Nikola Vucevic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Extension Candidate: Nikola Vucevic

September 10th, 2014 at 10:44am CST by Chuck Myron

There’s a chance that one day the 2012 trade that sent Dwight Howard out of Orlando will be remembered equally as well for having brought another All-Star center to the Magic. Nikola Vucevic blossomed when coach Jacque Vaughn gave him a starting role and 33.2 minutes a night in 2012/13, the Swiss native’s first in Orlando after he spent his rookie season mostly on the bench in Philadelphia. He was a terror on the boards, averaging 11.9 per game, almost as many as Howard, who led the league that season. Vucevic averaged 13.1 points a night and ran up a 17.8 PER, and it seemed like the Magic had snagged a star in the making at the same time they parted with the franchise’s preeminent 21st century figure.

This past season tempered that sort of optimism as Vucevic’s numbers plateaued and the Magic slogged through another sub-25-win year. His scoring average was up to 14.2 PPG in slightly fewer minutes each night, but his shooting percentage was lower. His rebounding dropped to 11.0 RPG, a declined backed up by dips in his per-minute rebounding numbers and his total rebound percentage. The Magic gave up just as many points per possession when Vucevic was on the floor compared to when he sat in 2012/13, according to NBA.com, but the Magic were more porous when Vucevic played than when he sat last season. There were subtle signs of improvement last season, like his 18.8 PER, a point higher than the season before, but his steps backward in other categories seemed to cancel out those gains, at best. Vucevic turns 24 next month, and it’s worth wondering if he’s simply not going to get much better.

A report as early as January identified mutual interest between the Magic and Vucevic in a long-term future together, and a dispatch from earlier this summer indicated that talks would pick up sometime around Labor Day. We’ve come to that point on the calendar, and both sides must reckon with the trick that is determining whether the improvement between his first and second seasons is more indicative of the player he’ll become than what took place between years two and three.

Vucevic and his representatives at BDA Sports Management have the allure of size in their corner, even though Vucevic is somewhat short for a center at 6’10”. That helps explain why he’s never averaged more than a block per game and hasn’t shown signs of developing into a plus defender, never mind the elite stopper that Howard was during his time in Orlando. Still, defense is a strong suit of rookie power forward Aaron Gordon, and that fact surely wasn’t lost on Magic GM Rob Hennigan when he drafted Gordon at No. 4 in June and decided to address his team’s frontcourt before he did so with the backcourt. The chance to have both inside positions covered with promising young players for the foreseeable future is the dream of just about every GM, and it’s up to Hennigan to figure out just how promising Vucevic really is.

The Pistons have faced a similar dilemma over the past year with Greg Monroe, who has a track record of greater production than Vucevic has. Detroit has Andre Drummond to go with Monroe on the interior, but the team complicated that dynamic when it signed Josh Smith for four years and $54MM last summer. Still, the Pistons never seemed willing to meet Monroe’s demand for a max salary, and now he’s poised to slip away in unrestricted free agency next summer after signing his qualifying offer. There’s been no suggestion that Vucevic will similarly hold out for the max, but with the agent for Ricky Rubio having asked for it and the Warriors having budgeted for such a deal with Klay Thompson, it wouldn’t be shocking if Vucevic wants to test his worth on the market.

The Magic have more cap flexibility for the years ahead than the Pistons do, but Orlando also brought in a veteran on a fairly lucrative contract who plays Vucevic’s position, just as Detroit did with Monroe and Smith. Yet there are few other similarities between Smith, whose faulty three-point shooting makes him a focal point for criticism, and Channing Frye, a career 38.5% marksman from behind the arc. Frye is also on a four-year, $32MM deal that’s almost half as expensive as Smith’s, and Frye’s contract is frontloaded, making it less of a burden as years go by.

Still, the Magic must be careful when they hand out extensions, since Vucevic is one of eight Orlando players on rookie scale contracts. They’ll have to be especially judicious when it comes to handing out a five-year extension, which would trigger the Designated Player rule and keep the team from giving out an extension of that length to any of its other guys on rookie scale contracts. It’s unlikely that the Magic will be able to retain every one of those former first-round picks long-term, so tough choices loom.

I suspect that Orlando will pass on an extension for Tobias Harris this year, as I explained earlier. Conversely, I predicted that the Magic would go for a four-year, $48MM extension with Vucevic, similar to what the Jazz and Derrick Favors settled on last fall. There were more unknowns with Favors, who had yet to assume a full-time starting role when he signed that extension, but Utah was in a similar position, with plenty of young players poised to come up for new deals in the years ahead. If either side were to balk at such an arrangement, it would be Vucevic, who might be unwilling to tether himself to a contract that would have the potential to become a bargain even before it took effect if his game takes a leap this year. It’s tough to argue that a player who’s not a prolific scorer or a stout defender is worth more than $12MM a year, but it seems reasonable to think that Vucevic’s decision will come down to whether he’s willing to gamble that he can add at least one of those distinctions to his résumé in the near future.

Trade Retrospective: Dwight Howard To Lakers

August 5th, 2014 at 9:17pm CST by Eddie Scarito

It’s an enormous gamble for franchises to trade away their superstars because there’s almost no way to get back equal value in return. Teams usually have to settle for quantity over quality, and have to bank on the returns panning out down the line, or being able to in turn, flip the acquired assets for another team’s star player in another deal. It’s a gamble either way you look at it, and might help in explaining the turnover rate of NBA GM’s.

The current Kevin Love situation playing out in Minnesota is a great example of this. Team president and coach Flip Saunders is still trying to decide whether or not to pull the trigger on the deal, and if he does, which package provides the best return? There’s no way to get equal value for a player of Love’s caliber, at least not for the coming season. If Saunders lands the right package it will benefit the Timberwolves more in the seasons to come, rather than during the 2014/15 campaign. This is true even if they do in fact land Andrew Wiggins, as most of the current rumors suggest.

Minnesota’s quandary made me want to take a look back at some other blockbuster trades where superstars changed hands, and to examine how the trades worked out for both sides. Since we’re discussing a big man, I decided to begin this series with a look back at the August 2012 deal that sent Dwight Howard from the Magic to the Lakers.

First let’s recap the trade, and all the assets and teams involved:

The Lakers received Dwight Howard, Chris Duhon, and Earl Clark from the Magic.
The Nuggets received Andre Iguodala from the Sixers.
The Sixers received Andrew Bynum from the Lakers, and Jason Richardson from the Magic.
The Magic received Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, a 2014 first rounder from Denver via the Knicks (traded to Sixers for the rights to Elfrid Payton) and a 2013 second-round pick (Romero Osby) from the Nuggets; Maurice Harkless and Nikola Vucevic from the Sixers; Josh McRoberts, Christian Eyenga, a top-five protected first rounder in 2017, and a conditional second-rounder in 2015 from the Lakers (protected for picks 31-40).

Looking back at the trade from the Lakers’ perspective, it’s not as bad a deal as one would have thought, considering Howard ended up being a one-year rental. During Howard’s lone season in Los Angeles, he averaged 17.1 PPG, 12.4 RPG, and 2.4 BPG in 76 appearances. His time was most notable for his displeasure with then coach Mike D’Antoni‘s offensive system, and the perception that Howard wasn’t satisfied with being the second biggest star on the team after Kobe Bryant.

Los Angeles went 45-37 in Howard’s only season, earning the seventh seed in the playoffs, where they were swept in the first round by the Spurs. Howard then left the Lakers to sign a four-year, $87.59MM contract with the Rockets.

In retrospect, the Lakers didn’t surrender all that much for their one season of Howard. At the time giving up Andrew Bynum, who was coming off of a season where he averaged 18.7 PPG, 11.8 RPG, and 1.9 BPG, seemed like a gamble, considering re-signing Howard wasn’t guaranteed, but Bynum ended up missing the entire 2012/13 season, and he’s only appeared in a total of 26 games since then.

Josh McRoberts has turned out to be a valuable bench contributor, but he’s not a player who would have significantly changed the fortunes of the purple-and-gold. McRoberts was subsequently traded by Orlando to the Hornets for Hakim Warrick midway through the 2012/13 season, and most recently signed a four-year, $22.65MM deal with the Heat.

The biggest loss from the trade could turn out to be the 2017 first-rounder that went to Orlando. It’s top-five protected, which gives Los Angeles some margin for error. But unless the Lakers make a splash in free agency the next two summers, the loss of the pick will cost them a much needed cog in the rebuilding process, and will negatively impact the franchise. I would say that setback wouldn’t be worth the single season of Howard they received. The record the Lakers have compiled since the trade is 72-92, hardly the result they intended when making the deal.

The Nuggets received a big boost from Iguodala in his one season with the team. He averaged 13.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 5.4 APG while appearing in 80 contests. Denver went 57-25 that year, securing the third seed in the playoffs, before getting ousted by the Warriors in the first round.

Iguodala then left the Nuggets in a sign-and-trade deal with the Warriors that netted them Randy Foye. The Nuggets also swapped 2018 second-rounders with Golden State as part of that trade.

Foye had a decent season last year, averaging 13.2 PPG, 2.9 RPG, and 3.5 APG in Denver. He actually outperformed Iguodala’s totals in Golden State, thanks to Iguodala being slowed by injuries for much of the year. Still, in the long term, Iguodala is a much more valuable player, especially on the defensive end.

From Denver’s perspective this trade wasn’t a great success. The one season of Iguodala cost them two excellent years from Afflalo, who averaged 16.5 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 3.2 APG in 2012/13, and 18.2 PPG, 3.6 RPG, and 3.4 APG during the 2013/14 season, numbers that surpassed anything that Iguodala has provided in Denver or Golden State. Afflalo was re-acquired by Denver this summer in a trade with Orlando which sent Evan Fournier and the No. 56 pick (Devyn Marble) to the Magic. Since the 2012 trade, the Nuggets record is 93-71.

From the Sixers’ perspective, this trade wasn’t a great deal–unless you are on board with their perceived tanking, and the assets they are gathering as a result. The acquisition of Bynum, which at the time was looked at as a win, turned out to be a disaster. Iguodala was a team leader, extremely popular in Philadelphia, and arguably the team’s best player at the time. Bynum had injury and motivation issues, and he ended up being far more trouble than he was worth during his brief stay in Philadelphia.

The loss of Harkless and Vucevic also doesn’t help the trade look any better from Philadelphia’s perspective. Harkless hasn’t set the league on fire, but he averaged 8.2 PPG and 4.4 RPG during the 2012/13 campaign, and 7.4 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 2013/14. He’s still only 21 years old and could develop into a valuable rotation piece down the line.

Vucevic, still only 23 years old, has turned out to be a very productive big man for Orlando. He put up 13.1 PPG and 11.9 RPG in 2012/13, and then 14.2 PPG and 11.0 RPG last season, far better numbers than anything from either Bynum or Richardson, who averaged 10.5 PPG and 3.8 RPG during his one healthy season in Philly.

The Sixers have gone 53-111 since the trade, a ghastly mark that stands in stark contrast to what they were envisioning when making the deal. They couldn’t have anticipated the injuries to Bynum, but that’s the risk a franchise takes with any transaction.

Finally, we come to the Magic. They were in a similar position to the one that Minnesota now finds itself in. They had a disgruntled superstar who wanted out, and they didn’t want to risk losing Howard for nothing if he left as a free agent. So, they made the difficult decision to deal away their franchise player.

After running through what the other teams received, and the minimal returns those assets provided, this might be one of the rare cases where the team trading away the best player actually came out on top.

As I’ve previously mentioned, Afflalo gave them two solid seasons, and Orlando probably should have retained him for another year, considering his talent level and affordable contract. Harkless has given Orlando decent production, and he hasn’t reached his full potential yet.

But the big prize was Vucevic. Productive big men are at a premium in the league, and he is still improving as a player. The problem will come after this season. Vucevic is eligible to sign an extension this summer, or he’ll become a restricted free agent in 2015. He won’t come cheap, and the Magic will have to decide if he’s worth the $10-15MM per season he will most likely seek in his new contract.

The final piece to this trade is Payton. If he can develop into a reliable starter, this trade will look better from Orlando’s perspective. Payton’s presence will allow Victor Oladipo to return to his natural position at shooting guard and reduce his ball-handling duties. The knock on Payton is his lack of a reliable jump shot, and with his questionable mechanics, it might not be a part of his game that will ever stand out. But if he can improve his defense, stay away from turnovers, and facilitate the offense effectively, he’ll be a valuable piece of the puzzle going forward.

Despite “winning” this trade, it hasn’t been reflected in the standings. Orlando has gone 43-121 since dealing away Howard. So, despite acquiring some intriguing building blocks, it also proves that one star player is far more valuable than a roster of good ones. Minnesota, take heed. You might have no choice but to trade Love, but no matter the return, your ranking in the Western Conference most likely won’t improve over the next few seasons.

And-Ones: LeBron, Novak, Hibbert, Butler

July 10th, 2014 at 11:53pm CST by Charlie Adams

The Heat and Cavs expect LeBron James to make his decision on where to sign before he gets on his flight to Brazil this weekend, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. It’s likely that any decision James makes will impact where Chris Bosh, Kevin Love, and Chandler Parsons find themselves next season as well. While much is seemingly tied to the four-time MVP’s choice, odds are low anything is decided tonight. Let’s catch up on the rest of the league while we wait on LeBron and the 2014 edition of “The Decision”:

The Raptors are finalizing a buyout with Lucas Nogueira‘s team in Spain, writes Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (on Twitter). We had heard earlier this week that Toronto was likely to bring over Nogueira and Bruno Caboclo prior to the start of 2014/15.
The $9.8MM trade exception that the Warriors had created from the Richard Jefferson deal with the Jazz expired tonight, as David Aldridge of NBA.com observes (via Twitter).
The Steve Novak trade, which became official today, allows the Raptors to create a $3,445,947 trade exception equivalent to Novak’s salary. The three-teamer between the Nets, Cavs and Celtics that was also formalized today allows the Nets to create a diminutive $741,160 trade exception equal to the difference between Marcus Thornton’s salary and the sum of the salaries for Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev. The Cavs could end up with trade exceptions out of the deal, too, but they’re poised to open cap room, so those exceptions would disappear when they officially dip below the cap.
The Bucks and Pacers have had discussions for a trade including Roy Hibbert, writes Gery Woefel of the Racine Journal Times. Milwaukee is interested in acquiring Hibbert, says Woelfel, but it isn’t clear if Indiana is interested in any packages the Bucks could put together.
Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris‘ rookie deals expire after 2014/15, and as a result, the duo became extension eligible this summer. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel hears discussions about new contracts between the Magic and the young big men will pick up some time around Labor Day.
Caron Butler is being pursued by the Clippers and Thunder, tweets Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. Butler, of course, has spent time with both organizations.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Berger’s Draft Notes: Cavs, Saric, Magic

June 21st, 2014 at 9:35pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Cavs are leaning towards selecting Jabari Parker with the first-overall pick, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. He cites Parker being more NBA ready as the reason behind that pick.

Eastern Notes: Bucks, Anthony, Pistons

April 13th, 2014 at 10:16pm CST by Cray Allred

More information surrounding the potential sale of the Bucks continues to emerge. Mike Dunleavy is part of an newly reported investment group that was interested in purchasing a share of ownership, but a separate, local group is finalizing a deal with Herb Kohl, per Mitch Lawrence of New York Daily News. Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel counters that report, saying that there is activity but that there is no definitive partnership yet. It is still unknown whether the rumored purchases are for minority or majority ownership of the team. Here’s more from the East:

It’s well known in league circles that Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau would love to acquire Carmelo Anthony, according to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Johnson believes Chicago will make exhaustive attempts to complete a sign-and-trade for Anthony, but deems their chances a long shot.
Knicks coach Mike Woodson took responsibility for New York’s failure to make the playoffs, Al Iannazzonne of Newsday reports. All reports point to Woodson being fired after coming up short in the pursuit of the eighth seed.
Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News lists five potential candidates to replace Joe Dumars as the next Pistons GM.
While most agree that Dumars’ looming resignation as the Pistons GM is appropriate, Chad Ford of ESPN.com says his personal opinion of Dumars is very high (via Twitter). Of all the GMs that Ford has interacted with, he places Dumars in his top five.
Nikola Vucevic has been shut down for the season, mainly as a precautionary measure by the Magic, per Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel.

Magic, Nikola Vucevic Interested In Extension

January 24th, 2014 at 11:54am CST by Chuck Myron

Center Nikola Vucevic hasn’t shown the rapid growth this season that he displayed in a breakout campaign last year, but Magic GM Rob Hennigan nonetheless remains high on the 23-year-old, according to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter links). Vucevic is similarly enthused about a long-term future in Orlando, Schmitz also notes, and he’ll be eligible to sign a rookie scale extension this summer.

“I’d love to be in Orlando for a while,” Vucevic said. “I like the direction of the team. We have a lot of good stuff going forward. I’d love to be a part of it.”

Hennigan is similarly hopeful that he can accommodate the client of BDA Sports Management. Vucevic could sign an extension for up to four years, or five if the Magic are willing to make him their designated player, which would restrict them from handing out another five-year rookie scale extension anytime soon. He could get a starting salary worth as much as 25% of the salary cap, or 30% in the unlikely event he triggers the Derrick Rose Rule provisions. The Magic can sign him to an extension any time between the end of the July Moratorium and October 31st this year. He’d become eligible for restricted free agency if the two sides can’t agree by Halloween.

Vucevic, who’s missed most of this month with a concussion, is averaging 13.0 points and 11.0 rebounds with a 17.8 PER, numbers almost identical to the ones he posted last season. A 6’10” consistent double-double producer is a valuable commodity in the NBA, but it’d be a stretch for him to command the max. He could fit into the $12-13MM range that Al Horford and Joakim Noah make on their deals, though that’s just my speculation.

Southeast Notes: Magic, Vucevic, Heat, Beasley

November 30th, 2013 at 12:30pm CST by Zachary Links

Worried about your team’s playoff hopes as we approach the quarter-mark of the season? As Shandel Richardson of the Sun Sentinel pointed out earlier this week, the 2010/11 Heat started out 9-8, leading some to wonder if the superstar packed club could succeed. That Heat team found its way to the 2011 Finals and went on to win back-to-back titles. Here’s a look at the Southeast Division..

As he plays out the third year of a four-year contract, the Magic are looking to determine Nikola Vucevic‘s value, writes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. While the center was impressive in his first season with Orlando and has had strong flashes this season, he hasn’t taken a noticable step forward. As it stands, the Magic are expected to retain Vucevic when he becomes a restricted free agent after the 2014/15 season. A deal for Vucevic would probably fall in between the five-year, $60MM deal that Nikola Pekovic signed with the T’Wolves and Larry Sanders‘ four-year, $44MM contract with the Bucks.
In today’s mailbag, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes that offseason pickup Michael Beasley looks to have taken a huge leap in his first month in Miami. The Heat are more than comfortable turning to the forward for offense, which isn’t something that most observers expected when they signed Beasley to a non-guaranteed pact.
Dwayne Wade says that the Heat are the deepest team he’s ever played on, writes Ethan Skolnick of Bleacher Report. “No knock on any other team that I’ve ever played on, besides the Olympic team, this would probably be the deepest team that I’ve played on,” Dwyane Wade said Friday night.

Odds & Ends: Tanking, DeRozan, Vucevic

November 29th, 2013 at 11:03pm CST by Ryan Raroque

While ownership, team executives, and coaches may sometimes choose to tank games (usually referred to by some as “focusing on the future”), Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld writes that players aren’t in on it, especially if they’re trying to prove themselves or avoiding the possibility that their potential replacement gets drafted.

Here’s more of tonight’s miscellaneous news and notes:

Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (via Twitter) wonders if the Raptors should look to move DeMar DeRozan while his value is high, especially if they can’t find a taker for Rudy Gay.
Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel writes that the Magic are trying to figure out center Nikola Vucevic‘s worth and thinks that the potential numbers on an extension could be between what Larry Sanders and Nikola Pekovic got from their respective teams this past summer.
Looking back at how his tenure as the Trail Blazers’ head coach came to an end, Pacers assistant Nate McMillan tells Joe Freeman of the Oregonian that his one regret was trying to fit Gerald Wallace into the starting lineup (to keep the veteran from becoming disgruntled) despite Nicolas Batum needing the development.
ESPN looked to 5 of its writers to give their thoughts on how much hope that Knicks, Nets, Cavaliers, Bulls, and Lakers fans should have moving forward this season.
Hoopsworld’s Moke Hamilton discusses what he calls the “Derrick Rose dilemma” for Chicago – deciding whether or not to stay the course or start tear down the current team in order to build for the future.
Although it’s possible that the Bulls will make a move or two to address the team’s current situation, Herb Gould of the Chicago Sun-Times points out that the return of Jimmy Butler to the lineup will help and how Chicago already proved they can at least stay competitive during the regular season without Rose.

Odds & Ends: Waiters, Knicks, NBPA, Vucevic

November 28th, 2013 at 1:51pm CST by Luke Adams

Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers! There may not be any games on the NBA schedule tonight, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still a few updates from around the league to pass along. Let’s check out the latest….

While Dion Waiters may be available, don’t expect to see him in a Knicks uniform, says Marc Berman of the New York Post. According to Berman, New York is seeking frontcourt help rather than another shooting guard as the team explores the trade market and gauges Iman Shumpert‘s trade value.
Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today rounds up recent union developments and passes along the highlights of fellow USA Today scribe Sam Amick’s Q&A with former NBPA president Derek Fisher, who isn’t wavering on his plans to retire.
Nikola Vucevic doesn’t hold any hard feelings toward the Sixers, who traded him to the Magic a year ago. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel has the details and the quotes from Vucevic.
Pierre Jackson is in an unusual situation this season, playing for the D-League’s Idaho Stampede despite the fact that his NBA rights are held by the Pelicans. Dakota Schmidt of Ridiculous Upside takes an in-depth look at the former Baylor guard, attempting to determine whether he has an NBA future.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Magic Exercise 2014/15 Options On Four

October 26th, 2013 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

SATURDAY, 1:59pm: The Magic have officially announced the moves.

FRIDAY, 10:12pm: Having just made their camp cuts this evening, the Magic will pick up their rookie-scale options on four players tomorrow, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The team is set to guarantee the 2014/15 salaries of Maurice Harkless, Tobias Harris, Andrew Nicholson and Nikola Vucevic.

Robbins first reported that the team had decided on the option pickups back in July, well ahead of the October 31st deadline and long before most teams make these kinds of moves. Together the exercised options will add $8,565,534 to the team’s 2014/15 commitments, bringing the total to about $33.4MM — the 11th lowest amount of guaranteed salary in the league when I ran the numbers and projected next summer’s cap space for every team earlier this month.

Vucevic and Harris, who’ll be playing their fourth NBA seasons in 2014/15, will receive about $2.75MM and $2.4MM, respectively, while Harkless and Nicholson, who’ll be third-year guys that season, are set to make around $1.9MM and $1.5MM. Check out our tracker for details on 2014/15 rookie contract options for each team as the October 31st deadline to exercise them draws near.