Orlando Magic: Getting behind Nikola Vucevic again

Although the Orlando Magic are now focused on their youth movement, center Nikola Vucevic still has a big part to play in their future again.

For the Orlando Magic, although this summer was a good one in which they drafted a potential defensive standout in Mohamed Bamba and didn’t lock themselves into any bad contracts, perhaps the most surprising thing to not happen was that Nikola Vucevic stuck around.

The center has long been the subject of trade rumors, and these only intensified when fellow big man Bismack Biyombo (and his four-year, $72 million albatross contract) was added to the roster in 2016.

Somehow Orlando got out from under that deal this summer, sending him to the Charlotte Hornets and taking back Timofey Mozgov in the process. Mozgov, an NBA champion with the Cleveland Cavaliers, doesn’t expect to get the minutes or even play like Biyombo did, however.

That makes Vucevic’s role with the Magic clearer than it has been in some years now. All of a sudden, his path to starter’s minutes no longer has to be shared with Biyombo, and in fact, the Magic may come to need him. According to the Orlando Sentinel, president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman shot down the idea of trading him.

Vucevic has been the best player for the Magic since 2012 without question, and at this point may have legitimate claims to be a top-12 player in franchise history — such are the numbers he put up, along with the fact that the organization is only 30 years old.

With a new set of circumstances comes the renewed belief that Vucevic could be a key contributor for Orlando again going forward. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the ways he can help them going forward — a prospect that looked unthinkable as recently as the offseason.

We begin with what Vucevic can do on the court. Although he has been criticized heavily in the past for being an “empty stats” kind of player, the fact still remains that he has averaged a double-double in four out of his six seasons to date in Orlando.

The Magic only won 30 games more than once in that period, and as the best player during that run, some of the blame must fall on him. What Vucevic can’t control, however, are the actions of former general manager Rob Hennigan.

It was under Hennigan’s time in charge that the Magic traded Tobias Harris and drafted players like Elfrid Payton (who was acquired for the rights to Dario Saric, which people forget). They also moved on from the Victor Oladipo era too soon, adding Serge Ibaka in a gamble that did not pay off.

Signing Biyombo to that bloated deal after one good playoff series for the Toronto Raptors was the beginning of the end for Hennigan. Throughout all of this upheaval, however, Vucevic only ever played hard.

In 2015-16 he averaged 18.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Two years ago, when Biyombo joined, Vucevic saw his minutes hit a career low since joining the team, when he averaged 28.8 per game. He still averaged 14.6 points and 10.4 rebounds a night.

Last season however, saw Vucevic really diversify his game, which brings us to our next key point. Traditional centers are a dying breed in the NBA today, and Vucevic has never been a sound one defensively.

With that in mind, he became a stretch-5 last year, expanding his game beyond the 3-point line. We saw the beginning of this in 2016-17, when Vucevic made 23 of 75 attempts from deep.

Last year, he took 204, making 64 of them. This only translated to a poor 31.4 percent conversion rate from deep, but just becoming a threat from beyond the arc opened up the floor for his teammates. It was also a higher average than players like Rodney Purvis and Wesley Iwundu.

It also gave Orlando a different option at the center position, as Vucevic’s game continued to go in a direction completely different to that of Biyombo. On top of that, the Magic ranked 28th in 3-point shooting percentage last year (35.1 percent), and it would have been worse without Vucevic.

If Orlando wants to improve in this area this coming season, and really it should with a healthy Jonathan Isaac, always improving Aaron Gordon and Bamba, then Vucevic can once more help in this area.

Looking at other areas in which Vucevic can help, last season he shot a fantastic 81.9 percent from the free throw line, by far a career high. The drawback there is that he got to the line 1.6 times per game, lower than his career average (2.0).

Then again, if he is going to expand his game offensively, then this is one of the trade-offs, and to see his number improve so dramatically over his next best season average from the line (76.6 percent) was encouraging.

Although Vucevic is rightfully known as a below-average defender, the Magic still managed to have a better defensive rating when he was on the floor last season (106.9) compared to supposed defensive specialist Biyombo (110.5).

Vucevic won’t be anywhere close to the defender Bamba, Isaac or even Khem Birch is this coming season, but under the guidance of new head coach Steve Clifford, perhaps the drop-off won’t be as significant as some might think.

Finally, although Vucevic will start the season, we could now see him take on the role that it was thought he could provide for another fringe playoff team if he were ever traded — that of an offensive-minded sixth man.

Swingman Terrence Ross may ultimately take up this role, but as Bamba grows and his defensive partnership with Isaac becomes undeniable, it would be intriguing to see Vucevic in this role. He certainly has the skill-set to make this work.

Looking at the bigger picture, and two more interesting pieces of information stick out that could lead to Vucevic being an unforeseen continued success in Orlando. The first is that he will be a fantastic mentor to Bamba, as well as Isaac.

Vucevic has always come across as the consummate professional, no matter what the media was saying about his playing situation. He has continued to improve offensively as long as he’s been with the Magic, and there is no question they know what they are getting from him when he plays.

As Clifford told NBA.com ahead of the new season, we might even see Vucevic share the court with Bamba. This is possible because of Vucevic becoming a more well-rounded offensive threat, almost like a stretch-4 at times.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, Vucevic will be an unrestricted free agent after this season is done. Being in a contract year, don’t be surprised if he puts up the kind of numbers he has been capable of in the past.

The key difference this time out, however, is that he now has more help than in previous years for this to translate to wins. Don’t be surprised if Orlando decides to offer him another team friendly deal when this one is up.

Maybe then he will get the credit he deserves for being one of the better players in franchise history and leading them through the dark days after Dwight Howard‘s infamous exit. Now that he is staying put for the time being and ahead of the new campaign, it is time he was appreciated all over again.