At 6-foot-10, 260 pounds, Nikola Vucevic should be very hard to miss.
Should be.
Even when he’s working next to the other frontcourt players on the Bulls roster in practices and shootarounds, Vucevic carries a different appearance. More mass, more presence. The type of body that screams, “Dang right I shop at the Big & Tall Store!’’
It’s about time his teammates started noticing that.
“We’re just trying to do a better job playing through Vooch,’’ veteran DeMar DeRozan said after the team’s latest win. “Especially with me and Zach [LaVine] getting pressured so much. Once [Vucevic] gets going, it makes everybody else’s job easier.’’
Kind of the point Vucevic has been insisting all season long.
Even in scoring 27 points against the Wizards on Tuesday, there were at least five instances where Vucevic either got cross-matched with a smaller defender or had a defender sealed, and was ignored.
He could have easily finished that game with close to 40.
But this has been an ongoing storyline throughout most of the season, and especially since the Memphis loss in late February, where veteran Tristan Thompson pointed out as the game in which the Grizzlies had success with a defensive blueprint to beat the Bulls, and sent the video out to the rest of the league.
True? Conspiracy theory? Who knows?
At times it’s Tristan’s world and everybody else is just visiting.
“I don’t need to take shots, but I think I can make everyone’s life easier if I get touches,’’ Vucevic told the Sun-Times last week.
He’s not wrong.
The Bulls will enter Thursday’s game with the Los Angeles Clippers with a .579 winning percentage on the season. In the 30 games in which Vucevic took 17 or more shots the Bulls were 20-10 (.666). In the 28 games in which the 31-year-old handed out four assists or more the record was 19-9 (.678).
Coincidence?
Maybe.
In the last six games against teams with a winning percentage of .600 or higher, however, only once did Vucevic get 17 or more shot attempts — the Memphis loss — and the Bulls lost all six.
“You have to make a decision on how you are going to guard us,’’ DeRozan said. “Vooch is capable of making plays, shots, shooting threes, mid-range; teams have to make a decision. It’s a tough cover.’’
That’s why come playoff time, there might not be a player more important than Vucevic, especially with the way DeRozan and LaVine will be guarded in the postseason. Now, if only the rest of the team would start realizing it.
No matter who the Bulls draw in the first-round of the playoffs, whether it’s Boston, Miami, Philadelphia or Milwaukee, they all have defensive-minded wings to throw at LaVine and DeRozan to try and make life difficult on the two All-Stars.
They also have bigs that will try and play Vucevic with some physicality. Even with Boston losing Robert Williams III with a knee injury, they still have Al Horford and Daniel Theis. But what makes Vucevic different is his ability to hit threes, and oh by the way, he’s done at a 50% clip the last six games (11-for-22).
“I know when I play one-on-one I’m usually able to score against a lot of guys,’’ Vucevic said. “And if they start double-teaming me, it opens up a lot for us playing inside-out, which is important. You have to play inside-out in this league. You can’t just hang on the perimeter. That’s sometimes something we struggle with and our offense gets stagnant.
“I was able to attack [against the Wizards] and most important we got the win.’’
Hopefully, a game-plan Vucevic’s teammates don’t forget.
