When the Chicago Bulls added Nikola Vucevic in the middle of the 2020-21 NBA season, expectations were instantly high. Unfortunately, the team fell well short of what many believed their ceiling could be.
Some of their struggles were understandable while others were flat-out unacceptable. The good news is the team should have plenty of motivation entering this off-season and as they move into next year.
The Bulls struggles certainly can’t be blamed on a few specific people. Mainly, Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine. They both did their part on the floor but simply were not surrounded with the right pieces to make the most of their talents.
Vooch played in 26 games after joining the Bulls. The team won 11 of those games and lost 15. More often than not he was able to fully display the skillset that made him so coveted by Arturas Karnisovas at the NBA trade deadline.
It didn’t take long for him to get going offensively and find a rhythm with his new team. Vooch averaged 21.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game once he joined LaVine and the Bulls.
The team defense was terrible, but that can only be used against him to an extent. The front office and coaching staff did not exactly put him in great spots on that end of the floor. Defense is a weakness of his and the organization needs to be better equipped to make up for his lack of defensive impact moving forward.
Chicago Bulls Center Nikola Vucevic Season Grade: B
Vucevic deserves credit for adapting quickly and doing whatever his coaches or teammates asked of him. Still, the team needed more out of him and he didn’t deliver it.
That doesn’t mean he won’t moving forward. It simply means his sample size of games was too small for him to earn any high grade unless his production was through the roof. Team success would have helped as well.
He was not put in a great spot from day one with Chicago and Bulls fans should be excited about what he can do as he gets more comfortable.