Maybe Lonzo Ball was being a good teammate.
Or maybe, just maybe, the Bulls point guard was issuing a warning for the rest of the Eastern Conference.
“Vooch is a big part of this team,’’ Ball said, discussing Nikola Vucevic’s first real statement game of the season on Monday night. “I think he’s going to have a lot more nights like this.’’
That would be a huge problem for the opposition moving forward.
Make that three huge problems.
As long as DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine remain healthy, the two alphas are going to get theirs. Go ahead and pencil them in for 25 points on most nights, and feel good about it.
However, that doesn’t mean the two are unstoppable.
There’s cold shooting nights sprinkled in, but there’s also certain defenses – Golden State and Miami – that have the personnel and the scheme to at least make DeRozan and LaVine have to grind to get their points.
“Muck up the game,’’ as DeRozan described it.
An offensively engaged Vucevic from both the paint and outside the arc like he was in dropping 30 on Charlotte?
Good luck.
The 6-foot-10 All-Star hasn’t even played well this season before the Hornets game, and still his fingerprints were all over where the Bulls sit in the standings.
In the seven games he missed because of the coronavirus, the 14-8 Bulls went 4-3. In the 15 games he has played in, when Vucevic has been held to 14 points or less the Bulls are 3-4.
It is by no means as Vucevic goes, so goes the Bulls, but there’s no doubt that he is one of the more important players on the roster heading into December.
And the one that’s had to sacrifice the most in this attempt at building a “Big Three.’’
For the LeBron James-Dwyane Wade Heat a decade ago, it was Chris Bosh. For Golden State’s “Big Four’’ dynasty with Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry, it was Draymond Green. And even last year with Brooklyn’s attempt at a “Big Three,’’ Kyrie Irving had to move off the ball and give the full controls to James Harden when the three were healthy enough to be on the court at the same time.
This Bulls model is no different. Someone has to sacrifice.
“I was the main guy in Orlando for years and the ball was always with me,’’ Vucevic said, when describing how he’s been trying to acclimate himself to this roster. “I knew I was going to get my shots regardless of how the game was going. Now it’s a little different.
“We have more talent and more guys on the ball. Just have to find my spots and make sure I don’t get in their way and also for them to get used to playing with a big man like me.’’
Dropping 30 and hitting 6-for-6 from three-point range makes life a lot easier to get used to.
Just go back a few weeks when the Bulls were without Vucevic and Tony Bradley was playing in the middle. There was no threat from outside, no gravity pulling the opposing big out of the paint to free up attack lanes for LaVine and DeRozan, and very few backdoor passes from a center.
Is Vucevic going to protect the rim and play defense like Bradley does? No, but the Bulls know that about him.
That’s why Bradley and players like Derrick Jones Jr. were added in the offseason. They were counters to Vucevic’s weaknesses.
But before Bulls fans start setting up chairs in Grant Park for the title celebration, the win over the Hornets – as well as Vucevic’s performance – was one game. And oh by the way, one game against a Charlotte team that allows the second-most points per game (114.9) in the league.
Next up are the Knicks and the Nets.
Check back.
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