Orlando Magic Starting Five Breakdown: Nikola Vucevic
By Luke Duffy
The Reality
In what will be Vucevic’s fifth year in the league, it’s worrying how he’s never developed into much of a defensive presence for this team. He’ll clean up the glass sure, but even opposing centers of an average standard can have joy scoring against him on any given night.
Containing the likes of a DeAndre Jordan or Marc Gasol is even more difficult for Vucevic, and at this point it may be time to admit that he will just never excel in that area on the court.
For Vucevic though, the reality is that it may be time for him to truly take over this team. The Magic can’t wait on Oladipo to grow into that role forever, and fans will have realized early on last season that it was Vucevic doing most of the heavy lifting.
When he was on the court, 25 percent of all possessions went through him in some form, and although that illustrates the lack of talent on this team, it also clearly show’s his importance here.
In a guard dominated league, having a big man who can do so much for a team is a big plus. Vucevic also averaged a team high three fouls per game last time out, and again this would point towards a guy who is a step slow on the defensive end. It’s not asking too much to at least be smarter in some of the fouls he concedes to opponents.
Really though it’s just about improving on last season and trying to make a playoff run, we know what this guy is about.
Next: Vucevic Simply Needs To Give More Defensively