Bulls center Nikola Vucevic throws realism at the two-game winning streak
While Bulls center Nikola Vucevic was glad to see some energy and life on the defensive end the last two games, the veteran feels like this style of play won’t be sustainable long-term.
Nam Y. Huh/AP
Nikola Vucevic wasn’t trying to play the role of discontent as much as realist.
The Bulls big man loved the defensive energy on display the first two games out of the All-Star Break, and even more, loved the fact that it resulted in two much-needed wins.
If holding opponents under 90 points in back-to-back games for the first time in five seasons was the main goal for this roster, Vucevic would be all about it. However, it’s not.
Vucevic not only wants to see a playoff run with his teammates, but a deep one, and in his opinion, while this current style of play has been nice to see from an identity standpoint, it’s not sustainable.
Definitely not in today’s NBA.
“When the offense isn’t working, you have no choice but to play this way if you want to win, but obviously it’s not who we want to be,’’ Vucevic said. “We have too much talent on this team to be that type of team. We just have to figure it out offensively, find a way to be more efficient, play with a little more pace, because it’s going to be hard to continue holding teams under 90 points in today’s NBA. It’s not realistic.’’
What is realistic is the Bulls have held the league’s best defensive rating since Jan. 1.
Yet, all they have to show for it over that time is a 12-13 record.
Maybe that’s enough to get them into the Eastern Conference play-in tournament if it continues over the final 21 games, but that wasn’t the mission statement at the start of the season.
Not from Vucevic, and certainly not from executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, who set the bar at reaching at least the second round of the playoffs.
“We’ve got to find some more offense,’’ Vucevic said. “If we can tweak some things offensively, that would help a lot. The big thing for us is to try and find ways to create more three-point shots, looks, make a few more – for example starting with me.’’
The Bulls did put up 30 threes in Sunday’s 20-point win over the Wizards, but only hit eight of them (26.7%). On the season, it’s a roster that once again sat at the bottom in three-point attempts, however, with the Bulls averaging 28.8 attempts per game. In comparison, Golden State leads the league with 43.3 attempts per game.
The Bulls also shot 28.8 threes a game last season, but finished fourth-best in hitting 36.9% from long range.
They currently sit 16th in three-point field goal percentage at 35.9%.
The other concern from Vucevic? Yes, the addition of Patrick Beverley and the defensive communication he brings has been stellar, but in Vucevic’s estimation the Nets also had a horrible shooting night on Friday — partially caused by the defense — while the Wizards were missing two starters, including 7-foot-3 center/stretch-4 Kristaps Porzingis.
The Bulls have gotten away with basically a four-guard starting lineup because of the favorable match-ups the last two games. That’s not going to be the case against bigger teams like Toronto and even Phoenix if Kevin Durant plays.
“It’s definitely not [sustainable],’’ Vucevic added. “To be honest, you can’t expect us to defend like that every game, and for teams to miss as much as they have. Like Brooklyn, we played good defense, but they also had a really off night. You have to be realistic about that.
“That might get us some wins here and there, but if you really want to actually do something a little more legit, it can’t be this way. We have to find a way to be more of a threat with our offense.’’