Chicago Bulls: Ranking the 5 projected starters for 2021-22

2. Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vučević

Acquired just before last season’s trade deadline, Nikola Vučević quickly showed why the Bulls were right to bring him in, averaging 23.7 points and 12.7 rebounds in 26 games for Chicago.

A solid three-level scorer who creates for others (93rd percentile in Box Creation, 98th percentile in Scoring Gravity), Vučević gives the Bulls someone who can punish defenders in a variety of ways. If you keep a center in drop coverage, he can kill you with the 3-point shot. If you leave him one-on-one in the post, he has enough touch to make you pay there, too. And if you send help — especially from one pass away — he’ll do this:

The defense isn’t as good, but it’s not as bad as you think (minus-0.5 D-EPM, 45th percentile). His block rate last year sat at the respectable 61st percentile, but he did an excellent job deterring dribble penetrators (90th percentile in Rim Deterrence) but assigning any task outside of protecting the cup is risky. Expect plenty of drop coverage when he’s on the floor.

Fortunately, Vučević’s value on offense supersedes the concerns about his defense.