court with LaVine and DeRozan he tries to get the ball to them. “A lot of times in the first unit, obviously with Zach and DeMar, they’re All-Stars,” Williams said. “So I feel and the team feels like the best shot is for the ball to be in their hand. We’re trying to set screens for them and trying to get them open. … But with that second group, it’s just whoever has it.”
In another piece, Poe looks at six revelations from the preseason, including Ayo Dosunmu‘s new responsibilities as the starting point guard and Dalen Terry‘s push for a rotation role as a rookie.

Central Notes: Ball, Clarkson, Bogdanovic, Livers, Vucevic, Caruso

September 29th, 2022 at 10:50am CST by Dana Gauruder

There’s confidence that Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball will return at some point this season, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Ball underwent another left knee surgery on Wednesday and doctors are optimistic the issue has been fully addressed. However, he’s going to be out a number of months, Charania adds.

Ball was still unable to “run or jump” entering training camp despite a lengthy rehab from two previous procedures this year.

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The Bucks showed a lot of interest in trading for the Jazz‘s Jordan Clarkson but the Jazz balked at Milwaukee’s proposal, Tony Jones of The Athletic said on the Bill Riley Show podcast (hat tip to HoopsHype). Utah was uninterested at taking back George Hill‘s contract, which Jones described as a non-starter in trade discussions. One of the league’s top scoring reserves, Clarkson averaged 16 points last season. He has two years left on his four-year, $51.52MM contract. Hill has an expiring $4MM contract, so Milwaukee would have still needed to send out more salary in a potential trade.
The Lakers and Suns were among the teams reportedly pursuing Bojan Bogdanovic but he wound up getting traded to the Pistons. The former Jazz forward says he wasn’t concerned where he ended up, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. “I didn’t have any preference,” Bogdanovic said. “There’s a lot of rumors. Who knows if that’s true or not? I’m super happy and excited to be part of the Pistons.”
Pistons forward Isaiah Livers wound up playing 19 games during his rookie season after recovering from a foot injury. He’s aiming to become a regular part of the rotation this season, he told James Edwards III of The Athletic. “I wanted to build off those last 19, 20 games,” the 2021 second-round pick said. “Coaches and everyone seemed to love the way that I was playing. It was working effectively.”
There was heavy speculation that Bulls center Nikola Vucevic would be part of a package to acquire Rudy Gobert during the offseason. Vucevic had serious doubts that would happen and was proven correct when Gobert was dealt to Minnesota, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. “Rumors are a part of what we do,’’ said Vucevic, who is on an expiring contract. “Whether they’re true or not, it’s out of my control. I focus on what I can control, and, in the end, I had some fun with [the Jazz rumors]. At no point did I feel it was going to happen.’’
Bulls guard Alex Caruso is one of the candidates to replace Ball in the starting lineup as he mends from his latest knee surgery, but that’s not Caruso’s focus, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic writes. “It won’t be a conversation I’ll have with Billy (Donovan). He might have it with me depending on what we need,” Caruso said. “But I’ve always been team-first trying to win games. If that’s me starting basketball games then that’s what we’ll do. If that’s me coming off the bench, that’s fine too. I’ve always been I’d rather finish games than start games.

Central Notes: Hayes, Ball, Bucks, G League Trade

September 17th, 2022 at 9:36pm CST by Arthur Hill

Killian Hayes has to make progress as a scorer to show the Pistons he should be part of their long-term plans, writes James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. After injuries limited him to 26 games as a rookie, Hayes bounced back to play in 66 last season, showing the defensive and passing skills that made him the No. 7 overall pick in 2020.

However, his scoring development remained stagnant as he averaged 6.9 PPG in 25 minutes per night while shooting 38.3% from the field and 26.3% from three-point range. Edwards believes Hayes needs to become more aggressive in getting to the basket, noting that he made 74% of his attempts at the rim last season, but that only accounted for 16% of his shots.

Edwards poses questions involving other Pistons players, asking whether Isaiah Stewart has become a legitimate three-point shooter, whether Saddiq Bey can balance his performance from his first two seasons and whether Saben Lee can find a way to stand out on a roster loaded with guards.

There’s more from the Central Division:

Lonzo Ball tops a list of Bulls players with the most to prove compiled by Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. Ball may be held out through the start of the regular season because of pain in his surgically repaired left knee. The Bulls insist the knee is structurally sound, but his availability will play a massive role in where the team finishes in the Eastern Conference. Mayberry adds that the team also needs a bounce-back performance from center Nikola Vucevic, who’s heading into a contract year.
Unlike most of their competitors in the East, the Bucks didn’t make major changes this offseason and can rely on continuity as they make a run at another NBA title, per Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype. Milwaukee still has the defensive foundation to contend for a championship, Gozlan adds, and Giannis Antetokounmpo remains one of the best players in the world. One financial concern that Gozlan points out is that the Bucks appear destined for the repeater tax next season, while Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez will both become unrestricted free agents in July if they don’t receive extensions.
In a press release, the Cleveland Charge – The Cavaliers‘ G League affiliate – announced the trade of Norvel Pelle and the Charge’s second-round pick to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (the Pacers‘ affiliate) in exchange for Nate Hinton.

EuroBasket Notes: Notable Absences, Top Players, Saric, Schröder

September 1st, 2022 at 9:23am CST by Luke Adams

Italian forward Danilo Gallinari tops the list of the most disappointing and impactful absences for EuroBasket 2022, writes Aris Barkas of Eurohoops. Gallinari injured his knee in a World Cup qualifying game last week and was diagnosed with a torn meniscus, sidelining him not only for the European Basketball Championship but likely for the start of his Celtics career as well.

Bogdan Bogdanovic (Serbia), Ricky Rubio (Spain), Nikola Vucevic (Montenegro), Paolo Banchero (Italy), and Victor Wembanyama (France) are among the other most notable EuroBasket absences, as Barkas details — some of those players will be absent due to injuries, while others opted out of the tournament as they prepare for the upcoming 2022/23 season.

Here’s more on EuroBasket, which tipped off today:

Eurohoops identifies the top 10 players participating in EuroBasket, while ESPN (Insider link) ranks the top 25 to watch. Eurohoops has Giannis Antetokounmpo at the top of its list, followed by Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic, and Rudy Gobert — ESPN moves Jokic up to No. 1, sliding Giannis and Luka down one spot each.
Within that ESPN Insider story, Kevin Pelton says Suns forward Dario Saric and free agent guard Dennis Schröder are among the players he’ll be keeping a close eye on at EuroBasket. Saric hasn’t played since 2020/21 due a torn ACL, while a strong EuroBasket showing could help Schröder secure a spot on an NBA roster in time for training camp.
In his latest Substack article, Marc Stein explains why this year’s EuroBasket is the most anticipated version yet. In addition to the high number of NBA players participating, the race for the gold appears more wide open than usual, Stein writes.
In another Eurohoops article, Barkas makes his predictions for which teams will come out of each EuroBasket group and what the knockout round will look like.

Bulls To Pursue Extension With Nikola Vucevic?

August 6th, 2022 at 10:07am CST by Dana Gauruder

Nikola Vucevic and the Bulls will have initial discussions during training camp regarding a possible extension, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.

A source told Cowley that both sides want him to remain with the team beyond the final year of his contract. Vucevic is heading into the last season of his front-loaded four-year, $100MM deal that he signed with Orlando. He’ll make $22MM in 2022/23.

Vucevic has been the subject of trade rumors for months. There was heavy speculation that he’d be part of a Rudy Gobert deal with Utah before the All-Star center was dealt to Minnesota. Extending Vucevic on a one-year deal with a player option for the 2024/25 season would make sense for both sides, Cowley speculates.

Chicago may simply have come to the conclusion that an upgrade at center may not be available.

The Bulls front office places a high value on the Vucevic’s professionalism, versatility and consistency. However, there’s no denying that the big man had a rather forgettable 2021/22 season. He averaged 17.6 PPG, his lowest since the 2017-18 season, and shot just 31.4% from 3-point range. He’s a 34.8% career shooter from distance.

In the previous season, when he was acquired by Chicago, he averaged 23.4 PPG and made 40% of his 3-pointers in 70 games between the Bulls and Magic. Cowley notes Vucevic’s touches have dipped after he was more of a focal point in Orlando’s scheme.

The biggest issue with Vucevic is his defensive shortcomings. He’s never been a shot blocker and he has difficulty in pick-and-roll situations. But Chicago was never truly whole last season due to injuries and Vucevic didn’t have the ability to build chemistry at both ends with the core group.

Zach LaVine Likely To Re-Sign With Bulls

June 14th, 2022 at 8:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Despite rumors that Zach LaVine plans to talk with other teams in free agency, the most likely scenario has him re-signing with the Bulls, writes Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.

LaVine is expected to receive a new five-year contract valued at around $200MM, according to Fischer, who notes that the only significant point of contention is the status of the final year of the deal. It could be fully or partially guaranteed, or LaVine could be given a player option.

The Trail Blazers, Spurs, Hawks and Lakers are all expected to reach out to LaVine, but Fischer doesn’t believe any of those teams can provide the two-time All-Star with a better situation than what he has in Chicago. LaVine wants to be the sole focal point of the offense, which hasn’t happened since the Bulls added DeMar DeRozan last summer, but he wouldn’t get that in Portland, Atlanta or L.A. It’s something San Antonio could offer, but the Spurs aren’t among the top contenders in the West.

Upgrading the frontcourt will be an offseason priority in Chicago, according to Fischer. His sources say the team is listening to offers for Nikola Vucevic, who has a $22MM expiring contract, and has expressed interest in Jazz center Rudy Gobert, although the club’s reluctance to part with Patrick Williams may prevent a deal from being worked out with Utah.

The Bulls are also exploring trades involving third-year point guard Coby White, who will be eligible for a rookie scale extension, and the No. 18 pick in next week’s draft, Fischer adds.