Orlando Magic: What should they do with Nikola Vucevic?
By Luke Duffy
1. Use him as the sixth man
It has long been the thoughts of many that Vucevic would work best on a contending team as a polished offensive big man coming off the bench as their sixth man. So why not have him do this for the remainder of the season and see if it leads to more teams picking up the phone and inquiring about him?
Vucevic may lament this happening, but really if the team wants to move him, then it shouldn’t care how much he moans about his predicament.
The death of the big man in the league has been well-documented, so he should accept that no matter where he ends up playing, this is likely his new reality anyway.
Only truly elite teams with multiple All-Stars could afford to have Vucevic start for them and play the way he does and have hopes of winning it all. So the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, basically. Putting him into this role now would likely benefit Vucevic going forward as well.
He is putting up the best offensive rating (108.4) of his career, and there are teams who could use the boost he’d give them off the bench.
The drawback? His defensive rating (108.6) is at an all-time high as well, and basically offsets all of the good he does offensively. This is the core problem of him staying with the Magic, and the reason they’re stuck under the $17 million Biyombo is earning this year and next.
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Having him come in and torch opponents in concentrated bursts would appear to be his destiny in this league, and the Magic can help him get acclimated to that now while also increasing his trade value.