Chicago Bulls: Vucevic was a better defender than he gets credit for

Strong defense was not a calling card of late for the Chicago Bulls under the last two coaching regimes. But the defense looked better on paper than it often was in reality for the Bulls over the past two seasons thanks to various schematic emphases.

The Bulls had a blitzing defense that often turned the ball over in transition for teams under former head coach Jim Boylen during the 2019-20 campaign. And Donovan’s defense saw the Bulls outrebound almost everyone, which dramatically boosted the team’s defensive rating.

The Bulls averaged around 45 rebounds per game as a team this season, compared to 42 for their opposition. But the Bulls also turned the ball over more and had fewer blocks and steals per game than their opposition. That’s not the look you want.

There will be an emphasis placed on trying to improve the defense this offseason. That can all start with finding the right pieces to support the star duo in the starting unit of center Nikola Vucevic and shooting guard Zach LaVine.

Vooch and LaVine aren’t the best defenders themselves. LaVine has yet to register a defensive box plus/minus above zero. And while Vooch has posted a defensive box plus/minus above zero multiple times in his career to date, he’s also not the best defender among big men in the Eastern Conference.

But we shouldn’t completely disrespect the defensive impact that Vooch brings to the table for the Bulls. He’s often able to make at least a decent impact on the defensive end when he’s able to at least somewhat effectively protect the rim and hit the glass hard.

Why the Chicago Bulls’ star center Nikola Vucevic is better than he’s thought of on defense?

Vooch also can’t get lost on the perimeter because that makes it too cumbersome for his teammates to have to help on defense in the lane.

Yet, there are multiple metrics that proved that Vooch was, at a minimum, a net neutral presence on defense this season. My personal favorite all-encompassing advanced metric on the defensive end of the floor is defensive box plus/minus, thanks to the broad inclusivity of pretty much all significant defensive stats. It’s not the end all be all defensive advanced metric, but it is pretty good at measuring the overall defensive effectiveness of an individual player in any given season.

For Vooch, the defensive box plus/minus looked to do a pretty good job at identifying his true defensive impact (even by the eye test) this season. He registered a 0.2 defensive box plus/minus, which was actually his lowest mark since the 2015-16 campaign.

That should actually be a good sign of what’s to come on defense moving forward for the Bulls with Vooch manning the frontcourt. As Vooch gets more integrated with the Bulls defensive system, and with the possibility of the team parting ways with fourth-year power forward Lauri Markkanen this summer, his game should only trend up on that end of the floor from here on out.

Markkanen was one of the worst net defenders for the Bulls this season. And considering he was on the floor for about 30-40 percent of the significant minutes that Vooch was with the Bulls down the stretch, getting a more capable defensive big man will help the former Orlando Magic star.

During the regular season, Markkanen posted the second-worst mark of his career with a -1.3 defensive box plus/minus. His rebounding numbers also dipped this season.

Moreover, defensive box plus/minus was not the only metric that proved that Vooch was a better defender than most think he was this season. According to 538’s RAPTOR rating, Vooch had the fourth-best defensive overall RAPTOR and he tied for the second-best box score RAPTOR on the team this season.

The only Bulls player that Vooch ranked behind this season in overall defensive RAPTOR was veteran shooting guard Garrett Temple. It’s hard to believe that there’s a metric out there that shows that Vooch made the same level of defensive impact as center Daniel Theis, but defensive RAPTOR is just that.

It is likely that the large number of defensive rebounds and a decent amount of blocks that got Vooch the edge over Theis in some regards. Vooch averaged 9.6 defensive rebounds per game this season, compared to

With Donovan often running Vooch and Theis on the floor together post-trade deadline this season, there just weren’t enough blocks and rebounds to go around between those to match their previous numbers with the Magic and Boston Celtics. But Theis helps to do a lot of the things on defense that Vooch doesn’t do well.

Theis is good at chasing down players driving the lane and getting to the perimeter to challenge shots much faster than Vooch. Theis is also much more effective defending in transition than Vooch. That is really good for the Bulls to have alongside Vooch given that he needs to use a lot of his energy more effectively on the offensive end.

While this isn’t a piece talking about how important it is for the front office to re-sign Theis (which I do believe that it is this summer), it shows that Vooch still can be effective on defense with the right pieces around him.

Some other supporting stats that show that Vooch can be an effective defender in the right system included ESPN’s defensive Real Plus-Minus, defensive rating (specifically in the latter stretch of the season with the Bulls), and defensive win share ratio.

Vooch ranked among the top 15 eligible centers in the NBA this season in defensive RPM. That is not something that Vooch was able to do too often in the past few seasons with the Magic.

According to NBA advanced player stats, Vooch registered a season-high defensive rating of 109 in his final 15 games with the Bulls in April and May. That was a better defensive rating over that span of games that Vooch had compared to any other stretch of time this season with the Magic or the Bulls.

And for the first time since the 2017-18 regular season, Vooch was able to register at least an equal amount of defensive win shares to what he did on the offensive end (1.2 each way during his time with the Bulls).

There are a lot of basketball fans and pundits that consider Vooch to be one of the bigger defensive liabilities among the top big men in the NBA. But the metrics do prove that, with the right supporting cast, Vooch can still be a net positive defensive presence.

The Bulls have a key offseason ahead. Getting the right pieces to fill out this starting unit around the likes of Vooch and LaVine will be huge. The Bulls do have one piece solidified in forward Patrick Williams, and Theis could occupy another if the front office re-signs him this summer.