Passing fancy? Bulls big Nikola Vucevic is finally in a good place - Chicago Sun-Times

When the curse words start spewing in Serbian it’s a good indicator that business is picking up for Nikola Vucevic.

NBA officials have been given a dose of that through the years, as well as some teammates now and then. On opening night of this 2023-24 regular season, even coach Billy Donovan got a taste of that in their well-documented shouting match.

Not that Vucevic was necessarily to blame.

After all, when the front office was discussing a contract extension with the big man last summer, some of that discussion centered around Vucevic getting more lines to read in the play-making script. So when it wasn’t happening like he thought it should in the preseason games, and then again in the home opener against Oklahoma City, yeah, frustration needs an outlet.

Fast forward to the last game of November and the entire month of December when the Bulls arguably started to turn the season around.

Before that overtime win over Milwaukee, the Bulls were 5-14, while Vucevic was averaging 15.4 points per game and just 3.1 assists, spending too many possessions lost in the offense as a 6-foot-11 decoy.

In his 12 games after that – or at least until he was sidelined for a handful of games when he took a knee to the groin – the Bulls went 8-4, Vucevic averaged 18.7 points per game, but also handed out four assists per game, and that’s not even including the hockey assists he made with the pass before the pass.

“We’ve been able to do more things where he’s kind of initiating actions from the elbows,” Donovan said of Vucevic’s turnaround this year. “He likes a style for him offensively where he can do all those kinds of things. He can pick, he can pop, he can roll into the pocket, and he can kind of read those situations.

“I think he’s in a real good place. When Zach (LaVine) went down (with a right foot injury), I thought he really helped us with our ball movement, and he normally generates and does that for us.”

Is he a guy that the Bulls could see doing that for someone else?

It’s an intriguing question, especially with Vucevic becoming trade eligible on Dec. 28, falling under the league’s veteran extension that exceeds the extend-and-trade limits.

There are definitely some offenses that could use a versatile big that is not only a good passer, but stretches the floor because of the ability to shoot the three. Heck, Golden State has all but put a “Help Wanted” sign out for a player that fits that description.

One problem: Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas continues to be focused on first trying to unload LaVine and reload this roster on the fly.

Unless they got a versatile big back for Vucevic – which doesn’t make sense in the current trade market – that would leave only Andre Drummond in the middle, greatly hampering the way Donovan wants to play offensively, as well as leaving the Bulls with no big off the bench whatsoever.

No, Vucevic only gets dealt if Karnisovas is in blow-up mode, which he’s resisted for the last two seasons.

That’s fine with Vucevic, who likes his place with this team lately.

“There are many ways I can be useful for this team, not just scoring, but with my play making,” Vucevic said. “Using me as a guy that can make plays for others, whether it’s a flash, catch the ball, and off-the-ball movement, rolls to the pockets, posts, whatever it is. I think it really helps our team. It’s not just me, I think everybody has been in a better place lately. You can see it. You can see it in the way we’re playing out there.

“Lately, I’m playing with more confidence and enjoying it more. Hopefully it continues that way.”

Some Serbian curse words are ready if it doesn’t.

Adblock test (Why?)