Orlando Magic: Maybe we were wrong about Nikola Vucevic

After having his name involved in trade talks once again this offseason, Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic is having a career year and proving his worth.

What a difference a few months can make. As of this month, Nikola Vucevic is averaging a career high in scoring (20.4 points per game), the second-most rebounds of his career (10.8 per game) and the most assists (3.6 per game).

He is also shooting the highest clips of his career, making 45.2 percent of his 3s and 55.6 percent of his shots. He was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played between Nov. 12-18 and the Orlando Magic are above .500, in November, for the first time in what feels like a decade.

A few months ago, Vucevic’s name was allegedly in trade talks. Last month, the Magic were struggling (of course), the team looked out of sync and, while Vucevic was scoring well, it didn’t matter because it looked like another long road to the lottery.

While we are talking about the Magic here, they look good right now with Vucevic playing the best basketball of his career. They’re currently a playoff team in the East. Maybe this is Steve Clifford finally installing an offense that works, or maybe it’s just the product of hot shooting. Either way, Orlando fans will take this and run with it. It looks as though the players are as well.

The funny thing is, the Magic, by most metrics, aren’t a team that should be winning many games. They are in the bottom half in defensive rating (19th, 109.1), only 17th in offensive rating (107) and 22nd in net rating (-2.1). In the games they lose, they lose badly, averaging a -14.6 losing margin. They have lost games against the anemic Washington Wizards and upstart Sacramento Kings, and have lost multiple times by 20-plus points.

In years past, this trend of getting blown out and squeaking by would have gotten this team down and led to more losing. However, it seems as though Orlando plays up to its competition. The reason why the Magic have a winning record, despite everything above, is because they have beaten some seriously impressive teams and are one of the clutchest teams in the league (ranked third in the NBA in “clutch wins”).

They have beaten the Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat — all teams that one would suppose will be playoff teams come April. A lot of this success is due to the play of Vucevic and his value on the court for Orlando.

The rub on Nikola Vucevic has long been about his lack of defensive effort and inability to effectively defend at the rim. This characteristic is still acting up as Vucevic is putting up the second-worst defensive rating of his career at 107.

However, the Magic need Vucevic on the court. Last week during Vucevic’s 134 minutes played, the Magic outscored opponents by 15.2 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com. The team was outscored by 18.5 points per 100 possessions with him off the court. This jaw-dropping stat illustrates his value for Orlando.

There is also the metric of defensive box plus/minus that shows maybe Vucevic’s defense has improved. He’s putting up a career-high 2.4 in that category. Vucevic is also fouling at the lowest rate of his career, only averaging 1.9 fouls a game. He’s also tied for a career-high in blocks with 1.1 a game. In his eighth year in the league, and seventh with Orlando, Vucevic is improving in an area where he desperately needed to, strengthening his value for an upstart team and leading them to a winning record.

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Offensively, Vucevic is playing off the charts and looks to be a true All-Star candidate at the moment. While he was always a threat from the outside, Vuc has become a true stretch-5 and is shooting above 40 percent from 3 for the first time in his career. This ability to hit from outside has made opposing defenses change schemes. Thus, Vucevic is a threat to come off setting a screen and either roll or pop. However if this action is prevented, easy lanes for dribblers and passes to shooters are available, leaving teams in a quandary.

Vucevic has been hitting shots from everywhere this season, but a true surprise has been his passing ability. He has seven games in which he’s had over four assists, including a 12-assist game against the Sixers and nine-assist night against the Knicks.

This is once again due to his ability to pass out of a pick-and-roll and have shooters come off his shoulder at the high post. The two-man game with Evan Fournier, D.J. Augustin and Terrence Ross has particularly been impressive, as Vucevic’s frame allows these runners to get space coming off him for open shots.

With Orlando’s “toughness” and “defense first” identity that has been instilled this season, many expected for Nikola Vucevic to be on the trade block. The Magic were going out with the old, in with the new, signaled by drafting Mohamed Bamba with the sixth pick in the draft this past June.

While Bamba is playing decently in his limited minutes, Vucevic has really stepped up his game and is still the best player on the roster, even with the $80 million being paid to Aaron Gordon. Many in the NBA have never appreciated Vucevic as a double-double machine because of where he plays and his inability to defend. So far this season, however, he’s changing this narrative and playing lights out.